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Snowmaking Bad for the Environment?

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SKI.ING
Posts: 2695 - Karma: 2,535
Is extensive snowmaking bad for the environment and water supply? With 3 years in a row of dismal rainfall in California and big resorts cranking out man made snow I've always wondered how this affects the local environment. Where does all the water come from, and for instance does the runoff really dilute the clarity of Tahoe like some analysts say?

Does if matter to us skiers or would we rather just ski and not think about the backend of snowmaking.
Jan 6 2014 2:49PM
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Heart
Posts: 6156 - Karma: 3,462
Im not sure. It seems like it wouldnt be too bad for the environment becuase the snow should all melt at the end of the season and the water would then flow back to where it came from. I have heard, however, that the excessive grooming of slopes means the ground underneath freezes deeper and therefore can damage vegetation.
Jan 6 2014 2:56PM
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BWalmer
Posts: 9141 - Karma: 12,883
It's water and compressed air....how can the run off do anything to the environment...there would still be run off from rain and natural snow.

The water comes from rain, most ski areas simply divert streams into ponds, then pump out of the ponds. It all eventually goes full circle.

The only thing that can be harming the environment is fuel and fluids from snowcats and snowmobiles leaking into the snow and then having that go into the run off, but that has nothing to do with snowmaking.
Jan 6 2014 3:03PM
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FerrisBueller
Posts: 8280 - Karma: 5,173
It takes energy to heat and to pump it, and energy = carbon emissions so yes, among the millions of other things that are bad for the planet this is one of them. The runoff does not effect the environment negatively besides possibly excess erosion in the drainage basins.
Jan 6 2014 3:03PM
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Huck_Norris
Posts: 11487 - Karma: 18,627
Only a fucking skier would show up to a place that cut down fucking 75% of the trees on a mountain, erected countless buildings, roads, lifts, pipes, snow guns and filled it with tens of thousands of trash-making, mouth breathing cityfolk and ask if it's bad for the environment.



Of course it is you fuck. It's guilty by association at the very least.
Jan 6 2014 3:05PM
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worstmemberever
Posts: 66 - Karma: 19
Are you fucking kidding me op?
Jan 6 2014 3:43PM
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snowpocalypse
Posts: 1036 - Karma: 3,525
Just one side to the token, but an interesting one.

For a more in-dept read into the impact of major resorts grab the boot
Downhill Slide: Why the Corporate Ski Industry is Bad for Skiing, Ski Towns, and the Environment

Not saying I believe all of it, but worth a read.
Jan 6 2014 4:30PM
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eheath
Posts: 61155 - Karma: 118,823
Not sure how it works at other resorts, but PC uses big ponds below the resort/around the golf course and when the snow melts, they fill back up.

Brightons snowmaking is similar where they use the mountain lakes and other ponds for snowmaking, which the snow melts into, etc.
Jan 6 2014 4:32PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51296 - Karma: 157,961
Yes! Not only is it bad for the environment but it is literally killing the children.

https://www.newschoolers.com/membernewsread/43696/The-Hidden-Danger-You-Never-Saw-Coming?c=latest&o=2

We must unite together and fight this enemy before it's too late!
Jan 6 2014 4:40PM
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