Across Europe’s mountains, winter is becoming less predictable. While the slopes around Cortina d’Ampezzo are currently blanketed in white ahead of the Milan–Cortina Winter Olympics in February, those postcard conditions are no longer guaranteed. Rising temperatures and shrinking snowfall are reshaping the future of skiing — and forcing resorts to rethink how they survive.
A Warming Climate Is Redrawing the Winter Sports Map
Even in Italy’s iconic Dolomites, snowfall is becoming rarer and winters are noticeably milder. This trend stretches across the entire Alpine region, and the International Olympic Committee has openly acknowledged that climate change — driven largely by fossil fuel emissions — is already affecting winter sports.
The consequences could be dramatic. A 2021 study by researchers at the University of Waterloo found that, without aggressive climate action, only four former Winter Olympic host cities would still be suitable by mid-century: Lake Placid, Oslo, Lillehammer and Sapporo. In a worst-case scenario where global temperatures rise by 4°C by 2050, nearly all other past Olympic venues would be ruled out due to heat and lack of snow. By 2080, only Sapporo could still reliably host the Games.
Even if the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 2°C is met, the outlook remains grim. By 2050, just nine former Olympic locations would still qualify, dropping to eight by 2080.
Ski Tourism: A Lifeline for Millions Under Threat
While the Olympics last only a few weeks every four years, the ski economy operates year-round. In 2022, Europe’s winter tourism sector generated an estimated €180 billion, with the Alps acting as its beating heart.
The Alpine region spans parts of Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and is home to around 80 million people. Germany alone has nearly 500 ski resorts — more than any other European country — followed by Italy and France.
But the outlook is increasingly bleak. A 2023 study published in Nature Climate Change warns that under a 2°C warming scenario, more than half of Europe’s 2,234 ski resorts face a very high risk of unreliable snow. The French Alps could lose a third of their resorts, while in the Pyrenees nearly 90% may become unviable. If temperatures rise by 4°C, almost every European ski resort would struggle to operate at all.
Artificial Snow, Rising Costs and a Breaking Point
To stay open, many resorts now depend heavily on artificial snow — a solution that comes with serious environmental and financial costs. According to WWF, producing just 30 centimetres of snow on one hectare of slope can require at least one million litres of water. Continued snowmaking can consume even more, rivaling the annual water use of a large city.
The energy demands are equally staggering. Snow cannons and lances require vast amounts of electricity, increasing emissions and feeding the same climate cycle that threatens snowfall in the first place. Estimates suggest that supplying artificial snow to Alpine resorts alone would require around 600 gigawatt-hours of electricity each year — roughly the annual consumption of 130,000 households.
These pressures are already hitting skiers’ wallets. Since 2015, the cost of skiing in Europe has risen by nearly 35%, far outpacing inflation. Switzerland, Austria and Italy have seen the steepest increases, pushing many major resorts out of reach for average tourists.
Recognising the strain, the European Union has called for better coordination in managing shared water resources across borders, warning that water security and ecosystem protection are now critical to the region’s resilience.
As winters continue to warm, Europe’s ski industry faces a stark choice: adapt rapidly, diversify beyond snow, or risk watching one of its most iconic traditions fade away.
