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

switzerlandtimes.ch

141–150 of 180 posts

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

#141
post #8

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?

You realize there are entire towns and villages whose lives depend on this tourism, right? I'm not saying it's a perfect solution to fly snow in, but you can't discount the impact this has on the population if the resorts close down.

There are very few groups of people I would feel less sorry for.

I grew up in one of those tourism towns. It's like old school strip mining but for society. Instead of poisoning watersheds it poisons society. It turns businessmen into swindlers. It turns culture into caricature. It turns the economy into a disgusting web of perverse incentives in which every actor is constantly dealing in way that would give a mafia run dumpster company pause. Good riddance.

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

#142
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of Aspens in Switzerland. But seriously, I hope there will be consequences. Everyone in my bubble disapproves this strongly. Yes, there is not much snow. Yes, it is crippling snow tourism. But I can't imagine there are a lot of Swiss people who think that flying in snow is justified in any way.

> But I can't imagine there are a lot of Swiss people who think that flying in snow is justified in any way. I just got back from skiing in Vail Colorado. People in Europe may object to flying snow to the mountain, but they certainly do not object to flying themselves to the snow. In the shared gondola and lift rides, people speaking English within their groups were the minority. I am not complaining, it was a wonder…

Yeah it's nuts here in western USA. We've gotten over 200 inches of snow here in Park City Utah and I saw like 10 dump trucks full of snow hauling it away just walking to the grocery store yesterday.

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

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

There is no rule preventing me from doing the same. This reads like flamebait.

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

#144

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.

Lift serviced downhill mountain biking being the obvious choice.

Many resorts already do a brisk summer business - snow mass and telluride. For instance… Zermatt…

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

#145
post #132
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[dead]

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

#147
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?

Besides scraping up the snow in general, they can really mess up bump runs because they travel through them a lot differently than skiers.

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

#148
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?

Ah, thanks for reminding me of my favorite youtube archived video - Skiers vs Snowboarders circa 1985.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPZDEWBzneY

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

#150
post #110

The east coast of the US has long used extensive snowmaking capacity to keep slopes open. Most resorts in the east have plenty of cold air, but natural snow is iffy at best for long periods. It’s now common for resorts in the east to have 100% (or close to it) of the mountain equipped with snow guns. It’s not fluffy powder but creates a perfectly acceptable surface. However if the problem these Swiss resorts are havi…

Natural snow is more of an “icing on the cake” in the northeast. If you don’t make snow, you might be okay eventually, but you’ll likely miss out on some early major holiday income periods (Christmas week, MLK weekend). Snowmaking is an arms race in that those ski areas that did make snow will take your customers for those times.
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