Steamboat Activates Snow Guns as Wildfire Threatens the Area

Seeing snow guns blasting in mid-July is enough to make any skier do a double take. But at Steamboat Resort this week, the familiar hiss of compressed air wasn’t the start of an early winter—it was part of the fight against the nearby Fishhook Fire.

The lightning-caused wildfire ignited on Sunday, July 12, on national forest land southeast of the resort, setting off a quick response from firefighters as flames spread through the steep, timbered terrain. As a precaution, Steamboat fired up snowmaking guns in the Sunshine area to soak vegetation and create a buffer around lifts and other resort infrastructure.

Although we never like to hear about the need to use snowguns for this purpose, it highlights how versatile modern snowmaking systems have become. The same network of pumps, hydrants, and pipes that cranks out early-season corduroy can also help firefighters defend the mountain during wildfire season, as they’ve done before in Angel Fire, N.M., Sierra-at-Tahoe, Calif., and most recently, Mountain High, Calif., in 2024.

       Related: The 5 Worst Fires in Ski Resort History—and What Happened Next

As of press time (July 15), the Fishhook Fire remains active, and crews are continuing to work to keep the blaze from threatening both the resort and the surrounding communities. Steamboat has adjusted some of its summer operations while firefighters attack the fire from the ground and air, so it’s best to steer clear at this time.

This is a developing situation. SKI will update this article as more information becomes available.