Focus Work
Spring 2017

Landscape Deployment:
Alpine Resorts and the Mechanical Snow Systems

David Koehn

It’s through a newspaper article that the question of mechanical snow systems arose. The last few winters have seen many smaller ski resorts struggling with very little snowfalls, showing the precarious economic balance of some alpine communities. Since the early nineties, we implemented what we called “mechanical snow systems” or “snow-culture” to provide skiing slopes with snow when needed. The recent dry and hot winters created a segregation between resorts with and without artificial snow. That difference is what the following essay tries to investigate. What is the impact of mechanical snow systems on Alpine Resorts?