According to the snow storage industry, no, no it doesn't, for, with the help of technology, cash, and willpower, we humans have figured out how to store mountains worth of snow outside, through the summer, even when it's over 100 degrees out, or 40 degrees Celsius.

根據儲雪行業的說法，不，不，不是這樣的，因為在技術、資金和意志力的幫助下，我們人類已經找到了如何在室外儲藏堆積如山的雪的方法，即使是在室外溫度超過 100 度或攝氏 40 度的情況下，也能將它們儲藏到整個夏天。

But why?

但為什麼呢？

So rich people can slide around on a predictable schedule, of course, which, to be clear, is not how I would describe my beloved sport of skiing, but unfortunately researching this topic has deepened the anti-skiing sentiment among my writers, and I'm too busy to edit them down.

這樣有錢人就可以按照可預測的時間表滑來滑去，當然，說白了，這並不是我對我鍾愛的滑雪運動的描述，但不幸的是，對這個話題的研究加深了我的作家們對滑雪運動的反感情緒，我太忙了，沒時間去修改他們。

So with that in mind, let's talk about snow storage, aka, the complex, expensive, apocalyptic logistics abetting mother nature and the precious changing of her seasons to ski resorts' wretched, self-destructive will.

有鑑於此，讓我們來談談儲雪，也就是複雜、昂貴、災難性的後勤工作，教唆大自然和她寶貴的季節變化來滿足滑雪場可悲的、自我毀滅的意願。

Wheeee!

Wheeee！

You might already know that many ski resorts use artificial snow.

您可能已經知道，許多滑雪勝地都使用人造雪。

That, after all, is how they pulled off the 2022 Winter Olympics, and how some regular shmegular ski resorts stay open during periods of light snowfall.

畢竟，他們就是這樣舉辦 2022 年冬奧會的，一些普通的滑雪勝地也是這樣在小雪期間保持開放的。

It's also how ski resorts survive in places like Alabama, or Lesotho, or Oregon, in July.

這也是阿拉巴馬、賴索托或俄勒岡等地的滑雪勝地在七月的生存之道。

The key?

關鍵是什麼？

Enough money and manpower to produce, spread, pack, smooth out, shape, reshape, and build sick jumps out of enough fake snow to cover all your space.

有足夠的資金和人力來製作、鋪展、包裝、抹平、塑形、重塑，並用足夠多的假雪搭建出足以覆蓋你所有空間的 "病態跳躍"。

Which, for that resort in Alabama, assuming just a 4-inch layer across their 9-acre skiable surface, is going to mean 130,680 cubic feet of fake snow, roughly enough to fill the Titanic, though only about a 588th the volume of the iceberg that sank it.

對於阿拉巴馬州的那個度假村來說，假設在其 9 英畝的可滑雪面上只鋪設 4 英寸的雪層，這將意味著需要 130,680 立方英尺的假雪，大約足以填滿泰坦尼克號，儘管其體積只有導致泰坦尼克號沉沒的冰山的五百八十八分之一。

Hey, there's a good spot for a resort!

嘿，這是個建度假村的好地方！

Most of this faux snow is made by snow guns, which shoot water droplets into the air, where they freeze and attract moisture in the atmosphere to form lovely little snow crystals.

這些人造雪大多是由雪槍製造的，雪槍將水滴射向空中，水滴在空中凝結，並吸引大氣中的水分，形成可愛的小雪晶體。

A company called TechnoAlpen supplies 60% of the world's snow guns, including all the ones used at the 2022 Olympics, and a single one can cost about $50,000, to say nothing of the maintenance, energy, and water costs it brings.

一家名為 TechnoAlpen 的公司供應著世界上 60% 的雪炮，包括 2022 年奧運會使用的所有雪炮，而一臺雪炮的成本約為 5 萬美元，更不用說其帶來的維護、能源和水成本了。

Actually, let's save a little bit, because one of TechnoAlpen's top snow guns uses 23 kilowatts of energy per hour, meaning that in 10 hours, one snow gun will use as much energy as, according to Con Ed, my writer's household used in the entire month of July.

