Whistler to make snow for glacier
WHISTLER, B.C. – The Whistler Blackcomb ski area will soon begin to make snow to augment its shrinking Horstman Glacier.
The glacier serves as just one of two places in North America where commercial summer skiing operations are conducted. In most recent years – but not the last two – snowfall on the glacier has actually increased. But winter gains have been quickly lost to summer’s sizzling temperatures.
Arthur De Jong, the mountain planning and environmental resources manager at Whistler Blackcomb, says studies that began in the 1970s show that winter-time temperatures have increased 0.5 degrees Celsius, but those in summer have increased 2 degrees C. The result: an average annual loss of a half-million cubic meters of snow and ice.
De Jong says that after commercial operations end in July, four snowmaking guns and other infrastructure will be installed. It is expected to be used beginning in October.
“If the pilot project is conclusive, this unique project will become a significant addition to Whistler Blackcomb’s list of adaptations to ensure long-term resilience against climate change,” he said.
Data obtained from the one-year pilot project will be used to determine whether an expanded snowmaking system could assist with preserving the Horstman Glacier, De Jong added.
The glacier is located above treeline, in the alpine zone, which at Whistler begins at 6,300 feet. The glacier is in a band between 6,900 to 7,500 feet.
De Jong said the snowmaking guns will be used to cover 64 acres to a depth of 39 inches. The glaciers covers about 6,424 acres. If the pilot proves successful, 26 snowmaking guns will be deployed.
All of this will be at the top of the glacier. “Any glaciologist will tell you need to do what mother nature does, which is feed it at the top,” he says.
In recent years, various methods have been deployed to preserve shrinking snowpack. Whistler Blackcomb tried “glacier blankets,” which work on small locations but are problematic.
“You have to be quick to remove them, because they will stick to the ice,” says De Jong. And on a large scale, they are awkward. “Putting blankets over a 2,600-hectare glacier is physically impossible with any realm of economic sense.”
In contrast, Whistler Blackcomb is heavily invested in snowmaking. It has an extensive infrastructure of 270 snow guns and three reservoirs. Too, the technology continues to improve and become less energy intensive.
Fat Tires pulled from coal town coolers
CRAIG – Fat Tire and other brews by New Belgium Brewery as well as those of Breckenridge Brewery are out of most of the liquor-store coolers in Craig, a town located 42 miles west of Steamboat Springs.
The problem? The companies donated money to WildEarth Guardians, an environmental group that filed a lawsuit against the federal leasing of coal to the ColoWyo mine.
U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson found that the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement had failed to examine the indirect impacts of mining coal when approving the lease.
The coal is burned at a trio of coal-fired power plants in Craig to produce electricity that goes to Crested Butte, Winter Park, Durango, Telluride and a number of other mountain towns in Colorado plus other customers in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Nebraska.
The plants and mine are the largest employers in Craig – really, the main economic driver. People there are worried that if coal is no longer mined and burned, they will be without a livelihood.
This worry has motivated several large meetings. Last year, 800 people turned out to the high school auditorium to hear comments about the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. While the plan does not necessarily say coal-fired power plants must shut down, it does order states to begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In response to the latest legal twist, another meeting was called, drawing another 800 people to the high school, reports the Craig Daily Press. The newspaper tells of a legal process that is likely to drag on for some time.
Meanwhile, the beer companies are sensitive to the outrage. New Belgium tells the Daily Press that the company gave WildEarth guardians $8,000 for river restoration, not specifically money to fight coal companies.
Nonetheless, both New Belgium and Breckenridge Brewery sent several representatives to Craig, to listen to the local complaints. The bars and liquor stores told the Daily Press they were quite pleased at the effort. “We spent about 45 minutes talking to them. It went very good,” said Lori Gillam, owner of Stockmen’s Liquor.
But she’s not ready to start putting Fat Tires in the cooler.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul on fire line
DENVER – Federal land managers were in Denver this past week to talk about fire. With the drought on the West Coast, managers worry about major fires there and, later in the season, northern Idaho.
But their strongest message was about the cost of fighting fires. There’s a 93 percent chance that the U.S. Forest Service will spend between $810 million and $1.62 billion to fight these fires, said Tom Vilsack, secretary of the Department of Agriculture.
That pinches the Forest Service, Vilsack went on to explain, in that the money will have to be reallocated from other budgets. He predicted at least $200 million would have to be reallocated from funds designed to mitigate the long-term risk of catastrophic fires.
It’s a long-standing complaint, and the agencies have argued that money for fighting forest fires should come out of federal disaster funds, not the budget of the agencies. So far, the U.S. Congress has not gone along with that reasoning.
“Congress can’t have it both ways,” said Vilsack at a press conference. In winter, congressional representatives articulated the need for greater restoration of forests, expanded recreational opportunities “and all of the things that occur with a healthy forest.” But then, he added, Congress won’t give the agency the capacity and resources.
Soon after, Vilsack continued the theme at a stop in Jackson Hole.
The trails budget has been slashed 13 percent, reports the Jackson Hole News&Guide, while deferred maintenance is down 95 percent and wilderness and recreation heritage programs have been cut 14 percent.
Nurse files lawsuit against patient
ASPEN – Who’d think that nursing could result in personal injuries? That’s the basis of a complaint of a nurse at the Aspen Valley Hospital, who was assaulted by a patient who was being treated in the emergency room.
The patient was drunk and had fallen and hit her head on a street corner. Ambulance crews decided she needed to be seen at the hospital for the possibility of a head injury.
At the hospital, the drunk woman was combative, twisting the nurses’ finger and then kicking the nurse in her chest. The nurse has now sued.
Police later arrested the drunken woman. She was charged with assault and was given six months of probation.
More summer use and grizzly bears
LAKE LOUISE, Alberta – Revised guidelines for the Lake Louise ski area open the door for longer hours, both earlier and later, but shifting use toward the top of the mountain.
This is designed, at least in part, to avoid disturbing the several grizzly bears that tend to loiter on the middle-level portions of the mountain. But the southern Alberta chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wildlife Society tells the Rocky Mountain Outlook of “serious concerns” about the impacts to the grizzlies.
“These animals have already adjusted to current summer use there, so they have a predictability,” said Anne-Marie Syslak, executive director of the group. Increasing the time for people on the mountain in summer, she added, means “less time for bears to be there and do what they need to do out in the wilderness.”
Dan Markham, director of brand and communications for the Lake Louise resort, said the changes, if approved by Parks Canada, will provide “better views” for visitors and a “much larger buffer zone for the grizzly bears.”
He said up to four grizzlies have been on the ski hill during the last month. If the top of the mountain is used by visitors, he said, they can possibly see grizzly bears below as they take the gondola.
Lake Louise is in Banff National Park, which had a 10.4 percent increase in visitors last year.
– Allen Best
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