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France - snow cannons may be switched off

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
The original article in the UK was by Ben Clatworthy in the Times, who interviewed the Prefect of the Haute Savoie, Pierre Lambert, it was a little bit sensationalist but was then exaggerated by the Telegraph and the Fail.

As the EK is not in the Haute Savoie it is not 'deffo happening in the EK'.

France-Montagnes lists 49 resorts in the Haute Savoie.

Luckily nature is going to fix the problem hopefully this weekend.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
There is certainly a summer holiday market in the Alps, and there is a winter holiday market. The trouble is that there is not much of a market for the months between. If the communities are to survive then they need to make as much as they can from the few months available. AFAIK most have been working pretty hard to maximise summer trade, but the problem is you are competing with places with real warmth and guaranteed sun. Mountain biking is fine, but it's not to everyone's taste.

I think it makes good sense to use artificial snow to give certainty to the natural season. I.e. Use it during the periods when there should be natural snow, but possibly isn't. Maybe that means shifting/shortening the season slightly but given the economic and social benefits of artificial snow I think there are many other places where we could easily save water/power more effectively.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Themasterpiece wrote:


Maybe not fact, but at least scientific consensus that climate warming is extremely likely caused/accelerated by human activities.


It is an absolute fact that human activity has added to global temperatures.
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An absolute fact? What is that?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Compared to the uk I'm not sure that many alpine communities are particularly poor or have few other opportunities for work. Laughing
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It's like rural communities everywhere, a lot a dependent on tourism of all sorts to generate income. Mountain attract winter sports fans in winter and hikers more recently cyclists, of mountain bike and road variety, but the footfall in generally quieter in summer. Where the resort has suitable rivers, action sports like kayaking canyoning etc are also growing in popularity, but there is a lot of competition...

Arguably some of the French resorts suffer from being downright ugly when not covered in snow, the Dollies and Austria are beautiful in any weather. It helps the summer attraction if you have a lovely lake nearby for beach and swimming.

Back to original point, there is a finite amount of water each resort can store and cannons are power hungry so there is an economic and planning decision as when to use them. Clearly madness to have them blasting away if a huge dump of snow is just a day or two away, but forecasting beyond 3-5 days is a lottery as we well know.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Was skiing with our friends last week in 3 valleys. They live year round in St Martin, and said the lift company will be paying the water company for all the water they are pumping through the snow cannon now they have just about used up all the reservoirs.

They added that water pressure at top of village was very low and attributed it to all the water going to the snow cannon. Is that feasible or were they were pulling my leg? That said, with increasing development of more and more accommodation, there must be some impact on the water supply surely Puzzled
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
they just need to invest in better harvesting of the melting snow at the end of the season. Not like there is a lack of valley's to make a new reservoir out of.
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^^ Laughing Laughing
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t44tomo wrote:

Arguably some of the French resorts suffer from being downright ugly when not covered in snow


Arguably? Surely that at least is an 'absolute fact' Toofy Grin
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Quote:

Arguably some of the French resorts suffer from being downright ugly when not covered in snow, the Dollies and Austria are beautiful in any weather. It helps the summer attraction if you have a lovely lake nearby for beach and swimming.


Arguably all ski resorts suffer from being downright ugly when not covered in snow. There is no getting away from the fact ski lifts and pistes are ugly, but usually a short walk later and you are into beautiful countryside, be it flower filled meadows and forests near Les Arcs or the majesty of Marmalada near Arraba.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
A significant reason why ski resorts are ugly without snow is that the mountain slopes are brown as it is winter and the grass is not growing.
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Quote:

Was skiing with our friends last week in 3 valleys. They live year round in St Martin, and said the lift company will be paying the water company for all the water they are pumping through the snow cannon now they have just about used up all the reservoirs.

They added that water pressure at top of village was very low and attributed it to all the water going to the snow cannon. Is that feasible or were they were pulling my leg? That said, with increasing development of more and more accommodation, there must be some impact on the water supply surely Puzzled


Posted the below on the 3V weather thread this morning:

http://m.webcam-hd.com/meribel/meribel-mottaret_front-de-neige

Please help counter the negative press comments re drought / ban on snow making and "ruined holidays" !

