How climate change is affecting World Cup ski racing circuit

Changing weather patterns are reconfiguring ski racing in gritty, noticeable ways, drawing stark contrasts to how things were a decade ago.From shrinking glaciers and inadequate snow cover to tempestuous storms and too much of the white stuff, racers on the World Cup circuit are having to adapt in myriad ways.Just ask Federica Brignone, Italian Olympic bronze medalist in giant slalom at PyeongChang, and she’ll point to her suitcase as evidence of how she thinks climate change is changing skiing.”I go with a big bag,” said the 28-year-old of how she packs a wide variety of clothing to be prepared for the increasingly fluctuating weather.’);$vidEndSlate.removeClass(‘video__end-slate–inactive’).addClass(‘video__end-slate–active’);}};CNN.autoPlayVideoExist = (CNN.autoPlayVideoExist === true) ? true : false;var configObj = {thumb: ‘none’,video: ‘sports/2019/03/18/mikaela-shiffrin-skiing-world-cup-alpine-edge-andorra.cnn’,width: ‘100%’,height: ‘100%’,section: ‘international’,profile: 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true) ? true : false;CNN.VideoPlayer.getLibrary(configObj, callbackObj, isLivePlayer);});CNN.INJECTOR.scriptComplete(‘videodemanddust’);’It’s sad…that’s our planet’Today the planet is 1 degree Celsius warmer than it was before the start of the industrial revolutions in the early nineteenth century, and according to UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, could be 1.5 C warmer by 2030. Global warming is impacting winter sports in two key areas — shrinking the season and greater variability in weather conditions, according to CNN’s senior meteorologist Brandon Miller.”Climate change isn’t just drier and warmer,” he says. “Inconsistent weather patterns arising from changes in the earth’s atmosphere can lead to prolonged periods of bitter cold and snow. “Heavy snow can result as warmer air can hold more moisture which produces more snow if conditions are cold enough. But on the whole, these bouts of cold and heavy snow will be fewer and farther between as the climate warms.”Brignone is just one winter sports athlete who has noticed more erratic weather patterns since she began racing on the World Cup circuit in 2007.”It’s warmer in the summer, but the past few years, I’ve never been so cold,” said Brignone. “There were times last year in Pyeongchang and in Killington [this year] where it was -25 C. The climate is changing, because in one or two days it will go from -25 C to 5 C. That’s crazy.” The rapid deterioration of the glaciers that sustain early season training is forcing today’s coaches and racers to reassess how they prepare for the annual circuit. “I’ve been going to glaciers for 20 years to train,” said veteran World Cup racer Resi Stiegler. “You wouldn’t have even thought it was warm out 10 years ago. Now you’re [skiing] in T-shirts.”READ: Shiffrin seals stellar season with 60th World Cup winEven the tallest peak in the Alps isn’t immune to warming temperatures. The Mer de Glace glacier, which descends from Mont Blanc near Chamonix, France, is melting at roughly 40 meters (130 feet) a year. “The biggest thing I’ve seen is the glaciers are melting at an incredible rate,” American speed queen Lindsey Vonn told CNN’s Alpine Edge.”The glaciers I went to when I was a kid don’t look anything remotely like they used to. You go up to Zermatt or Saas Fee or Hintertux or Soelden, they’ve got very little of the glacial ice they used to have. “It’s sad, not just for the sport but that’s our planet. 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true) ? true : false;CNN.VideoPlayer.getLibrary(configObj, callbackObj, isLivePlayer);});CNN.INJECTOR.scriptComplete(‘videodemanddust’);It’s not only skiing stars that are worried.At the historic Hahnenkamm race weekend in Kitzbuhel this season, long-time ski racing fan, movie star, politician and environmental activist Arnold Schwarzenegger called out President Trump for his stance on climate change, saying he was making a “big mistake” by pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement on climate change by 2020.In February, the head of the International Ski Federation, Gian-Franco Kasper, was forced to issue an apology after referring to “so-called” climate change in an interview with Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger.The 75-year-old Swiss, asked to elaborate on the subject, said: “There is no proof for it. 