This winter was one of the weirdest on record. Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, the Tahoe area and southwestern Colorado had record ski seasons, with tons of snow and epic conditions. Resorts in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Western Canada had a pittance of snow, causing many areas to have truncated ski seasons and forcing summer racing camps to scale back, relocate or scrap their plans to ski at usually-dependable Mt. Hood and Blackcomb Glacier. Is it a sign of global warming? Maybe – but however you look at it, it’s not pretty.

The operators of Gemsstock ski resort in Switzerland have decided to throw in some interference: in order to preserve the glaciers that give them good summer skiing business, they have wrapped a glacier in blankets to slow the melt.

It’s very, very odd, but maybe it’ll work. It’s been tried on a smaller scale at a couple of New England ski resorts to provide 4th of July skiing, so…. who knows?