You may have seen the articles in The Times and the Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4101478/Thousands-holidays-Alps-face-ruined-region-declared-drought-zone-forcing-resorts-switch-snow-cannons.html

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/thousands-of-british-holidays-face-ruin-as-alps-declares-drought-zone-tcvslfxdr

Well below are some facts about snowmaking in the Meribel Valley - please share, forward etc - and SEND YOUR FRIENDS / CLIENTS LINKS TO THE WEBCAMS!

Bottom line:
 Méribel can still produce artificial snow
 The drought concerns only « Haute Savoie »
 Today, with bad snow conditions, we still have more than 220 slopes open in the 3 vallées… the largest ski area in Europe !

****

While the early season natural snowfalls have been very poor this winter, we are very fortunate in Meribel as our snowmaking infrastructure is one of the best in France and we have the Doron river to supply the snow cannons.

Snowmaking equipment can cover 50% of the pistes in the valley and today, 20 of the 35 (57%) pistes in the Meribel Valley are open (and that’s before any contribution from the snow that is now falling very nicely!).

Of these open pistes, while it’s hard to be precise, it’s thought that about 60% of the coverage is due to natural snow and 40% due to “neige de culture” or “fake snow” as the Daily Mail charmingly puts it, so we are not only skiing on “fake snow”!

Snowmaking is done by forcing water and pressurised air (and that’s all – in France at least there are absolutely no chemicals used in the process of making “neige de culture”) through a “snow cannon”.

In Meribel, the water feeding the snow cannons generally comes from 3 reservoirs:
1. at the top of the Plan de l’Homme lift,
2. at the Altiport (this one is also used to irrigate the lovely golf course during the summer) and
3. in Mottaret at the top of the Combes lift.

These reservoirs don’t have any rivers / streams to feed them, instead, in November water is pumped from the Doron river to fill the reservoirs (there might also be a little water left from previous years or a tiny amount from autumn rainfalls) and it is from these reservoirs that the snow cannons are fed through a complex system of pipework.

The rate that water that can be drawn from the Doron is strictly controlled, but there is no restriction on how much can be drawn and restriction or ban is foreseen. (This despite the region being in drought conditions.) This is not the same for ski resorts in the Haute Savoie region, who are not as fortunate as us in terms of natural resources (the Doron) or infrastructure.

Note that no water is ever drawn from the mains network for snowmaking purposes.

The source of the Doron river is the Glacier de Gebroulaz; it is fed from the snow and rain that falls in the massif de la Vanoise. Most of the melting real or “fake” snow in the valley flows back into the Doron – and so the water used in snow production is effectively recycled water.

Once the reservoirs are empty, provided the temperatures are low enough (less than -2 degrees) the snow cannons can still run – in this case they draw water directly from the Doron, however under these circumstances the rate of snow production is only around 20% of that when the reservoirs are feeding the cannons. In periods when the temperatures are too high to produce neige de culture, then water is still pumped from the Doron to refill the reservoirs so that they are ready for use again. (The reservoirs are huge – and take about 10 days to fill.)

As for the energy used to make the snow, well it uses a lot and is costing the lift companies a great deal – but it is all “green” (mainly hydro-electric) energy.

The investment strategy of Meribel Alpina and S3V includes both the augmentation of the 3 reservoirs and the improvement of the pipework infrastructure feeding the cannons so that in future, more “fake snow” can be made if / when needed and also so that the rate of snow production can be significantly increased.

