animiert magazin nummer21 winter

Das Wasser wird mit viel Druck durch die feinen Düsen ge- presst. Die dabei entstehenden Tröpfchen gefrieren und fallen als Eiskörner auf die Piste. Water is forced through fine nozzles at high pressure. The droplets thus gener- ated freeze into ice crystals and fall onto the slopes.

above sea level, mild temperatures are rarely a problem, but the constant wind makes it dif f icu lt to use the cannons ef fec tively. “We simply have to gain more experience of how things work up here in the winter,” says Joe. The reward for Joe’s hard work of ten comes f rom Mother Nature herself – per- haps ironica lly for someone whose job it is to produce ar tif icia l snow. “Of course, not ever y night is beautif u l, but when I stand on the slopes on a clear night under a sky f u ll of stars, it rea lly makes it a ll wor thwhile. Up here on

season was prof itable for Titlis Bergbahnen. “There is a cer tain amount of pressure on me to make enough snow,” says Joe. “The livelihoods of ever yone in the v illage, f rom hotel manag- ers to bakers, depends on whether or not people can ski on the Titlis.” Information f rom the SLF backs Joe up: studies show that if Davos, for example, didn’ t use snow cannons in winters with lit tle snowfa ll, the regiona l economy wou ld suf fer losses of up to CHF 60 million. But what does Engelberg’s Jack Frost do in the summer? The truth is that in his job he’s

a lways thinking of the winter to come. In the spring he and his team star t disassembling a ll 220 snow cannons and per forming impor tant ser- v ice and maintenance work on them. The pump houses,

the mountain I am above the stresses and strains of daily life.” If there’s any thing Joe doesn’ t like about his job, it ’s that in recent years less and less rea l snow has been fa ll- ing. He might be in charge of

Technology can only go so far – Mother Nature still decides whether there will be snow or not.

pipes and va lves a lso need to be maintained. “Thorough maintenance in the warmer months saves work later on, because things need to be ready to be implemented quick ly and nothing shou ld break down.” Joe is a lso involved in projec t work during the summer. Last sum- mer, for instance, he was occupied with the new snowmaking facility on the Titlis glacier. But he a lso takes a summer holiday and works of f the over time he accrued during the win- ter. He of ten spends his f ree time helping out on his parents’ farm. He a lso likes to hike –in and around Engelberg, but a lso f ur ther af ield. Then, when the summer draws to a close, he and his team get back to work. They begin reassembling the cannons – and keeping their f ingers crossed that it will soon be cold enough to get them up and running. Thanks to their ef for ts, Engelberg can of fer a level of guaran- teed snow cover that few other places can riva l.

producing ar tif icia l snow, but he believes that nothing is more beautif u l than natura l snow.” According to the Institute for Snow and Ava lanche Research (SLF), there has been signif icantly reduced snow cover in a ltitudes under 1,300 metres a.s.l. in the years since 1980. Ski areas are therefore increasingly employ ing snow cannons in order to keep at trac ting v isi- tors. In 2016, 49 percent of ski slopes in Swit- zerland had ar tif icia l snow, while in Austria that f igure was 66 percent (source: Seilbahnen Schweiz). In the past three years, Engelberg’s loca l cableway company Titlis Bergbahnen has invested around CHF 20 million in snowmak- ing. In 2016 it overhau led the snow cannons on the Stand and Trübsee and in 2017 it turned its at tention to the Joch Pass. As mentioned above, the facilities at the Joch Pass have now been ex tended as far as the glacier. “There are no bet ter snowmaking facilities on the mar- ket than the ones we have here,” says Joe. It is thanks to these facilities that last winter

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