Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open • Hacker News Board

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

#171

Post by faebi » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 10:37 PM UTC

tduberne wrote: post #77

dashdot wrote: 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.

I do not live in Switzerland anymore, so I cannot do a survey, but I can tell you helicopters are used an absurd amount in Switzerland, and everyone seems fine with it. For instance I personally saw, with my own eyes, helicopters used to: - install an AC unit on the roof of a university building - move building material from one side of campus to the other side - extract dead trees from a small forest with an extensi…

I'm from Zürich, and they literally transported half the forest away using helicopters. Took them weeks. I have no idea how that made sense.

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

#172

Post by bamboozled » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 11:05 PM UTC

Freak_NL wrote: post #85

bamboozled wrote: post #60

Why is Switzerland so hot? I know climate change is a thing, but many other countries are receiving a lot of big snow falls. What's specifically going on in Switzerland? Jet stream weirdness allowing warm air further north?

This is not limited to Switzerland, but to all the alpine regions in Europe; i.e., also France, Germany, and Austria. Only northern Italy seems to have faired a little bit better, but that is just meteorological luck.

As someone who loves winter, this is sad but I guess it's just going to be a new reality...

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

#173

Post by jlarocco » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 11:19 PM UTC

MichaelZuo wrote: post #159

jlarocco wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Couldn't ski resorts just charge snowboarders more to make up for the extra grooming costs?

They do, and that grooming cost is indirectly covered by the lift ticket prices or the event sponsors.

But the run will still be closed for a while, because it doesn't make sense to continually groom the run leading up to and during competition or practice. Generally it's not closed to just snowboarders, but to anybody who isn't involved with the event. At least that's how they do it here in CO.

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

#174

Post by thewhitetulip » Sat, Jan 07, 2023, 2:06 PM UTC

sschueller wrote: post #118

thewhitetulip wrote: post #9

I know Europe isn't as anti climate change as US but I really hope rhat the world atarts taking this seriously When Europe is as hot as Asia during summers and as hot as Asia during respective winters that clearly proves beyond a shadow of doubt that global warming is real Because Trump had said "it is snowing here" to justify xlimate denying. They have extreme polar vortex over there so they haven't yet faced the se…

Sadly this is a global problem and no matter what tiny Switzerland does to be green, it has almost zero effect when the big polluters are still arguing if climate change is real.

exactly. we really need to work together like we did during CFC ozone hole crisis

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

#175

Post by thewhitetulip » Sat, Jan 07, 2023, 2:07 PM UTC

vinay427 wrote: post #23

thewhitetulip wrote: post #9

I know Europe isn't as anti climate change as US but I really hope rhat the world atarts taking this seriously When Europe is as hot as Asia during summers and as hot as Asia during respective winters that clearly proves beyond a shadow of doubt that global warming is real Because Trump had said "it is snowing here" to justify xlimate denying. They have extreme polar vortex over there so they haven't yet faced the se…

> I know Europe isn't as anti climate change as US I feel like this isn't the clearest phrasing. :) Perhaps you meant anti-anti-climate change (clunky) or anti-climate change awareness or similar?

yes EU doesnt seem to be big climate change deniers & their leaders can understand the difference between weather and climate

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

#176

Post by thewhitetulip » Sat, Jan 07, 2023, 2:09 PM UTC

m_mueller wrote: post #24

thewhitetulip wrote: post #9

I know Europe isn't as anti climate change as US but I really hope rhat the world atarts taking this seriously When Europe is as hot as Asia during summers and as hot as Asia during respective winters that clearly proves beyond a shadow of doubt that global warming is real Because Trump had said "it is snowing here" to justify xlimate denying. They have extreme polar vortex over there so they haven't yet faced the se…

[flagged]

Are we reading the same comment? I merely prayed that the world wakes up to the climate disaster

Imagine having to dumpsnow via a helicopter... This means things are going to be worse in the coming years

Every country needs to wake up and fix issues of non renewable energy

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

#177

Post by Terretta » Sat, Jan 07, 2023, 2:13 PM UTC

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. One easy place to see this is Alta (skiing only) and Snowbird (mixed use) side by side on the same mountain in Utah. I enjoy both and prefer skiing the snow and runs of Alta.

I'd prefer snowboarding Alta too, but seeing for myself the difference to the snow and to the traffic patterns, I can see my snowboard would undermine Alta's preferential characteristics, so I'm happy they're separate.

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

#178

Post by snakke » Sat, Jan 07, 2023, 4:20 PM UTC

MichaelZuo wrote: post #160

snakke wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Are there North-American style exclusive resorts in Switzerland?

Not as far as I know. There's probably some guy who has a small surface lift in his garden that only friends use, but that is not really comparable.

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

#179

Post by epgui » Sat, Jan 07, 2023, 4:33 PM UTC

a4a4a4a4 wrote: post #169

epgui wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The survival of a few villages is an issue that pales in comparison to the issue of climate change.

Written from the comfort of your warm home with your secure, easily replaceable tech job. It's very easy to be philosophical when it's not your entire life and family history at stake. Answering questions like "what should people do instead?" is important to figuring out how we can move away from things that damage the climate. If you just tell people "your life and livelihood isn't as important as X" isn't going to…

I don’t really appreciate the spin you’re putting to my comment, but I think you’re just missing the point.

The point of my comment is not to trivialize the livelihoods of the inhabitants of “a few villages”. As you correctly point out, that would be crass and unfair.

The point of my comment is that climate change is an existential crisis at a scale much larger than “a few villages”: it’s fairly likely to result in an extinction event. For all villages.

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

#180

Post by m_mueller » Sat, Jan 07, 2023, 8:30 PM UTC

thewhitetulip wrote: post #176

m_mueller wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Are we reading the same comment? I merely prayed that the world wakes up to the climate disaster Imagine having to dumpsnow via a helicopter... This means things are going to be worse in the coming years Every country needs to wake up and fix issues of non renewable energy

it was just an issue with your phrasing of 'anti climate change'. I think you meant 'climate change denying' or something like that, then it makes more sense. Being 'anti climate change' to me means that you try to stop the change, and by your comment I read it as the US being more advanced in that regard.