Source: written by KBS of Purple Ski following discussions with Olivier Desaulty, Sales & Marketing Director of Meribel Alpina, 10th January 2017
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Interesting thread here. Going on the last 3-5 years (i know its not a long term "study") but it seems that the real winter is starting later than it used to. 5-10 years ago I used to go skiing in the first week of Feb and normally always had a great off piste conditions. For the last 4 years I have now been going in either the last week of Feb or first week of March as the snow has been rubbish early in Feb. There seems to be a consistent pattern here. Lots of snow seems to be arriving in March and even April when resorts are closing down - when there is such good snow coverage. There was some discussion on the forum last year about this and general consensus, if I recall, was that some resorts only had a lease for a certain period from the farmers. However the land is no good for farming if its still covered in snow! Maybe its time for people to start "reassessing" the time frame for the ski season??? Its not just in Europe as well. In NZ the seasons are getting later and later. As a teenager we used to ski in June....there has been no skiing in June for a while now. Changing times calls for a change of thinking maybe??
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
we maybe experiencing some climate change... again, as this seems to happen all the time, 10,000 years ago the UK was under quite a lot of ice, bet the skiing was good though,.... the water cannon technology now being used is brilliant compared to only a few years ago, it extends the season when temperatures are cold enough, given a lifeline to some small villages that need the business... all it seems to be is the precipitation is falling later than it used to....it may change again in 5 years ...who knows..

For what it's worth ...
for those who believe we are 'fully' responcible for globel 'warming' then please read this book,(if you can be bothered) it gives a 'factual' alternative view that people do not want to hear. ''An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming. - by Nigel Lawson''
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@yorkshirelad, Is that the climate scientist (urban flood risk specialist co author of Climate change, justice and
vulnerability) or the former chancellor who appears to have had no scientific training or published in the learrned journals. Given the choice between an expert or a politician with no science education I will always take the scientist.

Global warmiing is a fact. You only have examine the data (if you can be bothered)
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Aye. Try mathematician David MacKay's non-partisan analysis: https://www.withouthotair.com/
Note that this is a free download so you can save trees too.

Almost no politicians have any scientific education, which is one reason they find the world a bewildering place. They're more like estate agents or car salesmen than people who can actually get things done. The civil service can paper over some of the cracks. MacKay was employed by the government for that purpose.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@johnE, It is the former chancellor, who among his other activities chairs the climate-change denialist Global Warming Policy Foundation think tank (references on his Wikipedia entry).

Hardly an impartial observer.
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johnE wrote:
@yorkshirelad, Is that the climate scientist (urban flood risk specialist co author of Climate change, justice and
vulnerability) or the former chancellor who appears to have had no scientific training or published in the learrned journals. Given the choice between an expert or a politician with no science education I will always take the scientist.

Global warmiing is a fact. You only have examine the data (if you can be bothered)


No one is denying that the climate is changing and I am not denying that human activity plays some part in that.

The issues for me are...

A) Can someone point me to a period, in the history of the planet, when the climate was not changing?
B) The doomsayers of climatology have proved to be spectacularly wrong and the planet would appear to do it's own thing, despite what the numbers predict.
C) The planet has been much, much warmer and also much colder than it is now. Weather trends need to be measured in millenia, not decades.
D) There is no harm in us keeping our contribution to climate change to a minimum, but we would be very naive to think we could influence climate change.
E) Human life on earth is too diverse a development stage for any concerted effort to have an effect. Whilst half of the world recycle their yoghurt pots, the other half are saving for their first fridge.
F) By way of an example for E, if the UK suddenly abolished all use of fossil fuels for all transport (air, road, rail and sea), the benefit to the planet would be negated in 83 days by the growth of emissions in China.
G) Climate change is big business for governments. Green related taxes are big money earners, yet none of this money is spent on repairing any damage caused. (Lawson would have seen this from the other side of the calculator!)
H) Climate change science is paid for by governments with vested interests in G. Dissent from the standard line does not go down well, even amongst the scientists.
I) The over riding biggest problem is unsolvable. That problem is that there are just too many people alive today... and the rate of growth shows no sign of slowing down.

I'll read Lawson's book, as I like to see both sides and have as many facts and opinions as I can.

None of us should believe everything we read, unchallenged, regardless of the source.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@philwig, and of course there is Chris Turney's exceptionally well-researched book Ice Mud and Blood - lessons from climate past. Of course Turney got into trouble when the 2014 expedition (to reproduce and compare Mawson's 1912 measurements) got into practical difficulties (understatement), but this does not invalidate the analysis of the book.
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@ Bar shaker

FWIW. I think the planet certainly goes through huge cycles, but human activity is exacerbating a natural phenomenon, bringing global warming forward at a much faster pace than it otherwise would.

