Snow cannons have been vandalized at one of Switzerland’s most popular alpine ski resorts in the south of the country. Sport, criticized for its harmful influence on the environment, is gaining fewer and fewer followers.
No claims were made after the degradation of snow cannons in early January in the resort of Verbier, in the 4 Valleys area, in southern Switzerland, but the first elements lead to environmental action. For climate activists, skiing is a practice of the past that is not compatible with the fight against global warming.
In fact, faced with the lack of precipitation, artificial snow already covers more than 50% of the country’s ski slopes. A constantly increasing number. The actions of climate activists are there to warn of this “ecological aberration”.
“Control cables or water pipes have been severedobserves Laurent Vaucher, director of the ski lifts of the Verbier resort. In other stations, there were even poles that were cut with a grinder”.
Snow cannons less polluting than the car
The employee at the 4 Vallées estate explains that he and his colleagues do not count “ignore climate change”taking the example of “Verbier [où] all electrical energy consumption comes from dams. So to attack the ski lifts, I believe is to attack a false target”.
It is not snow cannons that are responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions in ski resorts, but cars: 70% of the carbon footprint is linked to transporting tourists from their homes to at the foot of the slopes. Thus, some Swiss say to themselves that if skiing pollutes too much, perhaps they should simply stop skiing.
More and more skiers victims of “skischam”
The emerging shame of skiing has a German name: skischam. “The Swiss kindly noticed that there were still changing weather conditions, that there was less snow, less time”, notes Nadia Rytz. This Swiss woman hung up her equipment a few years ago after yet another outing in over 15 degrees on artificial snow.
“People are starting to ask questionsobserves this active climate activist. At the level of young people especially, who increasingly refuse to go skiing and who denounce this immediate and destructive pleasure of nature”.
Nadia Rytz is part of this young generation committed to the fight against global warming. But it is true that in Switzerland, skiing no longer fascinates the crowds as much as before. The images at the start of the season of areas closed for lack of snow probably have something to do with it.
Alpine ski professionals also worried
“When you see these white slopes surrounded by all-green vegetation, the media only have questions like, ‘How can this save Christmas?’ or ‘Which tracks are open?’, regrets Nicolas Manstein, who heads the association Protect Our Winters Switzerland. Discussions should be: ‘how do we act now on the climate crisis?'”
Not all Swiss people are throwing their skis in the dumpster to save the planet. But the phenomenon is very real. Professional skiers are aware of this. A hundred of them, worried about the future of their sport, have just signed an open letter to ask the International Ski Federation to take concrete action to fight against global warming.
