ARTIFICIAL SNOW:
A SOLUTION OR A PROBLEM?

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Do you know
what this object is?

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This is one of the many manholes used by

3980

snow cannons in South Tyrol

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ASTAT, Seilbahnen in Südtirol 2017
Global warming is reshaping
the winter climate
As a result of this shift,
winter tourism in the Alps is one of the first realities
where the effects of these changes are already being seen.

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Number of snow cannons in South Tyrol

From 1995 till 2017

ASTAT, Seilbahnen in Südtirol 2017
A good ski slope management
can convert between 18.000 and 38.000 liters of water
into snow every minute

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Snowmakers.com, Snowmaking Basic, 2012
Number of overnight stays during winter seasons in South Tyrol

238.279.049

From 1995 till 2017

ASTAT, Tourism online data bank, 2019

Winter tourist and snow cannons in South Tyrol

Both the number of tourists and
the amount of snow making machines
in the region have risen
over the last two decades

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ASTAT, online data bank, 2019

COST OF SNOWMAKING

The cost is highly dependent on the weather,
terrain and technology.

95.000 €

The average cost necessary to cover a ski slope
1km long and 40m wide
Estreme Conseguenze, Fake Snow di Daniele de Luca, 2019

WATER CONSUMPTION

≃10.000 m³

The amount of water necessary to cover with artificial snow
the same ski slope with a length of 1 Km and a width of 40 m
Estreme Conseguenze, Fake Snow di Daniele de Luca, 2019

ENERGY CONSUMPTION

A snow making facility covering a surface
of 20 hectares with artificial snow
needs on average per year:

≃250.000 kWh
Verband Deutsche Seilbahnen, Der Energieverbrauch bei der Beschneiung...

WHAT ABOUT THE

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

OF ARTIFICIAL SNOWMAKING?

PhD Sara Casagrande carried out a study
on the effects of different ski slope managements
on mountain ecosystems.

SARA CASAGRANDE

Unibz Researcher on Mountain Environment and Agriculture

"The water used for snowmaking is usually pumped from rivers and water reservoirs and for this reason it might have a chemical composition which differs from natural rain water, it is just different from the natural snow. Together with temperature snow governs the plants distribution on high altitudes, so if you change the snow properties you might also alter the plants characteristics."
"We measured the soil ph on the ski slopes and outside which is a very important parameter because it governs the microbial activity of the soil and if it changes it can affect also plants distribution and biodiversity."

Sara Casagrande

"We measured the electrical conductivity of the snow, because the EC gives an estimate of the mineral content and of the ions' content in general that we have in the water."

Sara Casagrande

"We measured the plant biomass on the ski slopes and outside. The plant biomass gives an estimate of the productivity of the study area. The higher the plant biomass, the higher is the productivity of the area."

Sara Casagrande

SARA CASAGRANDE

Unibz Researcher on Mountain Environment and Agriculture

"What what we found is that the ski piste always has an impact on vegetation, but this impact is more contained in the small ski resorts compared to the medium ones. If the soil is not altered, also the impact on the vegetation is more contained."
"We found significant differences in the soil ph and in the soil EC compared to the natural surroundings in both ski resorts types, but the values that we measured were higher in the medium ski resorts than in the small ones."

Sara Casagrande

"We measured a lower biomass on the ski pistes compared to the natural sites, but only in the medium and big ski resorts. In the small ski resorts we didn’t detect this difference."

Sara Casagrande

"The same happened also with the species number: we had a lower number of species on the ski piste, but only in the medium ski resorts. In the small ski resorts it didn’t change."

Sara Casagrande

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE

SOLUTIONS?

SARA CASAGRANDE

Unibz Researcher on Mountain Environment and Agriculture

" I think that the solution is just trying to concentrate the ski season in 2 or 3 months, as the small ski resorts do, and also postpone the ski season: it means that it has not to be so necessary to ski during the Christmas holidays."