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How Automated Drones Are Transforming Snowmaking on Ski Slopes
Innovative Drone Technology to Optimize Snowmaking Efficiency at Planai-Hochwurzen Bahnen GmbH
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Starting in the Winter season of 2025, a new technological collaboration launched to modernize snowmaking operations at Austrian ski resorts. This project introduces an automated drone solution designed to solve critical efficiency challenges in technical snowmaking, marking a significant step forward in smart alpine management.
Austrian technology service company KIONIQ purchases DJI product through DJI's local reseller spektakulAIR to provide comprehensive drone solutions to Planai-Hochwurzen Bahnen GmbH.
The Challenge: Inefficient Snowmaking
Technical snowmaking is essential for modern ski resorts but represents a massive financial and operational cost. A major pain point for operators is unpredictable weather, particularly strong winds. Wind often redirects falling snow away from the intended slopes, resulting in significant resource waste and uneven snow coverage. Traditionally, addressing this required manual labor. Resort staff had to physically travel up the mountain, inspect snow guns individually, and manually calibrate their direction—a time-consuming and labor-intensive process.
The Solution: Thermal Imaging & Automation
The new workflow utilizes an automated drone dock system equipped with thermal imaging technology.
Real-time Monitoring:The drone autonomously inspects the slopes using thermal sensors to visualize exactly where the artificial snow is landing.
Immediate Calibration:If the thermal data shows snow landing off-course (due to wind or other factors), operators can immediately recalibrate the snow guns.
This eliminates the need for manual, in-person checks, saving manpower and ensuring resources are used efficiently to maintain perfect slope conditions.
One Dock with Multiple Uses
While the immediate focus is on snowmaking efficiency, this infrastructure lays the groundwork for a multi-purpose safety ecosystem. Future snow related applications for the DJI Dock system can include:
Inspection of cable cars and lift systems for infrastructure safety .
Precision measurements of snow depth for slope management.
Pre-checking slopes for safety and supporting artificial avalanche forecasting in high-altitude snow-covered or glacier areas for avalanche prevention.
Locating missing persons in difficult mountain terrain for search and rescue.
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