Jeff Clancy has been a snowmaker for fifteen years.  At 18, he started college.  At 19, he decided it wasn’t for him, dropped out, and moved from Olean NY to Ellicottville, where his parents lived. 
“I asked around,” he said, “and the highest-paying jobs seemed to be in snowmaking.”  After a brutally cold first season, he decided to come back the next year, and the next.  “Once you have snowmaking in your blood, it’s hard to get rid of it.”  Now, Jeff is the only year-round snowmaker out of 33.  As Snowmaking Supervisor, he works one shift, and stays on call during the other two.  In the summer, he lays hydrants and pipelines, takes care of equipment, and helps out the maintenance guys. 
“In the off season, I do a lot of mowing.  There’s one other snowmaker who works here almost year-round, but he’s also a farmer, and he takes a month off in the summer to get his crops out of the ground.”