Technology Can't Compete with Mother Nature

Mankind has achieved some really amazing things. Just thinking about all the technological advancements that allow me to post to this blog illustrates some of those achievements. Looking at advances in transportation, housing, food production, and many other areas leads one to believe that we can do a lot.

Tuesday we had a nice snowstorm here in Utah and so I decided to drive up to Alta Ski Area on Wednesday morning before work and see if I could make a few turns before the lifts start running in earnest. In addition to snow, Tuesday's storm ushered in colder temperatures and Alta has started making snow. Making snow is a fairly simple process where you spray tiny water droplets in front of a large-powerful fan that keeps the water in the air long enough to freeze before it hits the ground. The key to making snow is having cold enough temperatures.

I put on all my equipment and started hiking up a run called Corkscrew. It is the same run I hike at the beginning of every season and Alta is kind enough to allow people like me the chance to do so. They also have their snow makers cranking out snow so skiers don't have to worry about rocks in the middle of the run. The only problem is that you don't want to spend too much time in front of the snow makers as it can be cold and wet. During the course of my hike, I passed no fewer than 5 snow makers blowing snow 50 to 100 feet in the air.

Man-made snow has a much different consistency than natural snow. It is great for a base layer on runs that are skied frequently as it is more ice than Mother Nature's soft-fluffy flakes. The ice is more durable and does not get scraped off the mountain nearly as easily. The downside is that it is ice and not very fun to ski. I would much rather have natural snow fall from the sky and get compressed by hoards of skiers. Still the technology does allow us early skiing when Mother Nature doesn't cooperate.

As I hiked up the trail, I saw the remnants of Tuesday's storm and marveled at the uniform consistency. The snow blanketed the entire mountain without the need of strategically-placed machines. Even though Alta's snow makers cranked out a lot of fresh snow, it paled in comparison to what Mother Nature provided. Yes mankind can do some amazing things but we still have a long ways to go to catch up to naturally occurring phenomenon.