Breckenridge welcomes, even prays, for snow every winter, but town officials saw in action Thursday morning one proven way to get rid of excess piles of it when the snowfall gets to be too much.

In late October, the snow elves—that is to say, employees—of the Zermatt Bergbahnen AG ski area in Switzerland fire up their secret weapon: a 30-ton snow-generating goliath known as Snowmaker. For 20 ...