Ski Resorts
Aspen/Snowmass Trying to Re-Use Last Year’s Powder for the 2008-2009 Ski and Snowboarding Season
Interesting story at Vaildaily.com today about efforts at Aspen/Snowmass to preserve a huge block of powder from last year’s season. The resort is using a product called Ice Protector Optiforce, which acts as a sort of “blanket” to prevent glacier ice and snow from melting. Tests in Austria and Switzerland have demonstrated that the product can save about 80% of the snow and ice protected using the product.
Aspen/Snowmass hopes to re-use a mound of snow that’s 50 by 75 feet and 20 feet high. The goal is to try and preserve/shape specific terrain park features, as opposed to preserving entire slopes.
If successful, I could see this saving ski resorts precious time, money and water creating giant mounds of snow for things like jumps and pipes. My only question is: why did it take so long for someone to figure this out? What a great idea.
Discussion
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This really makes a lot of sense. It’s just a matter of figuring out what the main causes of melting are (moving water, sunlight, air temperature, etc) and then finding solutions to counteract those causes. I guess my idea of a fridge the size Manhattan will have to wait – it’s not very eco-friendly anyways.