Sustain Alps by

Dario Manente: researcher, presentation designer

manentedario1 — 2023-02-28 09:01:38 UTC

Anna Salvà: researcher, moderator , presentation designer

manentedario1 — 2023-02-28 09:02:43 UTC

Giovanni Bissoli: researcher, coordinator

manentedario1 — 2023-02-28 09:03:03 UTC

ARTIFICIAL SKI SLOPES: a problem or a solution? Alternative ways to ski in the Oriental Alps area (Veneto, Trentino Alto Adige)

manentedario1 — 2023-02-28 09:06:33 UTC

Due to the lack of snow the ski resorts are forced to use artifical snow produced by snow cannons, this method imply high costs in terms of economical and environmental resources.

Trending Trekking

manentedario1 — 2023-02-28 09:21:40 UTC

Since the pandemic, trekking Google's researches are increasing year by year, and this proves that people craves for outdoor activities

Big Idea: alternative ways to ski

manentedario1 — 2023-02-28 09:24:05 UTC

To face these problems ski resorts are figuring out new ideas to enjoy mountain experiences in alternative ways.
In fact in the last years we have seen an increment of outdoor activities instead of skiing

Global Warming: The issues and the consequences

manentedario1 — 2023-02-28 09:27:00 UTC

As we all know, the climate change is an issue that comes up on our daily basis. It's a scientifically approved phenomenon that it's been going on for decades. The environmental policies have been made to contain the issues and the negative effects on our environment, but that's not enough...
The winter tourism and ski resorts are suffering the consecuences of the global warming, what can they do to survive and adapt to these problems?

bissoligio00 — 2023-02-28 09:53:51 UTC

Seasonal accumulation of fresh snow - Oriental Alps 1920 - 2010

manentedario1 — 2023-02-28 10:00:27 UTC

Total area of 27 sample glaciers - Alps

manentedario1 — 2023-02-28 10:00:38 UTC

Marmolada glacier is melting

bissoligio00 — 2023-02-28 10:13:44 UTC

Artificial snow and snow cannons: pros and cons

manentedario1 — 2023-02-28 10:35:06 UTC

Pros:

Employments
Maintaining seasonal tourism flow
Ensure snow presence in the winter season

Cons:

Ambiental pollution
Ambiental impacts due to deforestation to create ski slopes
Huge amount of water needed by the snow cannons
Ski-pass costs increment
Snow surface becomes dangerous for skiing
Higher electricity usage by the snow cannons
Tourists travel longer distances to reach higher skii destinations, where snow it's guaranteed, producing more CO2 emissions

Water consumption for artificial snow making (1996-2014) - Trentino

bissoligio00 — 2023-02-28 10:37:08 UTC

Banca d'Italia's report

zbreda — 2023-03-01 10:57:25 UTC

"Investments could be made to reduce the dependence of mountain economy on snow conditions: for example, by enhancing engagement in year-round  tourism,  stimulating  and  promoting  summer  tourism,  but  also  activities  and  winter  weather independent entertainments such as winter trail running races, congress, educational and health events. At the same time summer tourism in the Alps is often considered as a potential “winner” of global climate change as the Mediterranean will become too hot and lose its climatic attractiveness".

zbreda — 2023-03-01 10:58:17 UTC

Alps area observations

zbreda — 2023-03-01 10:59:16 UTC

Medium instead of high snow reliability is economically bearable for ski destinations.

Low snow reliability and bad snow experiences could cause market-wide demand losses of 64%.

Meanwhile in other scenarios...

zbreda — 2023-03-01 10:59:38 UTC

Not only in Italy but also other countries are taking actions to face global warming, for example in Spain's Alps

Ski: a sport for wealthy people

zbreda — 2023-03-01 11:01:50 UTC

Ski is becoming an elite product: ski-pass have increased by 8.7% for 2022/23 season compared to the previous season (2021/22); the average daily cost in Veneto's Alps (2022/23) for a family of 3, including skilift and equipement rental, is 270 euros per day

bissoligio00 — 2023-03-01 14:13:00 UTC

In February 2021 the cost for artificial snow making was from 2 to 3.8 euros/m³
In November 2022 the total amount was around 6.5 euros/ m³ (doubled regarding to February 2021)

Proposals

bissoligio00 — 2023-03-01 14:58:12 UTC

The following ideas are not solutions for the lack of snow problem, but just ways to adapt to the situation.
Seasonal adjustement seems to be a good way to compensate for the losses of the winter season

Which type of tourism and who benefits?

bissoligio00 — 2023-03-01 15:33:07 UTC

Beyond skiers and winter tourism lovers, the Alps must be charming not only in winter, but also in all the other seasons.
So, there should be considered new types of tourism activities:
trekking, mountain-biking, canyoning, bird-watching, hiking, nordic walking, rafting, speleology etc.
Other types of tourism that should be stimulated are enogastronomic and congressual tourism.

Those who will benefits from this seasonal adjustement are:
environment (with the proper consciousness of the tourist), stakeholders (hotels, restaurants, b&b, lodges, local shops)