The weather patterns are showing much greater extremes, with dry areas getting dryer and wet areas getting wetter....and storms much more virulent.

In the Alps, I think lower resorts will find things get tougher and tougher (depending on location), while higher ones will have droughts interspersed with huge storms (as opposed to constant topping up), with the season starting later, but finishing later.
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Rhoobarb wrote:


Posted the below on the 3V weather thread this morning:

The drought concerns only « Haute Savoie »


The rate that water that can be drawn from the Doron is strictly controlled, but there is no restriction on how much can be drawn and restriction or ban is foreseen. (This despite the region being in drought conditions.)


Maybe they should have proof read that. So the region is both in and not in drought conditions (the Haute-Savoie, Savoie, Isere are in drought conditions despite a this weeks rain/snow) and the rate that water is drawn is both strictly controlled but there is no restriction. Well that kind of makes sense. They mean there is currently no restriction in place but one may be put in place at some time. Wasn't that what the newspaper reports were saying, particuarly wrt to the Haute Savoie?

There is obviously an issue this year. It didn't rain from 11 November across a lot of the region



with about 10-15mm falling this week (as snow, so it won't go into the aquifers yet) (see chart above). However the autumn was fairly wet but after a dry summer. Obviously the exact situation is complex but fortunately crops don't need irrigating and it is not warm.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
davidof wrote:
Rhoobarb wrote:


Posted the below on the 3V weather thread this morning:

The drought concerns only « Haute Savoie »


The rate that water that can be drawn from the Doron is strictly controlled, but there is no restriction on how much can be drawn and restriction or ban is foreseen. (This despite the region being in drought conditions.)


Maybe they should have proof read that. So the region is both in and not in drought conditions (the Haute-Savoie, Savoie, Isere are in drought conditions despite a this weeks rain/snow) and the rate that water is drawn is both strictly controlled but there is no restriction. Well that kind of makes sense. They mean there is currently no restriction in place but one may be put in place at some time. Wasn't that what the newspaper reports were saying, particuarly wrt to the Haute Savoie?


I think perhaps you have added emphasis in the wrong place

Rhoobarb wrote:


The rate that water that can be drawn from the Doron is strictly controlled, but there is no restriction on how much can be drawn
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davidof wrote:
the rate that water is drawn is both strictly controlled but there is no restriction. Well that kind of makes sense. They mean there is currently no restriction in place but one may be put in place at some time. Wasn't that what the newspaper reports were saying, particuarly wrt to the Haute Savoie?


Reads to me that the rate of abstraction is restricted, i.e. got to be under X cumecs (m3/s), rather than a limit on total amount of water they can take.
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clarky999 wrote:
davidof wrote:
the rate that water is drawn is both strictly controlled but there is no restriction. Well that kind of makes sense. They mean there is currently no restriction in place but one may be put in place at some time. Wasn't that what the newspaper reports were saying, particuarly wrt to the Haute Savoie?


Reads to me that the rate of abstraction is restricted, i.e. got to be under X cumecs (m3/s), rather than a limit on total amount of water they can take.


Hmmm that's an idea, well it is not a greatly written a press release. They could have just said "Keep Calm and Carry On Skiing".

However if there is a water shortage I'm sure the prefecture would have no worries about telling them to take nothing at all. I'm not sure who uses that river downstream... there are no nuclear plants on the Isere which the Dorons flows into and agriculture probably isn't pumping much water at the moment for irrigation.
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@Rhoobarb, thank you for your reply with the information you posted. I wasn't trying to fuel the silly stories, we had 8 days of very enjoyable piste skiing last week in lovely sunny conditions. A bit of a pity we couldn't ski some of our favourites like Choucas or Gellinotte or the Mont Vallon runs, but no matter as that can now be rectified at the end of the month. Smile
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
foxtrotzulu wrote:
From The Daily Telegraph / The Times

Quote:

Snow cannons will apparently be switched off at more than 50 resorts across the Haute-Savoie region this weekend, unless there is significant snow or rainfall this week.

