The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Glenn Porzak knows a thing or two about enjoying nature. He has bagged all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-ft. peaks and became the first person to climb the 100 highest peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park. Glenn also became one of the first people to climb the so called Seven Summits, the highest point on each of the world's seven continents, including Mt. Everest.

Glenn is a champion for conservation in his professional life as well. His law firm, Porzak Browning & Bushong, has developed and implemented complex water supply plans for some of Colorado’s most notable ski areas.

Glenn will be part of an upcoming 13ers: Emerging Leaders in Conservation event called Snowmaking in Colorado: Its Effects, Benefits, and Tradeoffs on February 28.

13ers board chair Ty Colman recently chatted with Glenn about his work with Colorado’s ski industry.

Ty Colman:

Glenn Porzak:

Colorado is the best! It’s got the mountains but it also great cities and towns. The only place that I’ve found that comes close to Colorado is Switzerland. But the skiing is much better out here.

Ty Colman:

Glenn Porzak:

In the late 70s the Breckenridge ski area actually closed down in December and early January, and that hurt them for a multitude of years because of the stigma. Then all of a sudden, you saw a number of ski areas get real serious about making snow.

Ty Colman:

Glenn Porzak:

On average, Colorado ski areas use approximately 500 to 800 acre feet of water annually for their snowmaking operations (editor's note: for comparison, Denver Water supplies roughly 125,000 acre feet of water per year).

That’s a lot of water! And those numbers have gradually gone up. We’re seeing more and more snowmaking each year. It’s not lessening by any stretch. And I think it’s going to even get bigger.

Many of the ski areas have gone to developing reservoirs in high-mountain watersheds, above their ski areas, so they can release water from those facilities and get it right into their system. Having that storage capability has really has enabled them to make the quantities of snow they’re making, even though we’ve had much drier years.

Ty Colman:

Glenn Porzak:

Seventy-five to eighty percent of the water you put on the hillside comes back to the stream in the spring runoff.

Ty Colman:

Glenn Porzak:

Ski areas provide the economic base to a number of areas on the west slope. If you look around, it drives the economy of the Vail valley and all the towns in that area. This year, with it being a marginal snow year, the visitor ship is down 11%. That’s a big hit!

If you have great early season snow, the economic benefit lasts through the rest of the season via increased bookings. If you have marginal snow conditions at the start, you better hope that you get some snow by New Year’s or Presidents’ Day weekend. That’s why they have to have a great product early in the season. That’s why there’s so much snow making in November and December, so they can have as good a product as early in the season as possible.

Ty Colman:

Glenn Porzak:

First, snowmaking guarantees a product that is really critical to the economic base of one of the largest industries on Colorado’s western slope. Second, when used for snowmaking, it is not a wasted product. That’s because the vast majority of the water comes back to the rivers in the spring and early summer, and it’s there for the recreation industry and agriculture industry. I say there are three uses: the original snowmaking use, the recreation use (rafting, fishing), and the agriculture use.

Ty Colman:

Glenn Porzak:

In my mind there are two big issues: One, what is going to be the next stage of Federal regulation? Is the federal government going to take the ski industry water rights as a condition of their Forest Service permit?

And two, as we continue with drier cycles, we need to develop more high mountain storage. I’m not talking about high-impact storage facilities – not big dams or reservoirs. I’m talking about things that are strategically placed that can be aesthetic as well. It has to be a feature that will not damage the summertime recreation potential of the area, and then becomes your winter water supply.

Ty Colman:

Glenn Porzak:

Oh no! I think 5 to 10 years. It’s on everyone’s mind big time. These last two years have really been something.