Simulation of snow management in Alpine ski resorts using three different snow models

Pan-European meteorological and snow indicators of climate change impact on ski tourism

“…Within the scope of this product, the main limitation to the use of the Crocus model is the absence of several processes shaping the snow cover on ski slopes (e.g. wind-drifting, skiers erosion), and the use of a single set of snow management parameters (grooming, snowmaking) across Europe ( Abegg et al, 2020 , Hanzer et al, 2020 ), although regional variations in management practices, such as snowmaking practices (e.g. temperature thresholds, production targets, starting and ending dates for snowmaking) already occur and are likely to evolve in the 21st century, due to changes in technology and adaptation of management practices to climate change.…”

“…Such information provides context for ski resorts operating conditions, and have been used to infer future ski tourism projections in many European countries ( Damm et al, 2017 , Tranos and Davoudi, 2014 ). Still, their relevance for ski tourism stakeholders is limited, in particular because such studies do not account for snow management, although it plays a central role for the operations of ski resorts ( Steiger et al, 2019 , Hock et al, in press , Hanzer et al, 2020 ). In contrast, several studies have provided information relevant to ski resorts management at the local to regional scale, accounting for future climate conditions but also explicitly handling snow management elements, such as threshold wet-bulb temperature for snow making, impact of grooming etc.…”

Past changes in natural and managed snow reliability of French Alps ski resorts from 1961 to 2018

“…The hourly resolution SAFRAN meteorological conditions are used as input to the detailed, multilayer snow cover model Crocus, resolving natural processes occurring in the snow cover and at its interfaces with the underlying ground and upperlying atmosphere (Vionnet et al, 2012). In its Resort version (Spandre et al, 2016b), the Crocus model is also equipped with dedicated options for representing snow grooming and snowmaking, both in terms of their physical characteristics but also typical management operations timing and snowmaking production rate (Spandre et al, 2016aHanzer et al 2020. Crocus model runs were carried out for each relevant SAFRAN massif and all elevations, not only on flat terrain but also for 8 main orientations (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW) and slope angles of 10, 20, 30 and 40°.…”

The Snow-Friction of Freestyle Skis and Snowboards Predicted From Snow Physical Quantities

“…This included the idea that any type of snow can be adequately described using five quantities: temperature, LWC, density, SSA, and penetration resistance. Moreover, linking snow friction to physical snow properties allows the application of snowpack models (Lehning et al, 2006;Hanzer et al, 2020) to forecast snow friction, as a function of weather scenarios and topographies for any ski slope or slopestyle course, worldwide. Although the COF could not be accurately determined from a single snow property alone (R 2 0.04-0.29), single parameter models mostly revealed plausible dependencies and predicted realistic COF ranges (ca.…”