It’s coming but our friends at biteandchew.com, who produced a SaveOurSnow fund raising T Shirt, are now developing a unique ‘Melt Map’.

This will combine brief summaries of scientific reports published over the past few years by reputable organizations all around the world (UN, EC, universities…) in to how much less snow, on average, individual areas have compared to 20, 30 or 50 years ago and other reports projecting how much less snow there’ll be in the future.

With the map you’ll click on a country to bring up the relevant Report, which can the be Googled if more info is required.
As with all things SaveOurSnow it’s an unfunded, volunteer effort but we hope it will be up there later in the spring. It should then provide a very visual one-stop-shot for succinct summaries on where we’re heading if the researchers are (sadly) right.

More Resorts Awarded Four and Five Star Gradings
With more and more ski areas making serious efforts to minimize their impact on the environment, the numbers awarded the maximum five stats have increased again. The resorts that have been awarded the maximum five stars at present are:

Arosa (Switzerland) Avoriaz (France)
Falls Creek (Australia) Jackson Hole (USA)
Jiminy Peak (USA) Kaprun (Austria)
Laax (Switzerland) La Tania (France)
Lech (Austria) Les Gets (France)
Les Menuires (France) Megeve (France)
Moonlight Basin (USA) Oberstdorf (Germany)
Saas Fee (Switzerland) Sugar Bowl (USA)
Sun Peaks (Canada) Sunday River (USA)
Tryvann (Norway) Tux (Austria)
Werfenweng (Austria) Winter Park (USA)

The five star ratings are inevitably somewhat subjective due to the complexities of the issues involved, but most five star resorts have rail access, 100% green energy power and a host of other initiatives. In other cases ski areras doing an excellent job on the environment have not been awarded the five stars they deserve for that because they are heavily reliant on air travel or non-renewable energy sources.

A full explanation of star ratings criteria is available on the site www.saveoursnow.com