造雪機器和抓毛絨毯——滑雪產業對氣候變暖的反抗

英文原文：https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/19/snow-machines-fleece-blankets-inside-ski-industry-battle-with-climate-change-alpine-resorts

英文音頻：https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2023/feb/17/from-the-archive-snow-machines-and-fleece-blankets-inside-the-ski-industrys-battle-with-climate-change-podcast

閲讀小結

1948年，當傑克.木弗萊厄（Jacques Mouflier）和兒子來到這個坐落於法國東南阿爾卑斯山脈，高於海平面1850米的小村莊時，他看到了商機。往後數十年，一年一度的滑雪比賽（The Criterium de la Premiere Neige, 意爲初雪的比賽）都在這個小村莊——Val d' Isere舉行，這裏也被開發成了世界聞名的滑雪勝地，有全世界35%的滑雪度假村坐落在這裏，每年吸引大約有1.2億位游客前來玩雪。

Val d' Isere之所以能吸引無數商機，正是因爲這裏的雪每年都準時降臨。從十二月開始，這裏能不間斷地下一個月的雪，厚厚的雪覆蓋方圓十里。游客玩樂之餘還能躺在五星級酒店的床上享受窗外雪景，實在是人生一大樂事。

然而，隨著全球平均氣溫上升，這樣的美好的度假之旅可能不再現實。自上世紀80年代中期起，Val d' Isere下初雪的時間就一直在推後。皮塞亞斯冰河區，已經融化到Pointe du Montet山附近。据歐洲地質科學聯盟（the European Geosciences Union）估計，阿爾卑斯山脈90%的冰川會在本世紀末消失。

奧利維爾.西蒙尼（Olivier Simonin）擔憂地說：“氣候已經成爲旅游行業的頭號話題。”他是度假區的導游。06-07年的旅游季，度假區因爲降雪不足，收入下滑了7%。皮埃爾.馬提斯（Pierre Mattis）是附近一家造雪厰的老闆。1995年，他28嵗，還是一名滑雪電纜車工程師，就被上級安排管理造雪機器。四年後，他開了自己的造雪工廠。現在，他帶領著只有12人的團隊管理著650臺機器。只需要幾個人在控制臺操作，650臺噴雪機器便會以每小時250千米的速度往山上噴灑人造雪。人造雪的密度分爲從1到10的十個等級，根據不同需要可隨意調整，十分方便。

漢斯.歐勒曼（Hans Oerlemans）畢業於乌特勒支大学（Utrecht University），他從1980年起研究冰川，並取得博士學位，現在是該校的榮譽退休教授。他在莫特瑞許冰河（Morteratsch Glacier）建立了一個氣象觀測站，觀察冰川受氣溫影響的變化。他觀察到一個很有趣的現象，因爲被夏季風暴帶來的深達半米厚的冰雪覆蓋住了冰層，冰層融化的現象停止了。原來是冰雪反射了太陽光綫的輻射。他立即展開實驗，在5月份用兩米寬的絨毯蓋住冰層，直到9月再把毯子拿開。實驗結果十分成功，有些地區的冰層甚至還增厚了兩米。2019年，漢斯收到了來自瑞士聯邦創新機構的兩百萬瑞士法郎的款項，用以開展雪毯計劃（snow blanket scheme）。

儘管有關冰川保護的研究已經取得進展，但現階段仍有很多阻礙，使這項技術無法惠及大衆。Val d' Isere的旅游景區也在調整業務範圍。西蒙尼希望2050年，30%的景區收入能來自除滑雪外的其他景點項目。“山裏的人都是堅韌的，我們早就習慣了變數。”他覺得再過幾十年，看雪景會成爲一種奢侈。

Summary in English:

The first date of snow in the Alpine village of Val d' Isere is drifting later. When Jacques Mouflier developed the region into a world-renown skiing resort, he did not foresee that the climate change will change the snow-clad Alps into greenish mead.

Some ski seasons are abundant in snow; but more consistent is the retreat of the Pissaillas glacier, which withdrew further up to the Pointe du Montet mountain. Since 1955, the ski competition The Criterium de la Premiere Neige(the competition of the first snow) was held on a yearly basis in Val d' Isere. But for the first time in 2014, the Criterium de la Premiere Neige was forced to relocated to a more snow-reliable resort in Sweden.

Lack of snow has become an increasing problem for this region. Seasonal drift threw the skiing season out of sync with the lucrative Christmas holidays. Olivier Simonin, the director of tourism at the resort, experienced the terrrible 2006-7 season, where the shrink in revenue reached 7% across Alpine resorts. He expected to make more profits from other sources in the holiday season.

Pierre Mattis began building his own snow-making factory in 1999. With a team of merely 12 people, they can overlook 650 snow-making machines that are spaced evenly on the mountains. However, the installation and operation of snow-making facilities is costly that it cannot be adopted by other less-moneyed resorts. They would rely on snow farming to preserve snow and deploy it on the slopes for skiing in winter.

Hans Oerlemans has been monitoring the depth and temperature of glacier via his weather station since 1995. He noticed that solar radiation from the sun melts ice in a faster pace than the transfer of heat from warm air. By covering the ice with polyester fleece, the ice's thaw can be halted. He conducted an experiment over a small section of the Diavolezzafirn glacier, and the results showed that the melting was prevented and the ice in some place even grew. He is about to start his next phase of glacier recovering scheme after finding willing partners, and filing patents.

Skepticism about the scheme persists. Some resorts already consider shifting to other businesses to adapt to the effects of climate crisis. Simonin and other villagers are preparing to sail toward the snowless future.