Ski Areas Research Articles

Head injury and helmet usage trends for alpine skiers and snowboarders in western Canada during the decade 2008–9 to 2017–18

ObjectivesThis research explores snowsport head injury trends in western Canadian resorts over the decade 2008–2018. DesignEcological study. MethodsHead-injury and participation data on alpine skiing and snowboarding (snowsports) was provided by the Canada West Ski Areas Association (CWSAA) for 2008–2018. Injury reports from the ski patrol of 52 western Canadian resorts were analysed. 29 resorts were included where there was both injury and participation data for at least 8 out of 10 seasons, resulting in analysis of 10,371 reports. Data was imported into SPSS 24 for analysis using descriptive statistics, chi-squared analysis, odds ratios and linear regression. ResultsOver the decade: the head injury rate was 0.205 injuries per thousand skier days. Head injuries were 9–10% of all injuries, significantly lower for skiers (8.3%) than snowboarders (10.9%). There were no significant differences in helmet-usage rates of injured and non-injured populations. 80.6% of injured participants wore a helmet, those wearing a helmet were 8% more likely to report a head injury than those not wearing a helmet. There was little variation in the proportion of head injuries reported as concussion, but a 50% reduction in ambulance or helicopter transport, a head-injury severity proxy. There was a significant relationship between the proportion of snowsport participants who were snowboarders and the head-injury rate. ConclusionsHead injuries remain a rare event. There has been a decline in the severity of reported head injuries which may be a function of a decline in the proportion of snowboarders in snowsports.

Fuzzy Techniques for Artificial Snow Cover Optimization in the Ski Areas. Case Study: Obârșia Lotrului (Southern Carpathians, Romania)

This paper focuses on the environmental conflicts induced by insufficient continuous snow cover on the ski areas in Romania. The case study aims envisions the area of Southern Carpathians, Latoriței Mountains, belonging to the group of Parâng Mountains. The area chosen to develop and improve the artificial snow system was conducted for in the proposed ski area, Obârşia Lotrului. This fulfilled a necessary condition (geomorphological and climatic) for the development of the ski domain. The methodology focuses on two main stages phases. In the first stage phase, based on the GIS, the areas that have shown problems in terms of continuity of the snow layer and its thickness were identified, while the second phase, there is a supposed optimization based on Fuzzy logic for the installation of artificial snow. The corresponding thickness of snow for a longer period of time can lead to a higher socio-economic efficiency, as well as the increase of the use duration of the respective ski area, and also a prevention mechanism to environmental conflicts that may arise. The proposed study supports civil society by optimizing artificial snow machines through a positive impact on water resources allocated to a ski area in order to maintain a continuous snow cover.

The impact of climate change on demand of ski tourism - a simulation study based on stated preferences

Climate change will affect tourism as one of the sectors most dependent on natural resources. Due to the strong dependency of many peripheral areas on tourism, climate change has the potential to destabilize regional economies. The objective of this paper is to assess the impacts of climate change on ski tourism demand. A tourist survey (n = 1957) with a choice experiment conducted in 53 ski areas in Austria provides the data for our analyses. Results show that snow is the most important factor for destination choice. Nevertheless, preferences of respondents are heterogeneous. Measures that enhance price-performance ratio, i.e. lowering lift ticket prices and avoiding crowding, turn out to be the most suitable compensation for suboptimal snow conditions. As long as substitute ski areas with better snow conditions exist, destinations with marginal snow conditions are likely to face severe demand losses (up to 60%). Nevertheless, dynamic pricing has the potential to compensate medium snow reliability. If all destinations are affected by deteriorating snow conditions, total demand reduces by 64% if snow reliability is low. If these conditions and effects are limited to the beginning and the end of the ski season, demand is projected to decline by 18%.

