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<br />FALL LINE i't!,',': WHAT NOW
<br />
<br />Hjermstad, president of Western
<br />Weather Consultants in Durango, Colo.,
<br />is an expert in the obscure field of cloud
<br />seeding-in which silver iodide particles
<br />are injected into clouds to increase pre~
<br />cipitation. Hjermstad and other propo-
<br />nents say seeding can boost snowfall in
<br />targeted areas by up to 15 percent. The
<br />scientific community remains unsure.
<br />Vail Resorts CEO Bill Jensen is a
<br />believer. Vail has worked with Hjermstad
<br />for more than 30 years and pays him
<br />about $150,000 for a three~month seeding
<br />program that runs November through
<br />January. Hjermstad operates 17 ground~
<br />based generators located 15 to 30 miles
<br />from the resort. He activates them when
<br />he sees storms tracking in from the north
<br />or northwest-roughly 15 to 20 times per
<br />winter. Seeding squeezes an extra few
<br />inches of snow out of each storm and
<br />adds about four feet to winter totals at
<br />Vail and Beaver Creek.,Jensen says. "We
<br />truly believe it works, especially for the
<br />Back Bowls, where we don't make snow."
<br />Cloud seeding-part of a growing field
<br />moWn as weather modification-is one
<br />of the ski industry's tricky little secrets.
<br />Invented in the 1940s by General Electric
<br />researchers, cloud seeding has fallen in
<br />and out of favor throughout the years.
<br />Now, new concerns over global warming
<br />arid shrinking mountain snowpack are
<br />
<br />. ;:: '..' " . . ::; :,' : . ,", i~',:,,',',."',. '\' '"" "
<br />
<br />SEEDING SQUEEZES AN
<br />EXTRA FEW INCHES OF
<br />SNOW OUT OF EACH STORM
<br />AND ADDS ABOUT FOUR
<br />fEET TO WINTER TOTALS
<br />AT VAIL AND SEAVER CREEK,
<br />JENSEN SAYS.
<br />
<br />making cloud seeding a growth industry
<br />again. At least 43 programs worth a com-
<br />bined $15 million are underway in 11
<br />Western states~ Worldwide, 37 countries
<br />are experimenting with it, with China
<br />and Saudi Arabia investing heavily.
<br />In the U.S., water agencies and hydro~
<br />electric power producers are the biggest
<br />spenders. Ski industry cloud seeding, by
<br />contrast, remains 'Just a drop in the
<br />bucket," saysJoeBusto, who oversees
<br />state permitting in Colorado.
<br />
<br />28 SKI SEPTEMBER 2007
<br />
<br />_REMOTE CLOUD-SEEDING GENERATOR -'
<br />
<br />.. II
<br />
<br />
<br />PERCH GUARD Prevents raptors from
<br />, .nesting on top. "
<br />THE BURNER A flame vaporizes a
<br />silver iodide solution into minute parti- '
<br />cles that drift upward in wind currents.
<br />'f$f"''':~'J .- The particles are so small that no
<br />
<br />. .ff~~:~:~I~::~DEMAllOWSclOUd-
<br />
<br />seeders to remotely operate the gener-
<br />ator via satellite,hookup.
<br />SOLAR PANEL Powers the battery box' ,
<br />and provides all electricity needed to
<br />: run the generator. '
<br />BATTERY BOX stores power from the,
<br />solar panel, allowing the generator to
<br />run at night or during cloud~ weather. ,
<br />NITROGEN TANK Used to flush the.
<br />lines to ensure p~oper operation. , '
<br />-;;E';;;l;'9R*~;;~~~; . SEEDING SOLUTION TANK Contains
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />Vail, Beaver Creek, Durango and
<br />Crested Butte, in Colorado, and Alta and
<br />Snowbird, in Utah, are the only resorts
<br />that seeded last season, according to
<br />industry officials. That could change as
<br />state water managers look to partner
<br />with Western ski resorts. "11ris could
<br />help ski areas increase revenues and help
<br />us fill reservoirs," Busto says~
<br />As with Hollywood starlets and plas-
<br />tic surgery, cloud seeding is a topic that
<br />some resorts would rather not discuss,
<br />letting the results speak for themselves.
<br />ill Utah, which boasts "the Greatest
<br />Snow on Earth," cloud seeding remains
<br />in the shadows. "Who knows whether
<br />the dang stuff works?" says Alta presi-
<br />dent Onno Wieringa. "We do it, along
<br />with snowmaking, in the early season to
<br />help build a base," says Snowbird spokes-
<br />woman Laura Schaffer. "In this state, it's
<br />not on the top of the list of talking points."
<br />Though airplanes are sometimes used
<br />to seed clouds, most seeding is done with
<br />ground generators, which work like giant
<br />incense burners, emitting invisible
<br />plumes of silver iodide particles, which
<br />mimic ice crystals, promoti~g the forma-
<br />tion of snowflakes. (~ee box.)
<br />
<br />But cloud seeding isn't Harry Potter's
<br />magic wand. It won't create snow from
<br />blue skies, for instance, so it's useless in a
<br />drought. Rather, it increases the "precipi~
<br />tation efficiency" of storm fronts, says
<br />Tom DeFelice, an executive with the
<br />Fresno, Calif.-based Weather Modifica-
<br />tion Association. The idea is to maximize
<br />the storms when they are overhead.
<br />The placement of ground generators
<br />is crucial. "Geographically, we're in a
<br />perfect place to utilize seeding at Vail and
<br />Beaver Creek," Jensen says. Sister resorts
<br />Breckenridge and Keystone do not cloud-
<br />seed because the geography doesn't work.
<br />Uncertainty about the effects of seed-
<br />ing remains a hurdle to wider use. "Does
<br />it add 10 percent or one~tenth of one per~
<br />cent?" asks Roark Kiklevich, mountain
<br />manager at Crested Butte.Jensen, how-
<br />ever, says an internal study showed tha~
<br />Vail received up to 20 percent more snow
<br />from seeded storms than non-seeding
<br />resorts. "It's clear that well~targeted
<br />regions have shown enhanced snowfall,"
<br />'says Dan Breed of the National Center
<br />for Atmospheric Research in Boulder,
<br />Colo. "It gets a lot trickier when you scale
<br />it up to a large area.". '
<br />
<br />ILLUSTRATION BY ARTHUR MOUNT
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