Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

SKIING

Swiss ski resorts won’t survive without artificial snow: study

Most of Switzerland's ski resorts are unlikely to survive without using artificial snow, a recent study found.

Published: 14 January 2023 19:10 CET
Skiers slide down a slope where snow remains at Adelboden Swiss alpine resort
Skiers slide down a slope where snow remains at Adelboden Swiss alpine resort, on January 6, 2023. Due to the lack of snow, several mid-altitude ski resorts had to close in Switzerland and more resorts are at risk of closure if they don't use artificial snow, a study has found. Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

Christoph Schuck, a scientist at the Technical University of Dortmund in Germany, came to this conclusion after analysing Switzerland’s 545 ski areas.

“Either they will most probably have to stop their activities in the medium term or they will have to invest in artificial snow,” he told Swiss-German daily NZZ in an interview published on Saturday.

The study showed that even high-altitude resorts were at risk, but the size of the resort made a difference.

“Until now, only resorts which operated fewer than seven facilities or primarily ski lifts have had to close,” said Schuck.

READ ALSO: ‘Bike instead of skiing’: Switzerland’s snowless ski slopes set to close

There are still some resorts able to boast of having natural snow for visitors to ski on, but Schuck says resorts won’t be able to bank on this to promote themselves for much longer.

The problem is that consistently snowy winters are not expected in the long term.

Schuck said that his researcher colleagues predicted climate change would lead to shorter winters as well as more limited snowfall, adding that this trend was more pronounced in the Alps than elsewhere in Europe.

This means that in future, snow canons – justifiably unpopular as they eat up huge amounts of energy – would be necessary to guarantee sufficient snow for tourists to want to continue visiting ski resorts in winter.

“The alternative [to snow canons] in the future for many resorts would be offering a very limited number of pistes or none at all,” he said.

Even if resorts switched their focus to activities, such as hiking, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing, this would still not compensate for the losses caused by the disappearance of a ski area because many other activities, such as ski and snowboard rentals, hotels and restaurants, also depend on it, explained Schuck.

In short, it’s not looking too rosy for winter tourism.

“Alpine tourism has already lost popularity in recent years. If the ski lifts in the valleys, which offer a good starting point for many children, disappear, this sport would be lost for the next generation,” he said.

READ MORE:

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

WEATHER

Will Switzerland be visited by ‘Ice Saints’ this year?

Ascension is not the only annual happening in the country in May, as Switzerland also ‘celebrates’ another 'chilling' event this month.

Published: 8 May 2024 14:20 CEST
Will Switzerland be visited by 'Ice Saints' this year?

From May 11th to the 15th, a meteorological event takes place each year in Switzerland.

It “observes”, though admittedly not on scientific basis, a centuries-old weather phenomenon called “Ice Saints”.

What exactly is it?

As its name suggests, it is related to saints, as well as ice and frost.

The saints in question are St Mamertus, St Pancras, St Servatius and St Boniface.

According to a weather lore, once these Ice Saints have passed through Switzerland in the middle of May, frost will no longer pose a threat to farmers and their land.

As the official government meteorological service MeteoSwiss explains it, “spring frosts have been a regular occurrence for centuries, giving rise to the traditional belief that a blast of cold air often arrives in the middle of May. Over time, this piece of weather lore became known as the Ice Saints.”

Fact versus myth

You may be wondering whether the Ice Saints lore actually has basis in reality.

Records, which date back to 1965 and originate from the Geneva-Cointrin, Payerne, and Zurich-Kloten weather stations, “clearly show that, over the long-term average, frost directly above the soil is only a regular occurrence up until the middle of April”, MeteoSwiss says. “After that, the frequency with which ground frost occurs progressively declines to almost zero by the end of May.”

“We can conclude, therefore, that there is no evidence in Switzerland to confirm the Ice Saints as a period in May when ground frost is more common.”

However, MeteoSwiss does concede that “ground frost is nevertheless a regular occurrence throughout May as a whole…having occurred at least once or twice in May every year, and in around 40 percent of the years there were more than two days in May with ground frost.”

What about this year?

MeteoSwiss weather forecast for the next seven days indicates that, this year too, no frost will be present on the ground in mid-May.

In fact, temperatures through much of Switzerland will be in double digits, reaching between 18C and 25C, depending on the region.

You can see what to expect in your area, here. 

SHOW COMMENTS