Page 67 - The Economist Asia January 2018

The Economist January 27th 2018
2 on Mount Sinai. Later they became places International 51
ofdread, where monsterslurked. The high- No more magic mountain 2
est mountain in the Alps was known as Davos, Switzerland
Montagne Maudite, the “cursed moun- Winter temperature, °C Snow depth, cm
tain”, before becomingMont Blanc.
In the age ofreason, mountainsbecame 0 Ten-year moving 100
natural wonders to be studied and con- Five-month average* – average 80
quered; Mont Blanc was first scaled in 1786. 2
They grew to fascinate the romantic imagi- 60
nation, offering a sense of the sublime, 4 40
hence visits by Lord Byron and the Shel-
leys in the early19th century. Percy Shelley 6 20
penned a poem that became his declara- Ten-year moving average Average depth
tion ofatheism; Mont Blanc as the antithe- 1865 1900 25 50 75 2000 16 8 1931 40 50 60 70 80 90 2000 10 17 0
sis of Mount Sinai. Mary Shelley brought
together all three strands—the cursed, the Source: WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF *November-March
scientific, the romantic—when Franken-
stein’s monster confronted its creator on with ice-skating and sledding. Skiing was in the Rockies west ofEdmonton, avoiding
one ofthe mountain’s glaciers. imported from Norway. Arthur Conan the lawsuits by environmentalists and
As the 19th century progressed, the Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes de- first-nation groups that have hampered
draw of the Alps became medical, too. Da- tective novels, was among the early enthu- similar projects elsewhere. Meanwhile,
vos, in Switzerland, developed a reputa- siasts in Davos, though he thought skis some American resorts are trying to coax
tion for treating tuberculosis with bright “the most capricious things on Earth”. more snow out of the clouds by seeding
sunlight and crisp air. Thomas Mann, who Skiing involved hours of hard climb on them with plumes ofsilveriodide.
nursed his consumptive wife in Davos, foot or skis for just a few minutes of down- The main response of resorts has been
used it as the setting for “The Magic Moun- hill thrill. Its popularisation would have to to invest heavily in artificial snow-making.
tain”. St Moritz, though known for its puri- await the introduction of mechanical as- MessrsScottand Steigerhave reworked cli-
fying waters, chose to sell itself mainly to cent as well as the post-war economic mate-model assessments to take this into
fun-seekers. Winter holidays were born boom. By then antibiotics had relieved the account. One looks at roughly 300 resorts
there, according to lore, in 1864, when Jo- sanatoria of their tubercular residents, al- in the vulnerable eastern Alps (parts of
hannesBadruttmade a wagerwith English lowing them to become hotels. Under its Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy).
tourists spending summer in his hotel: “Snow Plan” of 1964, France created a net- Relying just on natural snow, about 70% of
come back at Christmas and see the valley workofhigh, purpose-builtresortsto draw them would no longer survive with 2°C
bathed in winter sunshine; if you are dis- foreign tourists and prevent the depopula- more warming, and 90% would be endan-
satisfied, I will refund your expenses. Re- tion of Alpine valleys. Brought by Norwe- gered with 4°C. But with snow-making
turn they did, soon followed by Europe’s gians, skiing caught on in North America, these proportionsfell to about15% and 60%
high society. With the English came the too. Both the Vail and Aspen resorts in Col- respectively (see map, next page).
love of games and competitions, starting orado, born as mining towns, were turned
into ski resorts by veterans of the 10th Blowhard
Mountain Division who had trained in First adopted by some American resorts in
The Olympic scorch 1 Colorado before servingin Europe. the 1950s, snow-making has evolved from
Climate reliability of Winter Olympics host cities Thisexpansion tookplace in decades of patching bald ski runs to guaranteeing and
Reliable Risky Not reliable abundant snow. Mountains can still get extending the season, especially around
large dumps, as delegates at the World Eco- Christmas. Even high stations such as St
2050s 2100s nomicForum in Davosthisyearfound out. Moritz (alt. 1,800 metres) start by creating a
Host city (Year) LE* HE LE* HE †
†
But the long-term trends are sobering. base layer of artificial snow. In fact, opera-
Beijing (2022)
Christoph Marty of the Institute for Snow torsoften preferitto the natural stuff asit is
Pyeongchang (2018)
and Avalanche Research in Davos notes harder-wearing, and more resistant to
Sochi (2014)
thatthe snowcomeslaterand meltsearlier, melting. Athletesthinkitmore reliable, too.
Vancouver (2010)
and the snowpackis thinning (see chart 2). The French resort of Les Deux Alpes has
Torino (2006)
Bythe end ofthe centurythere will be little even started spraying snow on its glacier
Salt Lake City (2002)
snow in the Alps below 1,200 metres, and (above 3,000 metres) to preserve it. The
Nagano (1998)
much less ofit even below1,800 metres. machine-made stuff is called “pro-
Lillehammer (1994)
In 2007 the OECD, a rich-world think- grammed snow” in Italian, “technical
Albertville (1992)
tank, sounded the alarm. It projected that, snow” in German and “snow from cul-
Calgary (1988)
of 666 Alpine ski resorts, roughly 40% ture” in French. Just don’t call it “artificial”.
Sarajevo (1984)
would no longer get enough snow to oper- Off-piste skiers cannot do without nat-
Lake Placid (1980, 1932)
ate a 100-day season (a rule of thumb for ural powder. But the mass of enthusiasts
Innsbruck (1976, 1964)
making money) if the region warmed by on machine-groomed runs seem indiffer-
Sapporo (1972)
another 2°C. Roughly 70% might go if it entto whethertheyare slidingon cloud- or
Grenoble (1968)
warmed by4°C. The German Alpswere es- man-made snow. Increasingly, what the
Squaw Valley (1960)
pecially vulnerable. In North America, heavens provide is a bonus, helping to
Cortina d’Ampezzo (1956)
projections suggest that resorts close to the create the winterambience. “People do not
Oslo (1952)
western seaboard, especiallyin California, care about the snow, they care about the
St Moritz (1948, 1928)
face a ruinous loss of skiing days. Skiing in sun,” says Paolo Cappadozzi, vice-presi-
Garmisch-Partenkirchen (1936)
Australia looks all but doomed. dent of Dolomiti Superski, a vast domain
Chamonix (1924)
Seeking colder, more snow-sure places, that includes the Marmolada.
Source: D. Scott, *Low-emissions scenario developers in Canada have won authori- Resorts in the Dolomites invested
R. Steiger & Y. Fang † High-emissions scenario
sation to build a new resort in Valemount, heavily in snow-making after two disas- 1