Industry News
We’re officially into fall, snowmaking has begun, and we’ve had dustings of snow at ski resorts across North America, whetting our appetite for winter. The days are getting shorter and colder, and the countdown to opening day is now on.
In Finland, they haven’t had to wait as long. Levi, the nation’s largest ski area, and Ruka, another one of the largest, opened for the season today, Friday, October 6th, 2023. This comes after Swedish Ski Resort Kläppen opened yesterday.
“The winter season of the festive year is open 🎉
The anniversary winter season is open 🎉”
“Rukka’s winter season opened today October 6. For the eighth time on the preserved snow slopes in Saarua illä☀️”
SnowBrains has contacts on the ground at Levi, and we hope to bring you pictures later today.
The massive undertaking of spreading its stored snow began at Levi on Friday, September 29th, 2023.
This Friday, a monumental task begins as we need to distribute 130,000 m³ of stored snow on the Front Slope for opening day! We also have a new live feed where you can follow the exciting project 🙌 Come see how our snowy undertaking is going: https://bit.ly/48Jc0xA 🍿
To open early, the “two resorts use snow farming – saving piles of snow collected last spring under insulating covers.” The Process of Snow Farming can save up to 75% of the snow from the season before. With the continued threat of climate change, snow farming provides a viable safety net for resorts. The holiday period is often the most lucrative period for resorts, and having limited terrain can negatively impact the guest experience. Using snow farming can negate these impacts regardless of the weather. Technologies like snowmaking are great when the weather is cold. However, snow farming allows resorts to have snow when snowmaking temperatures are not possible. Resorts like Ruka can open regardless of the temperature.
Whistler and European resorts have begun to use snow farming or covering of glaciers to prolong, or in this case, provide an early start. As resorts are affected by climate change, dryer seasons, and earlier closing dates, nations and their ski areas must become more creative. Courchevel now uses the same technique in France and Kitzbühel in the Austrian Tirol, usually the first location in the Alps to open without a glacier.
The “Race To Open” in North America has been won by various resorts nationwide, from Colorado to Minnesota. Perpetually, some of the first to open in the United States are A-Basin and Loveland in Colorado. Unlike Ruka, these resorts rely on cold temperatures, so snowmaking can be possible in late September and October. In 2019, A-Basin opened on October 12th. It will be interesting to see how they compare to Ruka this year.
So get ready. Do your snow dances and keep an eye on the skies. North America won’t be far behind…
