How much does snow manufacturing cost?

A snowHead

Quite a few places seem to be running their snow cannons at the moment, but there's quite an obvious risk that there'll be a temperature hike, and melt everything that's been produced. So getting the timing right must be quite a nervy bit of gambling for the resort management. How much does it actually cost to - say - fill an entire 1km of average width blue run?

A snowHead

I'm sure there's no simple answer. Think about the capital cost in infrastructure, employee cost and running cost. Then on the over side of the equation what's the return? To turn on the snow machines with the risk of warmer weather is probably a risk worth taking if it means you can open your resort on time or before the competition and gets a base down to keep open longer in the spring. The running cost for giving it a go for a few days is probably small compared to the capital cost and other ongoing cost like employees that are sitting around waiting for snow. Here in Schaldming they had snow machines running for a few days back in early october, this wasn't a test but an attempt to open some piste. That initial attempt was all melted away but two weeks later another cold snap and up started the machines. This time they got one piste complete and have managed to keep it open ever since despite some double digit warm days. This provides some good marketing because now they can say they are open, which is a bit cheeky given it's one small run. And of course we have a some skiing possibilities. On a positive note the, despite a temp inversion, Very Happy

it was cold enough last night to get snow making working top to bottom.

From browsing the Planai.at website (local schladming lift company) from there annual report

http://www.planai.at/winter/de/unternehmen/Geschaeftsbericht.html

"Allein im Winter 2009/10 wurden um rd. 880.000 m³ mehr Schnee produziert, was
sich mit über 2,0 Mio. Euro an Mehrkosten niederschlug."

from google translate (i've only jut started my german lessons!)
"Only in the winter 2009/10, at approx. 880 000 m³ produces more snow, which
was reflected with over 2.0 million euros in additional costs."

That's 2.27 euros per m3

There's some info also on the website about snow making and management in english
http://www.planai.at/winter/en/company/Artificial_Snowfall.html

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Walked past some signs near the lake at the summit of Reiteralm this summer which said it cost about 3 euros to produce 1 cubic metre of snow. And it required a cubic metre of water to produce 2.3 cubic metres of snow. The latter perhaps being relevant in terms of the capacity of the reservoirs.

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waynos, good answer, cheers.

2m EUR is 10,000 lift passes. I bet the accountants get a bit fidgety!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Power and water consumption across the Alps and pre alps must be enormous right now Shocked

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Exactly what I was thinking, and why I posed the question.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

The local Tignes newspaper quoted 'running costs' of one euro per cubic metre last year

After all it is free

I would imagine there are a lot of variations on cost

Infrastructure, laying water pipes, connections and power cables all over the slopes is not going to be cheap but will probably have similar costs all over europe, however the supply ponds seem to vary a lot in size

Where you get the water and power from will also have a significant effect, if you are lucky enough to have access to a steady supply of glacial melt water from higher up it will cost you less than pumping treated water up from the valley floor.

Interesting to note the amount of water required, for snow that falls from the sky I usually get roughly 1cm of snow per 1mm of predicted rain i.e 10:1 the significantly lower ratio with artificial snow probably explains why such snow is so much harder when it freezes

D G Orf, the same thought about the ratio of water to artificial snow had occurred to me.

Incidentally this is from a Swiss study based on the Davos area:

"In Davos, snowmaking represents approximately 0.5% of the entire energy consumption in the respective community. Housing in the community of Davos, for instance, requires 32.5% of the entire energy budget.

The water consumption for snow making can be considerable and can comprise 20 – 35 % of the amount of the regional water consumption."

Which suggests water consumption is the real issue.

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But of course the water is never actually consumed, as it all melts in the spring and ends up back in the rivers/groundwater.

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nozawaonsen, So where do you think it goes?

A good deal goes through evaporation.

The other point is that the amount of water "consumed" by snow making over a given period can create a struggle for resources when for example the overall reservoir levels are low which they often are when resorts look to manage dry periods by using artificial snow.

You know it makes sense.

Manufactured snow is essentially rubbish. It has its place in filling in critical high wear and tear areas (& of course in snow domes) but I'd rather not go on a holiday where I knew all that was going to be skiable would be WRODs (& save the vacation days).

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

edit: non-relevant post.. don't mind me.

A snowHead

Very. But with respect, what does it have to do with the cost of manufacturing artificial snow?

Help!!

How much does snow manufacturing cost?

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