Snow brought to you by Israel
Photo: AP
Selling snow to the Swiss
Israeli company sells locally made snow machine to empire of winter and ski
An Israeli company has managed to sell a locally made snow machine to Switzerland, a country whose middle names are winter and ski.
Swiss media outlets reported that due to the severity of the problem, scientists were called in and were now looking into what is being described as a groundbreaking solution: A system that would allow the snow to last even into the hot summer months.
After last year's snow fall was delayed, and the ski slopes went without snow for most of the season, the Swiss began to worry about their successful tourist business.
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The Swiss town of Zermatt, which resides in the Swiss Alps at 1600 meters (5,315 feet) above sea level and is considered one of the top ski resorts in Switzerland, couldn't wait for the system to become a reality and decided on a solution which was more readily available.
In a month's time, an Israeli made snow cannon will be put into use in the town's ski resort, and unlike regular snow cannons, this one works even if the temperatures are way above zero.
The Israeli snow cannon, named "IDE Snowmaker", was originally created for the purposes of desalinization of salt water. Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger reported that the Israeli creators of the snow cannons soon discovered that the machine could create snow without adding any chemicals and without the use of drinking water.
The Israeli snow cannons are used around the world for cooling purposes by the diamond industry in South Africa and other industries. The snow cannons are too big to be mobile, so they need to have a permanent location.
The cost of this 30-ton, 11-meter (36-feet) machine is about NIS 7 million ($1.9 million).
