by Raúl Revuelta
The financial viability of the ski resorts depends to a great extent on
favourable snow conditions and the snow-reliability of its ski areas.
Nowadays ski operators adopt technological measures to reduce the risks
from a snow deficient winter.
Snowmaking is the most widespread strategy to extend the operating season and to secure and guarantee the revenues of the ski resorts. Zermatt Bergbahnen is the first ski resort to order a new kind of artificial snow system: the IDE’s All Weather Snowmaker.
IDE Technologies is a world leader and pioneer in water desalination, wastewater concentrators and purifiers. The snowmaking technology comes from the mining industry where it is used to cool the goldmines.
CEO Zermatt Bergbahnen Christen Baumann explains how it works: “To put it simply it works like a freezer. The temperature of the surrounding air is irrelevant. In a closed container with a diameter of 3.2m and a height of 10m, water is exposed to a vacuum without any additives. A small portion vaporizes, the remaining water freezes to snow, which is afterwards expelled at a rate of about 40 cubic metres every hour. The snow produced has the consistency of a wet spring snow”. IDE’s All Weather Snowmaker is a unique, environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient solution. The energy it requires for a year is the equivalent to that of one household.
The new snow machine, which is produced in Israel, has a delivery period of one year and costs around CHF 2 million (EUR 1.19 million). It will be put into operation at the end of September 2008 to offset the bad snow conditions of the late autumn in the glacier piste. As Daniel Loggen, Director of Zermatt Tourism, says “We want to offer our guests perfect skiing enjoyment – so the innovation has come at just the right time”.
