Ski resorts go green to stay white

by Kendra Bassi

Ski resorts are bonding together to fight global warming and protect the ski season and their wallets.  Over 70 Ski Resorts have put aside their competitive nature to come together for one common cause: the Keep Winter Cool campaign.

The National Ski Areas Association, in hope of fighting global warming, supports the Keep Winter Cool campaign.  According to their website, the campaign encourages participants to take steps towards lowering their greenhouse gas emissions.  This decision helps the economy, as well as prevents against shorter ski seasons in the future, thus saving the ski-economy.

Some resorts participating in the Keep Winter Cool Campaign include Vail Mountain that purchases wind power each year to keep its Wildwood Express Lift running.  The Canyons in Utah uses solar powered lighting as well as wind power for operations.  Northstar-at-Tahoe purchases Green Tags to offset the hundreds of thousands of global warming emissions that are connected to its energy use.  Other resorts are offering better transportation and incentives for customers to purchase renewable energy.

According to Daniel Scott et. all, scientists have been conducting studies on the affects that global warming has on snowfall for years.  Every year, these tests come to the same conclusion; there is a negative correlation between snowfall and global warming.  Basically, as global warming increases, the amount of snowfall each year decreases.

Scott says that some areas are at a higher risk of suffering than others.  In his study he discovered that some resorts had shorter seasons than others.  Resorts in Northern regions such as Quebec should be fine while more Southern regions such as Arizona may be in trouble.

Joe Gelt, writer for the Arizona Water Resource Newsletter, says that Arizona has been seeing a change in the temperature.  This results in an increase in winter snowmelt and an earlier spring snowmelt. Both factors contribute to shorter seasons and terrible conditions. 

At the moment a typical ski season begins before Christmas, sometimes around Thanksgiving and past President’s day.  If temperatures keep increasing due to global warming, the ski industry could be looking at a season that begins around Christmas and ends around Presidents Day, says Bill Redeker, journalist for ABC news.

This will result in less people visiting the mountain, ultimately hurting the ski economy says both Gelt and Redeker.  Since there will be even less snow on lower altitudes people may be turned off to learning how to either ski or snowboard.  Gelt predicts that if this trend continues, skiing may have to be limited to the top slopes where the snow pack is more stable. 

However, the projected climate change is not as severe as originally predicted.  A recent study conducted by Daniel Scott et. all added a new factor to the equation, snowmaking.  This process of playing Mother Nature and creating snow has helped some ski resorts survive the winter season. 

Snowmaking is extremely important in states such as Arizona where temperatures are warmer and winters are shorter.  Ski resorts are aware of this fact and have begun taking action says Gelt.  Snowbowl plans to reach a 100% snowmaking capacity in the future.  This is a drastic change as Snowbowl currently relies completely on natural snowfall to get them through a season says Gelt.

Snowmaking is an adaptive strategy that can reduce a resorts vulnerability to climate change by creating a more stable season, says Gelt.  Not only that but it allows them to remain open longer and on important holidays such as Thanksgiving, However, snowmaking does come with its costs.  According to Gelt, it costs about $923 per acre-foot of snow in the southeast.  The process also uses water that, while only a small amount is used to make a foot of snow, can add up over time. 

Not only that, but snowmaking also hurts the wallet, since it takes such a high voltage of power to operate and a large amount of water, which can become costly.  Along with not being entirely economical, snowmaking is also useless under warm conditions, and the costs of keeping up with snowfall would be astronomical.

Some warming is to be expected no matter what precautions and measures are taken, says Scott.  This is due to previous emissions that we do not have any control over.  Which is why resorts are taking a stand to prevent against further climate change.  The participating resorts know that they cannot change their current condition over night, but hey realize that they can help plan for the future.  The campaign is not limited to ski resorts, but to any who wish to help.  The website offers tips for mountain goers to help them reduce emissions, and become more environmentally aware.

For more information please visit www.keepwintercool.org. 

Bibliography

·        Scott, D., McBoyle, G., &Minogue, A., (2006). Climate Change and the Sustainability of Ski-based Tourism in Eastern North America: A Reassessment. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 14. (4). Pp. 376-397.

·        Keep Winter Cool. Retrieved November 16, 2007. From http://www.keepwintercool.org/index.html.

·        Got Snow? Effects of Climate Variability Change on Arizona Skiing. (January-February 2006). Arizona Water Resource Newsletter. 14 (3).

·        Redeker, B., Global Warming Scare Hits Ski Country. (2007, January 12) ABC News.