Again far away green landscapes, birdsong. During the Christmas holidays, some ski areas even had to close due to a lack of snow. Now the carnival holidays are coming, also high season for winter sports. Is the snow enough?
Munich (dpa / lby) – The winter remains without strength. After a short phase of cold and snow, it is again very mild at the edge of the Alps. The German Weather Service (DWD) predicts double-digit plus degrees of around 13 degrees for southern Bavaria in the next few days up to the weekend.
Nevertheless, the lift operators in the Bavarian ski areas are optimistic about the carnival holidays. In many cases, this is only made possible by the snow cannons, which environmentalists had warned to switch off just for this season because of the energy crisis.
“We currently have very good slope conditions on Brauneck, Spitzingsee and Sudelfeld, which we will also get over the carnival holidays, even if it gets a little warmer,” says Antonia Asenstorfer, spokeswoman for the Upper Bavarian Alps Plus ski areas. “It is not yet possible to say whether the season will have to end early, everything is still open. In any case, we are still planning to operate until the end of March.” But Asenstorfer also says: “This year we would hardly have been able to offer ski operations without snowmaking.”
Just during the Christmas holidays, ski areas even had to close due to a lack of snow. With record-breaking 20 degrees in summer on New Year’s Eve, many lifts stood still – at plus degrees the snow cannons are useless, they can’t produce any snow.
The winter sports areas in the Allgäu are also well prepared. A good 30 ski areas with around 300 kilometers of slopes are open, said Simone Zehnpfennig, spokeswoman for Allgäu Tourism. 155 mountain railways and lifts are in operation. One now hopes for a season until Easter in the higher areas such as Oberstdorf and Balderschwang. Zehnpfennig also says: “Without snow cannons, skiing would only be possible to a limited extent.”
The skiers would have accepted the energy-saving measures well. According to Zehnpfennig and Asenstorfer, many people didn’t even notice that the chairlift seats weren’t heated or that the trains ran more slowly.
Economics and Tourism Minister Hubert Aiwanger (free voters) wants to find out more about the situation in winter tourism at Brauneck. “Not to make snow would be the wrong decision economically and ecologically,” he says. “Anyone who says yes to climate-friendly winter sports must say yes to short journeys and well-groomed ski areas in Bavaria.”
Environmentalists see it differently. “The race with technical means such as snow cannons or mats cannot be won and does not fulfill the longing for a snow-covered winter landscape,” says Martin Geilhufe from the Bund Naturschutz in Bayern. “With these spring-like temperatures in large parts of Bavaria, many people simply don’t want to travel to an artificially created winter.” The change to ecological tourism in the Alps must be tackled consistently. “Stop wasting taxpayers’ money and valuable energy on snow guns”
The Bavarian Zugspitzbahn is not worried about the carnival operations. In the past week it was extremely cold with temperatures in the double-digit minus range. The pistes in the Garmisch-Classic ski area, which extends down into the valley, were able to freeze well. “We were able to make snow again there, so that we currently still have good snow conditions. We can currently offer three valley runs,” said Tanzer. “The compact slope surfaces withstand the thaw well, so we are well prepared for the carnival holidays and are looking forward to the nice weather.”
On the 2962 high Zugspitze as Germany’s highest mountain is not snowed. There were also temperatures below zero these days. “So it’s not thawing on the Zugspitze yet.”
