WEBVTT

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I'm Colonel steve messenger , Garrison

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Commander of Fort McCoy Wisconsin .

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We're out here at Whitetail Ridge ski

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area . One of three army owned and

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operated ski hills in the United States .

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And we are going to be open by the time

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this video areas . But today they are

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prepping the hill for tubing skiing and

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snowboarding out here we're gonna go

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meet Rodney behind the triad and find

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out what we do to prep this thing and

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make a little snow . Come on Rodney ,

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thanks for hosting me down here at

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Whitetail . How long have you been

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working here ? Been working here for ?

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Eight years ? Eight years . You must

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like it . I love it sir . So what are

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we doing out here today ? We are making

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snow sir . How lucky for the tubing and

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skiing season . So I noticed we're not

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ready yet by the time this films will

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be open . But how much snow do we need

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out there ? The tubing hill , we're

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looking at probably anywhere from four

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ft to 20 ft in some areas because we

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got some nice drops on the tubing hill

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that we like to use 20 ft . Sounds like

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a lot of snow to me , how long does it

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take a snow maker to make 20 ft of snow ?

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About a month . Month and a half .

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Depending on how well mother nature

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helps us along and this week it's gonna

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be nice and cold and we'll make a lot

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of snow . It is cold out there . So

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what am I gonna be doing sir ? We're

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gonna be going out and we're gonna fire

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up one of the snow guns , walk you

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through it how it makes snow and how

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everything operates here at the hill ,

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I am ready to make some snow . I feel

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like I'm dressed for it sir . You're

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gonna need a little bit heavier gear

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out there to protect you from the

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elements and get yourself ready to go

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to stay out of the cold Rodney , let's

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do it . I appreciate it .

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Hi Rodney , what is this thing ? This

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is a super pole cat snow maker . This

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is 80% of what we use out here . We do

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have a wizard and we did get a new snow

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maker also , but this is our go to snow

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makers right now that we have , we've

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got five other ones running out here on

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the hill right now and this is what

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makes the magic happen . It makes the

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snow . I'm ready to make some snow .

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How's this thing work ? Alright , so

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your controls basically on here is you

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have a compressor and the compressor

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build up air pressure to push the water

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out of the gun . And as the water is

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coming out of the gun , it starts at

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the nucleus and that's what starts the

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snow making process . And then there's

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teeth around the outside that mist

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water to it and make the snow pellets

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not really snow flakes , it's more like

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sugar out of a sugar bag is what it's

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like when you're making really good

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snow . So first thing we can go over

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and we'll turn the compressor on , so

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flip up the panel first green button

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there with the green . Alright , I feel

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like I'm making snow already , that

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turns the compressor on now , come on

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over here and we will turn it fully on ,

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Alright , so there's a valve right down

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here , once you turn that on , you will

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be pushing air out of the snow cannon ,

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you can hear it coming out , we know

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the nukes open and everything is

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operating as it should , so we'll go

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over and we will turn

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on the water from the pump house ,

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so this is where we turn the water on

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if you want to go ahead and turn that

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on all the way , you'll start hearing

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it go once it starts going a little

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further there you go ,

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Oh yeah , you got 600 gallon per minute

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coming out of the house , keep going

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till it stops , like I said , we're

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gonna turn the big fan on now , it's

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gonna be a little harder to hear , but

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once we turn the big fan on , if you

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look in the back of the snow maker

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right here , You kind of see it turning

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right now , that is the main fan ,

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that's what's going to get that snow

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pushed way out there into the air , so

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that way it's got a longer drop , so

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you wanna hit the green button on that

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on the fan , on the fan , Middle one .

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No , you come over

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on this side , you can see the new

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blowing the water out of the middle .

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So that's your whole snow making

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starting process right there . So now

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you've got four valves down here and

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each valve is going to turn more of

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them novels on . We're just gonna go

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1234

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now his eyes fully going ready ,

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gonna raise it up just a little bit a

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little bit higher where we like it ,

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the more drop you have the better snow

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you make . So now we'll walk out here

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quick and I'll show you how you test

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your snow , you're gonna take your arm ,

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hold your arm up , you see the snow

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bouncing off your coat . That means

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it's good and dry and you're making

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good snow right there , That's what

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you're looking for . So in an hour you

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come out here and you go like this and

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you'll have like sugarcoating it ,

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that's about it . But they add up

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pretty quick Ronnie , what is it was

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kind of the final thing we need to do

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to get ready for this ski season . Well ,

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to get ready for the ski season ,

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mother Nature gave us a great coating

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this year , snow , but once you pack it

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down , there's really not a lot there ,

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we'll put a final coating on it right

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there and then we'll take our groomers

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that have tillers and blades and will

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smooth everything out . Like kevin's

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doing over here , he's giving us a nice

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smooth area to play on . So if you want

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to walk over this way you can get a

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little closer look , it'll move a lot

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of snow . Sir Rodney , thanks for being

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out here . Thanks for prepping this

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stuff for all the customers about to

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roll in your killing out here , love

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making snow and really appreciate

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everything you've done . Thank you very

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much . We've had a blast out here at

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Whitetail a little cold but really

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learn what it takes to get this place

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operational and the great people that

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work here at Fort McCoy , you're

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looking for a job check out usa job

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website we are hiring love to have you .

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And if you want to come sled snowboard

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or ski here at Whitetail , come on out .

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We're open . We'll see you next time

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behind the triad