“At the moment the glacier is in good condition. We had less but stronger precipitation this year, so the depth of the snow was actually balanced. Because of the coronavirus crisis the skiing season is over, and that is the reason why we were able to cover a larger amount of the glacier procuring better snow deposits. Of course, the less we attack the glacier with the skiing business, the less endangered it will be.” –Caro Rettig
The ski season at Stubai Glacier resort near Innsbruck was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic so the mountain operations team decided to roll out the protective fabric that preserves snow earlier than usual this year. Metro reports resort staff covered 26,000 square meters of glacier (roughly size 4 soccer fields) in the thick white fabric protective layer. No word if and when the snow preserves will be used to reopen.
“The glacier is being covered to protect the glacier as much as possible. That means the ice should melt as little as possible to preserve the snow for the skiing season. The glacier is covered by hand with a special coverage fabric called “glacier protection vlies.” After applying it, it is welded and secured with sandbags so that the wind does not uncover the glacier and takes the “glacier vlies” away.”- Christoph Hofer