Industry News
As natural snowfall becomes less reliable with each passing season, many ski areas in North America have increasingly turned to snowmaking to open early season terrain. However, aside from water supply and energy use issues, snowmaking requires cold temperatures to work. The start of the ski season in the Western part of North America brought unseasonably warm temperatures for months on end, preventing many ski areas from getting any terrain open. An alternative approach to opening early season terrain is snow storage or snow farming.
The concept of snow farming is simple: pile up as much snow as possible at the end of the season, find a way of keeping as much snow as possible from melting during the summer, uncover whatever remains when the air crisps and the leaves begin to change color, and hopefully, fire up the chairlifts. Already in use at dozens of ski areas across Europe, the idea is gaining popularity at ski areas in North America. Overall, the combination of far lower energy and water use and the relatively straightforward operation make snow storage an attractive alternative or complement to snowmaking.
- Related: Mölltaler Glacier Resort, Austria, Sets New Snow Farming Record Ahead of 2025-26 Ski Season
A 2015-2017 survey of nordic and alpine ski areas in Europe by the Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, or SLF, found that 45% of the 98 respondents use snow storage in some way, and another 51% of those not yet storing snow were considering starting. Key decisions around snow storage include where to put the giant pile of snow — preferably somewhere shady — what to cover it with, usually some combination of sawdust, woodchips, styrofoam, and fabrics; and perhaps most crucially, when to uncover the pile of snow in the winter. Volume losses ranged from 13 to 50% over the summer, which is thought mostly to do with the insulation strategy, rather than the local weather. Though simple in concept, snow storage clearly has a learning curve, with 80% of the ski areas in the survey who currently store snow saying they saw room for improvement in their own operation.
- Related: Trying to Beat the Heatwave: German Resort Oberstdorf Attempts Snow Farming for the First Time
Humans have been storing snow for uses during warmer months for thousands of years. More recently, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Truckee, California was famous for harvesting and storing ice and snow for refrigeration in San Francisco and other cities. The process involved flooding large areas with water from the Truckee River, sawing up enormous blocks of ice, and packing them with straw, sawdust, or some other insulating material in enormous ice houses until they were transported by train down to the Bay Area.
Storage of snow at ski areas in North America also has been around for more than a few decades. Skiing in June typically may evoke thoughts of Mammoth Mountain or Timberline Lodge, but for about 10 years starting in 1993, Tyrol Basin, Wisconsin hosted a halfpipe or rail jam competition every June. Snow would be scraped off the ski runs and pushed into an enormous pile and covered with a tarp, and a halfpipe was bored out of the middle of whatever was left when June rolled around. More recent attempts at snow storage are not much different from what Tyrol Basin was up to in the 90s. Dozens of European ski areas have used snow storage, covering their piles with thick layers of sawdust and woodchips, for more than 20 years. The SLF has studied snow storage since 2008.
- Related: Mölltaller Glacier Resort, Austria, Sets New Snow Farming Record Ahead of 2025–26 Ski Season
Detailed studies by the SLF show why snow storage works so well. When snow is covered by an insulating layer, the sun is no longer able to dump energy into the snowpack. Even at temperatures above the melting point of ice, energy is required to break the bonds between water molecules, and the speed of the melting process can slow way down if there is no way to add more energy to the snowpack. Through numerical modelling of the heat flow within a covered snowpack, researchers at the SLF showed that the temperature deep within the covered snow pile remains quite chilly, and any melting that happens is at the surface, next to the insulating layer. As for materials to cover the snow with, any good insulator will work fine, 30-40 centimeters (12-16 inches) of sawdust and wood chips, or an insulating fabric.
- Related: Sun Peaks Resort, BC, is First Canadian Ski Area to Employ Snow Farming and Storage Technique
A Finnish company, called Snow Secure, has been developing specially designed insulating mats for large-scale snow storage at ski areas. One drawback of using sawdust and wood chips is that they can be challenging, or unpractical, to reuse for a second season. Snow Secure is designed with reuse in mind, and the company estimates a lifetime of up to 20 years. Snow Secure’s system is used in Levi, Finland to help ensure enough snow is present in early November for the annual World Cup slalom race, and is used at a dozen other sites throughout Europe and North America.
One new Snow Secure customer, Bogus Basin, Idaho, discovered that deciding when to uncover the snow pile is a critical decision that can have significant consequences. Faced with an early October snowstorm and worried about lingering snow on top of the Snow Secure system, Bogus Basin decided to uncover their snow pile on October 9, 2025. The mountain received a few inches of snow at the start of the storm, but much of the precipitation throughout the storm fell as rain. Data from the Bogus Basin SNOTEL site indicates all of the snow melted within two days, and only trace amounts of snow were reported until early December. According to the NSAA Journal, after preserving 80% of the snow over the summer, more than half of the remaining pile melted in the six weeks after it was uncovered. Enough snow remained to open a tiny ribbon serviced by a magic carpet, and Bogus Basin declared victory. Historical records from the Bogus Basin SNOTEL site indicate that measurable October snowfall occurred in 15 of the last 26 winters, but only four winters, 2004, 2009, 2010, and 2022, had at least 6 inches of snow on the ground at the end of October, bringing into question the wisdom of uncovering the snow pile at the first sign of winter weather. Though operation of the Snow Secure system is technically much simpler than operation of a snowmaking system, Bogus Basin showed that an understanding of climate, weather patterns, and forecasting are every bit as important, if not more important, to the success of a snow storage project.
Though an old idea, snow storage is rapidly growing in popularity as a way of managing early season ski conditions. Cheap in terms of energy, simple in terms of planning and operations, snow storage represents an important alternative alongside traditional snowmaking systems to deliver skiable terrain while the natural snow is just beginning to stack up. As winter weather patterns grow more uncertain and winter snowpacks become thinner, snow storage could continue to grow in importance for the success of the ski industry.
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