Climate change could doom local ski areas

With Pats Peak celebrating its 50th anniversary and Crotched Mountain celebrating the arrival of a high-speed detachable quad chairlift as they open this weekend, the area’s ski industry is happily preparing to begin another winter. How long this will continue, however, is another matter. One Canadian professor’s computer model indicates that within three decades, ski areas may not be economically viable south of the White Mountains because of climate change. “The further we give places a heads-up that this could be a problem, the more time they have to adapt,” said Daniel Scott, of the University of Waterloo in Canada, who has published a number of papers on the effect of climate change on tourism-related industries, including skiing. “It could be worse. Snowmobiling is far more vulnerable; you can’t make enough snow for them.” For the moment, however, optimism abounds. “People are really excited about it,” said Patrick Terry general manager of Crotched Mountain in Francestown, concerning the new detachable quad at the ski area, which is owned by Missouri-based Peak Resorts. The system, called The Rocket, can run much faster than standard chairlifts because the chairs momentarily detach at each end, slowing down so that riders can get on and off.