Snowmaking may not save ski resorts
By Jakob Schiller, Powder
The first time I went to my local ski area last year — Sipapu Ski and Summer Resort in northern New Mexico — there was one run open and almost all the snow was man-made. To any bird flying over it must have been quite a scene: a mostly brown hill with a thin, continuous patch of white running from top to bottom.
But there I was, season pass in hand, anxious to put skis to snow. I’d waited all summer to strap on my boards and it seemed more important to finally be making turns than to worry about what it all meant. I was hungry. Still, the question lingered in the back of my head: What was the cost of this absurdity?
Porter Fox, whose book “Deep” was excerpted in the September issue of Powder, says the snowpack in the Cascades is down 20-40 percent because of climate change. Here in the Rockies, the spring snowpack is down 20 percent. Climatologists estimate that two-thirds of ski resorts in Europe might have to close by 2100 and only four of the 14 major resorts on the East Coast might be afloat at that same time.
According to a report cited in a study released by Protect Our Winters and the Natural Resources Defense Council, “Park City, Utah will lose all mountain snow pack by the end the century while Aspen Mountain, Colorado snowpack will be confined to the top quarter of the mountain under a higher emissions scenario.”
To compensate for a lack of snowfall that has already dramatically declined, 88 percent of North American ski areas make snow, although according to an article in High Country News, some resorts are trying to mitigate the impacts as best they can. Heavenly Mountain Resort uses computers to run its snowmaking operation, which helps make it more efficient. And Loveland Ski Area in Colorado has found a way to capture the runoff from its manmade snow and store the water so it can be reused. Both strategies are creative, but no amount of computerization or runoff capture will offset the amount of snow these large areas will need to make and the battles that will be fought over the water to make it.
Snowmaking is already a contentious issue in the West and several recent cases point to the kinds of problems that will undoubtedly crop up as other resorts turn to snow cannons to make sure they have enough snow on the slopes for opening day.
You’d think that ski resorts, snowmobile manufacturers and any other company that makes skis, ski clothing or anything to do with snow would be all over promoting legislation to deal with climate change.
Hiker they don’t because there is not a market in the countries producing most of the green house gases. The U.S. contribution is relatively meaningless at this point unless we literally turn off the lights. Without the BRIC nations any legislation is a platitude.
Heavenly’s snowmaking is STPUD’s biggest user of water. Is this a proper use of a precious resource? Some say yes. Some say no.
I had heard that Heavenly used well water for snow making. Anyone know for certain?
I’m tempted to try to summarize, but there’s enough in this link to make all the Lake Tahoe News “experts” happy, although the folks here who grasp at any straw to try to appear smarter than climate change science might still have to make some stuff up:
http://sustainableplay.com/snowblown-in-the-tahoe-sierra/
“I had heard that Heavenly used well water for snow making. Anyone know for certain?”
There is a well high up on the mountain. I don’t know if it is active and what it is for. From what I have heard it ended up being a lot deeper than they thought, so that they didn’t need to treat it. Not sure how much they can pull from it.
Lake Tahoe was under thousands of feet of ice just a few thousand years ago. Duh, what in the world happened? Climate change. Climate change will always occur, SUV’s or not, CO2 or not, and whether humankind interferes or not. Computer models and political scientists can and will not change that.
When the believers can hold back the night I will join them in denouncing man made climate change.
“The POW and NRDC report says it’s expected that temperatures will rise between five and six degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains where Sipapu sits. ”
According to the prior statement, during humid times the snow level will be around 2K feet lower, non humid times will see around a 1K foot lower snow line. Heavenly with a huge chunk at 2K to 4K feet above lake level is relatively good to go for snow.
Heavenly gets snow making water from wells, holding ponds that capture run off, STPUD and KGID.
What I’ve always been told is that the water purchased from the utility districts actually works as a subsidy to other rate payers. Water systems are built to be able to meet peak demand. In Tahoe, systems only run at or near peak demand for a few days a year. Think of water demand for New Years and Fourth of July verses April and November. Comparing to other places where systems may run at 70-80% of peak capacity most of the year, our systems have a lot of excess capacity.
There a two primary costs to water. There’s the cost of the water itself and the cost of building the system to deliver the water. Heavenly pays for both when they buy water. This is where the subsidy comes in. By buying water at off peak times, Heavenly helps pay for the system costs of building a water system that can meet peak demand. If Heavenly didn’t buy the water, the costs of building and maintaining the delivery system would be spread to the other rate payers.
The other unique thing about water shortages, which are very real and in my opinion not being properly addressed, is that water is not very portable. That is, using less water in Tahoe does not necessarily mean that there is more water available for sub-Saharan Africa or other water starved regions.