When Austria needs snow for their ski sites, who do they turn to? Israel.
Although not blessed with snow as a natural resource, artificially made snow machines, produced in Israel, allow skiing without depending on weather conditions.
IDE technologies, equally owned by Israel Chemicals Ltd. And Delek group, specialize in water desalination, wastewater concentrators and purifiers, converted its mining cooling technology to artificial snow production for ski resorts.
| IDE snow production facility (Photo: Amnon Rauchman) |
The All Weather Snowmaker device, which IDE developed for Austria's Pitztal ski resort, the highest altitude resort in the country, was launched earlier this month during an event hosted by the resort's management.
This is the company's first device of its kind. A second device, which was sold to the Swiss ski resort Zermatt, will be inaugurated in the upcoming weeks.
The device, priced at $3 million (not including additional costs), produces some 35000 cubic feet of snow per day.
You may ask why a country like Austria, which is blessed with many ski resorts, needs to purchase artificially produced snow?
The answer is global warming, which in recent years has led to the diminution of snow in worldwide ski resorts, thus shortening the length of ski season.
The addition of artificial snow became a profitable business for all sides involved, allowing ski resorts to open their sites earlier, and keep them running longer.
IDE's All Weather Snowmaker allows the production of large amounts of snow at the beginning of the season, when the temperatures are too high to produce snow using other technologies.
According to IDE, the All Weather Snowmaker is a unique, environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient solution which uses 80% less energy than other devices of its kind.
The device is based on Vacuum Ice Maker technology, developed by IDE during the 60's for sea water desalination purposes, first used in the southern city of Eilat.
Other than snow production, IDE's exclusive technology can be used for heating and cooling of structures, energy accumulation and cooling of deep goldmines. The snow producing industry's worth is estimated at one billion dollars a year.
Pitztal Glacier Resort Chairman Hans Rubatscher said during the launching ceremony, that the IDE All Weather snow producing device will allow Pitztal to open its lower altitude ski slaloms earlier than usual, in the beginning of the fall, for the enjoyment of skiers and world championship competitors.
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