Consequences of climate change: last departure

Last departure

By STEFANIE SIPPEL (text) and MAXIMILIAN VON LACHNER (photos)

January 31, 2023 Too little snow and too few skiers.

What will winter sports look like in a few years?

A look into the future.

When a drop shoots out of the snow cannon, it freezes in a few seconds.

If it's too wet, the snow gets mushy.

When the nights are cold and dry, the snow is at its best.

Maybe it's weird to start a text about skiing with snow.

But it's like this: Sport needs snow.

Without snow there is no skiing, snowboarding or cross-country skiing.

And because of climate change, there is less and less snow in the lower elevations. 

The snow comes and goes when it wants.

And sometimes he doesn't come at all.

Jörn Homburg knows that. Of course he loves white, but he can't plan with it.

Homburg, 56 years old, is the marketing director of the Oberstdorf-Kleinwalsertal mountain railways in the Allgäu.

And the winter weeks looked like this to him: white bands on a green background.

Is this the future of winter sports?

What about in thirty years?

Beautiful new world?

Skiing is unthinkable without artificial snowmaking.

It can help, but not permanently.

Homburg sits on a gray loden seat in a black capsule and glides over the powdered fir trees.

"The lake down there, we take the water for the snow cannons from there," he says, pointing down.

Homburg is now used to talking about this topic again and again: the climate and the skiers.

He has never talked about it as much as this year.

He probably didn't even notice, but one of the first sentences he said down in the valley was: "Finally it's white."

"We do and do, and yet you complain about it," says Jörn Homburg, Marketing Manager of the Oberstdorf-Kleinwalsertal Bergbahnen.

Homburg stood on skis for the first time at the age of three.

He remembers smashing down brown runs around Christmas.

Even then there was no certainty that it would snow enough in winter.

Actually, Homburg would have liked to have slid down the mountain himself this morning.

He likes the movement, the freedom he feels on skis.

He talks about untouched slopes like a best friend.

For him, skiing is one of the most beautiful experiences - and he doesn't want to ruin that.

Homburg says: "We do and do, and yet you complain about it."

What he means is: Skiing has gotten a bad rap in recent years.

Too much energy required to prepare the slopes, too little snow, too many snow cannons - not good for the climate.

Homburg hates these shortcuts.

He lists: "We use geothermal energy, have a hydroelectric power station, HVO fuel in our snow groomers, the ski area works with 100 percent green electricity from hydropower." And he says: "Three quarters of the energy consumption is just the journey to and from the station."

And the machine snow?

They just need it so that the booking security is there.

No snow, no guests.

No machine snow, guests drive elsewhere.

"We live from winter sports," says Homburg.

Oberstdorf lives from tourism.

But how much longer from alpine skiing?

“Three quarters of the energy consumption is just traveling to and from the airport.”

JORN HOMBURG

Glaciers that are closed for training, canceled World Cup races, climate change is also becoming more and more present in professional skiing.

In August 2022, ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin said in an interview with the "Walliser Bote" from Switzerland: "The difference from last year is pretty drastic." She warned: Perhaps the time when you can no longer train on glaciers is near Future.

Maybe it won't be long before skiing can no longer be seen as a practicable sport.

The woman, who trains on the white every day, is shocked by the changes over the past few years.

Melting glaciers, little snow.

Video: Maximilian von Lachner

Reto Knutti is a skier himself, is Swiss and a climate physicist at ETH Zurich.

He's not someone who wants to ban skiing.

"The snow line is rising, the amount of snow is decreasing," he says.

The snow line has already shifted by 400 meters.

That means: Actually, all ski areas should be set higher.

You just can't move the infrastructure from here to there like you move houses in Monopoly.

Knutti expects the trend to continue.

In 40 years it could be another 400 meters - despite attempts to stop climate change.

What does that mean for now?

It is already difficult for ski areas below 1500 meters.

Just below 2000 meters it's just fine, says Knutti.

Above 2000 meters it is still quite safe.

The future: higher, higher, higher, preferably at 3000 meters.

Skiing is unthinkable without artificial snowmaking.

It can help, but not permanently.

"One kilometer of snow-covered snow costs a million in construction costs," says Knutti.

