The Australia ski resort of Thredbo loves to talk about their sustainability initiatives.
And to be fair to the resort, they do power their lifts via renewable electricity, generated from hydro power. On their sustainability page, they list further actions that they have taken to mitigate the impact of their operations.
Only this week, the resort announced its new partnership with Flixbus, promoting coach travel from Sydney to the NSW resort.
Creating artificial snow at 20C
Yet at the same time, Thredbo is championing their new ‘Snow Factory’ for creating artificial snow.
The new Demaclenko SnowPro 201 Snow System can produce snow in temperatures up to 20C. Typical snow cannons can only produce snow when the temperature is close to freezing.
The new machine can produce 210 cubic metres per day, but it uses significantly more energy than traditional snow guns because it operates independently of air temperature.
A response to ‘variable and shortening snow seasons’
Thredbo has invested in the Snow Factory “in response to variable and shortening snow seasons in the Australian Alps and the relatively low elevation of Friday Flat…to provide both an early season and more reliable snow cover.”
Evidently, there is an economic justification for this, but we wait with interest to see how this new development is covered in their next sustainabiltiy report.
