The Suitability of Snow and Meteorological Conditions of South-Central Slovakia for Ski Slope Operation at Low Elevation—A Case Study of the Košútka Ski Centre

Abstract

In this study, the snow conditions of South-Central Slovakia (Inner Western Carpathians; temperate zone) were analyzed to assess the suitability for ski slope operations without snow production under 1000 m a.s.l. For the study site of the Košútka Ski Centre, meteorological conditions for snowmaking, snowpack characteristics, and snow water equivalent (SWE) compared with seasonal precipitation were identified. To identify the months suitable for snowmaking, the number of potential snowmaking days (PSD) and the required number of snowmaking days (RNSD) were calculated for six winter seasons from 2010-2011 to 2015-2016. The results showed that the conditions of natural snow cover were not appropriate for ski slope operation because of a low natural snow depth. For the Košútka Ski Centre, it was concluded that the essential base layer snowmaking for ski slope operation is possible only for a few days in the winter season because of the increasing mean value of the mean average daily temperature and the consequently higher occurrence of liquid precipitation in the winter season. Essential high snow production results in the heterogeneous distribution of snow on the ski slope, and in high snow depth, density, and SWE of the ski slope snowpack, and in prolonged melting.

Ski piste snow ablation versus potential infiltration (Veporic Unit, Western Carpathians)

“…Snow water equivalent was calculated for each of the 96 points of snow course from snow depth and mean snow density identified in the particular survey. Technique of measuring the snow depth and density is described in more detail by Mikloš et al (2018a) and in general by, for example, López-Moreno et al (2013). In the first survey of the first three seasons, the depth of basal or bare ice layer was measured at 96 points of snow course.…”

“…Our previous study (Mikloš et al, 2018a) showed that operability of low-elevation ski slopes in South-Central Slovakia is possible only with high snow production. Intensive snowmaking results in ski piste snowpack that is melting even a few weeks after disappearance of natural snow on the off-piste sites.…”

“…Snow ablation water plays important role in the hydrological cycle of the snow-dominated basins, where it fundamentally affects seasonal patterns of stream flow (Barnett et al, 2005;Bartík et al, 2014;Hríbik et al, 2012). Because of climate change, the less accumulated snow and earlier snow ablation were observed in North America (Cayan et al, 2001;Mote et al, 2005) and Central Europe (Steiger, 2010;Wipf and Rixen, 2010), especially in lower altitudes (Mikloš et al, 2018a). Earlier snow ablation timing of natural snowpack in combination with the warmer climate results in earlier peak runoff, earlier increase in soil moisture, and earlier start of the vegetation period in the season (Babálová et al, 2018;Barnett et al, 2005;Igaz et al, 2008).…”

“…A number of European studies identified shift in snowfall pattern (Laternser and Schneebeli, 2003;Rixen et al, 2012;Wipf et al, 2009) and increase in the mean air temperature (Kammer, 2002). Shift of liquid winter precipitation to lower elevations of Central European mountains was recorded by numerous studies (Mikloš et al, 2018a;Škvarenina et al, 2009;Steger et al, 2013;Vido et al, 2015;Wipf et al, 2009). Winter tourism that is vulnerable to the snow reliability had to adapt in the last decades.…”

“…To stay operable, ski centers have had to produce artificial snow (since the middle of the 1980s), which decreased their dependency on the natural snow (Bark et al, 2010;Gilaberte-Búrdalo et al, 2014). Nevertheless, snowmaking has economic and physical boundaries, mainly for lower elevation and small-sized ski centers (Mikloš et al, 2018a;Steiger, 2010;Steiger and Mayer, 2008), because of high water and energy consumption (Damm et al, 2014) and temperature/humidity limitations. Artificial snow has different physical and chemical properties than natural snow (Minďáš and Škvarenina, 1995;Rixen et al, 2003).…”