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CNN.MobileWebFloatingPlayer.transition,onPin: function () {playerInstance.hideUI();},onUnpin: function () {playerInstance.showUI();},onPlayerClick: function () {if (mobilePinnedView) {playerInstance.enterFullscreen();playerInstance.showUI();}},onDismiss: function() {CNN.Videx.mobile.pinnedPlayer.disable();playerInstance.pause();}});/* Storing pinned view on CNN.Videx.mobile.pinnedPlayer So that all players can see the single pinned player */CNN.Videx = CNN.Videx || {};CNN.Videx.mobile = CNN.Videx.mobile || {};CNN.Videx.mobile.pinnedPlayer = mobilePinnedView;}if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (jQuery(containerClassId).parents(‘.js-pg-rail-tall__head’).length) {videoPinner = new CNN.VideoPinner(containerClassId);videoPinner.init();} else {CNN.VideoPlayer.hideThumbnail(containerId);}}},onContentEntryLoad: function(containerId, playerId, contentid, isQueue) {CNN.VideoPlayer.showSpinner(containerId);},onContentPause: function (containerId, playerId, videoId, paused) {if (mobilePinnedView) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleMobilePinnedPlayerStates(containerId, paused);}},onContentMetadata: function (containerId, playerId, metadata, contentId, duration, width, height) {var endSlateLen = jQuery(document.getElementById(containerId)).parent().find(‘.js-video__end-slate’).eq(0).length;CNN.VideoSourceUtils.updateSource(containerId, metadata);if (endSlateLen > 0) {videoEndSlateImpl.fetchAndShowRecommendedVideos(metadata);}},onAdPlay: function (containerId, cvpId, token, mode, id, duration, blockId, adType) {/* Dismissing the pinnedPlayer if another video players plays an Ad */CNN.VideoPlayer.dismissMobilePinnedPlayer(containerId);clearTimeout(moveToNextTimeout);CNN.VideoPlayer.hideSpinner(containerId);if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);videoPinner.animateDown();}}},onAdPause: function (containerId, playerId, token, mode, id, duration, blockId, adType, instance, isAdPause) {if (mobilePinnedView) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleMobilePinnedPlayerStates(containerId, isAdPause);}},onTrackingFullscreen: function (containerId, PlayerId, dataObj) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleFullscreenChange(containerId, dataObj);if (mobilePinnedView &&typeof dataObj === ‘object’ &&FAVE.Utils.os === ‘iOS’ && !dataObj.fullscreen) {jQuery(document).scrollTop(mobilePinnedView.getScrollPosition());playerInstance.hideUI();}},onContentPlay: function (containerId, cvpId, event) {var playerInstance,prevVideoId;if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘restoreEpicAds’);}clearTimeout(moveToNextTimeout);CNN.VideoPlayer.hideSpinner(containerId);if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);videoPinner.animateDown();}}},onContentReplayRequest: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);var $endSlate = jQuery(document.getElementById(containerId)).parent().find(‘.js-video__end-slate’).eq(0);if ($endSlate.length > 0) {$endSlate.removeClass(‘video__end-slate–active’).addClass(‘video__end-slate–inactive’);}}}},onContentBegin: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (mobilePinnedView) {mobilePinnedView.enable();}/* Dismissing the pinnedPlayer if another video players plays a video. */CNN.VideoPlayer.dismissMobilePinnedPlayer(containerId);CNN.VideoPlayer.mutePlayer(containerId);if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘removeEpicAds’);}CNN.VideoPlayer.hideSpinner(containerId);clearTimeout(moveToNextTimeout);CNN.VideoSourceUtils.clearSource(containerId);jQuery(document).triggerVideoContentStarted();},onContentComplete: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘restoreFreewheel’);}navigateToNextVideo(contentId, containerId);},onContentEnd: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(false);}}},onCVPVisibilityChange: function (containerId, cvpId, visible) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleAdOnCVPVisibilityChange(containerId, visible);}};if (typeof configObj.context !== ‘string’ || configObj.context.length 0) {configObj.adsection = window.ssid;}CNN.autoPlayVideoExist = (CNN.autoPlayVideoExist === true) ? true : false;CNN.VideoPlayer.getLibrary(configObj, callbackObj, isLivePlayer);});CNN.INJECTOR.scriptComplete(‘videodemanddust’);