If you are skiing or snowboarding in winter, you can see them everywhere on the slopes: called the slopes or slope bullys. With their massive chain vehicles, ensure that the snow cover on the slopes is optimally prepared and the skiers and snowboarders find the best conditions. But who are the people who serve these impressive machines and how do they work? We asked Pistenbully drivers Lukas and received some interesting background information. Learn more in this blog article and take a look behind the scenes with us. 🔥✨
Training and tasks of a slopes bully driver
📝 Naked optics: What training do you need to work as a slopes?
👉 Lukas: "You basically do not need a special training to prepare a slope. However, you should be a certain sense of snow and, above all, no fear of cold, wet and night work. It is also important that you have a feeling for the site, a technical understanding and joy in work. Then it works well to work as a slope driver."
📝 Naked optics: What tasks and activities are your job?
👉 Lukas: Various work is due to the job area of the job. It is of course important to snow, which begins in summer. Various machines are required for this. There are also existing snow producers such as storm cannons and lances that stand in the area all year round. This is followed by the basic snow. A basic snow blanket is generated here so that the slope can then be snowed further or Ms. Holle snowed the slopes 😉. This is a rough summary of how snowing works. As a slopes, you then have the task of moving and paving the artificial snow in autumn. The snow is applied everywhere. As a result, the snow masses must be cared for for skiers and guests. As a slopes, you want to create a beautiful slopes so that everyone will enjoy. Settling and preparing are largely the most important tasks.
Working in the snow: a typical working day for slopes caterpillar drivers
📝 Naked optics: Then what does an ordinary working day actually look like in winter?
👉 Lukas: The working day depends on the weather, of course. I usually start in the afternoon at 4 p.m. Then the machines are first checked and little things like cleaning, checking the oil stand and water level are done. Of course you also have to check whether you have enough tank. If the device is ready to go and the panes are clean, it goes to the preliminary discussion. Here it is discussed who has what to do and who takes on which tasks. At 5:30 p.m. we all go out together. Of course, slope care is particularly important here. At a later hour, at midnight, most of them are roughly finished with their tasks. We then discuss again and clarify who else has to do and whether something special is to be done. At 2:00 a.m. we go back to refuel and sit down again. We sometimes drink an after -work beer 😉 After 12 hours, the working day ends on average.
📝 Naked optics: How many slopes of slopes does a ski area actually have about?
👉 Lukas: That is very different. In the ski area in which I am currently working, we have 9 slopes that drive every day and a device for the park, i.e. a total of ten devices. Then we have a few smaller devices. Before that, I worked in a ski area where we had 33 devices. It always depends on the size of the ski area.
Piste preparation in detail: This is how the perfect slopes for skiers and snowboarders are created
📝 Also Michael von "Heroes of the Night" has told us interesting insights for preparation.
👉 Michael: How much work and time the preparation takes naturally depend on the respective day of skiing. If the ski slope has been left very humped, then you have to process the slopes more often and more intensively for the next day. Here you first have to insert the snow, pave the slopes and then prepare them first. Basically, you try to finish between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. Depending on the size of the ski area, you need more or less slopes to finish at this time.
💡 Good to know: 💡 A slope is always closed outside of operating hours, unless it is possible to run night. So if you are on the slopes at night or go a tour, you not only go into danger, but also violate the rules. The slope lock usually applies between 5 p.m. to 8 a.m.
The art of piste preparation: create perfect piste conditions
📝 Naked optics: Finally: Lukas, what is the perfect ski slope for you?
👉 Lukas: The combination of a flat surface, a great track with little waves so that the skier can drive well and of course no ice sheets. How to prepare the slopes perfectly, everyone has their own secret. For me, addiction to perfection is the secret of the perfect slopes, namely to get the maximum out of the slopes every day.
At this point we would like to thank Lukas and Michael for the exciting insights and information about the profession as a slope device driver. Be sure to look on the homepage of the "Heroes of the Night" over and listen to your new one Song "Bullyfohra" and get even more interesting insights from the two.
Credits: Photo by Patrick T'Kindt on Unsplash