It’s snowing in the Sparkasse Vogtland Arena in Klingenthal! Responsible for the first white of the season are two big containers next to the lower stop of the Wieli lift: the so-called „snowfactory“ cools water down to ice and blows it out in tiny cristals - directly on the landing slope of the jumping hill. No chemicals are used in this process. Similar facilities are in use to cool down liquid concrete in hot states like the Arabic Emirates as Hanspeter Hochwieser of the company TechnoAlpin explains.

Until the Ski Jumping season opener in Klingenthal in mid-November, 50 tons of water will be transformed in to snow. For 20 days, everything will be collected in one place before the Pistenbullys will take it to prepare the jumping hill. Only about a month later, the Nordic Combined elite will be on location to battle out the first victory on 2016, hopefully also with enough of the coveted white to ensure perfect conditions for the athletes.

OC Vice President Marcus Stark has already had a first up-and-close experience with this unique first snow: „It feels good and also in terms of the amount, everything started off very well.“