<story><title>Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open</title><url>https://switzerlandtimes.ch/local/gstaad-be-flies-in-snow-by-helicopter/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>leejo</author><text>Gstaad is quite an exclusive resort, but is relatively low level - the village is at about 1,000m. I once shot some photos for the local ski club at one of the slopes there and they wouldn&amp;#x27;t let anyone but the racers use the piste as they wanted to keep it in good condition. IIRC it was one of the privately owned runs, and they really didn&amp;#x27;t want this snowboarder wrecking the piste so I had to hike up to shoot photos...&lt;p&gt;Anyway, Gstaad is not far from Glacier 3000 which has most of its slopes at, yes, 3,000m, so anyone in Gstaad doesn&amp;#x27;t have to go far for (currently) guaranteed snow. The snow up there should be pretty good.&lt;p&gt;Lack of snow in this region isn&amp;#x27;t unusual at this time of year, we had a good amount at the beginning of Dec. What has been unusual is the high temperatures, which has meant that snow is now mostly gone and the snow generating machines are of no use. We&amp;#x27;ve also had a lot of rain, which has made managing the existing snow difficult.&lt;p&gt;This is the future of low to mid level resorts however. In a couple of generations time they won&amp;#x27;t be able to offer skiing, or the length of the ski season will be significantly reduced. I shot a photo project on this when I first arrived here, nearly a decade ago: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.formulanon.com&amp;#x2F;switzerland-bergbahnen&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.formulanon.com&amp;#x2F;switzerland-bergbahnen&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Switzerland: snow flown in by helicopter in attempt to keep ski slopes open</title><url>https://switzerlandtimes.ch/local/gstaad-be-flies-in-snow-by-helicopter/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>samwillis</author><text>This isn&amp;#x27;t a new phenomenon or something restricted to &amp;quot;exclusive&amp;quot; resorts. I have seen this happen in other alpine ski areas over the last 5-10 years when there has been particularly bad snow. Normally in places that are of high importance and traffic, such as at the top of main lifts.&lt;p&gt;Ski resorts use helicopters for many logistical activities, if it keeps the area open they will do it. This year the Alps are having a particularly bad January, and with it only being four weeks till the traditional February rolling school holidays for family skiing trips, they are very concerned about keeping the areas open.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s not to say there isn&amp;#x27;t a level of absurdity to the whole thing!</text></comment>