Mountain Wilderness France, an environmental group, is furious to discover that les Deux Alpes is ice making on the summer ski area. The glacier de Mont de Lans is losing 10cm of depth a day. The lift company is collecting the melt water and pumping it to 3150 meters altitude where it is a little colder, currently around 12C during the day. There a "snow magic" machine transforms the melt water into ice. The machine uses 100kw/h and can make 1 tonne of snow for 50kw/h of power. Unlike traditional snow making it doesn't require negative air temperatures and the system has been dubbed "Hell's snow maker".
Glacier 5th August 2022
Mountain Wilderness' concerns are that the melt water doesn't flow into the rivers in a time of drought and the energy consumption when everyone is being asked to be careful before next winter. However a local ski instructor commented that they thought it is better to recycle the water into the glacier than let it flow away.
Summer skiing was only open for a few weeks this year due to the high temperatures and drought conditions.