Winter sports at a crossroads

What is it like as a top athlete in winter when the first turns have to be completed somewhere in June in regions with guaranteed snow so that you can complete a race on a glacier, the Rettenbachferner in the Ötztal, at the end of October? Into the vices for the feet, also known as ski boots, and then into the ski bindings. Up the mountain and with easy turns through the first gates. Hurray, the beautiful feeling of gently flying over compact snow crystals quickly returns. It's like a short rush. It is the life you love so much.

Those who don't have snow, especially endurance athletes, first tear across strips of asphalt that shimmer in the sun and shimmer like mirrors. It is a feeling similar to cross-country skiing, of gentle yet powerful gliding. But it's not like cross-country skis with direct contact with the snow. Every biathlete or cross-country skier confirms this. The training work for the coming winter has begun. But back to the core question: So what is it like to be a top athlete? Closed due to lack of water Mainly with thoughts about the future, even of winter sports as a whole, when only a few drops of water reach the scalp from the shower, which was supposed to offer relaxation to the sweaty body. The massage with the water jet in the whirlpool is also flat. “Closed due to lack of water.” The sign at the entrance to the wellness area in the hotel seems a bit strange. Is it already the beginning of the apocalypse?

A ski world cup will be held in Sölden in October. © APA / EXPA/JOHANN GRODER

The nice feeling of a fulfilling day with targeted training gives way to worries that unexpectedly go deeper than normal, because the shower doesn't work properly the next day either. You jump from one drop of water to another. And then the news of a possible turning point reaches the ski stars after dinner in front of the television: “Hardly any water left in Lake Maggiore. The Po in northern Italy is now only a trickle. The harvests are in danger.” Can you believe all of this? It's so beautiful in the mountains. Everything is green. But this color in the glacier regions can be described as poisonous green. Mountains without glittering white are doomed. Summers are supposed to be nice and hot Last year many glaciers disappeared again. And there was also extremely little snow, which is now leading to water shortages, among other things. Cool and rainy summers would be necessary to stop the ongoing loss of glaciers. But nobody wants that. Summers are supposed to be beautiful and hot. Sunscreen factor 30. At least. Of course, this does not currently affect those who are currently active in this popular winter sport in Europe. It would be even nicer. Because wherever the ski entourage goes, there are fine slopes available. From start to finish. Cleanly prepared, ideal for exciting competitions.

Always higher, always further: There are a number of ski races on the calendar this year too. © AFP / SEBASTIEN BOZON

In Europe and the USA, where the ski elite will stop twice next season, which in itself is an outrage. But it's fitting, because everything is just a big theater. An artificially kept alive party, fed with water from artificially created reservoirs and then placed on the alpine meadows with cannons as so-called artificial snow and tamped down with heavy machinery. Dinner is served.

The Vernagtferner in the Tyrolean Ötztal has lost two thirds of its ice mass over the past 150 years. That's only an example. The consequences are fatal: with the absence of glaciers, the geology in the mountains changes. Ski huts or ski lift structures that used to stand on permanently icy terrain can start to slide. Formerly enchanting glacial valleys are turning into scree deserts. Biodiversity is shrinking. And yet there is hardly any change in thinking; the period of time in which the dramatic changes in our mountains take place is probably too long. 150 years is just two human lives. The catastrophe is approaching But now the catastrophe is getting closer and closer and it touches us more directly and influences our lives more dramatically than ever before. We can no longer live in luxury. Sport will soon have to face this irrefutable truth. If you continue like this, without consequences and always ready to trick nature, you will have bitter revenge at some point.

But the appointment calendars are once again jam-packed. And anyone who is unable to defy global warming with expensive technical means will be summarily excluded from the circle of organizers. The next one is already waiting, because after all there is a lot of money at stake. Still. But at some point you will realize that the nutritional value of money is not particularly high. But I fear that people's unreasonableness and their greed will win the day against those with concerns and admonishers. Until not even a few drops of water come out of the shower.

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Winter sports at a crossroads

The prevailing water shortage in many European countries draws the thoughts of our columnist Sigi Heinrich to the possible ever-increasing problems in winter and, associated with this, to sport in our mountains.

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