All over Europe alarm bells are ringing over the state of winter snow sports and fears for the future. In France, the ski resorts of Alpe du Grand Serre and Grand Puy have announced they will not open for this coming winter season, adding to a growing tally: 180 since the 1970s, according to geographer Pierre Alexandre Metral of Grenoble University.
The pattern of decline is now well established: as snow lines and glaciers retreat, lower-level resorts are forced to make difficult economic decisions and many call it a day. In Spain’s Sierra Guadarrama the bulldozers have moved in on the Club Alpino, opened in the late 1940s, and now regularly snow-free.
The situation is repeated worldwide: a recent study estimated that of the 21 locations that hosted past Winter Olympics, only one could manage it by the end of the century (Sapporo). Beijing in 2022 was completely run on artificial snow. The assessment of Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, is that the ski industry is facing an existential crisis.