If it's too warm, that won't help either.

If a ski resort has snow cover 100 days per year, it is considered snow reliable.

If the bill doesn't add up, it's no longer worth it.

"This is already the case in the lower registers," says Knutti.

So the question is: where does skiing still make sense?

And who can still afford it?

Knutti thinks that at some point the sport will be possible in significantly fewer places at high altitudes.

"A snow-covered kilometer costs a million in construction costs."

RETO KNUTTI

Nebelhorn, Oberstdorf, 2200 meters, the first skiers are crawling out of the mountain station.

Click, click, feet on skis.

Adjust the glasses.

Suck in the air.

Gliding through the white for the first time.

During the night it snowed, the slopes have been prepared.

The mountain breathes deeply.

Almost only locals are out and about.

Three skiers stand on a plateau and photograph themselves in front of the mountain panorama.

Every year they go skiing together.

Maybe next year we'll go somewhere else.

Kai:

There

And when there's no snow, the skiers move on - like these three.

Up and down again: no snow, no skiers

Tourism experts in places like Oberstdorf have therefore been considering for a long time how they can attract tourists with other offers.

Only thirty percent of the guests ski.

So: hiking, mountain biking, paragliding, guided snowshoe tours, cross-country skiing - but for the latter you need snow again.

If you look around in the shop windows in the village, you will not only find skis there.

Hiking poles, shoes, functional clothing.

The displays are shop windows into the future, they show how the place is changing.

Martin Kiesel, 63, remembers winter, when he put cross-country skis in the window - and they were gone.

At the beginning of winter: sold out.

And he remembers winters when the cross-country ski trail was ready in front of the front door and you could glide through the meadows from there.

That can still come, winter has only just begun.

Still, he notices how people think.

Snow - cross-country skiing, cross-country skiing - snow, a connection that is firmly in the mind.

Purchases have declined, says Kiesel, who has been running the sports shop in Oberstdorf for 35 years.

Cross-country skiing and downhill skiing would become more difficult.

"We have to live with the way it is," he says.

Brightly colored ski boots stand behind him on the shelf – untouched.

People would ask: Where can you go cross-country skiing?

And then don't think about Oberstdorf anymore, but drive to South Tyrol and the Dolomites.

"The hole will get longer if there's no snow."

MARTIN KIESEL

A few days ago, Kiesel spoke to a hotelier friend of his.

Both agreed: Christmas went well, the hotels were full.

But now the guests who make their living are staying away: those who book at short notice when there is snow.

"The hole will get longer if there's no snow," says Kiesel.

Climate change cannot be denied.

Kiesel says this very calmly and firmly, as if he has already given it a lot of thought.

He looks serious, but not too serious, although his existence is at stake.

Pebble adapts.

He's actually an expert in cross-country skis, but if things continue like this, the range will become smaller.

More hiking gear, more cycling gear, climbing gear.

Caterpillar in motion: The snow groomers are operated with a special fuel.

Andrea Geiger from the ski technique school notices what Kiesel experiences in his shop on the cross-country ski trail.

In the evening the snow glistens in the Nordic Center in Oberstdorf.

Anyone standing in the stadium looks out over the surrounding forest.

A white spot in the green.

Tonight, ten participants want to learn cross-country skiing here.

After two hours, Geiger stows the skis in the car and collects the shoes.

This winter they will be used significantly less than last.

Geiger remembers fully booked courses in the snowy Corona winter.

She was looking for teachers.

"Now we have a lot of cross-country skiing coaches, but few registrations," says Geiger.

Snow out of sight, cross-country skiing out of mind.

Jörn Homburg paints a different picture.

He has seen satisfied customers who were happy to be able to ski at all.

He believes,

that many people still want to ski.

He has to believe, it's his business.

The scientist Reto Knutti thinks that the importance of skiing will decrease because of climate change and fewer young people will ski.

Jörn Homburg thinks that the ski area in Oberstdorf will still be usable for another twenty to thirty years.

And he likes to remind of the Corona winter.

Because that was the snowiest winter in twenty years. 

Snowpark Laax High Art

FAZ series Faster Smart The Streif stands above everything else