Ski competitions 'steal snow from melting glacier' for racetrack

According to the Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten, an excavator removes snow and dumps it on bare slopes. Photo: Capture de la vidéo ©20min.ch

The organizers of an international ski competition were accused of stealing snow from a glacier in the Alps amid mild weather in the mountains.

The Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten published photographs of diggers on the Theodul glacier, which are believed to be used to prepare the tracks for the upcoming FIS World Cup, which will take place on November 11-12.

According to 20 Minuten, two-thirds of the race course will be on a glacier, and although some sections are permitted, other sections pass through protected areas.

It alleges that excavators were used to clear the equivalent of five football fields' worth of snow and ice from off-court areas to create no-go runs and seal bald spots and cracks elsewhere.

< p> The glacier sits high above Matterhorn Ski Paradise, a cross-border ski resort between Zermatt, Switzerland, and Cervino, Italy, and its mass has already shrunk by 10 percent in the past two years due to climate change.< /p>

According to drone footage obtained by 20 Minutes and GPS calculations, the start of the women's race is expected to be located outside the area designated for winter sports, and the men's course will also pass through large tracts of land considered outside the area. reserved for winter sports. restrictions.

Environmental groups have criticized organizers for the alleged glacier excavation, saying it is a result of their insistence on holding races so early in the season.

Race course for the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup competition in November

Last year the same competition was canceled due to lack of snow.

The group Protect Our Winters (POW) has launched a petition calling on the ski federation to become climate “leaders” and “adapt the competition calendar to reduce the impact of travel and respect the changing climate.”

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Alexis Pinturault, the French three-time world champion cross-country skier, expressed dismay and said: «Our sport is one of the hardest hit by global warming, and instead of changing our system and adapting, we are doing the opposite.»

< p>“These competitions, especially at this time of year, make no sense. The test is not timed. This will shock everyone.”

Others accused event organizers of putting money before the environment, arguing that they insisted on holding the race earlier because sponsors preferred to boost public interest in skiing earlier in the season.< /p>

“To what extent should we adapt our environment to our desired schedule? Or should we adapt our schedules to the environment?” asked Mikaela Shiffrin, an American alpine skier competing at the World Alpine Ski Championships.

Meanwhile, the organizers insisted that the entire competition course was within the permitted ski area, at least on the Swiss side.

B 20 Minuten interview Franz Juhlen, president of the local organizing committee for the event, said that although the images of the excavators looked bad, no one was “caveling off the glacier.”

“It’s not right, three excavators worked on the glacier for three weeks. However, they didn’t break anything, but filled them up and secured the cracks with ice and snow,” he said.

“They made us scapegoats. Nobody knows the problem of retreating glaciers as well as we do in Zermatt. We know what we are talking about and we take this sensitive issue seriously.”

However, due to the growing controversy, the authorities of the canton of Wallis/Valais ordered all excavations on the glacier to stop while the investigation was underway.