Assessing the ecophysiological response of a mountain grassland community to ski slope management through isotopic composition

ABSTRACTA scarce natural snow cover forces an increasing use of artificial snow on ski slopes and returns a small amount of snowmelt water available to plants outside the pistes at the beginning of the growing season. We tested if the use of artificial snow on the ski slopes and the decreased natural snow cover outside the ski slopes lead to changes in the leaf ecophysiology of dominant species in a ski area located in Northern Italy. Using carbon (13C/12C) and oxygen (18O/16O) stable isotope ratios in plant leaves, we estimated the intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE) and we speculated about changes in photosynthesis and stomatal conductance. Furthermore, carbon and nitrogen concentration, pigments and dry matter content, and the specific area of leaves were measured. We found a higher iWUE of the plants on the ski slopes than outside, probably because the plants on the ski piste are exposed to a condition close to waterlogging that can lead them to regulate their stomata differently than the plants outside the pistes. This behaviour was observed particularly in Ranunculus acris and in Tussilago farfara, for these species the water surplus on the piste may have affected the plants’ gas exchanges.

Skiers’ expectations as a challenge for managers of protected areas – a case study from the Tatra National Parks in Poland and Slovakia

Mountain areas are particularly attractive for the development of winter activities such as skiing, owing to both morphological and climatic conditions. However, mountain areas are at the same time vulnerable. For this reason, they are often under protection. This study focuses on two important and heavily used ski resorts in the Tatra National Parks, Kasprowy Wierch (Poland) and Skalnaté Pleso (Slovakia), looking at skiers’ opinions and complaints regarding the resorts. In addition, a comparison between the resorts was conducted. In order to verify the relationship between socio-demographic variables and the skiers’ opinions, two types of statistical tests were used: Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and Chi-square. The results show that the Kasprowy Wierch ski resort received a larger number of negative comments than Skalnate Pleso. However, Skalnate Pleso drew more negative opinions regarding the impact of the cable car and ski area on the landscape. The consequences of fulfilling visitors’ expectations can be used practically by the managers of the protected areas.

The last resort? Ski tourism and climate change in Arctic Sweden

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss the external and internal factors that support or challenge a possible transformation of Arctic Sweden into a major ski destination under a changing climate.Design/methodology/approachThe paper questions future availability of the physical and the human factors that foster ski tourism development in Arctic Sweden and suggests a comparative case study in relation to the already existing large resort-based ski destinations in Arctic Finland.FindingsPreliminary documentary analysis shows that the governmental and the industrial discourses over the past decade have acknowledged a competitive edge for Sweden and its northernmost regions in particular and may even propose a structural shift for ski tourism in the near future agenda. The visualisations based on natural snow projections presented in this paper confirm this comparative advantage but other technical and socioeconomic development factors are further discussed, in relation to Arctic Finland.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research agenda is suggested to cover, first, assessment of natural and technical snow reliability of existing and all potential ski areas in Sweden and within its competitive set extending to all the Nordics and the Alps, then, incorporation of adaptive capacities of the suppliers but especially the likely substitution tendencies of the consumers, and finally, evaluation of the overall situation in terms of the regional development needs.Social implicationsIt is apparent that land use conflicts will arise in case of large ski resort-based destination development in Arctic Sweden, especially around the environmentally protected areas, which are not only already important attractions for nature-based tourism but also traditional livelihoods for the Sami.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to discuss a potential regional and structural shift of ski tourism in Sweden.

The impact of climate change on ski resorts in China.

Although ski tourism in China is experiencing a boom, and the number of operating ski areas has significantly increased, the influence of climate change on the future development of China's ski industry has so far largely been overlooked. This paper addresses this important gap by applying the ski season simulation model SkiSim 2.0 at 116 ski areas. Four main indicators of climate change impact were examined: ski season length, operational ski days in economically important season segments, technically produced snow and snowmaking requirements. For all ski resorts in China and all climate change scenarios, average ski seasons are projected to shorten (- 4 to - 61% RCP 4.5; - 6 to - 79% RCP 8.5 in the 2050s) while snowmaking needs increase (27 to 51% RCP 4.5; 46 to 80% RCP 8.5 in the 2050s). The results indicate that high regional differences in climate change vulnerability exist. The implications for altered competitiveness and development potential of the ski industry in China are discussed.