實際上，讓我們節省一點吧，因為 TechnoAlpen 的一款頂級雪炮每小時耗能 23 千瓦，也就是說，根據 Con Ed 的數據，10 個小時內，一把雪炮的耗電量相當於我的作者家庭整個 7 月份的耗電量。

At maximum efficiency, which is to say in unwindy, dry conditions with a temperature between negative 4 and positive 5 degrees Fahrenheit, or a negative 20 to negative 15 degrees energy drink, a snow gun can turn 20 cubic meters of water into about 35 to 40 cubic meters of snow an hour—meaning the gun we're describing would have to run for over four straight days to cover that Alabama resort ski service, using about as much water as the average Alabama resident does in four weeks in the process.

在最高效率下，也就是在氣溫介於華氏負 4 度到正 5 度（或能量飲料溫度介於負 20 度到負 15 度）的不通風、乾燥條件下，雪槍每小時可將 20 立方米的水轉化為大約 35 到 40 立方米的雪--這意味著我們所說的雪槍必須連續運行四天以上才能覆蓋阿拉巴馬州度假村的滑雪服務，在此過程中使用的水量相當於阿拉巴馬州普通居民四周的用水量。

But snow guns get less efficient the warmer the temperature gets.

但溫度越高，雪槍的效率就越低。

All those numbers assume max efficiency, but if it's 28 degrees Fahrenheit, just a bit below freezing, it takes that same machine 10 times as long to make the same amount of snow, if not a bit less—above freezing, it won't work at all.

所有這些數字都是以最高效率為前提的，但如果氣溫是華氏 28 度，略低於零度，同樣的機器需要 10 倍的時間才能造出同樣數量的雪，甚至更少。

Think about it this way—snow guns do their best supplementing snowfall in cold, wintry environments on days where it doesn't happen to be snowing.

試想一下，在寒冷、寒風凜冽的環境中，雪炮可以在不下雪的日子裡發揮最大作用，補充降雪量。

In a naturally warmer place, or season, or place that's getting warmer year-round because of climate change, they're an imperfect solution.

在自然變暖的地方、季節或因氣候變化而全年變暖的地方，它們是一種不完美的解決方案。

If only, you might be thinking, I could keep some summer snow stockpiles so that if my snow guns flop in October I could still start ski season—ski-zin—on the day I decide, the day for which I've already sold hotel rooms, the day rich people wish to slide!

你可能會想，要是我能在夏天儲備一些雪就好了，這樣如果我的雪炮在十月失靈，我還能在我決定的那一天開始滑雪季--滑雪--那一天我已經賣掉了酒店房間，那一天有錢人都希望滑！

Well congratulations, hypothetical resort-owning HI viewer, that's exactly the system some resorts have developed.

那麼恭喜你，假設擁有度假村的 HI 觀眾，這正是一些度假村開發的系統。

Levy, a ski resort in Finland, stores 260,000 cubic meters of snow across four of their nine total stockpiles, guaranteeing they can open at least a couple of routes by November every year.

利維是芬蘭的一個滑雪勝地，在其總共 9 個雪堆中的 4 個儲存了 26 萬立方米的雪，保證每年 11 月前至少能開放幾條滑雪路線。

That's when they host the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, one of several autumnal ski events that climate change risks wiping off the calendar by not providing enough snowfall by the time they roll around.

那是國際雪聯高山滑雪世界盃的舉辦時間，也是幾項秋季滑雪賽事之一。

Since they started storing snow in 2016, Levy hasn't had to cancel the World Cup once, unlike the first 11 men's races of FIS's 2023-2024 season, all of which were cancelled at other resorts.

自 2016 年開始儲雪以來，列維沒有取消過一次世界盃賽，不像國際雪聯 2023-2024 賽季的前 11 場男子比賽，都是在其他度假村取消的。

Their stockpile is about 30-40% natural snow, all the rest is artificial, and gets made during the coldest months of the year when the snow guns are at peak efficiency.

他們儲存的雪約有 30-40% 是天然雪，其餘全部是人造雪，在一年中最冷的幾個月裡，雪炮的效率達到最高。

In Davos, Switzerland, for example, they produce tons of snow in December and January, then store it away until it's time to lay out their cross-country track that opens in October.

例如，在瑞士達沃斯，他們會在 12 月和 1 月造出成噸的雪，然後將其儲存起來，直到 10 月開始鋪設越野賽道。

The key to effective snow storage is both super obvious and super unintuitive—covering it up with a big blanket.

