A jumper rises on the springboard at the Wisla resort in Poland and flies 10, 20, 30, 100, almost 150 meters and lands as usual, only there is something strange, very strange: there is no snow, not an inch of snow .

He has had to jump on plastic and land on the grass.

It happened last November in the first test of the World Cup of trampoline jumping and it was only the beginning: competitions cancelled, stations closed... In short, a series of misfortunes for winter sports for a simple reason: every time it snows less.

Less quantity and fewer days.

In the Alps, in the Pyrenees or in the Rockies.

And so one winter after another.

One of the effects of global warming.

According to the Pyrenean Observatory for Climate Change (OPCC), before the year 2050 "the average thickness of snow could decrease by half and the permanence of snow on the ground could be reduced by more than a month", and so... How will skiing or snowboarding survive?

“They will survive, although in another way.

Many things will change.

The lowest parts of the stations, below 2,000 meters of altitude, will not always be open and it is possible that many years it will not be possible to open in December, that is, on the Purísima bridge and at Christmas.

But there will continue to be sport, for sure", predicts

Víctor Torres,

director of sustainability at the Grandvalira resort in Andorra, who warns of the advantage that the Pyrenees have over the Alps or the Rockies: "Here there has never been an abundance of snow and for That's why we have optimized our farm snow cannons.

It has been an incredible evolution.

With 15 centimeters of packed snow we can work.

In the Alps maybe they need 50”.

“Climate change is undeniable, it snows less and we are all trying to adapt.

In all seasons we are promoting our summer activities and even winter activities that are not skiing or snowboarding: snowshoeing, sledding...", says

David Codony

, event manager at Vall de Núria, in Girona, a station which can only be accessed by rack railway and which belongs to the Generalitat de Catalunya Railways, such as La Molina, Vallter 2000, Espot, Port Ainé and Boí Taull.

Professionals ask for solutions

According to the Tourist Association of Ski and Mountain Resorts (ATUDEM), some 5.8 million ski passes were sold in Spain last season -far from the 6.5 million of 2008-2009-, but a higher record turnover was generated to 160 million euros.

With fewer days of snow, the business is diversifying activities and taking advantage of the problems in the Alps to attract international skiers and snowboarders with more money.

That is why Candanchú and Astún are currently proposing an extension in the heights.

And that is why the resorts of the Pyrenees have organized a never-before-seen calendar of competitions this year.

The failed project of the Barcelona-Zaragoza-Pyrenees Winter Olympics has been parked, there has been a Freeride World Cup in Baqueira Beret or a Skimo World Cup in Boí Taull and next week the final of the Ski World Cup will be held alpine in Grandvalira.

Elite sport continues to function as a claim, although it also suffers to survive.

In fact, in recent weeks, more than 300 professionals from various specialties, such as alpine skiing, Nordic skiing or snowboarding, including

Mikaela Shiffrin

, the world's superstar, have signed an open letter to the International Ski Federation (FIS) to that works against climate change and reduces its carbon footprint.

For example, they ask that the World Cup not go from one place to another without meaning.

Actually, it is the only thing that he can do from the elite: fight so that his sport does not contribute to his own demise.

«Our mission is to promote skiing, we only dedicate ourselves to winter products, we do not want to make shoes.

That is why we have a plan to reduce our emissions to zero, to stop global warming that directly affects us.

We have to do our part”, says

Irati Querejeta

, a marketing specialist at Atomic, one of the leading brands in the sector, precisely the one that sponsors Shiffrin.

There is less and less snow, but winter sports try to resist.

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