Britain's most successful alpine skier Dave Ryding said his sport needed to “move with the times” by moving races to higher altitudes, but did not rule out competing indoors.
This year's World Cup ski season was hit by unseasonably high temperatures, and three of the 13 scheduled slalom races were canceled, including the sport's specialty, slalom.
Unfortunately, the sight of thin white strips of man-made slopes snaking down brown or green mountains made me wonder if the days of alpine skiing as we know it are numbered.
Looking back at the 37-year-old's most successful season, Riding said it was time for the sport's governing body, the International Ski Federation (FIS), to come up with a “Plan B”, adding that “this year is probably too late a season” for change. teeth.
In an interview with BBC Sport, he said there are many resorts available that are above 3,000 meters above sea level, rather than scheduling a race in March at just 800 metres.
Asked what his sport will look like for future generations, Riding said: “I don't think it has to go indoors, but it can be brought indoors. Saudi Arabia is an all-purpose indoor “We're building some ski resorts.”
“I think we'll go to higher elevations first. I mean, we still ski on glaciers in the summer and we have snow. So in the winter we'll have snow.”
Riding, who started skiing on dry slopes, said he hopes he doesn't end up racing on dry slopes, though he joked that he'll “get pretty good at it.”
A slalom competition held last month in Slovenia's Kranjska Gora (over 800 meters above sea level), where temperatures were in the mid-teens Celsius, was canceled due to heavy rain. This was followed by the cancellation of slalom in Val d'Isere, France in December due to rain and snow, and heavy rain in Bansko, Bulgaria in February.
Seven of the first nine races in all men's Alpine Ski World Cup events have been canceled for the 2023-24 season. In total, 13 races for men and 8 races for women were canceled, of which 5 were replaced.
After Switzerland's Daniel Juhl made an unprecedented comeback from 30th place after his first run to win the men's slalom in Chamonix in February, climate scientist Marc Maslin said He said that fluctuations are having an impact.
Maslin said the top 30 for the first race was in reverse order, meaning Yule started first in the second race, then “in scorching 12 degrees Celsius, the snow quickly cleared for the rest of the competitors.” It started to melt.”
