There is no doubt about it: White, powdery snow is the lifeblood of Colorado’s $2 billion annual ski industry. Global climate change is raising some serious jitters for skiers and resort businesses alike.
The reality of rising temperatures is that there will likely be less of it in future winters.
As an industry, ski resorts have long been aware of the negative implications of climate change on their business. In recent months – partly as an effort to offset their contributions to global warming, and partly to ensure the longevity of their business – several Colorado ski areas have significantly upped their environmental action levels.
While the resorts are far from being the state’s biggest offender when it comes to the release of greenhouse gases, their pro-environmental policies are influential, said Stephen Saunders, president of the Louisville-based Rocky Mountain Climate Organization.
“The ski industry is one of the first industries in the country to recognize that its economic future is threatened by a warming climate,” he said. “The greatest benefit of their actions is inspiring other people to do something.
” They are an iconic industry in the west,” he said. “They can have an effect.”
As the state’s 26 ski areas ramp up for the season – 11 resorts are open as of this weekend – almost all of them are launching some kind of “green” initiative. If the payoff is hard to gauge in the short-term, the resorts all have the same goal in mind: keeping Colorado’s ski season long and snowy.
Aspen Skiing Co. led the charge in March when it became the first ski company in the state to purchase enough wind power to offset all its electricity use. Here’s how that works: the resort will continue to take its energy from the national power grid, but its power needs will be replaced with clean, renewable energy derived from wind power.
Industry giant Vail Resorts, Inc. – which owns Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone and Beaver Creek – has followed suit, along with Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Copper Mountain and tiny Wolf Creek Ski Area.
Others are stepping up in smaller ways. Steamboat Ski Resort’s new high-speed quad chairlift is powered entirely by renewable solar and wind power.
“The ski resorts have always been stewards of the environment, but we’ve never really talked much about it,” said Molly Cuffe, spokeswoman for trade group Colorado Ski Country USA. That’s changing, she says, “because it’s such a hot topic in society.”
Aspen Skiing in September joined a U.S. Supreme Court case against the Environmental Protection Agency’s stance against regulating greenhouse-gas emissions. It is the first ski resort to publicly tout its fight against global warming in a major advertising campaign. The ads feature the tagline “Snow: An Endangered Species.”
“It’s pretty edgy; in one of our ads we put up a death certificate for snow,” said Auden Schendler, environmental affairs director for Aspen Skiing. “We wanted to make a major statement.”
The science on future snowfall levels for the region is bleak, according to several studies. By 2090, the central Rocky Mountains are projected to lose up to 75 percent of their average snowpack, according to a National Wildlife Federation report on global warming issued last month.
“The science is clear – it’s happening,” said Myra Wilensky, the group’s Boulder-based national global warming outreach coordinator. “I think the ski industry is being proactive because they have such (a) large stake in this.”
A similar study released last spring by Colorado College found that by 2085 snowpack levels in Colorado could decline by as much as 82 percent in San Miguel County, 57 percent in Eagle County, 54 percent in Grand County, 50 percent in Summit, Routt and Gunnison counties, and 43 percent in Pitkin County.
Experts predict that the region will experience smaller snowpacks and earlier snowmelt in the near future. The Rocky Mountain Climate Organization predicts that snowpack levels in the region will decline by 24 percent by 2039.
“We still seem to start out the snow season like gangbusters,” said Saunders. “But come January and February, we’re starting to see less snow. And in March and April, it’s hotter and melts faster. We’re seeing more effect on the end of the season.”
This vision of the future has prompted the resorts’ activism.
To expand its environmental impact, Vail Resorts is encouraging its guests to join in its renewable energy efforts. In the company’s “Ski With the Wind” program, visitors who purchase one-year wind energy credits through Boulder-based Renewable Energy Choice can receive a free one-day lift ticket to any of Vail’s five resorts.
“If we can get our guests to join in our activities, it really magnifies the impact many times over,” said Vail Resorts chief executive Rob Katz. “Having a dialogue with our guests about the environment deepens our relationship with them and brings us closer to them,” he added. “In the long run, we think that’s good for our business.”
Last winter, a record 12.53 million skiers and snowboarders hit the state’s ski slopes – thanks in part to plentiful early-season snow. But the impacts of a minimal snow season can be dire, as several U.S. ski areas can attest.
The Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington State was closed for half of the 2004-05 season due to rain and sparse snow. Last winter, New Mexico had one of its worst snow years on record, which hurt business at sites like Angel Fire Resort and Pajarito Mountain Ski Area.
Angel Fire saw its annual skier visits drop by more than 50,000 people, to 117,000 skiers last year. “Ski business is our biggest revenue-generator, so it had a pretty significant impact,” said spokeswoman Christy Germscheid. “We’re always looking to diversify our activities. Now we’re focusing more on summer … we’re really ramping up our mountain biking.”
The National Ski Areas Association has been working since 2000 to raise the industry’s environmental awareness through its “Sustainable Slopes” program. The Lakewood-based group tightened its focus in September to promoting renewable energy. To date, 47 of the 326 U.S. ski resorts have begun purchasing wind power credits.
“We’re focusing on one issue and I think that’s what is helping us to make a difference,” said Geraldine Link, the group’s director of public policy. “We want to see what we can do to motivate other business sectors to focus on renewable energy.”
And it’s not just ski resorts that have stepped up to the plate. Colorado mountain towns from Aspen to Durango – communities that rely heavily on tourist dollars – are also launching environmental initiatives. Avon and Vail announced in September they are purchasing credits from Colorado wind-energy providers to offset 100 percent of their electricity.
Last month, Telluride launched a six-week program designed to educate its residents on everything from energy-efficient lighting to the power of purchasing locally grown produce. As part of the program, called Telluride Unplugged, the town gave away 750 free compact fluorescent light bulbs. They use 75 percent less energy and last five times longer than incandescent bulbs.
“We really wanted to educate people and open up a dialogue, to get people talking and thinking about this,” said Karen Guglielmone, project manager for Telluride’s public works department. “Right now, it’s small steps, but we think we can make a difference.”
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-954-1592 or at jdunn@denverpost.com.
