Ski resort in France transports snow via helicopter to stay open given warm temperatures

In a desperate attempt to stay open, a ski resort in France used a helicopter to bring in snow as warm climatic conditions persist in the region. The Superbagnères resort, set in the Pyrenees mountains, is suffering from unusually low snowfall in winters which forced the resort to take help of a helicopter to transport snow from outside. The whole snow delivery operation took nearly three hours and 400 litres of fuel.
Despite being set in the French Alps, the whole region of the resort is suffering from warm temperatures. The average temperatures recorded in February 2020 are around 6 degree celsius. This year, the region has witnessed temperatures rising over 10 degrees celsius, as per news reports. The temperature is too warm even to create machine snow.

Criticising the move, the French environmental minister Elisabeth Borne said that it will only add to climate change, the foremost reason behind the less or no snowfall. She said, “Snowing ski resorts by helicopter is not possible and that we can not have stations that are victims of climate change, that have no more snow and, at the same time, contribute to aggravating climate change.”
However, there were people who also defended the resort’s decision of bringing in snow. Hervé Pouanu, director of the council in the southwest of France, said that they were not going to cover the whole resort in snow.

In an interview, he defended the act and said, “Otherwise, we would have to close a large part of the area…as our beginner slopes and ski schools are at their busiest during the holidays.”

It’s high time that people must admit that climate change is for real and will harm the world environment in future in irreparable ways.