Schralpine opening tomorrow!
Yo StripTards!
Since so many of us ski @ Alpine Meadows a lot and have passes, I thought you’d like this video I shot on snowmaking @ the Tahoe Resort. Super cool! The guy in the video, Peter “Foul Weather Minxy” Minks was on a video shoot of a climbing movie on the Eiger last year, and was on everest expeditions. Super cood dude. I’ll have to corner him and get more stories next time I see him.
And that may be tomorrow cause that’s when the resort is opening for the 2008/2009 season! Woooo HOOOOO!!! We’re going up to shoot more video. Pyrofloptic is gonna be there. If you can make it show up, we need people to style it up on camera.
The ten day tahoe forecast looks good!
-M
I only ski wild snow.
my take on it is more like this – water droplets in the atmosphere at temps <0C, “supercooled water droplets,” just like in the clouds, fog, etc. will freeze when they come in contact with something (ice nuclei like bacteria added to the water supply, or a surface that is below freezing). think about rime ice on the windward side of trees along ridgetops. manufactured “snow” is a lot like rime ice. you sure know it when you pass over a patch of “snow” when the real stuff gets thin.
what is the cost of manufacturing “snow?” how much energy is required in the operation (including storing the water, pumping the water, lights, payroll, and so on)? what is the carbon footprint of such an operation? how much does that effort and utilization of resources contribute to climate change, which, lately, seems a fairly reasonable culprit for the very reason “snow” is manufactured in the first place?
food for thought.