AFTER working in race and events teams at Falls Creek and Whistler Blackcomb, Kenton Ford (26) made the change to snowmaking five years ago and towards his lifelong dream of becoming a snow groomer.

"I basically get to drive Tonka trucks around all night – it's the best," says Kenton, who grew up in Falls Creek and has been on skis since before he could walk thanks to parents who worked on the mountain – dad Campbell was a lift operations supervisor and mum Karen was a lift operator.

During the winter season, he works in both snowmaking and grooming with his day starting at 6:30pm when he'll make toast for 'breakfast' while his housemates are cooking steak for dinner, admitting his appetite and body clock are "all over the place".

He'll head to the mountain for an 8pm start when his team will come together to plan the night shift, see what the weather is doing and figure out what the snow will be like.

Then they get rugged up and jump on snowmobiles to get the snow guns ready, de–icing them in preparation.

"We ride the snowmobiles around all night checking on the snow guns to make sure they are working properly and making quality snow," Kenton said.

"There's nothing better than when the sun comes up and you can see how many snowmaking whales you've made and see the groomers pushing it out – it's a pretty satisfying job."

At Falls Creek, there's a grooming crew of nine through the night with 6–7 snowmakers working at the same time.

Kenton said they all get on really well and are there to help each other.

"Riding around on the sleds, looking at the stars and watching the sunrises and sunsets in all sorts of colours from up on the mountain is great," he said.

"Sometimes there are meteor showers, which are cool to watch because they take you by surprise."

He said there are all sorts of spots and runs to make snow on, but he loves Wombats, which is home to one of Australia's longest ski races.

"You're fighting the wind on that long run, but it makes the time go quickly," Kenton said.

"And when the snowguns turn off and it's dead quiet on the mountain it can be really peaceful."

After working at Whistler Blackcomb for a couple of seasons, he's experienced negative 24C temperatures, but he was still surprised at how cold it gets in Australia and he makes sure he layers up with an extra jumper or two when the temperatures dip below zero.

After work finishes around 8:30am, he'll jump on his skis for a quick couple of runs before heading to bed around 10am.

It doesn't leave him much time for a social life, but his other role as a DJ gets him out among more people in a few bars and a nightclub around Falls Creek on his nights off.

He's also into kite skiing, which he says gets him up the top of a hill really quickly.

He said being a snowmaker and groomer is fantastic if you're prepared to work hard and he loves it, adding: "I'm in my dream job now and I'll stick with it for the rest of my life."

Falls Creek is hiring now, including snowmakers and groomers – find your dream snow job here: Employment – Falls Creek Ski Lifts (skifalls.com.au).