It would be a welcome sight if snow naturally fell on the ski jumps at Howelsen Hill, packed itself in and froze over evenly. But of course, that’s not how it works. Instead, dozens of volunteers spend hours of their weekends prepping the inruns of the ski jumps.

Crews at Howelsen Hill made snow at the very top of the HS75 Saturday and Sunday night, and volunteers worked Sunday and Monday morning to prepare the inruns for use.

First, they spread out the huge pile at the top of the jump down the inrun, which is the section of the jump in which athletes crouch and gain speed before launching into the air.

Plastic chutes help guide the snow from the top to the bottom of the inrun. At the top, volunteers shovel the snow into the chutes. At the bottom, others scoop the snow to where it’s needed. At the end of the two days, coaches used a wide bar to even out the snow, which then needs to freeze over and become a solid surface. Eventually, two straight paths will be carved into the snow, in which athletes will put their skis.