有效儲雪的關鍵既超級明顯又超級不直觀--用一條大毯子把雪蓋起來。

Of course, snow exposed to the summer sun will melt, so covering it up must help.

當然，暴露在夏日陽光下的積雪會融化，是以覆蓋積雪一定會有所幫助。

But at the same time, when I'm trying to stay cool in the summer, I don't exactly bundle up in a big blankie.

但同時，當我想在夏天保持涼爽時，我也不會把自己裹在一個大毯子裡。

But these aren't just any big blankies—they're made of special textiles that reflect sunlight on the mountain away from the snow, meaning the sun's heat doesn't get absorbed into the snow and melt it, and they're usually less than a centimeter thick.

但這些毯子可不是普通的大毯子--它們是用特殊的紡織品製成的，能將山上的陽光反射到雪地之外，這意味著太陽的熱量不會被雪吸收而融化，而且它們的厚度通常不到一釐米。

The surface of the blankets is water-repellent, meaning the blankets don't absorb much of anything that could in turn absorb heat and melt the snow.

毯子的表面是防水的，這意味著毯子不會吸收太多的東西，而這些東西又會吸收熱量並融化積雪。

Underneath the blankets, the snow is insulated from the outside world and stays below 36 degrees Fahrenheit, 2 degrees other, even when it's over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, 40 degrees boring, outside.

在毯子下面，雪與外界隔絕，即使室外溫度超過華氏 100 度（即 40 度），雪也能保持在華氏 36 度（即 2 度）以下。

As you can imagine, these blankets are massive, and putting them out is an ordeal.

你可以想象，這些毯子非常大，把它們鋪開是一種折磨。

The Perseida Glacier, in Italy, gets covered in 10,000 sheets of geotextile, laid out by a crew of 11 people using two snowcats and a lot of rope, harnesses, and crampons.

意大利的佩爾塞達冰川上覆蓋著 10,000 張土工布，由 11 人組成的團隊使用兩輛雪地車和大量繩索、安全帶和登山杖鋪設而成。

The sheets get weighed down on the edges with sandbags and pegs, and sewn together with handheld sewing machines, though at other resorts they just get taped.

床單的邊緣用沙袋和釘子壓住，然後用手持縫紉機縫在一起，但在其他度假村，床單只是用膠帶粘起來。

The whole process—the laying, the sewing, all of it—takes a total of six weeks in good weather, and three months in bad.

整個過程--鋪設、縫紉--在天氣好的時候總共需要六週，天氣不好的時候則需要三個月。

And like everything in Ski World, it's expensive.

和滑雪世界的一切一樣，它也很昂貴。

Of course there's the months of labor, the fuel in the snowcats, and what I have to assume is miles of thread in the sewing machines, plus about 1,000 backup sewing machines because if there's one thing handheld sewing machines are going to do, it's break if you look at them the wrong way.

當然，還有幾個月的勞動力、雪地車的燃料，以及我必須假設縫紉機裡數英里長的線，外加大約 1 000 臺備用縫紉機，因為如果有一件事是手持縫紉機會做的，那就是如果你用錯了方法，它就會壞掉。

And I can't really estimate the cost of that for you very well, but I can tell you that a blanket from Snowsecure, one of the leading suppliers of this kind of thing, will cost you several hundred thousand euros.

我真的無法很好地為您估算這筆費用，但我可以告訴您，一條來自 Snowsecure 的毯子將花費您幾十萬歐元，Snowsecure 是此類產品的主要供應商之一。

And who's to say how long-term of an investment that is, because blankets like these have to live outside in the elements, where they eventually get dirty and might start to tear, which is more than an aesthetic issue.

誰又能說這是一項多麼長期的投資呢，因為像這樣的毯子必鬚生活在室外的環境中，它們最終會變髒，可能會開始撕裂，這不僅僅是一個美觀的問題。

Heat can get in through a tear, or it can be absorbed into dirt that's caked into the textile.

熱量可以從撕裂處進入，也可以被紡織品上凝結的汙垢吸收。

One article I read said that resorts had to replace their blankets every couple of seasons, though plenty of lip service—maybe some actual work, I don't know—is being paid to the idea of making more durable blankets and more eco-friendly fuel sources to run those snowcats on.