"We are in a situation of drought to the point that without snow or rain by the end of [this] week I will be forced to make a drought stoppage. In January!" Pierre Lambert, the head of the Haute-Savoie regional government, told The Times.

The order would ban resorts using water from the mains network for the snow cannons, which have been in full use over Christmas and New Year.


Never believe everything you read in the papers, but this is a little concerning.


TBH, it doesn't surprise me. In the 3V at christmas and new year it was clear many of the canon reservoirs had just a tiny wee puddle left in the bottom, they'd done an amazing job with the canon snow but had clearly bust the bank. (unless they had another source to refill them)
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
johnE wrote:
@yorkshirelad, Is that the climate scientist (urban flood risk specialist co author of Climate change, justice and
vulnerability) or the former chancellor who appears to have had no scientific training or published in the learrned journals. Given the choice between an expert or a politician with no science education I will always take the scientist.

Global warmiing is a fact. You only have examine the data (if you can be bothered)


Ive read quite a bit on it as well.. many of the existing data conflicts with others and is proving to be wrong as time goes by..
I also suggest you Read the book..... or don't.. he was in government and involved with many aspects of the so called grants etc.. ..if you read it you can then make an educated comment, otherwise you are indicating that you have to have a degree to highlight facts .. and you could also saying that if you are an expert you are not wrong ?? History is full of experts that were wrong... look at recent experts who have now been proved wrong about using oxygen on heart attack victims... (clinic trials in Australia)
Humans are part of it, but the most polluted time in our history was in the early twentieth century... when all the data contradicts global warming... as i said read the book, it makes some very interesting points....... like the claims by experts 20 years ago about rising sea levels... which so far should have been nearly 500mm.... not happened as it..
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:

he was in government and involved with many aspects of the so called grants etc..

Not sure how much of a qualification that is. He was chancellor so presumably was involved with politics and economics, yet he still thought it a good idea to join the ERM.
The problen with anything written by any politician is that successful politicians are usually very adept at persuading people to their point if view - no matter how sound or otherwise it may be.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I read the book due to being told to as it made some interesting points in that information is being witheld and other facts are out of date by 30 years.. blah blah blah... and why are the experts misleading us in certain areas ?? There are facts in it and opinions.. but that can be said of other publications about the subject.. a lot of predictions never happened .. re Lawson, He was the secretary for energy so had quite an insight into relevent information that us mere mortals may not be privy to.. In 2004, along with six others, Lawson wrote a letter to The Times criticising the Kyoto Protocol and claiming that there were substantial scientific uncertainties surrounding climate change. Then In 2005, the House of Lords Economics Affairs Select Committee, with Lawson as a member, undertook an inquiry into climate change. In their report, the Committee recommend the HM Treasury take a more active role in climate policy. The objectivity of the IPCC process is questioned, and changes are suggested in the UK's contribution to future international climate change negotiations. The report cites a mismatch between the economic costs and benefits of climate policy, and also criticises the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets set in the Kyoto Protocol. In response to the report, Michael Grubb, Chief Economist of the Carbon Trust, wrote an article in Prospect magazine, defending the Kyoto Protocol and describing the committee's report as being "strikingly inconsistent". Lawson responded to Grubb's article, describing it as an example of the "intellectual bankruptcy of the [...] climate change establishment". Lawson also said that Kyoto's approach was "wrong-headed" and called on the IPCC to be "shut down".

At about the same time of the release of the House of Lords report, the UK Government launched the Stern Review, an inquiry undertaken by the HM Treasury and headed by Lord Stern. According to the Stern Review, published in 2006, the potential costs of climate change far exceed the costs of a programme to stabilise the climate. Lawson's lecture to the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank, published 1 November 2006 criticises the Stern Review and proposed what is described as a rational approach, advocating adaptation to changes in global climate, rather than attempting mitigation, i.e., reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Lawson also contributed to the 2007 documentary film The Great Global Warming Swindle.

