Climate change is profoundly reshaping the landscape of winter sports, forcing Olympic athletes to travel further and adapt their training methods as traditional snowy environments disappear. This shift raises significant logistical, financial, and ethical challenges, threatening the very existence of winter sports as we know them.
The stark reality of global warming is no longer a distant threat for winter sports athletes; it’s a daily challenge impacting their careers and the future of their disciplines. From shrinking glaciers in the Alps to a desperate hunt for snow across continents, the evidence is undeniable: climate change is profoundly altering how athletes prepare for events like the Winter Olympics.
A vivid example comes from Saas-Fee, Switzerland, a crucial training ground for many winter Olympians. Athletes commuting to glaciers at 11,000 feet are met with grim reminders: grayish mud leading to shrinking snowfields, new crevasses, and the thunderous roars of glacial ice breaking off. This daily spectacle underscores how rapidly these once-reliable training venues are deteriorating.
Chasing the Snow: The Global Quest for Wintry Conditions
The most visible impact of climate change on athlete training is the need to travel further and more frequently in search of adequate snow. American athletes, who once had ample offseason access to snow in the Rockies or New England, now routinely cross continents. World champion in aerials skiing, Jon Lillis, laments, “Something that terrifies every winter athlete daily is the fact that the conditions are not as good as they used to be.” He notes that glaciers skied in the 1970s and 80s are now half their former size or entirely gone.
This global chase extends beyond U.S. teams. Canada’s ski cross racers, for instance, had to cancel training on Italy’s Stelvio glacier due to a “Lucifer” heatwave, rerouting to Mount Hood, Oregon. French moguls team member Ben Cavet observed a shocking deterioration on his home glacier in Tignes, noting, “I can see a huge difference. Up on the glacier, now there’s this huge cliff, you know like a big rock, that you couldn’t even see before.”
The hunt for reliable training spots consumes increasing amounts of coaches’ time and budgets. U.S. coach Mike Jankowski now includes European venues in a global travel schedule that already encompasses New Zealand and other Southern Hemisphere locations. This expanded travel inevitably increases the environmental footprint of winter sports, a point of moral struggle for many athletes.
The Environmental Paradox: Athletes and Their Carbon Footprint
Many athletes are acutely aware of the paradox they face: needing pristine natural environments for their sport while their extensive travel contributes to the very climate change that threatens it. French snowboard-cross racer Pierre Vaultier stated, “We take planes to go overseas. We take cars every day to go training. We are not examples about how to decrease global warming.”
U.S. gold medalist snowboarder Jamie Anderson echoed this sentiment, admitting it’s hard to “get sucked into the system” despite a passion for snowboarding. Organizations like Burton Snowboards are attempting to address this by implementing changes to diminish their environmental footprint. Cross-country skier Julia Kern uses her platform to advocate for climate action, noting she now purposefully trains in slushy conditions to prepare for increasingly warm and soft race conditions, as reported by the Associated Press.
Canadian freestyle skier Marion Thénault actively works to reduce her impact by opting for buses and trains over short flights and collaborating with her sponsor on proposals to cluster competitions geographically. She highlights the dual challenge: “We’re increasing our environmental impact by chasing the snow, so we’re also contributing to the problem.”
Economic and Logistical Fallout: The Shifting Landscape
The financial health of the winter sports industry, including ski resorts, has been severely impacted by increasingly warm winters. A study commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Protect Our Winters revealed significant revenue losses in “low-snow” winters for resorts in New Hampshire and Colorado. Major competitions are also seeing increased disruptions.
The 2015-16 World Cup season saw multiple cancellations and venue changes due to mild temperatures. The early alpine event in Beaver Creek, Colorado, for the current season, ran almost entirely on man-made snow that quickly turned glassy in the warming sun. Biathlon venues, such as Ruhpolding in Germany and Ostersund in Sweden, now commonly store thousands of cubic yards of snow through the summer under tarps for early-season races, a practice unheard of in the past when conditions were “relatively reliable,” according to Max Cobb, president of U.S. Biathlon.
Conditions at world championships and past Olympics have also been affected, with freestyle skiers and snowboarders encountering mushy snow at the 2014 Sochi Games, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and the 2017 World Championships in Spain. U.S. aerials coach Matt Saunders summarizes the challenge: “It’s definitely getting harder and harder to get on snow early, for sure. We are having to travel further and further.”
Future Challenges and Adaptations for Olympic Venues
Scientists warn that the situation will worsen, potentially rendering proven Olympic venues unsuitable even with greater reliance on artificial snow. Concerns have been raised about the scarcity of natural snow in Beijing, host of the 2022 Winter Games, despite official assurances of artificial snow production. Park City, a former Olympic host, is vying for the 2026 and 2030 Games, creating an irony for resident Olympians who travel globally to train due to local snow deficits.
Mac Bohonnon, a U.S. aerialist, admits that while he used to dismiss poor conditions as “a bad winter,” the evidence of warming is now “undeniable.” Sophie Goldschmidt, CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, emphasizes the need for flexibility and backup plans, acknowledging these come at a greater cost. She stresses that the future of these sports is “directly tied to the health of our planet,” as reported by the Associated Press.
Innovative Training and High-Altitude Solutions
Athletes and governing bodies are seeking innovative solutions to adapt to unpredictable conditions. For example, ski mountaineering, set to debut as an Olympic sport, now sees athletes using skis on wheels for cardio training on paved canyon roads. The head of sport for U.S. ski mountaineering, Sarah Cookler, explains that competitions may increasingly move to higher elevations to find reliable snow, such as a World Cup event at Solitude Mountain Resort in Utah (7,994 feet elevation).
Cross-country skier Gus Schumacher, growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, remembers a childhood playground of endless snow now seeing barely any trace. As part of “Protect Our Winters,” Schumacher uses his voice to highlight the changes, including visible glacier recession. Ski mountaineer Cam Smith has observed “a huge difference” in the Alps and Pyrenees due to “way more mid-winter rain” washing away existing snow, further complicating training.
The changes are profound and necessitate continuous adaptation. While some places might experience more severe winter weather due to Arctic warming disrupting the polar vortex, as noted by MIT scientist Judah Cohen, the overall trend points to shorter, milder winters and less snow. This inconsistency makes athlete preparation significantly more challenging and costly. The journey toward the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games is set against a backdrop of unprecedented environmental uncertainty, pushing athletes and organizers to confront a rapidly changing world.
