King Canute and the Snow Cannons
A bit of a short run on the Kandahar
Les Houches, 30 November 2011
There are times when mountains say yes to your chosen plan, times when they say maybe, and then other times when it's an emphatic no. So when the answer is in that last category it does seem pointless or exceedingly vain to try and fight it with technology, rather like King Canute sat on his throne ordering the tide not to come in. Though in fairness to Canute, he was doing it as a demonstration to a bunch of sycophants who kept telling him he was all powerful.
Now - the start of this winter in the Western Alps has been dry. Very dry. Essentially there’s been little to no precipitation to the north and west of the alpine chain since a brief flurry in late October that got everyone prematurely excited. With just 3 weeks to go to the Christmas season, the ski resorts are understandably getting a bit nervous.
However, the news that some of the Savoie resorts are opening up pistes on totally artificial snow has left me bemused. What is the point of having a resort like Val Thorens open with just 5 pistes? I can see the logic of having snow cannons to extend the life of a piste towards the end of a season when bare patches start to appear, but it’s madness to try and make up for a total lack of snow with a few patches of white amongst the brown.
Either it will snow, in which case the piste bashers can get to work and everyone can get their rocks skis out, or it won’t. And if it doesn’t then no amount of snow cannons will prevent it from being utterly pants. Let’s have a bit of realism and some environmental awareness from the ski resorts, and a little more acceptance that, when the mountain and its associated weather gives an unconditional “non”, that’s exactly what it means.
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