Why ski mountains shouldn't run out of snow any time soon (even with climate change)

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WASATCH RANGE, Utah ― Solitude Mountain Resort was just getting open with a handful of trails groomed and lifts spinning in early December. Nearby, on the back side of the Wasatch Range, Park City Mountain also had a limited amount of skiable terrain, but was working to get more open.

Utahns insisted that the conditions were relatively awful, but anyone used to skiing or riding on the East Coast would feel like it was the middle of their season.

Daytime highs above freezing at the mountain bases weren’t helping the season get off the ground though, and the warm, sunny weather hinted at the long-term struggles ski resorts face as the climate changes and winters continue to heat up in many places.

But skiers and snowboarders shouldn’t trade in their lift tickets for beach passes just yet.

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The ski industry is making investments on a global scale to ensure their operations become more sustainable and to keep people on the snow longer every year, despite the weather’s unpredictability.

Over the course of nearly a week in Utah in early December, USA TODAY got a first-hand look at how two mountains are responding to climate change. Their efforts reflect broader trends in the industry, and while ski resorts will certainly have to adapt to a changing climate, new technologies and best practices shared between mountain operators provide plenty of hope that snow sports aren’t going extinct any time soon.

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Black diamond trends

Black diamond markings on the mountain usually denote difficult terrain, and it’s inarguable that climate change is complicating things for ski resorts.

“We’ve seen increases in temperature, which leads to all sorts of events that impact snowpack,” Lee Parton, an assistant professor of economics and an environmental economist at Boise State University, told USA TODAY. “People respond with where they book, and where they choose to go is sensitive to how much snow resorts are getting.”

Parton is also a member of the Science Alliance at Protect Our Winters, an advocacy group that focuses on how climate change is affecting the outdoors industry. The group is cleareyed that severe climate change is likely to curtail how much people can participate in life outdoors, particularly in snow sports.

At Solitude, slopes maintenance manager Todd Dohman said the early season is when the effects of climate change are most noticeable. That’s when the mountain relies most heavily on artificial snowmaking, which only works if the temperature cooperates.

“Snowmaking is crucial for the early season,” Dohman told USA TODAY during a morning grooming run. Without a solid base of snow, trails can’t get groomed and may not have sufficient surface coverage to open.

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But the mountains can’t make snow if temperatures aren’t cold enough, and natural snow has only been falling in large quantities later in the season in recent years at many resorts, according Andria Huskinson, communication and public relations manager at Solitude.

Especially at mountains that rely on older generations of snowmaking machines, there may only be a few hours overnight to put down artificial powder, which limits how quickly more terrain can be opened.

Dohman said recent weather trends in the Wasatch Range have meant that colder temperatures often don’t arrive at Solitude until later in the season, which can lead to a long runway to getting the mountain fully open.

Mountain towns are still pretty reliant on snow sport tourism overall, but many are adapting by adding off-season activities as well. Both Solitude and Park City have worked on building out their moutain biking and hiking infrastructure, and many ski resorts also run robust summer programs including concerts, festivals, conferences and other outdoor activities.

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How snowmaking and grooming tech are extending ski seasons

Artificial snowmaking is increasingly going to be the lynchpin of the ski industry as winters get warmer in many places.

“With climate change, we’re getting less and less snow,” Chad Avery, a snowmaking manager at Canyons Village at Park City Mountain, told USA TODAY.

For decades, snowmaking was relatively uncommon at western ski resorts. It grew in popularity at East Coast resorts first, where more variable winter weather meant mountains couldn’t rely on natural snowfall to stay open all season.

But snow isn’t falling as reliably anywhere anymore, especially early in the winter, and mountains around the world are investing heavily in snowmaking to keep their seasons going.

“It’s going to lead to a ‘winners and losers’ scenario particularly related to snow sports,” Parton said. “People substitute across resorts and they’re going to go where the snow is.”

Higher elevation resorts and those in areas with steady colder temperatures throughout the winter are likely to struggle less as the climate changes.

Park City Mountain, with a relatively low base elevation compared to many other mountains in the American West, invested millions in new snowmaking machines for this season, and Avery said he’s already noticing a difference.

“The new guns are amazing,” he said. They’re more energy- and water-efficient than the previous generation of snowmaking machines, and sensors let the team automate much of the process to turn them on and off, meaning they can maximize even limited windows when the conditions are right to make snow.

At Solitude, which still currently relies more heavily on older snowmaking technology compared to Park City Mountain, the snowmaking guns were largely shut off during the day, while at Park City they were able to run even in the afternoon in areas of the mountain where temperatures were cold enough. Solitude has plans to upgrade its snowmaking machines in the near future, according to Huskinson.

New snowmaking machines are more energy- and water-efficient than their predecessors and are technologically optimized with built in sensors to take advantage of favorable weather conditions whenever they strike.

The upshot is that more advanced snowmaking technology and fine-tuned grooming practices are allowing resorts to stay open later into the spring once they have a decent base of powder down.

Huskinson said Solitude has been able to open earlier and stay open later into the year as it increased its snowmaking capabilities. She said the mountain also often receives more natural snowfall than some other resorts in the area.

Once the snow base is down though, it takes almost constant maintenance to keep a mountain rideable.

When all the terrain at Solitude is fully open, Dohman said, it takes 16 hours of grooming split between two eight-hour overnight shifts to keep the mountain in skiing shape for eight hours a day.

Will snow sports survive climate change?

The snow sports industry is definitely worried about climate change, but no one is sounding its death knell yet.

Avery, the snowmaker at Canyons Village at Park City Mountain, said that new technology is helping the resort adapt and produce better quality artificial snow than ever.

Parton, the economist, said skiers and snowboarders may have to get more deliberate about where they plan to make their turns every season, but they should be able to ride well into the future, especially if they hold one of the major resort passes, Epic or Ikon. Both passes offer different versions, with the most expansive (and expensive) covering mountains on nearly every continent. Less expensive regional and time-limited passes are also available from both providers.

“Some areas are projected to get a lot more snow under higher emissions scenarios, and they could be the winners,” Parton said. “Recreationalists and winter sports enthusiasts have more options for substitution of where they go with mega passes like the Epic Pass and Ikon Pass.”

The reporter on this story received access to the resorts from Solitude Mountain Resort, Park City Mountain and Ski Utah. USA TODAY maintains editorial control of content.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Two Utah ski resorts show how mountains are resisting climate change