Page 66 - The Economist Asia January 2018

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International The Economist January 27th 2018

Winter sports that the number of skier-days (visits to ski
Skiing goes downhill slopes for part of or a whole day) in the
world’s main ski destinations fell from
about 350m in the 2008-09 season to
about 320m in 2015-16. This includes de-
clines in the United States, Canada, France,
Switzerland, Italy and, most markedly, in
PUNTA SERAUTA, ST MORITZ AND WANLONG fast-ageing Japan. The drop would be big-
Global warming and ageing populations pose a double threatto wintersports. The ger still were it not for breakneckgrowth in
industry’s response is making itall worse
China, where skier-days nearly tripled in
HE great limestone peaks of the Dolo- beginning of the Industrial Revolution the same period to 11m. American resorts
Tmites glow ochre and pink in the sum- have so far warmed the world by roughly (usually small ones) have been closing
mersunset. The slab ofthe Marmolada gla- 1 C, on average. But the effect has been since the late 1980s. Those in the European
o
cier, the “Queen ofthe Dolomites”, glistens greater in the Alps, the mountain range Alps, which account for about 40% of ski-
a regal white. But get up close and the most visited for winter sports, which has er-days, have mostly kept going, albeit
sovereign isweeping. Countlessrivulets of warmed by about 2 C. This has been most with various publicsubsidies.
o
meltwaterstream down herface. intense in summer, which is why the Mar-
The retreat of the Marmolada is heart- molada glacierhasbeen meltingso fast. In- Snowcountryforold men
breaking. So is what she leaves behind: creasingly, though, global warming is af- In the rich world, ageingskiersare gradual-
shrapnel, barbed wire, splinters of shacks fecting the snow and ice in winters, too, ly giving up the sport, although those who
and the otherdetritusofthe firstworld war with profound consequences for the win- keep going tend to have lots of time and
in which Italian and Austro-Hungarian sol- ter-sports industry that has brought the money to enjoy the snow. In America,
diers battled for the controlling heights. As high life to poorAlpine valleys. over-55smake up abouta fifth ofskiers; the
the glacier has shrunk, by more than half Daniel Scott ofthe University of Water- most avid are aged 72 and older. Still, their
since the war, its time capsule is being loo, Robert Steiger of the University of numbers are not being made up fast
opened. Last summer the ice gave up an Innsbruck, and others, have looked at this enough by younger skiers, for several rea-
unexploded shell. Sometimes it brings up future warming in the context of the cities sons. In many places ticket prices have ris-
dead soldiers, too. One appeared in 2010. chosen to host the Winter Olympics, from en fasterthan inflation, although resorts of-
Another surfaced last summer on the Ada- Chamonix in 1924 to Pyeongchang in fer discounts for season passes and early
mello glacier farther west. Archaeologists South Korea next month and Beijing in booking. In America, there is a trend for
describe how the ice, in its pockets, pre- 2022. Even if emissions are cut to meet the richerpeople to ski more than theyused to,
serves not only the objects of war but also target of the Paris climate agreement of and poorer ones to ski less. Non-whites, a
its smell, from the grease of military cable- 2015, only13 ofthe 21lookcertain to be cold growing slice of the population, are less
ways to old sauerkraut. enough to host snow-sports in the 2050s. keen on skiing. In Europe, school trips to
Then there are the remains ofa carefree With high emissions, the number would the slopes are less common, even in coun-
and careless time, when the crevasses be- drop to just eight in the 2080s (see chart 1, tries such as Austria and Switzerland that
came dumpsduringthe construction of ca- next page). The sight ofhelicopters rushing think of themselves as nations on skis.
ble-cars and ski lifts in the 1950s and 1960s. snow to Olympic sites in Vancouver in With global travel, those with money can
With its highest lift reaching 3,265 metres, 2010 may be a harbingerofthe future. just as easily fly to a beach in winter.
the Marmolada was a spot forsummerski- A more immediate worry for the win- Mountains have only recently become
ing. That fun ended in 2003 because of ris- ter-sports industry is that skiing and snow- playgrounds. In Mediterranean antiquity
ingtemperaturesand costs. Much the same boarding have peaked in the rich world. theywere sacred placeswhere the heaven-
is happeningto glacierskiingelsewhere. Laurent Vanat, author of an annual report ly touched the earthly: Greek gods dwelt
The greenhouse gases emitted since the on snow and mountain tourism, estimates on Olympus and Moses was given the law 1