Shot on a Fujifilm X-T3 and iPhone
Tag: snowboard
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The impact of climate change on the Winter Olympics
It was pure luck, but we couldn’t have timed this last week any better. It started snowing in the mountains around Salt Lake City on Tuesday, and it felt like it didn’t stop until Saturday. On Wednesday morning, which was peak powder, the main resorts were reporting anywhere between 23″ and 30″ of fresh now. It was the stuff of magical dreams.
But snowfall is, of course, highly variable. SLC is having a record year, whereas many resorts in Europe weren’t able to open until mid-January because of a lack of snow. And from a macro perspective, things are generally getting worse. According to this report, for every one degree increase in the world’s average temperature, global snow cover is reduced by about 8%.
What this mean is that, even in low emission scenarios, many of the places that previously hosted the Winter Olympics, may struggle to do so again in the future because of “non-reliable” snow cover. Freestyle ski and snowboard, for example, typically wants a minimum of 1 meter of snowpack as a base, and sometimes more if melting is expected.
Things do not look positive for Vancouver, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and even Chamonix in the below chart. (And as a further blow, the authors of the report also don’t know how to spell Vancouver.) Naturally, this is something that you might want to consider when looking at long-term investments that are dependent on fresh snow.
You can, however, ignore Sochi in the above chart. Because this was never a great place for the Winter Olympics and it’s unclear to me why this place was ever chosen (other than for presumably nefarious reasons). It’s like: “We are one of the largest and coldest countries in the world. We have a lot of snow in Russia. But for fun, let’s choose one of the few places with a sub-tropical climate.”
Excluding Sochi, though, this is an alarming chart.
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Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah
Today we went skiing and snowboarding at Brighton, which is in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was cool seeing the landscape transform and the temperature drop as we went from 4,300 feet (in Salt Lake City) to 8,755 feet (at the base of the mountain). Here are a few snaps from the road.
Shot on iPhone
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12th annual
For those of you who are long-time readers of this blog, you might remember that I do an annual ski and snowboard trip with a group of close friends from both Canada and the US. This year should technically be the 14th annual, but we took two years off during the pandemic (though some of us did meet up to ski), and so we’re referring to this as the official 12th annual. The last one was in February 2020 in Fernie, BC, and this weekend we’re off to Park City, Utah.
This annual trip is something that I look forward to all year. And it has really cemented my love of snowboarding and the mountains. For me, it’s this wonderful combination of outdoor activity, beautiful landscapes, unplugging, and catching up with friends that I have known, in many cases, for over 20 years. In fact, I know that this trip is the reason that a few of us decided to get together to build Parkview Mountain House (our upcoming “creative mountain retreat” in Park City).
A big part of what we want to do with the house (when it’s hopefully ready next winter) is share our love of the mountains with others. We want others to experience what we experience when we go on these trips. At the same time, we felt like there was a huge gap in the market. Park City is a world-renowned ski and snowboard destination, and yet it still feels hard to find modern and design-focused places to stay. So we decided to create our own.
There is, however, one small problem: my right knee. It has been bothering me for the last few years whenever I snowboard, and usually only when I snowboard, to the point where I have to get off the mountain. This obviously pisses me off. So I decided to spend the last 2 months training my tender knees with Noah Mandel. We’ll see if that did anything this weekend. But I’m so committed to the mountains that, if it helps, I’m even prepared to switch to skiing!
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European Alps are home to a third of the world’s ski resorts — but they’re mostly closed
This winter was supposed to be the 12th edition of a ski and snowboard trip that I do every year with a group of friends from both Canada and the US. Last winter we were in Fernie, British Columbia and this winter we were planning to go to Europe. But for obvious reasons, the trip has been cancelled. It’s going to be a tough season for the ski industry.
According to this recent FT article, the European Alps are home to more than a third of the world’s 2,084 ski resorts. Typically, these resorts bring in about €28 billion in revenues over the course of a season, which is similarly about a third of the global total and almost 7% of the value of the European Union’s overall tourism market.
But many/most resorts are closed right now. France has shuttered all ski resorts until at least January 7, 2021. And Switzerland, while “cautiously open,” is apparently getting pressure from its neighbors to close down again as further quarantine restrictions are put in place.
Interestingly enough, some resorts are already reporting higher than normal early bookings for the 2021-2022 season. This is according to the same FT article. Instead of several hundred early bookings, which would be typical, they’re reporting several thousand. And many of the bookings have moved upmarket compared to prior years.
