Finnish Resort To Create “Glacier” For Skiers
Finland’s leading ski resort of Levi has announced plans to create a permanent snow slope with a combination of snow-farming, snowmaking and protecting the slope from summer heat with hi-tec insulation. They’re calling it the ‘Levi Glacier’.
Levi already uses snow-farming to open a slope in early October each year at the beginning of a seven month season, but rather than store piles of snow over summer to spread on the slope each autumn, they will now keep building on a permanent snow slope.
Levi’s commercial director Marko Mustonen said that for now the run will still open in early October, but that the ultimate goal is to stretch the season for as long as possible.
“After 2-3 years, we will see how the Levi Glacier starts to develop and whether this provides a year-round snow surface for skiing. We believe an extension from the current October start is possible with the optimum slope profile, amount and size of the snow piles, the right cover material and best techniques to move snow,” he explained.
Finland’s first glacier will be located on the resort’s Front Slopes about 50 metres from the Glacier Express lift line towards the Zero Point building. The glacier will run all the way from the top of the bottom of Front Slopes.
The glacier is created using the latest snowmaking technology and snowfarming (preserving) techniques. The snow cannons on the left side of the Front Slopes will be moved to the right, allowing the snow to be made in just the right place. This reduces the movement with the snow groomers of snow on slopes and thus improves the efficiency of the amount of snow and reduces energy and fuel consumption.
Snow will be stored for the summer and autumn using the snow storage technology of Finnfoam and Snow Secure to minimise melting
“It is very interesting for Finnfoam to be involved in large Finnish projects and to be creating a new model for the world. Levi was the first major ski resort to invest in the development of preserving snow and our collaboration in finalizing Snow Secure’s snow security concept and testing the concept has progressed brilliantly to the finish. In a changing climate snow security will be ever more important. Snow Secure’s snow security concept is also the most eco-friendly and cost-effective and it is great be scaling it to the next level with Levi,” said Teppo Nieminen, Chairman of the Board of Finnfoam.
When completed, Levi Glacier will provide high-quality and secure early-season snow conditions for downhill skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts, as well as training facilities for different ki and snowboard teams.
“We will have an alternative for glaciers, so Levi is a significant place for skiing and training in this sense as well. The development of the Front Slopes is also a continuation of the Levi World Cup Training Center and the Alpine World Cup. Training teams will be able to train on the Front Slopes right from the beginning of the season and as the season progresses move on to the World Cup slope. Last year, in addition to domestic skiers, there were more than 20 national ski teams and clubs training at Levi before the Levi World Cup. The glacier will have its major trial next March, when the Interski 2023 Congress will be held in Levi,” said Jouni Palosaari, CEO of Levi Ski Resort.
New Glacier Chairlift
Levi has already started construction of the upper station of the new Glacier Express chairlift, a state-of-the-art Doppelmayer D-Line model, on the Front Slopes, replace the 3 Marjalaki and 2 Hemmo T bar lifts. The Glacier Express will open in October reducing the ascent time to only 3.28 minutes.
“The arrival of the new chairlift is a big step in the development of the fell. The number of customers in the first half of the year has doubled, so we have good conditions in October and a fast and pleasant lift to transport customers to the fell,” Jouni Palosaari added.
New LED Slope Lighting
With northern Finland having limited daylight hours between November and February, slope-lighting is important and Easy LED Ltd, a Finnish pioneer company in LED lighting, has designed and built an advanced lighting system for the slopes of Levi. The goal is to bring a daylight effect into the dark, but with minimal energy use.
Due to the energy efficiency of LED lights, the electricity consumption can be reduced, and advanced optics allow the lighting to be directed to the desired points while avoiding unnecessary light pollution to the environment and the sky.
A 3D model is created from each light mast and its surroundings, to calculate the amount of light needed in the area. Each LED luminaire is optimized (and can also be adjusted during use) to get the best and even lighting as possible. Through the intelligent control of the area lighting, the amount of light can also be reduced if desired and according to the situation.
The whole Levi Glacier project has been built paying close attention to the most important environmental aspects of Levi Ski Resort’s ISO 14001 environmental management standard.
The project will utilize the existing slope area without building a new one. The latest possible lift technology represents energy efficiency in relation to lift capacity. Likewise, the lighting technology is state-of-the-art, energy-efficient and intelligent. And as a cherry on a cake, a snow security method developed with Finnfoam and Snowsecure.
“The Levi Glacier project is a huge opportunity for us to offer great first-class skiing conditions starting from the first day of the season,” concluded Marko Mustonen, Commercial Director of Levi Ski Resort.
