Can Snowmaking Compensate for Climate Change?

[jimk]

I skied Cherokee once around 1990 or 91 The developer was not ski-savvy. Little investment was made in snowmaking or a decent base lodge.
Few trails ever opened. Parking was mid-mtn IIRC. The terrain was poor, flat up top, steep in lower areas. It was close to an interstate, but the elevation wasn't very high and temps were often mild. It closed after just two or three years of operation. Interesting article and comments on Cherokee HERE.

Snowshoe is a pretty interesting mountain, primarily for the large resort development at the top of a nearly 5k foot mtn. The top of Snowshoe has a feel like the base of ski areas out west that start at 5000' or higher. This makes for decent snowmaking conditions. But the ski terrain is not that much better than many mtns closer to Balt-Wash, where I was based. There are only two runs at Snowshoe that have the full 1500' vertical. The majority of the mtn skis much like smaller mtns closer to home, approx 800' vertical. It is about 4.5 hrs from DC and 5 from Balt. Lodging has always been kind of expensive there. I think it draws a fair number of guests from Atlanta, Nashville, Louisville and other points in the Southeast and mid-South, where it offers the best skiing reachable by a 6-8 hr car ride. I skied it in 1983 and 2001 for a few days each time.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I can't make heads or tails of which sectors in the master plan above aren't currently in operation in the map below other than Hawthorne.

The two lifts and terrain pod at far right of ChrisC's map are also not yet developed.

James' map captions above are entertaining. I'm sure Snowshoe is one of those places where you "Don't even think about skiing here on a weekend or holiday."

During my first 1999 NASJA meeting at Mammoth I rode the first gondola to the top with the marketing director at Snowshoe. Salivating at the 50 inches of powder, I asked him about the famous January 1996 blizzard that had dumped 3+ feet at Snowshoe. He said, "We groom everything." I responded, "What about the trees?" He said, "You don't understand. We have Southern skiers. We can't let them in there."

 

[jamesdeluxe]

James' map captions above are entertaining.

If I'm not mistaken, Snowshoe appropriated that helpful feature from the British "Where To Ski and Snowboard Worldwide" series (I hadn't seen it elsewhere). The map below is Les Arcs from the 2013 edition. I wonder why they didn't continue the map captions with their transition to books on individual Alps countries in the late 2010s. Glad that Snowshoe took the idea and ran with it on their trail map.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

We've discussed this technology before; however, I didn't know that it had a proprietary brand name:

Snow Secure, a Pioneer in Large-Scale Snow Storage and Snowfarming Solutions, Named to TIME Best Inventions 2025 - SnowBrains

Snow Secure, a pioneer in large-scale snow storage and snowfarming solutions, has been named to TIME Best Inventions 2025.

snowbrains.com

 

[MarzNC]

During my first 1999 NASJA meeting at Mammoth I rode the first gondola to the top with the marketing director at Snowshoe. Salivating at the 50 inches of powder, I asked him about the famous January 1996 blizzard that had dumped 3+ feet at Snowshoe. He said, "We groom everything." I responded, "What about the trees?" He said, "You don't understand. We have Southern skiers. We can't let them in there."

That attitude about trees has shifted more in recent years under Alterra ownership. Still better tree skiing in the Canaan Valley between Timberline and CV, but there are official glades at Snowshoe now. The Sawmill Glades opened up by 2009 under Intrawest.

Intrawest bought Snowshoe from a corporate owner in 1996. Don't know how long it took to build out the main village.

Fun fact . . . Bill Rock was in charge of Snowshoe for five years under Intrawest before Vail Resorts offered him the job of leading Northstar in 2010. The SkiSoutheast folks like Bill Rock a lot when he was at Snowshoe. The annual SkiSoutheast Summit at Snowshoe in early March was always a good time, with discounted lodging and a free lift ticket, as well as first tracks on Sunday morning. Rock kept moving up within VR's management chain after dealing with Park City/Canyons from 2015-21.

 

[Tony Crocker]

We've discussed this technology before; however, I didn't know that it had a proprietary brand name

Sun Peaks is very logical place to use something like this. It has a cold but not snowy climate and is committed to hosting race teams in November.

We have seen stockpile snowmaking in spring for use in the fall only once, at Pitztal Glacier.

