– Oh! The Austrian combined skier Mario Seidl splashes when news shows him pictures that show a great lack of snow outside the ski slopes. – We are in a crisis that we have to solve together, and hopefully we can manage it. Because I love our winter sports, and I hope our children also have snow and can jump and ski, says Seidl. Espen Bjørnstad thinks the pictures are sad. – What can you say? I want my children to experience the way I grew up, says the Norwegian combined runner. NO SNOW: This picture of a skier out on a trip at Skullerud in Oslo is one of the pictures that news has shown to several winter sports athletes. – Does not understand the seriousness, Bjørnstad calls for more action and admits that he is worried. – We have been to many glaciers around and seen how much they simply melt. It is a fact, and it is a shame that we are not able to deal with it more, and that people understand the seriousness more. – Because you think the politicians don’t do that? – They don’t understand the seriousness well enough, at least. It is quite obvious, he believes. National team colleague Jørgen Graabak is worried about the future of snow sports, and says that it “looks a bit scary”. – We can hope that we manage to get together and take a stand and reverse the trend. But it looks a bit dark in terms of skiing, says the man with four Olympic gold medals. LACK OF SNOW: news has also shown this photo, of the ski resort at Røa IL on Voksenjordet, to the athletes. Photo: Røa IL Fears winter sports will become a rich man’s sport The biathletes also believe there is cause for concern. – I have seen myself in several years of sports that there is less snow now than ten years ago. One should not always trust one’s own memory, but when research supports it, there is cause for concern, says Sturla Holm Lægreid. He believes that everyone has a responsibility for their own consumption and climate footprint. SHARED RESPONSIBILITY: Sturla Holm Lægreid believes there must be cooperation to preserve skiing. Photo: Vesa Moilanen / NTB – We can hope that more and more people will open their eyes to how important each individual is in this fight. We must agree together that we want to preserve skiing and winter life, he says. – What will it mean for the next generation? – It is connected. If we had stopped building football pitches, people would have stopped playing football. If people don’t have the opportunity to go skiing in the fields and enjoy it, then I’m afraid that interest will drop and that it will become a rich man’s sport where those who are in the Alps get to do it there, says the biathlete. Can lose a month of snow days in 60 years Johannes Thingnes Bø has noticed that artificial snow “often covers up for the bad winter days”. For the Norwegian season opening at Sjusjøen in November, 100 truckloads of snow were driven to fill the slopes with artificial snow. In this connection, Blinkfestivalen’s sports manager, Arne Idland, launched a proposal to include one or two roller ski races in the World Cup. The World Cup in ski jumping started this season with a race weekend in Wisla, where jumping was done on plastic. ARTIFICIAL SNOW: This is what it looked like when the snow was laid out in connection with the season opening at Sjusjøen. Photo: EVEN BJØRINGSØY JOHNSEN / EVEN BJØRINGSØY JOHNSEN / news – I can’t remember the last time we had a really good winter. We see it when we go to the World Cup, says Thingnes Bø. – What do you think this means for recruitment to winter sports? – Not so much now. It’s probably when it first happens, but it’s a warning. It might be roller skiing that will eventually be incorporated, says Thingnes Bø. On behalf of news, the Meteorological Institute has made calculations for how many skiing days there may be in the future. On Lake Sjusjøen, there were an average of 145 skiing days from 1971 to 2000. By 2060, this may be reduced to 115. – It is a bit sad that you lose the winters. For us, of course, because we do winter sports and go on snow, but also for the total. You would like to keep snow for Christmas and the atmosphere that comes with winter and all the traditions that come with it. I want my children and grandchildren to be able to make snow angels and snowmen. If you lose one month every 60 years, it ends up disappearing eventually, says biathlete Karoline Knotten.
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