Ski tourism in a warmer world: Increased adaptation and regional economic impacts in Austria

Climate change risk has gained considerable attention within the ski industry and its investors. Several past studies have overlooked the adaptive capacity of snowmaking and within-season demand variation and therefore overestimated climate change impacts. This study of the Austrian ski market (208 ski areas) including snowmaking found impacts are substantial and spatially highly differentiated, but nonetheless manageable (season length losses of 10–16%) for the majority of ski areas until the 2050s under a high emissions pathway (RCP 8.5) or even the 2080s in a low emission pathway (RCP 4.5). The economic impacts of reduced operations are largely concentrated in regions less dependent on tourism. Preserving this sector in high-risk areas can be considered maladaptive, but may be important to maintain demand. A sustainable end-of-century future for a high proportion of Austria's ski areas is dependent on achieving the low-emission future set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.

Regional ski tourism risk to climate change: An inter-comparison of Eastern Canada and US Northeast markets

Climate change has become a business planning reality in the ski industry, with differential impacts and adaptive capacity important for intra- and inter-regional market competitiveness. Potential climate change impacts are examined at 171 ski areas in Ontario, Québec and the US Northeast using the SkiSim2 model with regional parameterizations of snowmaking capacity. With advanced snowmaking, mid-century season length losses are limited to 12–13% under a low emission pathway (RCP 4.5), increasing to 15–22% under high emissions (RCP 8.5). By late-century, low and high emission pathways diverge creating very different futures for the ski industry. Season length and skiable terrain losses increase only marginally in the low emission pathway, while transformational impacts occur under a high emission pathway, with only 29 ski areas in Québec and high-elevation areas of the US Northeast able to maintain a 100-day season and open regularly for the economically important Christmas-New Year holiday. A low emission future, where current national pledges to Paris Climate Agreement are achieved, is crucial to preserve the Eastern North America ski tourism marketplace. The results are compared with previous studies that have neglected the adaptive capacity of snowmaking and substantially overestimated the impact of mid-century and lower emission climate change scenarios.

Winter recreation and Canada lynx: reducing conflict through niche partitioning

AbstractOutdoor recreationists are important advocates for wildlife on public lands. However, balancing potential impacts associated with increased human disturbance with the conservation of sensitive species is a central issue facing ecologists and land managers alike, especially for dispersed winter recreation due to its disproportionate impact to wildlife. We studied how dispersed winter recreation (outside developed ski areas) impacted a reintroduced meso‐carnivore, Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), at the southern periphery of the species’ range in the southern Rocky Mountains. On a voluntary basis, we distributed global positioning system (GPS) units to winter recreationists and documented 2143 spatial movement tracks of recreationists engaged in motorized and nonmotorized winter sports for a total cumulative distance of 56,000 km from 2010 to 2013. We also deployed GPS radio collars on adult Canada lynx that were resident in the mountainous topography that attracted high levels of dispersed winter recreation. We documented that resource‐selection models (RSFs) for Canada lynx were significantly improved when selection patterns of winter recreationists were included in best‐performing models. Canada lynx and winter recreationists partitioned environmental gradients in ways that reduced the potential for recreation‐related disturbance. Although the inclusion of recreation improved the RSF model for Canada lynx, environmental covariates explained most variation in resource use. The environmental gradients that most separated areas selected by Canada lynx from those used by recreationists were forest canopy closure, road density, and slope. Canada lynx also exhibited a functional response of increased avoidance of areas selected by motorized winter recreationists (snowmobiling off‐trail, hybrid snowmobile) compared with either no functional response (hybrid ski) or selection for (backcountry skiing) areas suitable for nonmotorized winter recreation. We conclude with a discussion of implications associated with providing winter recreation balanced with the conservation of Canada lynx.

