Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open

switzerlandtimes.ch

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 180 posts

Re: Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open

#131

Post by leejo »

hef19898 wrote: post #129
leejo wrote: post #116

Gstaad is quite an exclusive resort, but is relatively low level - the village is at about 1,000m. I once shot some photos for the local ski club at one of the slopes there and they wouldn't let anyone but the racers use the piste as they wanted to keep it in good condition. IIRC it was one of the privately owned runs, and they really didn't want this snowboarder wrecking the piste so I had to hike up to shoot photos…

Tgat slopes are closed for competition or training is normal in the alps so, nothing special about Gstaad here.

Nah, this was (IIRC) very much a privately owned piste with a privately owned Poma lift. Not the usual case of "this piste is closed for competition/training".

Gstaad is an interesting place. They have a yacht club but no lake for example...

Re: Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open

#132

Post by lazide »

tgv wrote: post #130
lazide wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ski trips are already very costly? And people pay it.

Lower middle class can afford it and go on one or two more holidays each year. It's not expensive enough to force choices.

That doesn’t meet any definition of lower middle class I’ve ever seen.

Re: Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open

#133

Post by snakke »

leejo wrote: post #116

Gstaad is quite an exclusive resort, but is relatively low level - the village is at about 1,000m. I once shot some photos for the local ski club at one of the slopes there and they wouldn't let anyone but the racers use the piste as they wanted to keep it in good condition. IIRC it was one of the privately owned runs, and they really didn't want this snowboarder wrecking the piste so I had to hike up to shoot photos…

It is also important to note for our North-American friends what exactly an exclusive resort means in this context. Some North-American exclusive resorts consist more like a golf-club where all slopes are not accessible unless you pay the "club fee" or in some cases buy a house in the village.

While here Gstaad is still open to the "common man". Yes, it's expensive skiing eating and hotels, with a lot of celebrities coming and going. It's also pretty big with 176km of pistes (where in NA how big a resort is is measured in skiable acres instead, so to give you an idea, it has 10 cable cars, 13 chairs and 13 surface lifts). So big enough they have to also aim for "normal people". Just mentioning it since the word exclusive might spring to mind a different kind of resort than some Americans are used to.

Re: Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open

#134

Post by ElfinTrousers »

If I were in charge of a ski resort anywhere in the world (and I am not suggesting that I should be), I'd be spending most of my working time trying to come up with a radical transition plan, to an industry with a viable future. I'm not sure if there's much you can do with a mountain that's covered in mud instead of snow though.

Re: Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open

#135

Post by flavius29663 »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #5
Logans_Run wrote: post #2

Global warming being caused in part by internal combustion engines and aviation results in less snow for skiers... Solution? Chopper some more snow in to counter the effects of I.C.E's and aviation. Huhmmmm.... Does anyone else spot a dichotomy in thinking here?

There is like 115,000 commercial flights a day. Complaining about the impact of celeb x or one off flights is just silly.

Complaining about celebs is mostly because they are big pushers for green energy and climate change mitigation, then they go ahead and fly private planes everywhere. Rules for thee...

Some people feel like they're treated like serfs: you stay in your village, on car, no flights, no tourism, save water, wave electricity, while I, the nobleman, get to travel to climate change conferences in private planes, because I am important to the cause.

Re: Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open

#136

Post by dsfyu404ed »

snakke wrote: post #133
leejo wrote: post #116

Gstaad is quite an exclusive resort, but is relatively low level - the village is at about 1,000m. I once shot some photos for the local ski club at one of the slopes there and they wouldn't let anyone but the racers use the piste as they wanted to keep it in good condition. IIRC it was one of the privately owned runs, and they really didn't want this snowboarder wrecking the piste so I had to hike up to shoot photos…

It is also important to note for our North-American friends what exactly an exclusive resort means in this context. Some North-American exclusive resorts consist more like a golf-club where all slopes are not accessible unless you pay the "club fee" or in some cases buy a house in the village. While here Gstaad is still open to the "common man". Yes, it's expensive skiing eating and hotels, with a lot of celebrities…

>While here Gstaad is still open to the "common man"

The cost to exist and engage in the day to day commerce of life there is sufficiently high that the common man does not and mostly cannot bother hence no need for other forms of exclusivity.

Re: Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open

#137

Post by dsfyu404ed »

sva_ wrote: post #115
mythhouse wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Huhmmmm.... Does anyone else spot a dichotomy in thinking here? No because we've accepted rich flying their private jets and lecturing everyone about how they are causing climate change by driving their suv to drop off kids at school. This isn't any weirder than that.

Everyone always has some special reason justifying what they do.

I think the point is that if you're gonna tell other people what to do you need to set some semblance of an example by putting your money where your mouth is. For example no religion that preaches the traditional sorts of stuff religions preach tolerates clergy who act like Charlie Sheen.

Re: Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open

#138

Post by blastro »

anon23anon wrote: post #128
leejo wrote: post #116

Gstaad is quite an exclusive resort, but is relatively low level - the village is at about 1,000m. I once shot some photos for the local ski club at one of the slopes there and they wouldn't let anyone but the racers use the piste as they wanted to keep it in good condition. IIRC it was one of the privately owned runs, and they really didn't want this snowboarder wrecking the piste so I had to hike up to shoot photos…

How do snowboarders wreck the slopes anymore than skiers?

Yes, they tend to scrape snow off of the mountain moreso than skiers.

Re: Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open

#139

Post by gbajson »

dylan604 wrote: post #109
Sharlin wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, "last 5-10 years" is pretty new. I doubt such measures were needed even a few decades ago.

I started skiing in the 80s, and even then they had snow machines to make snow when it was lean times. Seems much more practical than using helicopters.

Snow cannons are much cheaper, but don't work when temperature is above 0 °C; helicopters can still fly and carry snow.

Re: Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open

#140

Post by mrep »

LeonM wrote: post #44
seanalltogether wrote: post #20

Am I right in thinking that Gstaad is like the Aspen of Switzerland, one of the richest ski resort towns? Is this why they can get away with helicoptering in snow?

Switzerland is a rich country, and just about every ski resort is outrageously expensive (think 14 euro for a beer, 35 for a pizza, 150+/night for a hotel, 50+/day slopes). So financially, they can definitely get away with helicoptering in snow. The most exclusive ones are probably St. Moritz, Zermatt and Lech, not so sure about Gstaad.

Come to Deer Valley in Park City Utah, it's only $670 a night for lodging (minimum) and 230-260 a day for passes!
Post reply on HN