Cross-country skiers’ grumpy faces: Are spring temperatures dampening the rise of cross-country skiing?

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Newly groomed trail in a snowy winter landscape with bright blue skies. For many cross-country skiers, this is just wishful thinking right now. Due to spring-like temperatures, the snow is melting in the classical and skating rinks. For many winter sports enthusiasts, this would ruin their new hobby. Long faces of cross-country ski enthusiasts.

“Two-thirds of all cross-country ski resorts are now completely closed,” explains Mariette Brunner (56). She is the president of the umbrella organization Loipen Schweiz. Of the 117 registered regions in German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino, 40 to 45 are in operation. 22 of them are supposed to help with technical profit. The picture looks similar in French-speaking Switzerland. This much is clear: Snow conditions pose problems for those preparing cross-country ski trails in Switzerland.

Trend sports thanks to Corona

Winter sports have experienced a real boom in recent years. After the corona epidemic, sales of cross-country ski passes have almost doubled. “The pandemic was like a catalyst for us,” Brunner says. “We benefited tremendously from subsequent snowy winters.” In the 2021/22 season, 51,000 snow enthusiasts purchased cross-country ski passes, a type of cross-country ski pass. Record!

This was also confirmed by Christian Vetsch (49), cross-country ski track manager of Ebnat Kappel SG: “We had more daily guests then and were selling much more season tickets.” It’s a dead end now. There is no snow in eastern Switzerland at an altitude of 1,100 metres.

Even in the Bernese Oberland there are only green meadows instead of snow fun. André Gyger (51), operations manager of the Aeschi-Suld BE cross-country ski club, says gruffly: “We are at 1000 metres, and that’s really not very high. But the good thing is that we can start operations with relatively little profit. “Basically, 15 centimeters is enough.”

More profits needed for more growth

Viewed throughout the winter, the numbers shouldn’t look that bad. “Fortunately we’ve had a good start to the winter. So we tend to sell around 40,000 cards again this season,” explains the president of the umbrella organization.

Therefore, demand will be the same as last season. “The numbers show that people still want to go cross-country skiing. We absolutely need the opportunity now to continue doing this,” says Brunner. And for the cross-country ski community, that includes, above all else: cooler temperatures and snowy winters.

Source :Blick