What this starts to indicate is that we are likely to see an explosion in travel and leisure spending as soon as people feel safe and as soon as these restrictions are lifted. Demand is getting pent-up right now and that can mean only one thing: the 12th annual ski and snowboard trip needs to be a banger.
Charts: Financial Times
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The Nooq, now available for rent
I’ve never been to Whitefish, Montana, but it is on my list (mostly to try out the snowboarding). I have also been following a home in Whitefish that was designed and built by Alex Strohl and Andrea Dabene called the Nooq. I like to periodically dream about living in the mountains and this home is the sort of thing that usually comes to mind.
Take a look at the home’s Instagram page and you’ll see that every detail has been carefully considered. Each bathroom, for example, has a different tile color — all of which are meant to mimic the color palette of Montana throughout the year. As I’ve said before on the blog, that’s one of the things that you want from good design — you want to know that somebody thought about things.
They have also recently made the home available for rent on Airbnb. But the listing is private. So if you’d like to learn more, you’ll have to drop your email address over here. I may just have to do that once winter rolls around.
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Unusual ski-spots around the world
“Like so many sports that humans do,” he [Kari Medig] says, “skiing can seem absurd: sliding over the miracle of frozen water, slipping down steep mountains wearing layers of crazy clothes—it really is a strange thing to do.”
I love skiing (well snowboarding to be exact). And I love photography. So here is an interesting photo essay from FvF about “the unexpected diversity of the ski community.” It features the work of Canadian photographer Kari Medig.
Kari’s career is centered around photographing unusual ski-spots around the world. He has discovered that every locale has its own unique subculture. In some places, skiing is about status. But in other places, people depend on it for their livelihood.
Eventually Kari hopes to turn this lifelong ski project into a book. I sure hope he does that. I bet it would do very well on Kickstarter. (On a largely unrelated note, his photos of Rio de Janeiro are at least 100x better than mine.)
Image: Kari Medig
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Man behind the map
For those of you who are regular readers of this blog, you’ll know that I love to snowboard and that I leave Ontario every winter in search of fresh lines. It is an annual tradition that has been going on for over a decade.
One of the things I wish I had been more diligent about is collecting all of the trail maps. I am sure I have a number of old ratty ones in some of my snowboard bags and snow pants, but none of them are probably worth keeping.
That’s why I think this is a terrific Kickstarter campaign by James Niehues. Over the last 30 years, James has researched, photographed, and painted almost every ski map in use across North America. Yes, these maps are all painted by hand.
If you would like to back James’ project – a hardcover coffee table book of his work – you can do that here.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/orsc/james-niehues-the-man-behind-the-map/widget/video.html
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That’s a wrap
Jackson Hole never disappoints.
The valley is this wonderful combination of cowboy town, expansive flat plains, wildlife, snowcapped mountains, challenging skiing and snowboarding, ‘mountain modern’ architecture, and twangy accents.
One of the highlights of the trip was discovering a hot spring along the side of the Snake River. We never would have found it had it not been for a few locals. Apparently it’s called the “stinky spring.”
The setup was no frills — a bunch of rocks arranged as basins in order to catch the surprisingly steamy sulfur water. But the experience of sitting in the mountains and jumping between the icy river and hot springs was priceless.
That’s another great thing about ski towns: they change your perception of snow, winter, and the outdoors. When it snows in Jackson, people smile and grab their skis and snowboards. I aspire to bring that same energy to winter in the city.
I could never be a ski bum, but I can certainly appreciate why others make that choice. Until the 10th annual…
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9th annual
Delta: “Final destination today?”
Me: “Jackson.”
Delta: “Ooohh, everyone is going to Jackson today!”
Me: “That’s because they’ve been getting a lot of snow.”
It’s that time of year again. I’m at the airport right now about to leave for my annual retreat to the mountains.
If you know me or you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know that I’ve been doing this every year at roughly the same time for almost a decade. Next year will be our 10th “annual”, so that likely means we’ll have to ratchet things up a bit.
Jackson Hole received 6″ of fresh powder last night and the weather forecast for this week is filled with even more snow. However, I think we may stay off Corbet’s Couloir. (Whatever you do, don’t click-through.)
Regular scheduled programming will resume tomorrow. If you need to reach me, you know how. There never seems to be a good time to be out of the office, but traditions are traditions, right?
