Ski resorts try ‘snow farming’ to save manmade snow for next year

Amid the West’s worst snow drought in modern history, several ski areas are trying a new approach: storing artificial snow and saving it until the next ski season.

Known as “snow farming,” the practice involves making snow when conditions are ideal – cold, dry weather – and piling it two or three stories high, then covering the mound with a large insulating mat to protect it from sun and rain. When a ski resort wants to open its doors in the fall, it can distribute the snow on the slopes, rather than relying on the weather.

The technology is more widespread in Europe, but is taking hold in the United States as snowfall has become less reliable. This year, small ski areas in Wisconsin, Idaho and Utah are trying their hand at snow farming — a sign that new, labor-intensive interventions are becoming a necessity as the ski industry grapples with climate change.

“It’s going to expand the viability of skiing, especially for some resorts that will be on the fringes because we have warmer winters and we get less snow,” said Nate Shake, director of mountain operations at Bogus Basin Ski Resort near Boise, Idaho, where snowmaking is underway for a second season.

The Soldier Hollow Nordic Center, a venue near Salt Lake City originally built for the 2002 Winter Games, is attempting this approach for the first time. Finding a way to maintain reliable snow cover is especially crucial for the region as Salt Lake City is slated to host the Winter Olympics in 2034.

Soldier Hollow is expected to once again host cross-country ski events. But if conditions eight years from now are as bad as they have been this season, the success of the Games could depend on snow tests now underway.

“This is a contingency plan for a bad winter in 2034,” said Soldier Hollow General Manager Luke Bodensteiner.

Bodensteiner, who competed in the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics, said this year’s dismal snowpack was the worst in memory. Organizing cross-country skiing events “would have been a challenge if it was an Olympic year,” he said.

How to “cultivate” snow

Bodensteiner’s team spent about $300,000 on a snow cultivation system from a Finnish company called Snow Secure.

The company sells white polystyrene mats that fold like an accordion, are about 2½ inches thick and can be installed in a day. Batts are essentially weather-resistant insulation, much like that used in homes. They are designed to cover a pile of snow the length of a football field from top to bottom.

The company’s customers typically wait for cold, dry conditions to make snow using snow guns, pile that snow several stories high, unfold the mats, completely cover the pile and anchor the system with weights.

“It’s kind of like a battery. The more snow you can put under this insulated system, the longer it will retain the cold,” Shake said.

Antti Lauslahti, CEO of Snow Secure, said stored snow will typically lose about 20 percent of its mass over the course of a summer. But the process allows ski areas to produce snow in conditions that cause water droplets to freeze more quickly.

“Snow quality is best when produced in cold weather,” he said. “You do things very quickly, you get very good quality and you use less energy. »

Snowmaking has been popular since the 1970s, but it is an inefficient use of water in hot weather, such as at the beginning or end of a season. Making snow in marginal conditions typically requires 70 to 80 percent more energy, Lauslahti said.

“If it’s 27, 28 degrees and you leave a snow cannon on all night, you could have a pile underneath that cannon that’s maybe 2 feet deep,” Bodensteiner said. “If there’s just a number outside and you turn on that same snow cannon, you’ll end up with a pile 8 feet deep.”

Lauslahti said some in the United States were concerned that summer temperatures would climb too high for the system to be effective, but so far it has worked.

Last year, Bogus Basin was one of three North American regions to pilot a Snow Secure program. Over the summer, a monitoring system recorded temperatures as high as 119 degrees Fahrenheit outside the mat system, but it kept the snow at an average of 37 degrees, Shake said.

In October, crews peeled back the mats and discovered that about 80 percent of the snow had survived. Even though Bogus Basin experienced its warmest November on record, it was able to open that month.

“We opened on the snow we saved,” Shake said, adding that without the snow harvest, “we wouldn’t have had a Thanksgiving opening at all.”

A record snow drought

This winter was a surprise for Western states.

By mid-March, all major basins in the West were experiencing their warmest, if not second warmest, winter on record and experiencing a snow deficit, according to the U.S. drought monitoring agency. Then a record heat wave last week destroyed much of the remaining snow, raising wildfire concerns and prompting restrictions on water use in places like Denver. Several states, including Colorado and Utah, reported their lowest snowfall accumulations on record.

Some ski areas never opened or offered limited operations. Many resorts close early, before the start of April.

“Everyone in the industry is aware that winters are getting shorter and warmer,” Bodensteiner said.

Soldier Hollow was built approximately 5,600 feet above sea level to comply with Olympic regulations. That’s pretty low for skiing in Utah, so the facility often crosses the line between freezing and non-freezing, making it susceptible to climate change.

For this reason, Soldier Hollow is increasingly reliant on artificial snow. The company has invested in snowmaking technology, including 20 “fan guns” that can be moved to blow snow onto trails and 40 stationary, robotic “sticks” that produce snow at fixed positions.

“About half the season is on artificial snow,” Bodensteiner said.

He hopes that with the snow farming experience, Soldier Hollow will be the first Nordic ski location to open next fall. The facility also plans to upgrade its snowmaking equipment. If Snow Secure works, Bodensteiner wants to expand the system.

“If we get the results that we think…by the summer of 2033, we’ll probably have three to four of these piles going around the site,” he said.