Abstract
Climate change and increased skier density is increasing ski run reworking, use of artificial snow and snow grooming. Few studies are available on these engineering impacts on slope stability. Therefore, the soil properties, compaction and infiltration characteristics were investigated on ski slopes and compared to natural sites for three different ski resorts (Les Menuires, La Rosière and Foppolo) in the French and Italian Alps. The results show that soil properties differ substantially, with lower nitrogen and carbon content and higher pH on ski runs. Soil compaction is up to three times higher and infiltration takes up to four times longer on ski slopes compared to natural sites. Some new ski slopes were even 100 % impermeable. This explains why ski slopes are more prone to landslides, sheet, rill and gully erosion and have a distinct vegetation cover.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alexander D (1998) Valtellina landslide and flood emergency, Northern Italy, 1987. Disasters 12(3):212–222
Buisson C (2011) Gestion des zones humides du Domaine skiable des Ménuires, Mémoire fin d’étude, ISARA-Lyon, pp 84
Chardon M (1990) Les catastrophes naturelles de l’été 1987 en Lombardie: crues, inondations, écroulement de Val Pola, Revue de géographie alpine. Tome 78(1–3):59–87
de Jong C (2011) Artificial production of snow, encyclopedia of snow, ice and glaciers. In: Singh VP, Singh P, Haritashya UK (eds) Encyclopedia of earth science series, Springer, Dordrecht, p 61–66
de Jong C (2012) Artificial snow and winter sports. Environmental change and winter sports : Lessons learned from the Alps. Univ Sports Mag 83:72–79
de Jong C (2014) A White Decay of Winter Tourism. Climate Change Adaptation Manual. In: Prutsch A, Grothmann T, McCallum S, Schauser I, Swart R (eds) Lessons learned from European and other industrialized countries. Routledge, p 226–253
Delgado R, Sanchez-Maranon M, Martin-Garcia JM, Aranda V, Serrano-Bernardo F, Rosua JL (2007) Impact of ski pistes on soil properties: a case study from a mountainous area in the Mediterranean region, Soil Use Manage 23:269–277
Greenop CAB (2013) How do processes of ski resort management affect the alpine environment and the local catchment hydrology? Under-graduate Dissertation. School of Geography, The University of Leeds, BSc Geography and Geology, pp 88
Lovato E, Montagna E (2011) Turismo montano tra crisi e prospettive. Il caso del compendio sciistico si Malga San Giorgio, Verona. Politecnico di Milano, Sede di Mantova, Facoltà di Architettura e Società, Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Architettura, pp 269
Previtali F (2011) Mountain anthroscapes. The case of the Italian Alps. In: Kapur S, Eswaran H, Blum WEH (eds) Sustainable land management. Learning from the past for the future. Springer, Berlin, p 143–161
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Fabio Moia for his help with the soil analyses in the Geopedology laboratory of the University of Milan Bicocca. Meteorological data was provided by ARPA Lombardia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
de Jong, C., Carletti, G., Previtali, F. (2015). Assessing Impacts of Climate Change, Ski Slope, Snow and Hydraulic Engineering on Slope Stability in Ski Resorts (French and Italian Alps). In: Lollino, G., Manconi, A., Clague, J., Shan, W., Chiarle, M. (eds) Engineering Geology for Society and Territory - Volume 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09300-0_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09300-0_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-09299-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-09300-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)