Sitting at his window in Västerås, central Sweden, Thomas Ohlander is wondering when the winter season might start for his outdoor adventure business, Do The North. “To schedule a trip we have to be sure of snow,” he says, “And that start date is going backwards at a crazy speed.”
Each year, Ohlander’s local ice-skating club has recorded the first date on which its members managed to get out on the frozen lakes. In 1988, that date was 4 November; this year the prediction is 4 December.
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.
Alpe du Grand Serre’s closure was blamed on a lack of funds to become a year-round destination as the snow season shrinks, while Grand Puy is shutting its slopes due to a lack of regular snowfall leading to a drop in visitors and an annual loss of hundreds of thousands of euros, according to the local town hall.
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.
Richard Sinclair, CEO at Sno, one of Britain’s largest ski holiday providers, agrees and sees the vulnerability of smaller, lower level resorts having an effect on customers. “The demand is for ‘snow surety’, and that means more demand for higher altitude resorts like Valle Thorens and certain countries, especially the US and Canada.”
Sinclair’s worry is that a process of ski democratisation that began in the 1980s could now be reversed. “I don’t want to see skiing become the preserve of the rich again, or travel more generally. Decarbonisation and sustainability have to be the way forward.”
And that is where some analysts believe there is hope. German winter sports consultant Karl-Christoph Schrahe, points to recent innovations like the use of snow-making machinery to recapture lost heat and even create electricity. “The water flow in the pipes that feed the snow cannon is reversed into a turbine.”
Those snow cannon are now a feature of all big European resorts and the only way that some lower altitude places can survive. Schrahe worked on a study in the German ski area of Sauerland. With a maximum elevation of 843 metres, this should be a ski area on the brink of collapse. Instead, it is thriving.
Catering mainly for local and Dutch skiers, Sauerland uses over half a million cubic metres of water to create snow. While that artificial snow can be seen as a climate negative, Schrahe points to a bigger picture. “Economically it can work. In Germany, no additives are allowed, so it’s clean water. That water is not lost, it returns to the ecosystem. Resorts are using renewable energy. You get rural jobs and a big return on the investment.”
At one lodge, Schneewittchen, the heat from snow machines helps warm the building. Other lodges have installed solar and hydro power plants.
The economic rationale behind snow-making has also been accepted in Slovenia. “It works,” says Matej Kandare, director of the Slovenia Outdoor Association. “We calculate that every euro spent generates six in the wider economy.”
But the country has also taken broader measures. “We are investing in the summer activities: gastronomy, cycling and hiking. With the income generated by summer and winter activities combined, we believe our 11 major ski centres will survive.”
Not everyone is convinced. A report by Legambiente, the Italian environmental group, points out that 90% of Italian resorts are now dependent on a vast, unwieldy and expensive system of artificial snow production that will not cope with rising temperatures. “It’s not a sustainable practice,” says co-president, Vanda Bonardo. “It is bad for the environment and a waste of public money. It’s time to think about a new model of winter tourism.”
Back in Sweden, Ohlander believes innovation is not just about equipment and technical advances. “We try to bring something new every year – to never stand still.”
For this winter he is planning a totally different expedition. On the map he points to a remote area on the Norwegian border. “Up there Sweden has a small herd of musk ox that are rarely ever sighted. It’ll take a week to ski in, pulling everything we need on sleds, then search for them.
“What we must remember is that winter and skiing is about being out in nature and exploring. That’s why we love it.”
