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€800m on snowmaking
That is what has been spent in Austria in the past 5 years and it raises questions about whether it is cost effective. All resorts seem to need snow cannons but they come at a high price and ultimately the consumer pays.
A debate has been raging in Austrian newspapers over spending by the country's ski areas on snowmaking systems.
The issue has been raised in its Parliament.
Franz Hörl, Chairman of the Austrian trade association of lift operators (Obmann des Fachverbandes Seilbahnwirtschaft) is quoted as saying Austrian ski resort operators would prefer to have less snowmaking but says that customers "...demand perfect ski pistes from November to April or they will not come." He says without snowmaking this is not possible.
Since 2008 Austrian ski area operators have invested about €800 million solely in snowmaking facilities.
There are now around 19,000 snow guns in Austria, a little over half that total in Tirol, and the resorts with the most snowmaking are Wilder Kaiser-Brixintal (1,356), Ischgl (1,100) and Schladming-Planai without Hauser Kaibling (690).
In 2011 Ischgl spent a reported €1m to ensure the resort could open on time at the end of November when Mother Nature failed to provide.
A few days later it dumped it down with snow in Ischgl.
Many other resorts in 2011 relied on snowmaking to be able to open as we reported at the time.
The Austrian Minister for the Environment, Nikolaus Berlakovich, responding to a Parliamentary question, said that snowmaking required 14MWh of electric power per hectare of ski piste per season.
A member of the Green Party in the Tirol Provincial Parliament claimed this figure to be "far too low."
Applying Berlakovich's factor to the estimated 25,400 hectares of ski pistes in Austria, 70% of which are covered by snowmaking, gives a total energy requirement of 250GWh per season.
This is equivalent to three month's electricity production of Friendenau, one of Austria's largest Danube power plants.
Berlakovich also stated that snowmaking in Austria requires 50 million cubic meters of water per season. This compares with a total annual consumption of 130 million cubic meters per year by the city of Vienna.
Johannes Kostenzer, the environmental advocate for the province of Tirol said that with climate change, snowmaking installations may be required as high as 3,000 meters, an unthinkable situation just a few years ago.
Source: Snow24
A debate has been raging in Austrian newspapers over spending by the country's ski areas on snowmaking systems.
The issue has been raised in its Parliament.
Franz Hörl, Chairman of the Austrian trade association of lift operators (Obmann des Fachverbandes Seilbahnwirtschaft) is quoted as saying Austrian ski resort operators would prefer to have less snowmaking but says that customers "...demand perfect ski pistes from November to April or they will not come." He says without snowmaking this is not possible.
Since 2008 Austrian ski area operators have invested about €800 million solely in snowmaking facilities.
There are now around 19,000 snow guns in Austria, a little over half that total in Tirol, and the resorts with the most snowmaking are Wilder Kaiser-Brixintal (1,356), Ischgl (1,100) and Schladming-Planai without Hauser Kaibling (690).
In 2011 Ischgl spent a reported €1m to ensure the resort could open on time at the end of November when Mother Nature failed to provide.
A few days later it dumped it down with snow in Ischgl.
Many other resorts in 2011 relied on snowmaking to be able to open as we reported at the time.
The Austrian Minister for the Environment, Nikolaus Berlakovich, responding to a Parliamentary question, said that snowmaking required 14MWh of electric power per hectare of ski piste per season.
A member of the Green Party in the Tirol Provincial Parliament claimed this figure to be "far too low."
Applying Berlakovich's factor to the estimated 25,400 hectares of ski pistes in Austria, 70% of which are covered by snowmaking, gives a total energy requirement of 250GWh per season.
This is equivalent to three month's electricity production of Friendenau, one of Austria's largest Danube power plants.
Berlakovich also stated that snowmaking in Austria requires 50 million cubic meters of water per season. This compares with a total annual consumption of 130 million cubic meters per year by the city of Vienna.
Johannes Kostenzer, the environmental advocate for the province of Tirol said that with climate change, snowmaking installations may be required as high as 3,000 meters, an unthinkable situation just a few years ago.
Source: Snow24
