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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: THE WATSONYOUTH who wrote (1050712)	1/26/2018 10:34:42 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578339

'This is the weather and climate we fear': Climate change and Colorado's ski slopes Jacy Marmaduke, jmarmaduke@coloradoan.com Published 7:00 p.m. MT Jan. 25, 2018 Arapahoe Basin ski area sustainability manager Mike Nathan talks about the steps taken to operate in a more sustainable way. Timothy Hurst (Photo: Timothy Hurst/The Coloradoan) Drew Van Patter’s Epic Local Pass isn’t getting much air time this season. Van Patter, a 32-year-old Fort Collins snowboarder who moved to Colorado five years ago but has frequented the state's ski areas since he was 10 years old, hit the slopes for the fourth time this season in early January. Like most ski areas in Colorado this season, the runs were icy. Throughout the state, a day of skiing this season has often meant a day spent dodging the grass and rocks peeking from a threadbare blanket of snow. “It was probably the worst day I’ve had since I lived in Colorado,” Van Patter said of his runs at Breckenridge Ski Resort. Recent storms offered life support to many of the state's snow-starved ski areas, but as of early January, Colorado's snowpack was lower than it had been in 30 years. Last year was the state’s second-warmest year ever. More: 'Tis the season to be safe on Colorado's ski/snowboard slopes Ski resorts in Colorado, the snow sport stalwart of the nation, will lose millions of dollars this season because of paltry snow and balmy temperatures, one resort leader estimated. “The whole state is having its worst opening in 20 years,” said Auden Schendler, vice president of sustainability for Aspen Snowmass, during a December interview. “This is the weather and climate we fear. It’s already here.” There will be many more seasons like this as climate change ravages Colorado ski areas, scientists and environmental advocacy groups predict. Recent Environmental Protection Agency research estimates Colorado ski areas will see their already fleeting seasons dwindle by 10 to 50 percent by 2050. For a 150-day ski season, that means a reduction of between two weeks to nearly three months. By 2090, the EPA estimates some Colorado ski areas will see seasons shortened by as much as 80 percent from present-day levels. "A lot of people think that climate change is something way in the future that's hard to quantify," said Lindsay Bourgoine, advocacy and campaigns manager for Protect Our Winters. The nonprofit is fighting climate change with support from the outdoors community. "When we start thinking about the millennial generation, this is their grandkids that won't ski." Support our journalism: If you enjoy reading stories like this, consider signing up for a digital subscription or downloading our app today. The endangerment of the powder day is among the lesser worries in a world imperiled by climate change, Bourgoine said. But it’s one clear way that rising temperatures and unpredictable precipitation patterns are battering Colorado, a state that in recent years has been insulated from major fires and floods. It's hard to quantify exactly how climate change has affected Colorado ski resorts, particularly because their managers keep a tight grip on data tracking season length and snow-making. Half a dozen ski resorts contacted by the Coloradoan declined to participate in this story or did not respond to requests for interviews and data. But we know mountain snowpack has decreased 20 to 60 percent at most monitoring sites in Colorado since the 1950s, according to an EPA analysis. We know Colorado's average temperature has increased more than 2 degrees in the last 40 years. Climate change has gnawed off profitable chunks at the beginning and end of the ski season, said Schendler, who estimated an area needs about 100 days to turn a profit. "We're seeing these shoulder seasons being squeezed every year," he said. "You get maybe 20 percent of your revenue in the Christmas to New Year's season, and then a big chunk in March for spring break. If you shave off the front and back ends, you no longer have an industry." coloradoan.com