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Report on Winter Sun Holiday: Ski

Location: Wagrain, Austria.

Dates: 20th March – 27th March 2010.

This study looked at sun behaviour in two populations (Danes and Austrians) on a ski holiday. The study lasted one week, typical of a normal ski holiday.

All participants wore personal dosimeters which measured an individual’s level of exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) every few minutes. The participants answered a questionnaire and filled in daily diaries about their behaviour, what clothes they wore and how much sunscreen they applied.

Ambient levels of UVR were monitored by ground stations place at two locations on the mountains and a third ground station in the valley (see map below).

Subjects

Selection criteria:
Participants were ski enthusiasts with good skiing abilities.
They also had to have no skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis and preferably be aged between 30 and 60.
The Danish participants had parents and grandparents from Denmark or other Scandinavian countries.
Austrian participants had parents and grandparents from Austria.

Demographics
Danish participants   n=26. 16 males and 10 females.   Age range: 24-55, mean 38.7, median 33.5
Austrian participants n=27. 12 males and 15 females.   Age range: 30-54.

Progress of study

Study went very well with no major problems. The weather was particularly kind and provided several days of good weather with slightly cloudy conditions but with one day of perfect weather giving the ground stations optimal conditions to record UV levels.

There was good compliance by all participants.

Andy and Kasia from the HPA were able to get 3 full sets of angular solar spectra at both the mountain site and at the football field in the valley where there was also a ground station. This will help with the calibration of the dosimeters and with the UVR exposure modeling to be performed by DMI later in our study.

Images from the study:

All participants stayed at Hotel Kirchboden in Wagrain.

Along with the study staff. Who had daily meetings during breakfast and dinner.

Participants filled in daily diaries. Shown here at lunch wearing their SunSaver dosimeters.

Sunsavers straps were colour coded to avoid confusion amongst participants.

Ground Stations

Dosimeters facing 9 different angles were also placed at two sites in the mountains and one site in the valley to measure ambient levels of UVR

Valley Floor Ground Station

Ground station measurements were taken at the base of the ski lifts.

Andy Pearson and Katarzyna Baczynska from the Health Protection Agency take solar spectral measurements.

Mountain Ground stations

Site 1 - Roof of Flying Mozart Lift (1860m)

One site was on the roof of the Flying Mozart Ski lift.

Here Jakob Heydenreich from BBH hauls up sand filled canisters to weigh down the ground stations.

Alois Schmalwieser from UVM helps Jakob align the ground stations

Different angles from the top of the Flying Mozart lift with skiers in the background in one picture. Notice the change in snow levels from the pictures above due to the warm weather.

Site 2 - Roof of Grafenberg Lift Station (1702m)

A second site was the roof of the Grafenberg Lift Station.

Here Jakob and Alois set up on of the ground station with the help of a specially made metal plate.

Views from the top of the Grafenberg station roof.
The right photo shows where Andy and Kasia took their solar measurements.

Andy and Kasia taking measurements while Mette Grage from the DMI sets up a station for albedo measurements.