The future of the Winter Olympics is attracting much discussion as the Italian Alps play host to the Paralympics in March at the Milano-Cortina games. As our global climate warms, winters just aren’t as they used to be. For the Winter Games, there is an increasing reliance on artificial snow as the struggle with rising temperatures continues. The Olympic Committee has a lot of hoops to jump through; helping to build a peaceful and better world through excellence, respect and friendship, overseeing the incredible worldwide events in each four-year cycle, summer and winter. Moving these around the world, allowing more countries to host, more people to attend, and to shift time zones to favour different viewers at home. As well as improving sustainability and the Games' carbon footprint.
Fitting the criteria to host is a tough job anyway, with considerations around infrastructure, travel, and finance, never mind politics and safety concerns. For the Winter Games, it is becoming even harder. It needs to be cold enough, and having decent, reliable snow would be ideal.
"These games need to be held a month earlier…every year, it's soft, it's slush. It's spring skiing, and that's not really real ski racing." Kurt Oatway (Team Canada Para mens Alpine skiing)
Watching the celebration of the Winter Games over the decades, what stands out is all the events which were held outside. It was cold enough and there was usually enough snow although when Cortina previously hosted the Olympics in 1956, the Italian army did move truckloads of snow down from the Dolomites. Some events have moved inside to accommodate more spectators, television coverage and evening lighting. Floodlighting and drone footage is making the outdoor coverage very impressive too. Being indoors also removes the risk of stormy weather causing disruptions and gives a more consistent surface for figure skating and curling.
This February, wind and snow interrupted the ski jumping men’s Super Team final with only a few jumps to go in February. After postponements and much debate, the governing body decided to stop the event and wiped the final round. Some contenders benefited, others were deeply unhappy, but there had been heavy snowfall and a wind shift, resulting in completely different conditions. The snowboard women's slopestyle final in Livigno was postponed due to a heavy snowstorm. But at least there was snow, even if it made travelling between the venues difficult on some days.
"When you put your ski in the turn, you expect something to come back and get a reaction, but with how soft and slushy it is, we are not getting the same reaction," Corey Peters (Team New Zealand Para men’s Super G)
This March, there have been complaints about the slushy conditions for the Para cross-country skiing and more falls. Also, the higher temperatures can lead to increased heart rates, which then affects competitors' ability to control their breathing, such as in the Biathlon shooting. It will be the same for everyone in that session but it is an extra strain. Although competitors have to adapt to the weather on the day, this seasonal warming can mean that mistakes, accidents and injuries become more likely.
By this time in March compared to February, there is more daylight and the stronger sunshine is melting the existing snow.
We know that there is variability each year. These Winter Games are planned a decade in advance, too far ahead to tell if central Europe will have a cold winter, or eastern Asia will experience a Siberian freeze.
Greenland (although not known for elite sports) has not seen enough snow for its ski season to function this winter, in the Arctic. The west coast has recorded its warmest January ever (DMI). The vulnerability of lower altitude Alpine ski resorts has been clear for many years now. Italy reported 265 ski resorts closed in the last five years, with 55 ski lifts and cable cars closed in Switzerland.
Research
Recent studies looked at: the impact of climate change on snow sports, with recommendations to increase the climate-resilience of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and reliable locations for the Winter Games as global warming accelerates.
The team from the University of Innsbruck, Austria and the University of Waterloo, Canada analysed “the 93 potential host locations where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) indicated the necessary winter sports infrastructure was already in place”. They found that if countries continue with current climate policies, only 45 to 55 would remain climate-reliable for the Olympics by the 2050s, and 22 for the Paralympics. Traditionally, the Paralympics are two weeks later than the Olympics. By the 2080s, only 30 to 54 would be climate-reliable for the Winter Olympics, with a worse outlook for the Paralympics.
Ideas being considered include shifting the timing of the Games to earlier in the year and rotating the Games between a pool of hosts. Sustainability and environmental concerns are starting to feature more in the IOC’s plans. And artificial snow is already being used.
The lack of snow
Manufacturing snow can guarantee the quality and consistency of courses. This is not the fake ‘imitation’ snow seen in films or perhaps sprayed on shop windows in December. This is artificial snow made from water at sub-zero temperatures. It needs a lot of water, cold air and energy. The Beijing 2022 Games almost completely relied on artificial snow, as they were held at a dry time of year. Snow farming occurred, where snow is moved or preserved. And in previous games, these same practices have been used rather than relying on falling winter snow.
Depending on the energy used, this artificial snow can impact the carbon footprint of the games. Is the electricity from wind, nuclear power or burning coal, a fossil fuel? Some venues are building specific reservoirs to capture rainwater higher up the mountains, which can be recycled as it melts after the events. There are concerns about places diverting water supplies or using valuable groundwater, as water becomes a precious and rarer commodity.
There has to be enough time to create the snow as well. Even in Italy this year, daytime temperatures did rise later in the Olympics. This left only the nighttime when it would be cold enough to produce snow. There is a financial cost associated with generating snow rather than just falling from the sky to be raked by that team of precariously balanced sweepers on the ski-jump hills.
Decisions
What no one wants are unsafe conditions. If there is slush or ice, then falls and accidents with injuries can increase. In many outdoor events, the highest placed qualifier will go last in the final, but conditions need to be consistent throughout. This gradual retreat of winter snow is why the research was commissioned. Some events just have the track and a safety boundary area covered in artificial snow, changing abruptly to green grass or earth at the sides.
