Houghton County Weather
Above
is a view of Mt. Ripley in Houghton County, 2000 the first year they were used according to MTU. The machines are not cement mixers although they're about the same size. They're snow makers used to make artificial snow. Sometimes they're called snow guns.
Following are some other shots of one of the machines.
And
below you see a man in the background jogging down the ski hill with
ski poles. When I took the last picture I said hello to him and he
replied in kind, then turned around and started jogging back up the ski
hill with his poles.
And
that's it! If you've never seen a snow making machine before... you
have now. They are hooked up to water lines to make the snow. Not as
good as what Mother Nature does... but they do add to the snow base and
extend the sking season. :-)