Status: 01/31/2023 06:42 a.m
Snow is falling less and less in Germany. This is confirmed by an analysis of nationwide weather data from BR Data and report Munich. In order to continue making winter sports possible, the mountain regions have to spend more and more money.
The legendary “Kandahar descent” begins high above Garmisch-Partenkirchen, at almost 1700 meters above sea level. Since 1954, the fastest skiers in the world have tumbled down here in the battle for the podium. It should have been that time again last weekend. But the race was canceled. Too little snow.
“It’s very, very disappointing for us. It’s just bitter,” says Martina Betz, President of the Organizing Committee for the Ski World Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The pistes are now white, and even a valley run is possible for ski tourists. But a professional race is out of the question. In the finish area of the Kandahar, Betz kneels down, pushes a bit of snow aside with his hands, and the grass appears immediately. “We’re missing half a meter of snow here. You can scrape the meadow with your bare hands. We’re very, very far away from a kind of foundation that you can prepare for a speed race.”
Less snow in the winter sports regions
The trend is clear: There are fewer days when there is snow at all – both throughout Germany and in the winter sports regions. This is confirmed by a recent analysis by BR Data and the ARD-political magazine report Munich. In all of Germany, there were still an average of 51 snow days in the 1960s – in the ten years before 2022 only about half as many.
About the data
The data used in this article comes from the German Weather Service (DWD), where it has been available since 1951. The DWD used an interpolation method for the data. Data from measuring points on snow depth were calculated on grid areas of 1x1km. Viewed locally, this can lead to inaccuracies. The data make no statement about the concrete possibilities for winter sports.
Oberhof in the Thuringian Forest was once the training ground for the East German winter sports elite. Big competitions still take place on the cross-country ski runs, the ski jump and in the ice track. In 2023 there will be two world championships: the luge world championships at the end of January and then the biathlon competitions in February.
100 million for the world championships
To keep it that way, the state and federal government have invested heavily. Politicians put around 100 million euros into the sports facilities to force winter if necessary. These include modern cooling systems on the ice channel or snow cannons along the cross-country ski route. But the latest achievement is hidden in a gray hall: Around 7,500 cubic meters of snow, which are produced by a pipe system in the hall. Since it went into operation last September. The huge hall is a snow factory and depot in one – a kind of icy life insurance for far too mild winter days.
Oberhof is like other large ski areas in the low mountain range. Climate change is particularly noticeable here. According to the Federal Environment Agency, 100 days a year is the limit for profitable ski operations, and many ski areas in low mountain ranges are already below this value.
Climate-neutral artificial snow?
The effort to be able to continue to offer white ski slopes, especially in low mountain ranges, is great. In Oberhof, the measures are as environmentally friendly as possible, says Hartmut Schubert, State Secretary in the Thuringia Ministry of Finance and official Oberhof representative. The waste heat from the machines is intended to heat the surrounding hotels, and solar systems are under construction. Meltwater is reused for the artificial snow.
Nevertheless, despite modern technology, winter sports in Oberhof can only be planned for ten to 15 years, says Schubert. New ideas are needed for the time afterwards – but the region is ready to work on them. Summer biathlon, for example, with rollers on asphalt instead of snow.
Critics say: The winter sports resorts must implement these ideas now, not sometime in a few years. Sebastian König from the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation urges the region not to wait until there is a “big bang” and the winter sports associations cancel their competitions in Oberhof.
No support from the world association
In Garmisch-Partenkirchen Betz only hopes for more snow and colder temperatures in the coming winter, so that he can organize another downhill world cup on the “Kandahar descent”. Because the snow cannons only work when the temperature is below zero. In any case, the World Ski Federation FIS does not want to make any concessions. On request from report Munich he simply replies that climate change affects everyone. It is up to the ski resorts themselves to create the conditions to have a successful winter season.
Tradition or not – if there is no snow, it will be tight for Germany’s ski areas. The warmer it gets, the more complex and expensive the fight for every day on the slopes becomes.