A bit of Aussie ingenuity and she'll be white mate. Source: NewsComAu
YOU'VE heard of Backyard Blitz, right? Well this is a far superior garden makeover to anything anyone ever did on TV. This is a backyard blizzard.
To be crystal clear, this is a bloke from the bush who has set up snowmaking equipment in his backyard and coated his lawn in a layer of frosty white.
Why? Because he can, that's why.
Um, Roland, you're supposed to put a thin white sheet ON the line, not under it! Source: NewsComAu
Roland Zopf is a cartographer in Bathurst, New South Wales, about three hours west of Sydney. It almost never snows in Bathurst but like many inland towns, the nights are cold. How cold exactly?
"We were at the pub one evening out in the beer garden, some dude spilled his drink on the table and within a few minutes it started to freeze up," Zopf recalls.
At that point, most sensible people would probably go inside and sit by the fire or something. But that frozen beer gave Roland an idea.
"Having been a skier all my life, I thought 'gee, a snowgun would work well here tonight'.
"A few days later I read a thread on [snow industry website] ski.com.au where a guy was trying to build his own snowgun. I thought 'wow build a snowgun'. A few trips down to the hardware store, a few trials, a few failures at first, and then I started making some really nice snow."
Snowmaking is a process by which cold water and compressed air is pumped into the dry, subzero evening air. It forms a fine mist which falls in a layer almost identical to real snow. The technology is used extensively by ski resorts, many of which have invested millions in automated equipment.
Roland Zopf's system is not quite so advanced. "I basically bought different valve gates and plumbing bits and a pressure washer," he explains. "Later on when I built bigger and better guns I had to add spray jet nozzles. I also tried some other things like adding height on a higher pole and different angles."
Cutting edge it ain't, but this home-made snowmaker is clearly a winner. The results are here to see.
While you're catching zees, he's freezing trees. Source: NewsComAu
This is Zopf's Bathurst backyard last week after a lovely prolonged spell of clear days and frosty nights. As you'd imagine, the neighbourhood kids love it.
This pic was taken a couple of nights after Roland's latest snowmaking burst. As you can see, the snow is going... Source: NewsComAu
Going... Source: NewsComAu
Almost gone... Source: NewsComAu
Zopf says a night of snowmaking costs around $5 in water and electricity, which is less than a frozen schooner in a Bathurst beergarden. He also says he's never had a noise complaint, as his air compressor is inside his laundry.
The question is: how far does he take this thing? There's a small sub-Alpine resort outside Canberra called Corin Forest which maintains a snowmaking slope all winter long. It receives small falls of natural snow in winter, but mostly relies on two snowguns, charging the public $15 per snowplay session. Is there a frosty hollow on a bit of land around Bathurst somewhere where Zopf could perhaps set up something similar?
"I'm always saying one day I might build a slope like Corin Forest," he says. "Yeah, one day we might be able to build a winter toboggan slope here in Bathurst, who knows?
For the record, Roland Zopf is not the only snowmaking warrior in NSW. We also spoke to a family making snow in their home in East Bowral, about two hours southwest of Sydney. The brain behind that scheme is a very enterprising 14-year-old schoolboy named Andrew, who recently invited his mates round for a morning of backyard snow boogie boarding.
Barefoot backyard boogie boarding, Bowral style. Source: NewsComAu
And here's what they had to work with, before the melt set in.
And here's a view of the yard before the melt set in. Note the sophisticated piece of snowmaking elevation infrastructure, also known as a "ladder". Source: NewsComAu
The good news is, if you live somewhere cold and want to have a crack at making snow before winter ends, YouTube is here to help. There are even websites where you can buy your own snowgun.
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