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2020 will be the warmest year ever measured in Sweden. The year will also be a record for heat in the rest of the world, worldwide the last ten years have been the warmest that have been measured.
The climate crisis is here. In Sweden, one of the clearest signs is that winter is no longer as white as it used to be, that the number of days with snow on the ground is decreasing.
– If we compare it with about forty years ago, the snow season is already 20-30 days shorter. If we imagine 50 years ahead in time to around 2070, it is reasonable to imagine that you can deduct another month, says Gustav Strandberg, a climate researcher at SMHI.
Ski resorts like Åre, Vemdalen and Sälen currently have a 180-200 day snow season. By 2050, the number of days with snow will be 20 less. Later, 2069-2098, the reduction will be 40 to 60 days, according to SMHI.
Ski resorts have a lot invested in producing snow to complement natural snow. But even that is no longer enough in increasingly hot weather. To ensure the supply of snow on the slopes and ski slopes, it has become more common for ski resorts to save snow from one season to the next.
– In the last five years, interest in saving snow has increased significantly. Longitude facilities were the first to come out, but alpine facilities have also been added in recent years, says Erik Melin Söderström, Snörik project leader in the Peak Innovation organization.
They have studied the most effective methods to save snow. It can be a matter of piling up the snow and covering it with a cloth or some kind of bark, wood chips, or sawdust.
Currently using some twenty Swedish installations from Gällivare in the north to Vallåsen in Halland in the south, various techniques to save snow during the summer.
– The main reason is that it provides security to know that you have snow and therefore you can decide in time when you can open the facility. It’s especially important for those who are connected to tourism to know for sure when guests can book a week and make sure there is snow, says Erik Melin Söderström.
There are heaps of snow along the Vallåsen cross-country ski slopes, which are removed and evenly distributed on the ski slopes with a piste machine.
Photo: Anders Hansson
– Even those that have events rely heavily on snow storage. That is the reason why, for example, Östersund started to store snow, they are the organizers of the Biathlon World Cup premiere and they need snow on the first weekend of December.
The climate crisis has made that interest in storing snow has exploded in areas with strong skiing traditions, such as Finland, Norway and the Alps. White ski slopes winding through green surroundings have become more common, especially on television broadcasts of ski competitions.
The fact that there are fewer snow days in countries like Sweden, Norway and Finland is because global warming is approaching the poles faster. In Sweden, warming is twice as fast as global.
Along the Vallåsen cross-country ski slopes there are heaps of snow that are removed and evenly distributed on the ski slopes.
Photo: Anders Hansson
According to SMHI, winter in northern Sweden can already be up to five degrees warmer in 2040 than it was during pre-industrial times, at the end of the 19th century. In Scania, it heats up a little over 2 degrees.
– The greatest warming will be in winter and a given consequence is that the season with negative degrees will be shorter, it is completely logical, we cannot wait that much longer, says Gustav Strandberg.
Elevated temperatures affect also the production of snow because most of the current technologies require temperatures below zero. As periods with negative degrees diminish, stored snow becomes increasingly important for ski resorts, especially at the beginning of the season.
– Almost everyone wants to be able to open a hill for Christmas. Facilities, especially in the north, want to be early in the snow. Many skiers are also used to skiing before Christmas, so far that habit has not adapted to changing weather, says Erik Melin Söderström.
Idre saves up to 250,000 cubic meters of snow under the tarp. This ensures that the season can start early.
Photo: Peak Innovation
– Except among the northernmost hill stations, it is impossible to say that it can be opened before Christmas if no snow has been saved. Last winter, the only facilities in southern Sweden that managed to open were those that stored snow.
It is possible to produce snow even in degrees higher. The Vallåsen ski resort in Halland has invested in two snow factories that can produce snow at high temperatures. Despite the record autumn, two cross-country ski trails, 400 meters and 1 kilometer respectively, could open from October 30.
– We are the southernmost Vasaloppet center in Sweden. It is so new that we are not as well known, but there have been many visitors, says Jesper Malmquist, regional manager of the Branäs group’s southern facilities in Vallåsen and Ulricehamn.
Ice cream factories work in Vallåsen 24 hours a day to keep the ski slopes alive. Snow is usually saved for slopes and slopes as well, but last winter was so mild that the snow could not be salvaged. But there was snow on Ulricehamn that could be saved.
– The point is that if we can save snow, we don’t need to produce so much new at the same time, since that leads us to be able to open earlier. It will be a double win, says Jesper Malmquist.
Jesper Malmquist inside one of Vallåsen’s snow factories. Cooling units and turbines create ice that is crushed into snow crystals and blown with compressed air through pipes down the slope and sprayed in piles along the cross-country ski trail.
Photo: Anders Hansson
But producing and storing snow is not easy from a climatic point of view. Among other things, it requires energy that can have an impact on the climate. Creating snow seasons can help reduce snow seasons in the long run.
Organization of Swedish ski resorts, SLAO, works to make the ski industry fossil free. Their documentation shows that the ski resorts themselves account for a quarter, 25 percent, of the emissions generated, and the remaining three quarters come from transportation to and from the ski resorts.
In addition to working at Peak Innovation, Erik Melin Söderström is a former elite-level cross-country skier who claims to love snow and has a master’s degree in climate change. He says the issue of the climate impact of snow production and snow savings “has gone a bit under the radar.”
Cover with sawdust when storing snow in Östersund
Photo: Peak Innovation
Is it justifiable to keep ski resorts running at all costs, when in itself it can have a climate impact?
– The question makes sense and the answer is that it depends. Historically, it was possible to ski, for example, in Hallandsåsen, but that has changed due to climate change. So the question is; Should we try to maintain cultural habits like skiing with climate adaptation measures? If it can deliver skiing without climate impact, it may be defensible, in which case it’s a question of what we should use our possibly limited amount of energy for, but it’s really a question that needs to be decided higher up: in politics. But it is also a market problem, if people want to pay to go skiing, you can create the conditions, says Erik Melin Söderström.
