Artificial snow, love it or hate it?

Artificial snow is almost certainly better than no snow and it is certainly very useful at certain places on a mountain that get very busy. But apart from that I have to say that in general I hate it because the top surface very quickly scrapes off leaving the resultant surface hard and icy like glass. The top surface that has been scraped off accumulates at the sides or the bottom of the piste and is like skiing in sugar; and when I say "sugar" I mean it is nowhere near anything like slush which I am quite happy to ski in.

This winter in Europe has provided a lot of snow and so conditions should be perfect but I wonder whether the pisteurs have become lazy in some places and rather than moving real snow around to where it is needed they just turn on the snow cannons.

How do others feel about skiing on artificial snow, am I the only one who hates it?

Agree that artificial is better than no snow and that natural is better than artificial. Also agree that slush is better than the sugar on ice combo that I've had a few times. However, I can't believe they'll turn on cannon unless they have to because they must be blinking expensive to run (even though they'll be running them at night when the leccy will be cheaper)

Yes you make a good point Dobby about the cost of running the cannons. Having said that, in terms of having to stockpile real snow and move it around using the piste bashers, I suppose that would also be expensive with regards to running equipment and man hours.

I should have said that I am in Saalbach at the moment and am surprised about the poor condition of many areas of the pistes in terms of glass like ice and 'sugar snow' caused by artificial snow. Considering the amount of real snow there has been here I was expecting the pistes to be in great condition. Has anyone else noted similar problems in other resorts this season?

I was in the Dolomites last year , which was a particularly bad year, and the pistes were great...the surface was just like "real" snow.., a white ribbon threading through a green/brown world...Artificial snow can be good if its done properly

daved wrote:I was in the Dolomites last year , which was a particularly bad year, and the pistes were great...the surface was just like "real" snow.., a white ribbon threading through a green/brown world...Artificial snow can be good if its done properly

I agree wholeheartedly with Daved's assessment of the Dolomites. I suspect the quality of artificial snow varies depending on when and how it is produced. The Dolomites (or at least the areas covered by the Sella Ronda) have achieved near 100% coverage by snow cannons. however, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference from the real thing. I do seem to recall some horrible slopes in the past where the artificial snow was not nice - inclined toward the icy/sugary mix that Furthy34 has complained about. Perhaps modern technology has provided the means to create artificial snow that is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing but only some resorts have made the investment to roll out the best versions :roll:

I've talked to resort managers and they say things have changed completely from the 1970s-90s when people would arrive in resort and accept whatever the conditions were, to today being unable to cope if there is not fairly extensive snow cover and so they start snowmaking in October and build up bases in high traffic areas completely regardless of what mother nature does or not deliver. I was in the Dolomites last month and was talking to a manager in Dolomiti Superski and remarking that they must be pleased that there was good natural snowfall this season after three successive winters when they had to rely almost entirely on snowmaking. He said on the contrary natural snow meant days with cloud and poor visibility which would put off a lot of their day traffic who wanted sunny days as their top priority. He said they did record business last winter with almost no natural snowfall. So in essence he was saying they actually did better with little or no natural snow and almost entirely machine made snow coneniently made during the nighttime than when it actually snowed normally. At the time of my visit half of the Western Alps was shut down by too much snow so I could sort of see his point but it did make me think about the stage we've now reached!

I too was in the Dolomites last winter and it was my first time there. I must admit that if it wasn't for the artificial snow the trip would have been a disaster. However, I have to disagree with Daved and say that the skiing was certainly not on a par with the real stuff. I also find the remarks of a manager of Dolomiti Superski incredulous because there are many people who for example enjoy off-piste and of course the artificial stuff just cannot provide that. I for one would not return to the Dolomites or anywhere else for that matter unless the slopes were mostly the real stuff.

No probs with snow on and off the piste in the Dolomites at the moment :) Cinque Torri today