From Uncertain Space: Spatial Trajectory of a Social Innovation ‘by Withdrawal’. Study of the Composition of the Association of Lodges and Huts in Queyras (Hautes-Alpes, France)

Alpine territories located outside major ski areas have often developed in contrasting ways: On the one hand, improvements are made for alpine skiing; on the other hand, there is a need to build an alternative model that supports other practices and other seasons besides winter. Queyras has followed this cyclical process by alternating between good periods of development driven by innovation and periods of crisis. This paper traces the growth of a host association that has been promoting wayfaring activities for the past 15 years. This association has become an important player in promoting these activities and is identified by tourism stakeholders as a major tool to leverage the future of Queyras’s identity as a tourist destination. The association’s developmental trajectory is regularly affected by the withdrawal of non-human actors. While they had previously structured and balanced its support network, the latter has had to be (re)configured around new actors and actants. Our conclusions suggest there is an improvised evolution towards agility and freedom of action as the institutional actor gradually retreats. Recently, this evolution has been accompanied by various translation processes aimed at restoring overall coherence through a superior common territorial principle associated with civic and ecological cities.

Suitability analysis of ski areas in China: an integrated study based on natural and socioeconomic conditions

Abstract. The successful bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics (Beijing 2022, officially known as the XXIV Olympic Winter Games) has greatly stimulated Chinese enthusiasm towards winter sports participation. Consequently, the Chinese ski industry is rapidly booming due to enormous market demand and government support. However, investing in ski areas in unreasonable locations will cause problems from an economic perspective (in terms of operation and management) as well as geographical concerns (such as environmental degradation). Therefore, evaluating the suitability of a ski area based on scientific metrics has become a prerequisite for the sustainable development of the ski industry. In this study, we evaluate the locational suitability of ski areas in China by integrating their natural and socioeconomic conditions using a linearly weighted method based on geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis combined with remote sensing, online, and field survey data. The key indexes for evaluating natural suitability include snow cover, air temperature, topographic conditions, water resources, and vegetation, whereas socioeconomic suitability is evaluated based on economic conditions, accessibility of transportation, distance to a tourist attraction, and distance to a city. As such, metrics ranging from 0 to 1 considering both natural and socioeconomic conditions are used to define a suitability threshold for each candidate region for ski area development. A ski area is considered to be a dismal prospect when the locational integrated index is less than 0.5. The results show that 84 % of existing ski areas are located in areas with an integrated index greater than 0.5. Finally, corresponding development strategies for decision-makers are proposed based on the multicriteria metrics, which will be extended to incorporate potential influences from future climate change and socioeconomic development. However, the snowmaking model with local data should to be used to further analyze the suitability for a specific ski area.

Emotional responses to climate change map framing using facial emotion recognition technology

Emotional responses to climate change map framing using facial emotion recognition technology

Long Period Seismicity at Mammoth Mountain, California

AbstractLong period (LP) seismicity is a ubiquitous feature at Mammoth Mountain, California. Phase‐based locations exhibit source depths ranging from ∼8 to 25 km. Between September 2011 and October 2013, over 200 LP events were added to the Northern California Earthquake Data Center catalog. Three typical LP events were used as master events, and continuous waveform correlation was performed over the 2‐year period, with the results indicating that thousands of LP events were present in the continuous seismic data. Using phase‐weighted stacking, representative network stacks for the three events were produced. Full waveform inversion of the representative events using Green functions that adequately represent the topography of Mammoth Mountain and the high‐resolution velocity structure produced through local earthquake tomography suggest that all three event types are located within ∼100 m of the surface in the vicinity of the Chair 12 tree kill and CO2 emission area and within ∼1 km of the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area base lodge. The source mechanisms are purely volumetric and can be attributed to a subhorizontal hydrothermal crack excited into acoustic resonance by the rapid discharge of CO2 gases trapped in the crack. An accompanying vertical force that is opposite in phase to the volume change in the crack can be attributed to pressure and momentum changes in an adjacent fluid‐filled conduit linking the crack to the surface. The implication of this work is that LP seismicity at Mammoth Mountain occurs almost continuously and in direct contradiction to the traditional view—at very shallow depths.