A cursory search indicates that those snow pyramids are covered with insulating tarps in the summer.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I like the composition of that Pitztal photo. I asked a bot which ski areas in the Alps bank snow from the previous season. As in virtually all advances in ski area operations, they're well ahead of North America in this area too. Interesting about the part in red:

* * *
Multiple ski areas in the Alps use "snow farming" to store excess snow from the previous season for use in the next winter. The technique involves stockpiling large piles of snow during winter and covering them with insulated materials like wood chips, sawdust, or specialized tarps to protect them from melting over the summer. Notable resorts that have used snow farming include:

Austria
- Mölltaler Glacier: A record-breaker in snow farming, this glacier resort stored 300,000 cubic meters of snow for the 2025–26 season.
- Kitzbühel: This resort has used snow farming for years to secure a consistently long ski season.
- Seefeld Region: This area has practiced snow farming since 2015, using wood chips to preserve the snow.
- Sölden: This glacier resort stores snow to help ensure an early and reliable start to its season.
- Hintertux Glacier: This glacier resort is known for its high-altitude, snow-sure conditions and also employs snow farming.
- Obertauern: A high-altitude resort that is listed among those utilizing snow storage methods.

Switzerland
- Davos: A pioneer in the technique, the resort has been snow farming since 2008, originally using sawdust as insulation.
- Diavolezza: Located near St. Moritz, Diavolezza uses snow farming as part of its sustainability efforts to protect its glacier.
- Saas-Fee: As a glacier resort, Saas-Fee utilizes snow farming to manage its slopes and extend the season.
- Adelboden: This resort has been using snow farming since at least 2018.
- Zermatt: Zermatt is a high-altitude resort known for its glacier skiing and summer operations, which rely on snow management techniques.

France
- Val-d'Isère: This high-altitude resort is known for its snow-sure conditions, which are bolstered by snow management practices like farming.
- Tignes: Often grouped with Val-d'Isère, Tignes is another high-altitude resort where snow farming is used to guarantee conditions.

 

[ChrisC]

While people drive to Snowshoe from Pittsburgh, DC, northern VA, and NC, it's not an easy drive. Especially if it's snowing. From my house near Raleigh, it's essentially 7 hours on the road. The last couple hours on 2-lane WV highway that is likely to be snow covered during and after a snowstorm. I took my daughter twice for the SkiSoutheast Summit. After that, wasn't much reason to make the drive.

Twenty years ago, the drive from DC to Snowshoe was 6-7 hours. A bit less now because the so-call H Corridor US highways was upgraded to 4-lane after years of construction most of the way between the VA/WV border and Davis, where Timberline, Canaan Valley, and White Grass are located. Not day trip distance. People willing to spend the money on lodging at Snowshoe also are willing to pay for plane tickets out west or drive north for ski trips. There are very few alternatives for lodging besides resort lodging.

Agree. The roads are challenging from anywhere to Snowshoe.

Mentally, I see the Texan families who live in Dallas/Austin/West Texas driving 14 hours to Southwest Colorado, or the Arizonans who drive 8 hours from Phoenix to Telluride. (Even the Midwest families who would drive from Twin Cities to Montana - Big Sky).

However, at least you are guaranteed decent conditions in Colorado—especially on beginner and intermediate terrain.

West Virginia - not so much. And lodging prices are as expensive as almost anywhere.

Snowshoe does have an on-site lodging monopoly. I visited once, and it was pricey. The only other East Coast mountain I have seen this at is Sugarloaf, Maine. The resort had to build its own lodging, and there were no valleys of inns like Vermont or New Hampshire. Sunday River has a similar issue, but not to the same extent.

 

[ChrisC]

Multiple ski areas in the Alps use "snow farming" to store excess snow from the previous season for use in the next winter. The technique involves stockpiling large piles of snow during winter and covering them with insulated materials like wood chips, sawdust, or specialized tarps to protect them from melting over the summer. Notable resorts that have used snow farming include:

Oh yeah!

A few others:

Emgelberg. Tony and I saw snowmaking applied to its glacier even during a high-snowfall year, 2018-19. I believe they are skiing on its Ice Flyer - a tiny HS Quad glacier lift. https://www.engelberg.ch/en/webcams/

Courchevel
Snow farming: Since at least 2018, the resort has collected and stored snow at the end of the winter season.
Large piles of snow are placed on north-facing slopes to minimize sun exposure and then covered with large reflective tarpaulins or insulating blankets throughout the summer. This technique can preserve a significant amount of snow, which can then be spread on race pistes like the Émile-Allais stadium in the autumn to prepare for early season races.


Levi, Finland.
They are even more advanced in snow preservation than Kitzbuhel. Open early/mid-October.
They call their snow preservation area a glacier: https://www.levi.fi/en/ski/slopes-and-lifts/front-slopes/
Despite spending weeks in Finland, I always went skiing in the Alps. Scandinavia is expensive (besides Iceland or maybe Norway—I think it's a poor value!). I did not want to pay for an overnight train, flight, etc, to the Arctic Circle when Geneva/Zurich were the same price.

