W – Warming, or Global Warming
Global warming is the specter threatening the ski industry, both in North America, and especially in Europe. This threat however, has not suddenly burst on the scene. With a background of skiing in Europe, and after two decades of poor or inconsistent snow, I wrote an article back in 2000 covering the predicted demise of the ski industry as we know it today.
A recent study by Zurich university geographers forecast that within a generation up to 70% of the Swiss glaciers will have disappeared. The impact will be even more severe elsewhere where the Alps are not so high. “Many mountain villages in central and eastern parts of Austria will lose their winter tourist industry because of climate change,” the geographers predicted. “In Italy, half of the winter sport villages are below 1,300 meters. In future there will only be a few winters with snow in these resorts.” This gloomy prognosis means, according to industry analysts, that the future of skiing in the Alps will belong to relatively few but huge and high resorts.
Global warming is a key environmental issue and a bottom line issue for the $3 billion ski industry and its employees. It is also a lifestyle issue. Protecting the winter recreation experience is crucial for more than 12 million U.S. skiers and snowboarders.
“We are working hard to preserve the magic of skiing and snowboarding for generations to come,” said NSAA President Michael Berry. “The ski industry has demonstrated leadership on tackling the problem of global warming and we remain committed to putting solutions in place.”
Climate experts say without action soon, ski regions could see less snow, reduced snow pack, and shorter, more erratic seasons. The effects of global warming are most pronounced at northern latitudes during wintertime. Snow pack also provides clean water for drinking, agriculture and wildlife. And alpine drought can leave mountains more susceptible to fire.
The Alpine ski industry is trying to counter the threat of global warming by building ever higher in the peaks and on the glaciers in order to secure snow guarantees and extend the skiing season. It is also resorting increasingly to the use of snow cannons and artificial snow, and (in Europe) to link up existing ski resorts through more chairlifts in order to create mega-skiing regions.
As in the example of Winter Park Resort, and now Steamboat, private equity firms are buying up ski resorts, and an important criteria is elevation, snowfall history and snowmaking capabilities. Cash-flow and profits have to be maintained.
And in Europe, it seems the 2006-07 ski season might be the one which will really drive the point home. Check out the following articles for the dire state of affairs in Europe right now: Gulps palpable in Alps and Weather threatens Europe’s Ski Trade, OECD Says, and this article on the Environmental News and Commentary website Grist.org about what some sectors of the ski industry are doing to combat it.
liz
December 29th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
If you have not seen Al Gore’s movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ I would urge you to rent it and watch it, it brings home some pretty hard facts on what will happen to our ice caps and our oceans if we do not start to make a change in the way we live.