The Spatial Pattern of Ski Areas and Its Driving Factors in China: A Strategy for Healthy Development of the Ski Industry

The development of ski areas would bring socio-economic benefits to mountain regions. At present, the ski industry in China is developing rapidly, and the number of ski areas is increasing dramatically. However, the understanding of the spatial pattern and driving factors for these ski areas is limited. This study collected detailed data about ski areas and their surrounding natural and economic factors in China. Criteria for classification of ski areas were proposed, and a total of 589 alpine ski areas in China were classified into three types: ski resorts for vacationing (va-ski resorts), ski areas for learning (le-ski areas) and ski parks to experience skiing (ex-ski parks), with proportions of 2.1%, 15.4% and 82.5%, respectively, which indicated that the Chinese ski industry was still dominated by small-sized ski areas. The overall spatial patterns of ski areas were clustered with a nearest neighbor indicator (NNI) of 0.424, in which ex-ski parks and le-ski areas exhibited clustered distributions with NNIs of 0.44 and 0.51, respectively, and va-ski resorts were randomly distributed with an NNI of 1.04. The theory and method of spatial autocorrelation were first used to analyze the spatial pattern and driving factors of ski areas. The results showed that ski areas in cities had a positive spatial autocorrelation with a Moran’s index value of 0.25. The results of Local Indications of Spatial Association (LISA) showed that ski areas were mainly concentrated in 3 regions: the Beijing-centered Yanshan-Taihang Mountains and Shandong Hill areas, the Harbin-centered Changbai Mountain areas and the Urumqi-centered Tianshan-Altay Mountain areas. The first location was mainly driven by socio-economic factors, and the latter two locations were mainly driven by natural factors. Ski tourism in China still faces many challenges. The government sector should strengthen supervision, develop a ski industry alliance, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the ski industry in the future.

Whitebark Pine Recruitment in Sierra Nevada Driven by Range Position and Disturbance History

Effective restoration of whitebark pine populations will require a solid understanding of factors affecting seedling recruitment success, which may vary by site and biogeographic region. We examined the relationship between whitebark pine seedling recruitment, disturbance history, and range position in three independent studies in the southern Sierra Nevada, California (CA), USA. In 66 plots broadly distributed across watersheds, we found that whitebark pine seedling density and proportion were greatest at upper elevations, and where canopy cover of whitebark pine was higher (density ranged 0–383 seedlings/ha; x ¯ = 4, σX = 1). Seedling density and proportion were also greater in plots that had recently experienced loss of canopy cover from insects, avalanche, windthrow, or other disturbance effects. In a second study conducted in popular recreational areas, including campgrounds and trailheads, the response of whitebark pine recruitment to disturbance was strongly dependent on the relative position of stands within the range, or proximity to other forest types. Both studies indicated that low to moderate levels of disturbance enhanced whitebark pine recruitment, especially at its range edge, a finding consistent with the early seral status of whitebark observed in previous studies conducted elsewhere in North America. In our third study, a case study at the June Mt. Ski Area, we demonstrate the potential for a downward shift in the whitebark-lodgepole pine ecotone as a result of insect-caused disturbance.

Climate change and the future of the Norwegian alpine ski industry

ABSTRACT The demand for foresight on how climate change will alter the competitiveness of ski destinations continues to increase. Norway is often considered the country where modern skiing began, yet its climate change risk remains largely unknown. The SkiSim2 model is run with RCP 4.5 and 8.5 emission climate futures to analyse implications for ski season at 110 alpine ski areas in Norway in the 2030s, 2050s, and 2080s with only natural snow and with advanced snowmaking. A considerable shortening of the ski season in projected as early as the 2030s for the half of ski areas that currently lack snowmaking. Naturally snow reliable ski areas decline from approximately half in the 2030s to a third in the 2050s. With snowmaking, ski season losses are substantially reduced and the majority of ski areas remain snow reliable until the end of the twenty-first century in a lower emission future. A substantial shortening of the ski season (up to 40 days) nonetheless begins in the 2050s under a high emission scenario. The need to invest in snowmaking will continue to increase, with attendant financial and sustainability implications. The differential climate risk among five regions of Norway and the European Alps is also discussed.

