Shrinking summer ski slopes force Swiss teams to rethink training

Summer ski training options are becoming scarcer, forcing Swiss teams to revise their season plans, SRF reports. The impact is particularly significant for junior athletes.

After Zermatt and Saas-Fee, the Stelvio ski area in South Tyrol has also ended its summer operations. The company operating the resort said it was too hot to guarantee safety and quality.

Zermatt had already stopped regular summer operations on the Theodul Glacier because of severe glacier melt. Swiss-Ski can continue training there partially under a special arrangement, but options are becoming more limited for other teams, especially junior squads.

“It is becoming increasingly difficult to conduct ski training on glaciers in July and August,” SRF ski expert Marc Berthod said. The World Cup elite can compensate more easily by travelling to the Southern Hemisphere, while such trips are expensive and logistically difficult for junior teams.

Indoor ski halls are therefore gaining importance. Berthod said they had previously been viewed with some scepticism, but attitudes had changed. Their conditions are consistent, and athletes can complete many runs in a short time. Demand is also rising, however, and available training slots are now difficult to secure.

The difficulties are also changing the training calendar. In the past, teams usually took a break after the final races, followed by fitness training and a return to snow from late July or August. They are now trying to make longer use of winter and, in particular, spring conditions.

At higher elevations, slopes are often still compact and hard in the morning, Berthod said. The longer fitness-training period follows later. In autumn, teams return to snow as early as possible, sometimes at the beginning of October, including at resorts that use stored snow.

The period without ski training is not necessarily becoming longer. “The break from skiing remains roughly the same length. It simply takes place in different months,” Berthod said.

Switzerland is losing part of a long-standing location advantage as snow disappears, he said. Zermatt and Saas-Fee had long been reliable training venues. Their altitude remains an advantage for training in spring and autumn, but summer operations are likely to disappear in the medium term.