This is the winter that broke skiing.
Reduced or collapsing ski fields, lack of staff, COVID travel and tourism impact are killing it in the United States.
And there’s a fair $$billion of real estate value based on proximity to ski fields, now at risk.
Australian skiing is increasingly reduced to Tasmania.
In France an entire ski resort has been demolished due to lack of snow.
Europe’s ski industry at any altitude below 2,000 metres is just done. That will quickly get to 2,500 metres and you are pretty much limited to bits of Switzerland then.
And of course New Zealand skiing is now reduced solely to the South Island, which pretty much wipes out Ohakune, National Park and increasingly Taumaranui. Nope, no more government bailouts for that one.
In the South Island at least we are going to sustain the season with large scale snowmaking technology and machinery. It’s too much regional wealth generation to lose completely. Like dairying it just takes a fair volume of water.
We’ll find slight recompense that the Great Walk season may be extended, with tracks like Hump Ridge and Kepler free of snow for longer. Both have high impact on isolated economies and societies. Just for God’s sake make sure you train for three months for the Hump Ridge as it’s essentially a half marathon each day for 3 days and it is unrelenting.
Increasingly the world’s devoted skiers will look for reliable snow in safe holiday destinations, such as New Zealand. So nothing’s ended here.
But this is no doubt the 2022 season globally has forced a permanent shift in the ski industry and it won’t be what it was.
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