Impacts of climate and demographic change on future skier demand and its economic consequences – Evidence from a ski resort in the German Alps

Over the next decades the ski tourism industry in the Alps must deal with two major challenges. First, demographic change will lead to aging skiers and declining skier demand. Second, climate change will result in a decreasing number of operating days and optimal ski days, reduced snow reliability and increasing operating costs in some destinations. Both impact factors cause a change in travel behavior of ski tourists. Effects on skier demand have been quantified for Austria, though not for the German Alps, but previous publications lack any quantification of the resulting consequences on future turnover at destinations or compensation for losses. This demand side study addresses this gap using the example of the Sudelfeld ski area in Bavaria, German Alps. It estimates the impact of climate and demographic change on skier days (first entries) and future turnover at the destination. Furthermore, it presents a rough indication on how many non-skiing tourists have to be won by the destination to substitute for the calculated changes in demand. The results demonstrate that climate change will have a solely negative impact on skier demand for the 2030s and 2040s (−13.5% to −31.1%) compared to demographic change (+1.6% to −31.1%). This causes a change of the destination's turnover from +11.8% up to −56.4% (values adjusted to inflation) in the same period compared to the average of the last four winter seasons. Thus, adaptation measures need to be identified to reduce potential economic losses in the next decades.

Behavioural responses to human disturbance in an alpine bird

Mountain habitats are threatened by several factors, including human activities at high elevation, although the negative impacts can sometimes be balanced by positive effects related to human presence. However, knowledge of such interactions is limited in alpine ecosystems. In the study reported here, we assessed the extent of behavioural responses of the Alpine Chough Pyrrhocorax graculus, a bird species found in high-elevation habitats, to differing levels of human disturbance in two alpine areas, a ski resort popular with tourists year-round (‘disturbed site’), and a protected area with low tourist activity (‘undisturbed area’). As the accessibility and distribution of food is a potential factor affecting bird behaviour, we focused on the availability of food types to better discriminate between the effect of food and direct disturbance. We found that human presence was negatively associated with intake rates and amount of time spent in a foraging patch (‘stay time’). Moreover, vigilance and flushing distances were shorter in the disturbed site than in the undisturbed area. However, intake rates were highest and stay times were shortest in the site where anthropogenic food (mostly discarded food items) was available. The abundance of a key prey type, grasshopper, changed significantly over space and time and was lower in the more developed ski area, probably due to the presence of ski pistes. In conclusion, the study highlighted that human disturbance potentially affects foraging behaviour in Alpine Choughs and that the effects could be both positive and negative. Further investigations are needed to better disentangle the effects induced by direct and indirect disturbance and, more generally, to evaluate the potential benefits and negative effects of anthropization on mountain biodiversity.

Modelling the wider effects of ski lift investments

This paper investigates the returns to ski lift investments. The analysis covers 370 ski lifts in 45 ski areas in South Tyrol in North Italy (Alto Adige) for the winter seasons 2002/2003 to 2013/2014. Dynamic panel difference-in-differences estimations show that investments in new ski lifts attract more skiers. On average, ski lift operators who have installed a new ski lift will have 6% more skiers in the following winter season. However, when the neighbouring ski areas are included there are signs of cannibalisation, as the net returns to ski lift investments decrease significantly in magnitude in the second half of the sample period. Furthermore, the positive effects of ski lift installations on the number of skiers are only temporary, generally fading out after 2 years. This proves that investing in a stagnating market is associated with risks.