The IOC prioritises locations that already have at least 80% existing venues. Places like eastern Turkey and Poland might be reliable hosts in the future climate-wise, due to seasonal cold air and the altitude in their mountains, but there isn't the infrastructure needed for such a huge event.
It is unlikely that the Paralympics would be merged with the earlier Winter Olympics, as the earlier games are already large and busy, filling their two-week schedule along with the logistical demands of feeding and housing all the competitors, support teams and media crews.
There is talk of moving the Games three weeks earlier, to avoid the springtime warmth which is blighting the Paralympics. There needs to be a good snow base, which isn’t always in place before Christmas. The festive season needs to be avoided as resorts see a peak in tourist trade and their own winter sports season. February is climatically ideal in the northern hemisphere. Coastal resorts like Whistler, Canada and Norway can receive huge amounts of snow, but also just get stuck with torrential rain due to their marine influence and the warmer air. An atmospheric river event would make for a soggy Olympics.
The next Winter Olympics
Next, it will be the French Alps in 2030, then Utah, USA in 2034, with Switzerland considering bidding for the following games. French Alps 2030 will be spread over south east France, including cluster venues at Nice on the Cote d’Azur, Briancon, Savoie and Haut-Savoie, although the speed skating will take place outside of the host nation. This will use pre-existing venues either in Turin (Italy) or Heerenveen (Netherlands). This will be the fourth time that France has hosted the Winter Games and not long after hosting the summer Olympics of Paris 2024. So, already some flexibility to hold one discipline in another country, but this seems to be financially led.
Utah ski resorts have had a disappointing winter with a distinct lack of snow, a record low snowpack, and high temperatures. It’s been a ‘green’ season rather than a white one, and maybe next year will be better with deep snow and cold, but the trend shows warming. Venues need to be accessible for the spectators and competitors; these are huge events. Host cities tend to be on the margins of snowy mountainous areas, not the remote cold desert regions, which would provide reliable snow and low temperatures.
Climate Central’s research showed that the average temperatures in Cortina climbed by more than 3 °C since the 1956 Winter Olympics. Average February temperatures changed from -7C to -2.7C (2016-2025) and are now closer to those thawing temperatures when slush can appear.
Prior to the 1990s, the winter Paralympics were held at different venues from the winter Olympics but at a similar time. In 1992, there was a one-bid, one-city model with the few weeks of separation. This brought great benefits in terms of infrastructure and funding, but the slushy conditions by mid-March are proving far from ideal. Out of the six disciplines, it is Para Ice Hockey and Wheelchair Curling that are inside, on ice.
Near the end of the Olympics in February, temperatures rose outside, with large crowds moving in and out of the stadium. For figure skating and short track speed skating, there has to be plenty of preparatory work inside the rinks by technical staff to get the quality of the ice just right for the two different sports.
“For figure skating, the ice temperature is maintained at around minus 3.5 degrees Celsius, creating a softer surface with a thicker layer that helps skaters generate force and execute jumps more effectively. Short track [speed skating] requires a colder surface - between minus six and minus seven degrees Celsius - so that the blades can instantly "bite" into the ice with every push.”
Falls are always going to happen in these high pressure, physical events but again, there were mutterings about the ice surface. Emotions do ride high when there is disappointment, which was clearly demonstrated by the Norwegian skier, Atle Lie McGrath, as the men’s slalom gold medal slipped away and he did ‘yeet’ of the Olympics by hurling his poles away off the course, before stomping off to the woods.
The training seasons are becoming shorter, and Alpine skiers who would have trained on glaciers talk about having less time to train or having to head to higher altitudes where slopes are more crowded. This leads to riskier practice times and a higher chance of injury. Poor snow conditions can result in rapid, unexpected changes in speed or direction, which put extra strain on joints and muscles. Also, more events are being cancelled due to the poor conditions, so competitors aren’t getting as much real experience, even if overall fitness training and diet improve each decade.
Considerations
Artificial snow will be a core feature for the Games of the future. It's whether there will be much real snow combined with it. Already, venues are carving out high-elevation water reservoirs or lakes to store water for snow manufacture. From the IOC
The preliminary results of leading academic research, showing a potential reduction in the number of climate-reliable hosts
So, possibly shifting the time frame, planning for fewer hosts with climate reliability and a rotation in that pool. The Games need to continue to look at their own carbon footprint. The IOC requires hosts from 2030 onwards to "minimise games-related emissions, use offsets to remove more total carbon from the atmosphere than the Games emit, and encourage all stakeholders to take climate action."
State-of-the-art weather forecasting will also be key to making use of time allocations and benefit from any flexibility in the scheduling if bad weather does occur. The Games are very popular and can generate feelings of joy and hope for mankind (when the key aims are adhered to and are not tainted by politics). The Games of the future may change and adapt but hopefully they will persist and flourish.
The numbers for the Winter Olympics: 2,900 athletes participated (final number to be confirmed) with eight sports, 16 Olympic disciplines. Ski mountaineering made its Olympic Winter Games debut and 13 Olympic records were broken as Benin, Guinea-Bissau, and the United Arab Emirates competed in their first Olympic Winter Games.
As the Winter Paralympics continue, there is unprecedented audiovisual coverage in 126 countries of the six disciplines, with over 600 competitors. The Olympic and Paralympics teams of the future will be watching the Olympic Committee announcements closely.
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