Ed Andrews: Snow Greed
A look at the destructive nature of snowmaking and early season openings.
More like this...
It’s amazing, it’s record breaking, it’s absolutely the best possible thing to ever happen to the world of snowboarding. Have you not heard? Loveland Ski Resort in Colorado became the earliest opening snow resort in North America on October 7.
I mean, c’mon. That’s amazing isn’t it? We are looking to get an eight month season here people. Fucking eight months of shredding. It’s like every snowboarder’s dream has come true, right? Err, no.
I’m not sure if anyone else is alarmed at this heady euphoria that has been pouring out of websites at this. Just looking at the Loveland blogs, it has been boasting of its snowmaking prowess since late August.
“We didn’t get the 16 inches of snow they were calling for, but we had 23 guns going 24-7! Our snowmaking crew has worked hard the past 48 hours transforming our brown mountain into a winter wonderland,” it bragged on September 24.
On September 28, they posted a picture of one pristine white piste cutting through all that nasty green and brown. Nice work lads!
And on October 6, Eric Johnstone, Loveland’s Snowmaking and Trail Maintenance Manager gleefully posted "We took advantage of the cold temperatures and got an early start making snow this year. Those extra days paid off and we are opening a week earlier than last season. Now we can move some equipment to other trails and try to open more terrain as quickly as possible."
The result was one lift and a mile-long run surrounded by green trees and mountain meadows. Gnarly! But this is not an isolated example, this happens in snow resorts all around the world as companies attempt to eek out the longest seasons possible, motivated by both a love of snowsports and love of yachts, fast cars and share dividends.
Let’s get this straight. Environmentally, snowmaking is very bad news. It’s the equivalent of pouring on the cream topping on a meringue via your nostrils. Apart from the massive amounts of water being used, this ‘snow’ also contains a chemical called Polyether-Modified Siloxanes (PEMs). According to Drift, just one of the companies who manufactures this ‘snow’ additive, PEMs have 'relatively low toxicity, and for this reason little research has been directed toward characterizing potential environmental impacts of this group of chemicals.'
Sorry, 'relatively low toxicity'? That’s alright then, I’m sure if you are blasting it out over an entire fucking mountain from late August to late April, then this 'relatively low toxicity' will have absolutely no affect on the flora and fauna both on the mountain and in the wider drainage basin. And even if PEMs are the equivalent of a cockroach in Buckingham Palace, what about all that water, the power used to fire up the machines and the general disruption to the natural cycle of the ecosystem?
Snowmaking is nothing new. But with the general decline in snowfall that climatologists predict, this will only mean a further reckless expansion of snowmaking.
But I’m a massive hypocrite when it comes to this. If the opportunity arose to ride Loveland in October, I’d probably take it. Why? Because like millions of others, I love snowboarding.
But love can be stifling, suffocating and destructive. Sometimes its better to take things slowly rather than being consumed by a passion that burns itself out too soon.
So can people really not wait until December to get their first hit of snow? Isn’t it better to find alternate activities in the off-season so that when the snow eventually does come, it’s so much more special?
You can have too much of a good thing. Let’s just hope places like Loveland realise that before they destroy what they truly love.
Subscribe to HUCK for six issues
Only £20 (UK) / £43 (EU) / £58 (Rest of the World).
Snow Greed (text) by Ed Andrews is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.Comments (7)
Please note: Your comment may be held in moderation for approval by an administrator to prevent spamming. This usually doesn't take long, please be patient.
I agree with you Ed, good things come to those who wait and all that. Snowboarding is special for a reason, lets keep it that way!
I hate this impatience in people and when it's to the detriment of this fragile lump of rock we're floating around the galaxy on then even more so. Loveland, you just carry on, maybe your new venture could be called 'Fuckedthisland Ski Resort'.
It also seems that this opening was also to do with vanity as well. Loveland has a fierce rivalry with nearby resort Arapahoe Basin and so for years these two have trying to out do each other for early openings.
Great, huh?!
Although, considering snowboarding is one of the more expensive sports to enjoy, hence the involvement of a substantial amount of rich kids with disposable incomes and a distinct lack of self discipline, I am afraid these words of wisdom may fall on deaf ears.
Luckily, as with every sport, there are purists who are willing to look outwith their own culture and observe the impact it has on society and the world in general.
I am looking forward to NATURAL snow. Let's hope it comes.
But is it worth it? I spent half a season (before injury cut me short) riding nearby Northstar during the day, then Boreal at night, but was utterly disappointed: the same flat, icy, runs, dull rails with ridiculously dangerous bombed out landings and swamped by shallow park rats, grew boring very quickly. One thing they were good at was creating perfect halfpipes - but, that's another (entirely non-environmentally friendly) story.
I craved the large, otherwordly peaks of Europe; monolithic mountains that tickled the heavens, doused with deep, fluffy, white gold. The steep end endless runs of Chamonix, or the forests and powder fields of deepest, darkest Austria.
Thankfully, this hype about ridiculously early seasons is not all gluttony and global-warming-as-a-distant memory; high altitude resorts like Hintertux have been getting snow since September but, of the very real, made by clouds not cannons, variety. Friends in bigger US resorts like Salt Lake City, are getting snow and hiking closed resorts for fresh too. North-Californians are riding powder in Squaw in the morning, then surfing in the afternoon. Reports of people hiking to October powder in Chamonix and BC are also flltering through..
Weirdly, while winter's begun early on the northern hemisphere, the southern slopes are also celebrating their best seasons for years - friends have been hiking over 1600m, then taking the most perfect, empty freeride down.
Who needs scummy, kindergarten sized strips of snow, parading as 'resorts' when the real thing is ripe and ready to ride... if you're willing to sweat to get it.