Wrapping snow in blankets. Can it save the ski season? : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2048x1366+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F90%2F2f%2F353c7d5440ad927ce46a825b103c%2Fcovering-the-snow-pile.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2048x1366+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F90%2F2f%2F353c7d5440ad927ce46a825b103c%2Fcovering-the-snow-pile.jpg" class="img" alt="Bogus Basin employees unpack the snow blankets. They're made of polystyrene panels that fold out like an accordion. This year, the mountains in the West have had the lowest snow coverage in decades." fetchpriority="high"/> Bogus Basin staff unpack the snow blankets. They're product of polystyrene panels that fold out like an accordion. This yr, the mountains within the West have had the bottom snow protection in a long time. Logan Brown/Bogus Basin cover caption

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Logan Brown/Bogus Basin BOGUS BASIN, Idaho - This winter is being known as one of many strangest in reminiscence. For a lot of the season, mountain peaks within the West have been naked whereas on the similar time Florida had snow flurries.

The shortage of snow within the West did not was a giant drawback for many ski areas. In the event that they did not have sufficient snow, they made it. However this ski season, it was so heat that snowmaking machines could not work.

Winter sports activities are a multi-billion greenback trade within the US. And ski resorts have had to answer the altering local weather by opening later and limiting runs, hurting their backside traces. A number of ski areas at decrease elevations have needed to shut.

The Bogus Basin Recreation Space, a brief drive from Boise, Idaho, has seen the writing within the snow. Final yr, when temperatures have been nonetheless under freezing, they hatched a plan.

First, they wanted snow, mentioned Nate Shake, Basin's operations director—an entire lot of it.

"I talked to the snowmakers and I used to be like, 'simply begin making snow up there,'" mentioned Shake. "We picked a spot, known as it 'Venture X.' We simply made an enormous pile of snow."

Then their workforce lined the snow—a pile the dimensions of a soccer area—with blankets made out of polystyrene plastic, to maintain the snow from melting over the summer season. They used blankets made by SnowSecure, an organization in Finland, the place resorts have used them for a number of years.

"It is available in eight-foot panels that interlink along with velcro and straps," defined Rob Harms, Bogus Basin's slopes supervisor. "And so that you begin on the uphill aspect of the pile and work your approach down."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2500x1440+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/png/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb5%2Fc6%2F33fd910b4a7abf0743e8472e59f2%2Frolling-out-the-blankets.png" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2500x1440+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb5%2Fc6%2F33fd910b4a7abf0743e8472e59f2%2Frolling-out-the-blankets.png" class="img" alt="Blankets ready to be rolled out to cover a mass of snow to keep it from melting" loading="lazy"/> Blankets able to be rolled out to cowl a mass of snow Bridgette Johnson/Bogus Basin cover caption

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Bridgette Johnson/Bogus Basin Harms mentioned as soon as the unfolded polystyrene panels lined the snow, they wrapped the pile in white plastic to maintain the nice and cozy air out.

Final summer season, temperatures in Bogus Basin have been within the 70s and 80s. However when the employees uncovered the pile final October, 80 % of the snow was nonetheless there. It was densely packed however usable. The ski space's snowmaking crews then used particular tractors to unfold out the snow.

"Simply consider like frosting on a cake," mentioned Harms. "Making every part even and easy and constructing, you already know, peaks and valleys wherever you need them."

Bogus Basin was capable of open their first small ski hill with the saved snow earlier than there was any pure snowfall.

The price of saving all that snow

Austin Smith, Bogus Basin's innovation director, mentioned their first equipment price about $120,000. It isn't low cost, he added, however it's inexpensive than the opposite choice—storing huge quantities of water wanted to run their snowmaking machines.

"We have been estimating someplace between, you already know, $6 and $7 million to construct one other retention pond," mentioned Smith.

Smith considers the blankets to be an insurance coverage coverage.

"It's a little bit of weatherproofing, to guard towards a season like this season, the place not solely did we now have lackluster pure snowfall, we really had heat temperatures that did not enable for snowmaking," mentioned Smith.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5915x3930+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4a%2F12%2F32d1620742529ae27a44ed53e2b3%2Fno-snow-in-utah.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5915x3930+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4a%2F12%2F32d1620742529ae27a44ed53e2b3%2Fno-snow-in-utah.jpg" class="img" alt="Snow was late arriving in the West, again this year. In an aerial photo taken on Feb. 9, 2026, patchy snow remains on a Park City, Utah, golf course, which is normally used for cross-country skiing in the winter." loading="lazy"/> Snow was late arriving within the West, once more this yr. In an aerial picture taken on Feb. 9, 2026, patchy snow stays on a Park Metropolis, Utah, golf course, which is often used for cross-country snowboarding within the winter. Mario Tama/Getty Pictures cover caption

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Mario Tama/Getty Pictures Antti Lauslahti is the CEO of SnowSecure, the corporate that makes the blankets. He mentioned the polystyrene panels aren't meant to interchange snow making or freshly fallen snow.

"It isn't like a curiosity," Lauslahti mentioned. "It is like one device within the toolbox."

Smith, Basin's innovation director, mentioned they're shopping for extra blankets, and increasing the world they plan to wrap for the subsequent season. He expects to spend round $600,000.

Smith needs to open a whole ski path, from high to backside, on time, by Thanksgiving. And he plans to do it, even when a single snowflake hasn't but fallen from the sky.