Snow Farming May Be the Key to Saving Europe’s Ski Industry

The world’s best skiers demand the world’s freshest snow. But this December, when reigning Olympic giant slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin kicks out of the starting gate in the women’s Alpine Skiing World Cup in France’s Courchevel, she’ll be racing on a surface left over from the previous season.

Perhaps “left over” is too harsh. “Harvested” may be more like it, considering that the buffed-to-perfection course will be possible only because of a new technique called “snow farming” that’s being employed across the Alps. Faced with rising temperatures, European ski resorts are preserving last year’s snow by storing it under tarps. It’s a low-tech way to start the next season with an inherited base and colder ground temperatures—that’s key if they want skiers on the mountain before Christmas.