[Publisher Note: Friend and Colleague, The-Ski-Guru publishes a terrific site for snow sports enthusiasts and paints some of my favorite mountain art. With her permission, we are reprinting an article that is always of great interest this time of year.]
How much snow does a mountain need to open its pistes? It is not a straightforward answer!
It depends on several factors:
*Altitude
*Mountain Orientation
*Depth of Snow before Snowfall
*Has the mountain grassy fields or rocky soil
*Temperatures
*Availability of Snowmaking (man-made snow)
Let me delve a bit more on each subject!
Altitude:
The higher the mountain is, the biggest the chance to keep the snow. There is an estimate that every 100 meters in vertical drop, the temperature drops by 1 Celsius.
By having a colder temperature, it is easier that if it precipitates, it will be snow. Plus, being colder helps keeping the snow longer. Nowadays, with climate change, you see crazy freezing levels.
Freezing temperatures used to be at pretty low altitudes. Nowadays, there are more and more record temperatures recorded super high up in the mountains. This contributes to the permafrost starting to melt, with the subsequent risks of avalanches and rockfalls.
Mountain Orientation:
In the Northern hemisphere, the northern exposed pistes and fields tend to last the most.
In the Southern hemisphere is the other way around. The southern exposed slopes last longer, and the northern exposed slopes tend to melt faster.
Depth of Snow before snowfall:
Having snow in the ground before a snowstorm, will help to keep the ground cold, and allows the new snow to stick and stay longer.
In the beginning of the season, when there is no snow, many resorts start producing man-made snow, if the temperatures allow. This is to help the first natural snowfalls stick to the ground.
Other resorts are ‘snow-farming’ their snow. That is keeping the snow under a thick blanket that will keep it from melting during the summer. Then you have already a base when new snowstorms come in. With a bad start of last season in Europe, expect to see much more snow-farming soon.
Is the mountain grassy or rocky:
This is very important. The mountains which slopes are grassy, need much less snow coverage to operate. This compared to rocky mountains. For example, Courmayeur, that is by the Monte Bianco, needs a much deeper base than its neighbour Pila that is 30′ away. Pila is a grassy mountain (you can see it in the summer). With a very thin coverage of snow, it can open its pistes. Courmayeur needs a deeper base to cover its rocks.
We went on a lovely walk in Pila, with great views of the mountains. Pila is a good example of grassy fields. In the winter, it does not need a big snow coverage to be operating.
Temperatures:
For it to snow, it has to be a temperature near 0 Celsius. Too high and it rains, and too low and it might rain too- as it is too cold for snowing! Depending where in the world is the mountain, it will be more or less feasible for having snow.
Availability of Snowmaking:
This is depending how much money the resort has. Many resorts have some snowmaking, some have pretty much full coverage (as the Sella Ronda) and some have none! Smaller ski resorts that tend to be in lower altitudes, usually don’t! They do not produce enough money as to buy snow cannons. These are not cheap!
Some bigger resorts also have state-of-the-art snowmaking, and they can produce snow in higher temperatures. Here the richer the resort, the most snowmaking you will see.
Be thankful that you can be outdoors and slide. Our future generations might not be as lucky!
See the original article here: https://www.the-ski-guru.com/2023/01/16/how-much-snow-mountain-need-open-its-pistes/
Well put, Guest Contributor, but you could have said, It just depends! I love that illustration.
One resort which is known out west to be a great powder destination typically opens on Thanksgiving. They were advertising a 24 inch base. I ruined 2 pair of skis, hitting rocks, tearing the steel edge away from the body of the skis. (One pair was mine and the second pair was a rental which I’d insured for damage). Both rock hits were on groomed runs! I’ve returned to this same ski resort many times when they say they have a 32 inch plus base.
I think the smoothness of the ground under the snow is the main factor. A grassy surface definitely needs less snow to make the terrain skiable. Here’s an example form out West:
1. Timberline ski area on Mt. Hood, Oregon tends to open when they have a solid base of about 2 feet.
2. Silver Star, near Vernon, British Columbia, usually opens with 3 feet of snow.
3. Big White, near Kelowna, British Columbia, needs about 4 feet of snow. I am sure they can open some slopes with less than that, but there are some trails that have a bunch of big rocks and boulders under them, and those need at least 4 feet of snow to cover them..
article subject is interesting but totally lacking in factual information such as at what temperature can you make snow at a specific altitude.