Ski racers lining up for Alpine World Cup races in the Rocky Mountains in early December squinted through sunshine that pushed the temperature above 50 degrees and looked down at a course covered in pristine snow which was manufactured.
If they looked up and over the road, beyond the finish line, they could see surrounding hills that were as brown and barren as they could be, with no trace of powder or any hint that this was a setting for athletes headed to the Beijing Olympics, which willl begin on February 4.
“Climate change has arrived. It is taking place. We’re now living in it. It is not something that will happen in the near future. It has arrived. And you can see it in California fires, floods in Europe, higher snow levels, shorter winters, longer summers, and droughts. It covers the entire spectrum. It has an impact on people all around the world. And there’s no turning back,” said Travis Ganong, a 33-year-old California skier travelling to China with the US ski team.
Global warming is irreversibly affecting and harming his and other sports, not only at the elite level. It has an impact on people who simply wish to ski or snowboard for leisure as well as those who make a living from businesses that provide such services.
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