Will artificial snow save the ski industry in the long run – or curse it?

At the Winter Olympics, athletes race down immaculate white slopes. The snow looks perfect. But it is largely manufactured.

In Italy, where rising temperatures and declining snowfall were felt earlier than in other Alpine regions, technological fixes began in the 1990s. Today, reliance on artificial snow is widespread: around 95% of Italian ski resorts use snowmaking, and more than 70% of slopes are covered by artificial snow during the season.

Modern snowmaking uses a large fan-like “snow canon” to spray tiny droplets of water into cold air, where they freeze before landing on the ground. Vehicles known as piste bashers (in Europe) or snowcats (in North America) then compress and groom that new snow until it forms a more stable base. The process does not rely on chemical additives. It has become so effective that it can now guarantee competition-grade conditions even when natural snowfall is increasingly unreliable.

Together with colleagues at the Universities of Oxford and Trento, I have been part of the Hot Snow project, investigating what all this means for the ski industry.

We know that continuous innovation – often referred to by the industry as “technical snow” – has helped protect winter sports. Yet we found it also carries a less visible risk: successful adaptation through artificial snow can make the ski industry complacent about climate change.

How artificial snow really works

In leading resorts, artificial snowmaking process is data-driven and highly automated. At the touch of a tablet, operators can adjust the quality and density of new snow, depending on temperature, humidity and the sort of surface they want to create. This produces snow that can be more controllable and durable than natural snowfall.

Snowmaking systems have become more energy efficient over time. Production is optimised to exploit the coldest possible weather windows, reducing energy use per cubic metre of snow. In regions such as the Dolomites, where the Olympic ski races are being held, resorts largely rely on renewable electricity and rainwater stored in artificial basins.

Even so, artificial snow remains energy intensive. In Italian ski resorts, snowmaking accounts for around 30–40% of total energy consumption, with annual costs of €50 million to €100 million (£44 million to €88 million). Across the Alps, total energy demand for artificial snow is estimated at around 2,100 gigawatt-hours per winter season – roughly equivalent to the total annual domestic electricity use of Milan.

The water footprint is just as significant. Artificial snow production in Italy alone consumes around 100-150 million cubic metres of water each year – roughly equivalent to the annual water use of between 1 million and 1.5 million people.

In regions where winter precipitation is becoming less reliable and summers are growing hotter and drier, this growing competition for water adds another layer of pressure, particularly for mountain communities and downstream users. For this reason, ski resorts increasingly rely on artificial reservoirs to store water which, though useful in dry seasons, are often harmful to mountain landscapes and ecosystems.

When adaptation becomes a trap

The effectiveness of snowmaking is both a blessing and a curse.

Across Europe, artificial snow now underpins much of the ski industry. In many regions, slopes depend on it to open at all. This technological success creates what economists call a lock-in effect. Resorts continue to invest heavily in snow cannons, reservoirs and grooming vehicles, even in areas where artificial snow may soon become unviable.

At the same time, rising infrastructure costs requires a constant increase in consumer prices. Ski pass prices have increased by around 40% since 2021, further turning skiing into a sport accessible only to those with deep pockets. Each new investment further entrenches this trajectory, making it progressively harder to step back and rethink alternatives for the future of these resorts.

The illusion of control

Some snowmaking systems can technically operate even when air temperatures rise above freezing, albeit at a very high energy cost. One manufacturer has demonstrated technology capable of producing snow at ambient temperatures of up to 20°C. That possibility reinforces a dangerous narrative: that innovation alone will solve the problem.

But climate projections suggest there will come a point when even artificial snow cannot compensate for warming conditions at many altitudes. In Italy, most resorts located around 1,000 metres above sea level have abandoned hopes of operating consistently, while skiing in the Apennines – once a preferred destination for central and southern Italy – has largely shut down.

When artificial snow stops being viable, the transition is often abrupt. Resorts are left with stranded assets and communities face sudden economic shocks. This is what we describe as an “expiring industry”, one that can appear economically healthy today while facing a clear climate-driven end date.

The danger is not collapse tomorrow, but delay today. As long as slopes remain open and bookings stay strong, there is little incentive to invest in alternatives. After all, winter tourism is still worth over €11 billion (£9.6 billion) a year to the Italian economy alone.

What should change

Those who benefit from the status quo are unlikely to propose alternative futures. Public policy therefore plays a crucial role in shaping which futures remain possible.

Continuing to subsidise ski infrastructure may keep slopes open for a few more seasons, but it also deepens reliance on winter snow in places where long-term viability is increasingly uncertain. It risks diverting public money, attention and political capital away from transitions that could actually endure.

A different approach would make public support conditional. Resorts could be required to disclose water and energy use transparently, and to present credible plans to diversify beyond winter-only tourism rather than simply extending it. This would also mean scrutinising claims that lift infrastructure can function as sustainable, year-round transport — a justification often used to secure public funding, but rarely realised in practice.

I’m a passionate skier myself. As a Veneto native, the Dolomites are my favourite place to ski. So this is not about blaming skiers or dismissing snowmaking technology, which has helped sustain jobs in the mountain communities of my region.

The problem is mistaking successful short-term adaptation for a viable long-term strategy. When technological fixes stand in for long-term planning, they delay investment in alternatives and leave regions more exposed when climate limits are finally reached.

As long as artificial snow keeps slopes white against an increasingly green landscape, it is easy to believe alpine skiing will always be there. But this is not simply kicking the can down the road. It is pushing it uphill. And metre by metre, the slope is getting steeper.

Paolo Aversa works on the Hot Snow project with professor Juliane Reinecke at the University of Oxford and professor Alberto Nucciarelli and Dr Edoardo Trincanato at the University of Trento. The research has been supported by The Center of Sustainable Business at King's Business School, The Fondazione CARITRO, and the Center for Sports and Business at the Stockholm School of Economics.