我讀到的一篇文章說，度假村每隔幾季就要更換一次毯子，儘管人們對製造更耐用的毯子和更環保的雪地車運行燃料的想法進行了大量的口頭宣傳，也許還做了一些實際工作，我不知道。

But how well does this whole system really work?

但是，整個系統的實際運行情況如何呢？

Well, really well.

很好，真的很好。

One study of snow farming resorts found an average of 72% of the stockpiled snow survived over the summer.

對雪場進行的一項研究發現，平均 72% 的儲備雪可以存活過夏。

At Davos, it's about 80%.

在達沃斯，這一比例約為 80%。

At Levee, they kept more than 87%.

在 Levee，他們保留了 87% 以上。

That's more than enough to get a resort going in the fall.

這足以讓度假村在秋季開張。

So forget the mind-boggling amount of water and energy it takes to do this.

所以，別再去想做這件事需要耗費多少水和精力了。

Forget that all that water and energy contributes to the climate change that's causing the problem in the first place.

先不說這些水和能源會導致氣候變化，而氣候變化正是問題的根源。

Forget that, in many ways, a meter-thick pile of wood chips and sawdust insulates a pile of snow about as well as one of those fancy-schmancy blankets.

別忘了，從很多方面來說，一米厚的木屑和鋸末堆對雪堆的隔熱效果和那些花裡胡哨的毯子差不多。

We the people of the international ski community have defeated the sun and will ski wherever we please.

我們國際滑雪界的人民戰勝了太陽，我們將隨心所欲地滑雪。

We will spit in the face of God if it gets us up and down a mountain faster.

只要能讓我們更快地上下山，我們就會唾棄上帝。

So we will quadruple our writer's sa-

是以，我們將把作家的收入翻兩番。

Whoa, hold on, scratch that, I didn't say-

哇，等等，劃掉，我沒說--

Oh, I've gotta start editing these scripts before I read them.

哦，我得開始編輯這些劇本了，然後再讀。

Now, if you want to see my writers' beautiful, fairly compensated faces, or to support this channel, or to watch loads of great stuff from your favorite creators, you've gotta check out Nebula.

現在，如果你想看看我的作家們美麗的、得到公平報酬的臉龐，或者想支持這個頻道，或者想觀看你最喜歡的創作者們的大量精彩作品，你一定要看看星雲。

It's a streaming service I helped start, and not to brag, but it's getting big.

這是我參與創辦的一項流媒體服務，不是我吹牛，但它正在變得越來越大。

Let me make it as straightforward as I can.

我就直說了吧。

Here are some things you can find on Nebula.

以下是您可以在星雲上找到的一些東西。

Abigail Thorne's short film, Dracula's Ex-Girlfriend, Lindsay Ellis' latest and greatest video essays, and the most ambitious project I've ever done, a reality game show called The Getaway, where myself and the whole Wendover team took six creators on a road trip full of lies and deception.

阿比蓋爾-索恩（Abigail Thorne）的短片《德古拉的前女友》（Dracula's Ex-Girlfriend）、林賽-埃利斯（Lindsay Ellis）最新最棒的視頻隨筆，以及我做過的最雄心勃勃的項目--一檔名為《逍遙遊》（The Getaway）的遊戲真人秀節目，在節目中，我和整個溫多佛團隊帶領六位主創人員進行了一次充滿謊言和欺騙的公路旅行。

It's sort of like the traitors, if you secretly made everyone the traitor, then made them chase alpacas, make pancakes, and ride a drop tower with me.

這有點像叛徒，如果你暗中讓每個人都成為叛徒，然後讓他們和我一起追羊駝、做煎餅、騎跳樓機。

Now here are some things you can't find on Nebula.

下面是一些在星雲上找不到的東西。

Ads, AI rip-offs of HI videos, bad vibes.

廣告、HI 視頻的人工智能翻版、糟糕的氛圍。

Sound good?

聽起來不錯吧？

It's better.

這樣更好。

Also, you can get 40% off a Nebula subscription—just $36 for a year, or $3 a month.

此外，訂閱《星雲》還可以享受 40% 的折扣--一年只需 36 美元，或每月 3 美元。

So head to Nebula.tv slash HAI right now.

是以，現在就前往 Nebula.tv slash HAI。