With rising temperatures, rain and freeze-thaw episodes during winter, ski resorts must redouble their efforts to provide good conditions. This work could, however, pay off: the geographical position of Quebec offers economic advantages to attract customers, experts judge. But how can we adapt to make the most of climate change?
At Ski Saint-Bruno, 80% of the snow that covers the ski area during the season is “artificial”.
“Since the beginning of the year, our mountain has been snow-covered almost exclusively with manufactured snow. We start to open the cannons when the mercury is below zero, the humidity is not too high and there are few gusts,” explains the vice-president of development, sales and marketing and new co-owner of the station, Stéphanie Grenier.
If all goes well, after the mild weather and rain of the last few days, the cannons will be able to leave again on Thursday afternoon, as soon as the temperature permits.
“We expect the conditions to be good for Christmas,” reports Ms. Grenier.
More investments to adapt
Artificial snow is all well and good, but the alpine ski industry will have to redouble its efforts to maintain its activities.
By 2070, the snow cover period could in fact decrease by around twenty days, thereby shortening the skiing season by nearly 17 days, according to a recent Ouranos study commissioned by the Association of Quebec Ski Resorts. (ASSQ).
AFP
For Ski Saint-Bruno, one of the solutions lies in insulating canvases, which “shelter” the snow once the mountain closes in the evening.
“It’s a pilot project. We cover portions of tracks or large piles of manufactured snow which is more easily preserved when it is not spread. We fired our cannons all last weekend, so we placed canvases on the large mounds of accumulated snow,” explains Stéphanie Grenier, who specifies that artificial snow melts less quickly than natural snow.
The station would be the only one in Quebec to test this technology.
“We’ve been adapting to climate change for a long time,” says Sommets’ marketing director, Christian Dufour.
“In the last five years, we have continued to invest in our snowmaking system to improve its efficiency with better use of water and energy,” he says. We also make sure that the land is beautiful, smooth, without shrubs or rocks. The more the ground is ready to accommodate snow, the less we will need to provide good conditions.”
Seize opportunities
Last week, the Association of Quebec Ski Resorts (ASSQ) presented, in collaboration with the Quebec Tourism Industry Alliance, the very first conference “Weather and tourism: alerts in force” at the Manoir Saint-Sauveur .
The objective: to offer solutions to ski resorts to strengthen their resilience to climate change.
Financial support of $1 million from the Quebec government was also announced at the same time to support their efforts.
“We must continue to adapt even if the Quebec business model works well, for the moment. We will be affected climatically, but the Ouranos report indicates that winter and skiing are here to stay,” assures the president and CEO of the ASSQ, Yves Juneau.
The geographical position of Quebec would even offer competitive advantages to attract customers to the mountains of the province, while the regions further south will experience even more climatic hazards.
“These are opportunities that must be seized to bring more Americans and Ontarians to our resorts, especially since the exchange rate is favorable to us,” said the CEO of the ASSQ.
Stéphanie Grenier from Ski Saint-Bruno reminds us that it is more interesting to ski at -2°C than at -30°C.
A paying sector
The alpine skiing sector occupies a major place in Quebec tourism, recalls the recent report from the Ouranos consortium. It contributes “significantly” to the regional economy, with 6.4% of tourism GDP and $866 million in economic benefits for the year 2019.
“Sommet Saint-Sauveur bears all the costs in the resort, but all the surrounding businesses benefit. It is in our interest to invest so that the restaurant is busier or that Pascal the baker sells more croissants,” illustrates Mr. Juneau.
With effective adaptation measures, the province’s resorts could generate more revenue in the years to come, according to him.
Ouranos nevertheless forecasts a reduction in traffic of 2% to 6% due to liquid precipitation.
“When rain is forecast, we immediately see a drop in our traffic, but it is important to remember that we are effective in bringing back good conditions the following days,” mentions Christian Dufour of Sommet Saint-Sauveur.
