How Ski Hills are Dealing with Warm Weather

How Ski Hills are Dealing with Warm Weather

Quinn Brownell

With all of these hot flashes across the country in the middle of February, ski hills are hitting a rough patch.  Normally ski hills have thrived on cold temperatures in order to make and maintain snow bases, however, temperatures have been skyrocketing causing much of the snow to melt and running the risk of ski hills producing a net loss for the season.

On an average year, skiing and snowboarding would be breaking even right around this time of the year and relying on the season going into March and April for their profit.  With the help of advancing technology, average skier days per year have risen drastically.  Skier days meaning the number of days that hills are able to stay open.  With the snow guns help, ski hills are able to make a deep base that can usually last until early April.

However buying this equipment to make and maintain snow costs quite a bit of money which is why the skiing business is so risky, especially on years such as this one.  Costs range from the cost to operate and maintain the lifts, buying and maintaining snow groomers, operating and installing water pipes to reach snow guns, and of course the snow guns themselves and maintenance.  On a good year much of last year’s profit is spent on next year’s maintenance.

The only thing that can save ski hills at this point is cold weather and snow which is looking unlikely.  It needs to be under 30 degrees in order to make quality snow and most ski hills are unwilling to make snow past January since it is a large risk if temperatures warm up and melt the snow.  However, a lift operator at Devil’s Head Ski Resort this past weekend said, “I have been here for 30 years and ever since we have never made snow past February 15th, if the weather is cold enough that will change.”

The warm temperatures are part of the problem, but also the amount of precipitation is causing problems.  With very little precipitation, snow is scarce meaning that hills have to do everything in their power in order to stay open and make profit.  Normally January and February are the best months on average for snowfall, however with a warmer climate there just isn’t as much snow as there used to be.

With a large business such as running a ski hill, it can be either a very large success or a terrible failure.  With the entire business resting on the weather, it is nearly impossible to predict if it will be a good or bad season and the potential of the seasons in the future.  It would be very hard to see skiing do well if this weather pattern continues as it seems to be continuing to get warmer each year leading to less snowfall.  However, skiing will always be around, and most likely always be successful as long as they make good financial decisions and find ways to keep customers coming back.

Works Cited

Sellers, John. "Ski Resorts Struggling To Make Snow With Warm Temperatures." CBS Denver. CBS Denver, 24 Oct. 2016. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

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