Europe’s record-breaking warm winter weather has closed ski slopes and forced resorts to open summer trails or shut altogether, as grass and mud replace seasonal snow from Chamonix in France to Innsbruck in Austria. “Everything is difficult – not only preparing a ski slope.”People ride the cable car above a ski run without any snow on Bjelašnica mountain near Sarajevo, Bosnia, on 4 January. “It’s clear one lift for bikes hardly compensates,” Benjamin Mugnier, the director of the lift operator, told France 3 television. But experts warn the warm conditions and lack of snow are a sign of things to come, with global heating set to radically change winter tourism. 01:17 'It's heartbreaking': ski slopes forced to close as Europe experiences record warm winter – videoNor is artificial snow likely to provide much relief: a recent study by the University of Basel calculated that the water consumption of ski resorts who turn to snow canon could rise by an unsustainable – and, for much of the public, unacceptable – 80%.

Source: The Guardian January 05, 2023 16:04 UTC