Artificial Snow Not A Long-Term Answer For Ski Resorts In The Alps

26.12.2023 - 18:11 / forbes.com / Val Thorens

With mixed amounts of snow across Europe's ski slopes the week before Christmas and with ever decreasing amounts of expected snow, many resorts are pushing for greater climate action and alternative ways to find income, particularly as artificial snow isn't the panacea it was once thought to be.

Skiing in the Alps is big business—it's an industry worth $30 billion—and last week, skiers were thrilled to discover the best snow in recent years. Unsurprisingly, the higher resorts in the Alps above 2,000 meters had the best conditions. The French resort of Flaine had the deepest snow in the world (three meters) and Les 3 Vallées, the largest global ski area that includes Méribel, Courchevel, and Val Thorens managed to open 311 miles of slopes, the most in the world (the latter, Val Thorens, is the highest ski resort in Europe).

The problem is that with even just a small increase in annual temperatures, many of the much-loved resorts in the Alps will suffer from scarce snow (defined as the poorest coverage experienced on average every five years between 1961 and 1990). Worse still, a recent report suggests that a four degree rise in temperature will cause 98% of the resorts examined in the study to suffer from scarce snow.

A study by Basel University found that resorts between 1,800 to 2,000 meters would need to close lower slopes and rely on artificial snow to keep the higher slopes open. The question is at what cost to the resort financially and environmentally? The creation of artificial snow uses too much water and energy to make it sustainable for any other than the highest resorts. As reported by The Guardian, this would cause local communities to vie with tourist activities for water usage, which would lead to local conflict.

In many cases, Alpine resorts are rethinking the kinds of tourists and activities they can offer throughout the year, such as hiking and cycling during the summer months and moving into spring and autumn too. The ideal for many mountain resorts would be to find ways to become attractive as all-year-round destinations.

Zermatt in Switzerland is a car-free resort and this might be another way to reduce carbon emissions in the Alps—most emissions come from travel to and from the resort, travel in and around the resort, and energy consumption in accommodation.

Over 500 professional winter sports athletes published an open letter in February demanding that the International Ski and Snowboard Federation take more action against preventing climate change, noting how weekly competition schedules force them to fly back and forth over short distances to compete. There is currently an open petition asking for greater action by the Federation.

The ski resorts in the Alps had some other good