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The statement was widely shared on social media during the ongoing cold Swedish winter.
In a classic interview with Expressen from 2006, Pär Holmgren, MP politician and former SVT meteorologist, looked to the future. The Vasaloppet (which was stopped in 1932, 1934 and 1990 due to lack of snow) would not survive its 100th anniversary in 2022.
Rereading Holmgren’s interview 20 years later, I don’t understand how he dared to be so sure.
This winter has shown how difficult it is to know what impact global warming is having on the jet stream that flows around weather systems. And how it affects winters in Europe. The climate reporters I typically read refer to experts who disagree about why the winter was so cold here and in North America.
Winter sports competitions are often used as an argument to carelessly throw them into the fire of the climate debate.
When competitions are decided White strands of artificial snow with brown surroundings, viewed from one side, are guaranteed proof that the future is here.
When competitions are decided on natural snow in winter landscapes, such as at the current Olympic Games, voices are raised from the other side of the climate debate that these images in particular are evidence that the climate threat has been exaggerated.
TV viewers of the current games saw brown slopes on the other side of the valley while cross-country skiers competed on the trails in Val di Fiemme.
It looks similar to how it looked when the 2013 World Cup was held here. On the side where the trails run, the natural snow is deep, but back then it was even deeper. There were large brown areas on the southern slopes, but they are now even larger.
When DN photographer Thomas Karlsson drove to Cortina at the start of the Games, all he had to do was buy snow chains to get through the snowstorm. Monday’s slalom competition in Bormio was the first time in snow chaos and on the same day I received warnings in the Olympic mobile phone app that the snowfall would affect all traffic between the Olympic sites of Bormio and Livigno.
This was not the case when we were here on January 22nd.
On the high plateau where the future double Olympic champion Frida Karlsson turned on the tracks at an altitude of between 1,800 and 2,000 meters, there were an unusually large number of large snow-free areas.
There was no natural snow down in the valley where Marcialonga’s skiers would compete in Italy’s great endurance race three days later. There were no concerns either. The cold nights in the valley and the artificial snow system would secure the tracks.
In a debate article in DN One author believed that all climate-destroying events during the Winter Olympics should be closed.
Then the entire Winter Olympics will have to be canceled.
All ski competitions at elite level have been decided for a long time, always with artificial snow as a base in order to be able to complete the races, the runs and the jumps.
Where should curling, ice hockey and ice skating go? It’s been a long time since sports were played on natural ice.
And in this freezing winter it can hardly be called environmentally friendly to heat all the swimming pools and sports halls in Sweden.
The snow fell just in time for Marcialonga and fell in abundance across Italy’s Olympic mountains and valleys. The skiers had to make their tracks in deep, loose snow, and at these latitudes a solid layer of snow is sufficient for a long time.
There is still no doubt that the changing winters have influenced life down here in the European mountain regions.
The glaciers are shrinking. Tourist locations that are not high enough have felt the effects of climate change.
After Frida Karlsson’s second Gold, I went on a ski trip on their training trails. Now the natural snow lay deep on the high plateau.
Met the mother of a former national team skater. She talked about a ski resort in Austria where she and her friends went on a ski trip 30 years ago. Now there was only artificial snow on the slopes. The village was no longer what it once was. Restaurants and hotels were closed as tourists chose snow-sure ski resorts at higher altitudes.
I really have no idea what it will be like to ride the Vasaloppet on its current route in 20 years. A lot of it revolves around how the moors can freeze.
I also don’t know what the future Winter Olympics will look like.
These dispersed Games are logistically referred to as the Olympics of the future, but in the long term it would be logical for the Winter Olympics to be opened up to sports that hold major championships in the winter. Not least because the Summer Olympics have become a sports monster.
The rulers of traditional winter sports are strong opponents. They believe that the Winter Olympics should be decided on ice and snow. Their sports are decided on artificial surfaces, so they should shed their bigoted attitude.
This year’s Olympics have two Capitals. The forecast from an Italian weather app says it will be 15 degrees and sunny in Milan on Wednesday. In Cortina it will be around zero.
This is as much a spring as it is a winter Olympics.
