Les 2 Alpes ski resort in France have announced ambitious plans to expand their snowmaking system and say it’s their priority moving forward.
Current improvement works on the ski area focus on enhancing snow production with the aim of making it possible to cover 30% of the ski area with artificial snow.
Describing the expansion of snowmaking as, “a big priority for ski resorts,” in their 2017-18 news release the resort statement adds that the improved system will:
“…make the best possible use of the periods during which snow is able to be produced, which are becoming shorter and shorter due to global warming.”
Snowmaking can take place when temperatures drop to between -4° and -8°, with winds of under 15km/hr.
The first phase of the project involves the installation of a 2nd water pipe to supply the Crêtes snow factory, enabling all of the snowmakers to work simultaneously, achieving a production rate of over 2,000m3/hr as opposed to today’s rate of 600m3/hr. This would
The next project is the installation of 6 new snowmakers alongside the Puy-Salié ski tow, thanks to the glacial lake formed there a few years ago.
This closed system replicates the natural water cycle and gives the glacier back what once belonged to it, in the form of snowflakes.
“The €800,000 investment is a world first; snowmakers have never before been installed on living, moving ice at such an altitude (3,400 to 3,200 metres), exposed to freezing temperatures,” the resort statement claims.