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Ski Heil in Asia:

The season is getting shorter and shorter in many European ski areas. Europe's champions like Völkl and TechnoAlpin are moving east

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Alex Sava/Getty Images

The ski season officially lasts until April, but skiers and snowboarders have long since gotten used to the sight during the winter months: green meadows instead of snow-covered slopes. Whether in Kitzbühel, Garmisch-Partenkirchen or the Erzgebirge – climate change is already having immense consequences for European ski tourism. Scientists at the Center National de Recherches Météorologiques in Grenoble predict that if global warming reaches two degrees, about half of the ski resorts in 28 European countries will be at very high risk of snow shortages. How do companies and manufacturers that make their living from ski tourism prepare for the times of lack of snow?

Snowmaking systems and snow cannons still provide relief in many places. However, global warming is also reducing the time windows in which artificial snowmaking actually works. This is only possible at temperatures just above freezing. In many ski areas, the machines of the Bolzano company TechnoAlpin, founded in 1990, ensure that the slopes are still skiable.

TechnoAlpin: Algorithms and innovations

TechnoAlpin continues to try to defy rising temperatures with improved technology.

Nemanja Dogo

, the company's global sales director, firmly believes that business will not collapse in the future. In Europe, the time windows for artificial snowmaking are getting smaller, but as a technology leader, the efficiency of the systems has continued to improve. With the help of control software fed with algorithms and weather data, the snowmaking systems should continue to work efficiently even when the weather conditions become difficult. “We are constantly working to make our machines even more powerful,” says Dogo.

Although TechnoAlpin still generates 70 to 80 percent of its sales in Europe, the growth markets have long been outside the old continent. “We are active in almost 60 countries,” explains Dogo. Demand is particularly high in regions where winter sports are not yet as developed as in the Alps: “Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and China.” The Bolzano-based company says it recently had a turnover of around 300 million euros.

In order to stabilize sales, the company has now expanded its focus and no longer just focuses on snowmaking. The two subsidiaries Engo and EmiControls already account for 15 percent of the TechnoAlpin Group's sales. Engo develops and produces electric ice resurfacing machines and barrier systems in ice arenas. Engo was also at the 2022 Winter Olympics in China. EmiControls, on the other hand, has nothing to do with winter sports: the subsidiary of the world market leader sells turbines that are used in firefighting.

Völkl: Growth boosters Japan, Australia and New Zealand

The German ski manufacturer Völkl is also looking east. The company has been producing skis in the Bavarian town of Straubing since 1923. They are not the market leader with their higher-priced skis, but Völkl produces several hundred thousand pairs in Bavaria every year - half of them for the European market. The fact that the ski manufacturer has been able to set sales records in the past two years is due, on the one hand, to artificial snowmaking and, on the other hand, to the increasing demand in regions outside of Europe where winter sports are still young and have room for expansion.

“Europe is still our core market,” says

Markus Knipschild

, Global Brand Business Director at Völkl. However, the manufacturer is already sensing that customers in low-altitude ski areas in the low mountain ranges often have a significantly shorter winter season. “Global warming will certainly have an effect on our business as a ski manufacturer,” says Knipschild. However, artificial snowmaking technology ensures that skiing can continue in most ski areas even in months with little snow.

A look across the Atlantic shows how the weather can affect business at Völkl. Last year, North America, Völkl's second largest market with a 28 percent share of sales, increased sales. However, a winter with little snow so far, especially on the west coast and in the Rocky Mountains, is currently causing a noticeable decline in sales in the region.

The future market for Völkl, just like for TechnoAlpin, is now the Asia-Pacific region: with a mid-double-digit percentage growth compared to 2022, the traditional Straubing company is growing the strongest here; the region accounts for around 10 percent of global sales. The countries Japan, Australia and New Zealand in particular are the biggest drivers of growth. Thanks to demand in the Far East, after a record year in 2022, Völk was able to grow again in 2023 and achieve a sales record.

Almost all of Völkl's competitors produce in other European countries, mostly in regions with lower labor and energy costs. Völkl manager Knipschild, on the other hand, emphasizes the advantages of the Straubing location: stable supply chains and expertise. “The furthest supplier is 280 kilometers away, the next ones are less than ten kilometers away,” says Knipschild. “To do this, we have built up our expertise around the Straubing location.” Völkl employs a total of 400 people at the Straubing location.

Ski production in Straubing is still predominantly manual work, says Knipschild. This is also reflected in the price: Völkl is one of the premium manufacturers for recreational skiers. However, the concentration on the wealthy target group also benefits Bavaria: Inflation has driven up prices in most ski areas in recent years. A skiing holiday has become an expensive pleasure: not least because the operators of the ski areas also have to upgrade their snowmaking systems.