In 2008, Lawson published a book expanding on his 2006 lecture to the Centre for Policy Studies, An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming. He argues the case that, although global warming is happening and will have negative consequences, the impact of these changes will be relatively moderate rather than apocalyptic. He criticises those "alarmist" politicians and scientists who predict catastrophe unless urgent action is taken. The book has, in its turn, been criticised by the IPCC: HM Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir John Beddington, is reported to have told Lawson privately that he had "incorrect" and "misleading" claims in the book, which can also be said for both sides of the global warming debate, which as it was not warming was changed to "climate change" debate.

In July 2008 controversy was again incited when the Conservative magazine Standpoint published a transcript of a double interview with Lawson and Tory Policy Chief Oliver Letwin, in which Lawson described Letwin's views on global warming as "pie in the sky" and called on him and the Tory frontbench to "get real".

On 23 November 2009 Lawson became chairman of a new think tank, the Global Warming Policy Foundation,a registered education charity.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Seems hes Better qualified than me to comment ..
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
[bold]@Andy1234,[/bold] I just spotted it yesterday and thought I would share. I booked for the 4th a couple of weeks ago when it was very green, and am in my usual state of staring at webcams and these threads
Laughing Glad you had a good time - with the snowmaking they have I wasn't especially worried, but as you say it looks to be improving pretty quickly.


Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Thu 12-01-17 12:42; edited 2 times in total
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Even if we do not trust what we are told, our own eyes can give us a good idea of what is going on.
Today while waiting for the ferry on Lake Geneva I could see that the level is about 30-35 cm lower than normal, as the normal high water level is visible on the legs of the pier. ( the lake is normally emptied a bit in the spring to allow melt water to flow in, but that is not the case now). For argument's sake, say the lake has a surface area of 580 KM2. Then this drop of level is equivalent to 193,000,000,000 litres.
That seems like a lot to me Smile
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Its 310m deep at one point and holds 89km3 , which is lots of zeros, 89,000,000,000,000 litres. 0.02% Its all relative.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@OliC, I'm with you. Ski resorts need to continue to evolve - and will/have started to anyway I think as the wellness thing becomes more the norm. Their natural habitat is ripe for a "healthier holiday" and increasingly I think people who traditionally turned their back on the mountains (beit consciously or otherwise) after April will look at them as a destination of choice as there is just so much to do outside, clean air and long summers.

My parents never took me to the mountains in the summer (Cornwall, Devon, Norfolk for years until they could afford Corfu or Ibiza basically) but my wife spent many summers in the Austrian Alps as a kid and has very fond memories. I've since spent two of the last threes summers in the Alps and absolutely loved every single minute of it. There's some concerted marketing effort to be done I'm sure, backed up by businesses being prepared to take a more year-round attitude. It's frankly depressing as hell walking around Morzine or Les Gets in the off season as apart from builders, bug all goes on apart from the weeks the lifts are open for bikes. Things need to be expanded and if they don't businesses will die. I'm confident the evolution will happen as humans are brilliant at adapting.

I'm as gutted as the next snow-lover when your daily snow check doesn't reveal some all-time dump around the corner. But this is largely also due to the amount of info available now vs. when we were kids you'd book your week, turn up and what you got is what you got. Sometimes you lucked in. Sometimes is was dull as ditchwater and you were stuck to skidding on hard-packed pistes. When you can only go one or two weeks a year, you're always going to be rolling the dice. To rock up and expect anything else is as bonkers now as it always was.

I imagine some of the global warming stuff is probably true and effects some parts of the world more than others. For all the chat about dry winter in Europe, the states are getting absolutely hammered and so globally it's probably swings and roundabouts to a large extent.
snow conditions
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Lots of blowing going on in Morzine, huge piles of snow around waiting to be redistributed.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Recently read an article on fat biking. Seems this might be something to have in a resort as it is "amphibious" regarding snow / mud / grass.
snow conditions
 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Not to piddle on the already damp . . . Twisted Evil . . . but it's hammering down in the Cascades and Rockies . . .



. . . and all I can do is drive on it Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad
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