Where’s the snow? Climate change affects ski racing season, puts sport at risk
Alessandro Trovati/AP
MERIBEL, France – Apart from a few small dust clouds, there has been no significant snowfall in the French ski resorts that have been hosting the World Ski Championships since mid-January.
And there is no snow in the long-term forecast.
Instead, the weather was perfectly clear, sunny and, yes – cold. But from next week, when a warm front is due to sweep over the posh cities of Courchevel and Meribel, temperatures are expected to rise well above freezing and the perfectly formed race surfaces, which organizers have groomed mostly with artificial snow, will begin to melt.
Dealing with warm temperatures and lack of snow has been a constant in the Alps this season for the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, known as FIS, with Mother Nature and global warming as much to say when and where races are held as the sport’s governing body.
Warm weather and lack of snow wiped out almost a month of racing earlier this season, pre-season training on melting European glaciers is threatening to die out and the impact of climate change on the schedule can be seen even in January.
“There is a very real threat to what we know and love about winter,” said American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin called. “We’re really getting caught up in our world and the medals and wins and wins and records and everything. But we hope that we can enjoy skiing and winter sports and winter recreation for many, many years to come. And that is in danger right now.”
For almost three decades, the FIS has started the World Cup season at the end of October with a race weekend on the Rettenbach Glacier in Sölden, Austria. The idea is not only to draw attention to the circuit, but also to encourage spectators and consumers to think about reserving their winter holidays and start buying skis, boots and other equipment.
The entire ski industry in Europe relies on the race for sales.
The Sölden giant slaloms start at 3,040 meters and end at 2,670 meters (almost 9,000 feet).
But despite these altitudes, the women’s race in Sölden had to be canceled this season due to warm and rainy weatherwhile the men’s race the next day was only held on the Rettenbach track after extensive repair work.
Then the track was to move on to successive weekends of downhill racing on a new, even higher track linking Zermatt in Switzerland to Cervinia in Italy, still being built at great expense by the Swiss and Italian ski federations.
Both race weekends in Zermatt-Cervinia were wiped out because of lack of snow. Likewise the races on the following weekend in Lech-Zürs, Austria.
After all, the women’s season started a whole month late in Levi, Finland – above the Arctic Circle.
But the cancellations came amid a dramatically snowless winter across Europe: a low-altitude race in Zagreb, Croatia melted away; and even races scheduled for January in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany — the Bavarian resort town that hosted the 1936 Olympics — had to be postponed.
It’s not just this year. Season after season there were problems with running the races due to a lack of snow. Improvements in snowmaking allow many races to be held in the absence of natural conditions – see last year’s Beijing Olympicswhere skiing has been held exclusively on artificial snow – but skiers and coaches say radical changes are needed in terms of planning and choosing the ski resorts where races are held.
“There’s a very traditional approach to World Cup racing that we’ve seen in terms of venue allocation and where we’re going. And with so much tradition, there seems to be a reluctance to change,” said Paul Kristofic, US Ski Team women’s head coach. “But what we’re seeing on the ground year after year if you’ve done this enough years is very, very difficult times for certain organizers just because of the altitude.
“You see glaciers receding and they’re in really bad shape when you have a snow-poor year or tremendously warm temperatures in the summer,” Kristofic added. “Often now we see less snow in South America (during preseason training), really warm winters over here or extreme conditions where it’s warm and then it snows two feet and then you have a big mess so.”
A recent case study The threat spread by the World Meteorological Organization of the United Nations to winter sports in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the Italian ski resort that will host and will host women’s ski races at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Games, will be within of Just 13 years old, reported as a “moderate to high risk” for winter sports Annual Women’s Circuit Signature Race.
The study shows “the shrinking of the snowmaking window in preparation for the ski season and for the duration of the ski season itself,” wrote Carlo Pappa, one of the study’s authors, in an email to The Associated Press.
Kristofic questioned the timing of the race schedule.
“Why do we stop racing in March when the conditions are great? Still, we’re trying to do those races in mid/late October, November in places that are warmer and more difficult to do,” said Kristofic. “We are aware that there is a huge industry and a huge business behind what supports our sport, so obviously those are parts that need to be considered. But for the health of our Tour and our sport, I think FIS leadership definitely needs to start thinking about how we can adapt this in a way that makes sense.”
So far, the FIS has taken small steps. In cities like Munich, Stockholm and Oslo, city events no longer take place on artificial running tracks on huge scaffolding or in ski jumps. The annual women’s races scheduled for Maribor, Slovenia – target elevation just 340 meters (1,115 feet) – were moved to the Slovenian resort of Kranjska Gora ahead of this season after three consecutive years when the race was canceled mid-season due to a lack of elevation same step made snow.
“At lower altitudes (resorts) these races probably shouldn’t be happening anymore just because there’s competition,” Lindsey Vonn said in a January interview. “I saw a webcam from Maribor, where I liked to race, and the whole thing is grass.”
Vonn suggested holding more men’s and women’s races at the same resorts to reduce costs.
Taking into account the energy crisis linked to the war in Ukraine, the Italian Winter Sports Federation moved a World Cup cross-country race originally scheduled for Milan to Livigno last month to avoid having to operate snow cannons in the city.
“We have to be careful what we do, that’s clear,” said Peter Gerdol, FIS Women’s Race Director. “But at the same time we use tourist slopes, which many ski resorts have to use for their own purposes at times, so it is not always and everywhere possible to go there. We have to somehow make this puzzle work.”
To raise awareness of climate change, American skiers at the World Championships wear blue and white racing suits that feature an image of chunks of ice floating in the ocean. It’s a concept based on a satellite photo of icebergs breaking off due to high temperatures. The suit was designed in collaboration with the non-profit organization Protect Our Winters, known as POW.
“The simple truth is that you can’t ski without snow, and every year you get closer to that,” said American downhiller and POW Ambassador Travis Ganong. “We really want to put our organizing body at the forefront in this fight for climate change and at this point I don’t think we’re leading. I don’t know if it’s the schedule or what (the FIS) can change, but at least start looking closely at what we’re currently doing and how we can do better.”
Willemsen reported from Sölden, Austria.