Levi Ski Resort | Levi

Levi Ski Resort is the leading ski resort in Finland. Our success relies on professional staff, our technological capabilities and the alpine world cup races.

www.levi.fi

 

[MarzNC]

As of early October, Sugarbush is worried about low water levels.

October 8, 2025

Will the Drought in the Northeast Curtail Snowmaking This Fall/Winter? - SeniorsSkiing.com

It all begins with water availability. Resorts draw water for snowmaking from reservoirs, ponds, rivers, streams, or groundwater. In drought years, those sources may not be “fully charged” ahead of the snowmaking season. In Vermont, resorts have expressed concern that their ponds haven’t...

seniorsskiing.com

" . . .
Sugarbush Resort has noted its pond levels are currently lower than normal, and its usual source (the Mad River) is too low to allow withdrawal. They have “enough water to cover a few trails … enough for opening day,” but worry about sustaining broader coverage. . . ."

 

[Tony Crocker]

As in virtually all advances in ski area operations, they're well ahead of North America in this area too.

A lot of this is for race training, a big priority in Europe. Fraser explained to me that glacier resorts like Pitztal are aiming more for hard snow race training in September than for corn snow in June/July.

Informative article above on Northeast snowmaking. The east normally gets so much summer rain that it's not necessary to have big reservoirs. So in the rare event of drought it seems water is constrained. Big Bear is essentially drought proof drawing water from Big Bear Lake. I never heard a word about its snowmaking being constrained even after extreme drought years in 2014 and 2018. Mammoth refills its snowmaking from wells. In 2011-12 I was impressed by 400+ acres of snowmaking coverage mid-December, but that was following a huge 2010-11 season. I heard that when drought persisted 3 more years, by then the well water supply for the last drought year in 2014-15 was not so great.

 

[MarzNC]

New Hampshire ski resorts are having to cope with drought conditions as the time approaches that snowmaking should start in earnest.

October 14, 2025

To keep skiing the East through droughts and warming winters, we may have to ‘rethink’ ski season • New Hampshire Bulletin

Winter ski season is on the horizon, but New Hampshire is still deep in drought, putting some snowmakers at the state’s mountain resorts on edge.

newhampshirebulletin.com

" . . .
With evolving technology and strategic snowmaking, the snowmakers said they expect to keep skiers on the trails this winter despite current water shortages. But like warming winters, recurring late-summer droughts are part of a larger climate change-driven pattern that has complicated the task of running a ski resort in the Northeast. While technology upgrades can help, experts said they also recognize that the industry is changing in ways that can’t be circumvented.

“Now we’re being limited not only by temperature, but potentially by water as well,” said Caitlin Hicks Pries, a Dartmouth researcher and associate professor of biology whose work studying snowpack has intersected with her love of skiing. However, she said, advances in technology — and, potentially, a mindset shift — can help for now.
. . ."

 

[berkshireskier]

Yea, I live in the Berkshires of western Mass and it has been a fairly severe drought around here. The local rivers and streams are the lowest I have seen in 35 years. Almost frighteningly low. I haven't heard anything about ski areas being worried about lack of water to make snow but it wouldn't surprise me if it becomes a problem if we don't get substantial rains in the next month or so. You definitely need a lot of water and blow a lot of snow to keep the ski season going around here.

 

[MarzNC]

I haven't heard anything about ski areas being worried about lack of water to make snow but it wouldn't surprise me if it becomes a problem if we don't get substantial rains in the next month or so.

I was staying at Jiminy Peak last week. Hiked to the top and went over to the snowmaking pond. It's really low. Talked to a ski patroller who was out walking with his dog on the slopes. In theory, water can be pumped up from the stream below, but that's running very low too. It's a concern.

 

[MarzNC]

From another thread

Abasin shows very favorable wet bulb next couple of days but I'm not convinced the actual wet bulb is that favorable in real world. Be interesting if they make snow fri/sat which would appear to be best as it gets for nighttime oct snowmaking.

The OpenSnow forecasts are pushing out to 15 days now. I'm not convinced it's worth looking at more than 10 days. The options for the graphs are 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 days.

When building base, snowmaking in marginal conditions can still be worthwhile. Can create snow whales that need to drain for several days before grooming or moving the snow somewhere. That's a fairly common strategy in the southeast during pre-season. Have also seen it done in New England before mid-December. When that's happening, need to stop and get the ice off goggles if skiing a run where it's impossible to avoid the snowguns.

ABasin wet bulb forecast for Oct. 17-26: