Following final winter, one of many warmest on file, some ski hills and nordic centres could need to look into snow farming — the apply of stockpiling snow to increase the season.
Canada was one of many pioneers in a method now used all over the world, which really has nothing to do with crops or livestock.
Snow farming can imply just a few various things, from redirecting snow within the winter to stockpiling it over the summer time. However in contrast to synthetic snowmaking, these methods work even when there is not a water supply or freezing temperatures.
Banff Sunshine in Alberta, which does not have entry to a significant water supply, has been snow farming because the 70s.
“Due to our distinctive location, we needed to get inventive with how we ran our resort and picked up our snow,” mentioned Kendra Scurfield, whose household has owned and operated the resort since 1981. Scurfield, who’s the corporate’s vice-president of name and communications, says that snow farming began as a necessity and is particularly vital in seasons with much less snow.
The mountain operations crew makes use of fences fabricated from bamboo and plastic to benefit from the excessive wind.
“We’ll string a fence up, and because the snow falls and the wind blows, the fences form of act as a internet to catch all of the snow,” mentioned Scurfield. “Our crew does research the wind patterns to know which would be the finest zone for catching it.”
As soon as a fenced off zone is full, they’re going to transfer that snow the place it is wanted most. Like spreading icing on a cake, she mentioned.
Whereas Scurfield says that snow farming has been completed within the Alps in some capability because the center ages, it has been wanted extra throughout North America lately, and he or she says they are going to proceed to do it because the local weather adjustments.
Though nonetheless an unusual apply in North America, snow farming is now utilized in varied ski areas, together with B.C.’s Baldy Mountain Resort, Vermont’s Craftsbury Out of doors Centre and Alberta’s Canmore Nordic Centre.
Utilizing snow storage to assist the early season
Jamie Temple works as snowmaking supervisor for the Canmore Nordic Centre. They’ve completed another sorts of snow farming previously, however now focus totally on what Temple refers to as snow storage — saving snow in piles lined with insulating supplies.
“Snow storage is used to get a course within the early season when we do not have snow,” he mentioned.
In 2009, Canmore Nordic Centre first began the apply of creating huge snow piles in mid-December or early January, and masking them in a thick layer of sawdust over the summer time. Then, the saved snow is excavated within the fall, round Thanksgiving, to make a observe referred to as Frozen Thunder.
This 12 months, Frozen Thunder would be the longest ever — six or seven kilometres, in comparison with the unique 2.2 km. Its capability has additionally been prolonged from a apply area for high-performance athletes to an early leisure ski course.
“Final 12 months, we obtained -15 C in October, and this 12 months was fairly reverse — we did not get a lot snowmaking temperature and the precipitation was close to nil,” he mentioned.
“It appears to be very totally different 12 months to 12 months, relatively than on a gradient … we’re doing these processes to be sure that we are able to nonetheless deliver high quality product to individuals, even when local weather change turns into a lot worse.”
Snow farming to handle climate unpredictability
The U.S. has additionally been struggling, with a study from the College of Waterloo estimating that the U.S. ski business has misplaced greater than $5 billion US over the previous 20 years due to human-caused local weather change.
When Judy Geer and her husband Dick Dreissigacker purchased Vermont-based Craftsbury Out of doors Centre in 2008, they turned it right into a non-profit centered on lifelong sports activities, sustainable practices and being good stewards of the land.
“The local weather’s altering — there is not any doubt about that — and as skiers, we’re particularly conscious of it,” she mentioned. “Final 12 months, the whole lot thawed just a bit bit too quick … and sadly it appears to be like prefer it’s about to do the identical this 12 months. We had nearly [15.6 C] yesterday, which is loopy, and we misplaced lots [of snow].”
Whereas Craftsbury has just a few snowblowers that may make snow, they have been searching for different options as a result of it wasn’t getting chilly sufficient by U.S. Thanksgiving in late November to have the ability to achieve this.
That is the place College of Vermont Faculty of the Setting and Pure Assets professor Paul Bierman got here in — approaching Craftsbury in 2018 to suggest an experiment in snow farming.
They started with small check piles and ultimately found out {that a} thick layer of woodchips would enable them to maintain 65 to 70 per cent of the snow. Quickly after, they’d scaled as much as a pile with nearly 6,000 cubic metres of snow in an previous pond.
So far as Geer and Bierman know, Craftsbury is the one place within the U.S. that engages in snow farming, however that it is essential to their ski season now, given the unpredictability of climate.
“It is fairly wonderful, there’s snow on the market beneath these wooden chips all summer time,” mentioned Geer. “And it signifies that when [U.S.] Thanksgiving comes for us, even when we do not have chilly sufficient temperatures to make contemporary snow, we are able to unfold out that snow and get between one and two kilometers of snowboarding.”
WATCH | A time lapse of the snow pile excavation:
To scale back the environmental influence, lots of the wooden chips come from timber that fall on the paths, and the snow weapons used to make the pile are powered by turbines with a warmth restoration unit that is used to energy their housing.
Except for financial stability for Craftsbury and the encircling native companies, snow farming has additionally allowed them to do enjoyable issues with the snow, resembling deliver out a small observe for the 4th of July for the city occasion.
“Folks doing flips and jumps and turns and having a blast on this little hill lined in snow in the midst of July,” mentioned Bierman. “It was, that was in all probability the only most enjoyable factor I’ve ever seen the stuff getting used for.”
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