Global warming worries sport
Skiers and International Ski Federation officials are increasingly aware of climate change and its impact on their sport. With temperatures so cold that exposed flesh froze and snow piled up to the window sills there was little evidence of global warming as the World Cup made its annual visit to the icy Canadian West.
By the time racers were packing their skis on Sunday, however, as the World Cup headed back to Europe where the White Circus has been struggling to find resorts with enough snow, global warming had become a hot topic. Too much snow, too little snow, too hot, too cold -- the World Cup has always been at the whim of the weather.
Cancellations have been as much a part of ski racing as nasty crashes but this year the concern over the high number of events being lost to warm weather appears to run deeper. Whether it is Al Gore's disturbing opus on global warming 'An Inconvenient Truth' playing on trans-Atlantic flights or the ongoing debate over the Kyoto Accord, skiers and International Ski Federation officials are increasingly aware of climate change and its impact on their sport.
"These things never happen suddenly," FIS men's tour director Guenter Hujara said. "I remember that there were guys talking about global warming 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago. It was so convenient for many people not to listen to it, maybe not to understand it. Maybe to lean back and say: 'Oh yes, it will not happen and as long as I live it will have no consequence to me'. But, from what we see right now, maybe we are already right in the middle of it. There are so many signs right now that it is accelerating."
In one ominous sign, the traditional season-opening men's and women's giant slaloms staged on Rettenbach glacier high above Soelden, Austria, were washed out due to rain. A lack of snow in Val d'Isere forced the French resort to back out of hosting a men's downhill and super-combined next weekend, though the latter race has been rescheduled for Reiteralm in Austria. A women's downhill and super-G set for Val d'Isere the following weekend remain under threat, with the FIS due to make an inspection this week. St Moritz in Switzerland, which has staged World Cup races since 1999, also had to cry off for the first time, pulling out of hosting two women's races next weekend because the weather has been too warm to even allow the manufacture of artificial snow.
Organisers are also nervous about men's races in Val Gardena, Italy, later this month. With the calendar in chaos, the FIS has been considering the unprecedented step of returning to North America to squeeze in a few more races before the Christmas break. "At this point, I don't think there are many people who can deny there are effects to global warming," said US Olympic combined gold medallist Ted Ligety. "We are already seeing the effects of warm weather this year. We're supposed to be going over to Europe next week but everything has been cancelled. It looks like December's going to be totally lacking snow over there and this never would have happened 15 years ago. Every year it's getting a little worse."
Looming large on the horizon is the future of the World Cup's most prestigious and important stops in Kitzbuehel, Wengen and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, three events that can face weather issues even at the best of times. "There's no question the situation in Europe is difficult," said Atle Skaardal, the FIS women's World Cup race director. "It has been extremely warm and the resorts are having a very hard time producing enough snow. This year it is definitely going to be a big challenge to most of the European ski resorts. We have experts working with this issue every day trying to find some answers but I think global warming is something we have to discuss over time."
At least one study projects that by 2050 there may not be enough snow left in the Alps to stage a race at all. "I'm not a scientist but, from what I can follow, we are seeing that the glaciers where the teams train are simply disappearing," said Hujara. "We have to be proactive; see where the tendency goes and then, by being proactive, find out what will be the future, what will be possible. That's what we will have to do. I'm not a guy who is over-active about this right now. At the moment it has become a big story in Alpine skiing and everybody feels it. But it is something which happens very slowly. People get used to it and you do not feel the sudden effect. Then all of a sudden the World Cup starts and you need the white stuff. And to produce it, you need the cold temperature and the water. Maybe in the future, there will be no cold temperature, no water and therefore no snow."
(eurosport.com)
