high in the Alps, artificial snow will still play a role

One hundred days before the start of the 2026 Winter Olympics, it’s too early to predict the weather, but one thing is certain — there will be artificial snow, much to the dismay of environmental activists.

After three Winter Games criticized for being in traditionally non-skiing areas — Sochi, Russia (2014), Pyeongchang, South Korea (2018) and Beijing, China (2022) — next year’s Olympics return to the Alps.

The Milano-Cortina Games will be scattered across the mountains of northern Italy, with Cortina and Bormio hosting alpine skiing, Anterselva the biathlon, Livigno freeskiing and snowboarding and Val di Fiemme Nordic skiing.

These resorts — most of which are located within the Dolomite region — are located between 1,200 and 1,800 meters above sea level, a height that will ensure adequate snow cover for the February 6-22 event.

But artificial snow will play a key role in Italy’s fourth Olympic Games.

“No matter what, even if there is completely adequate snowfall … there will be some fake snow,” said Jake W. Ward, a researcher at the University of California Santa Barbara.

“That kind of high-level snow sports at this point are starting to move toward fake snow at least as part of the coverage,” he said.

Doing so, he said, allows them to “determine the track conditions and do everything exactly how they want for the races.”

Just in case

International federations governing skiing and biathlon require organizers to have snow-making equipment if needed.

The 2026 organizing committee said it plans to make 2.4 million cubic meters of artificial snow, which will require 948,000 cubic meters of water.

This includes more than half, or 580,000 cubic meters, for the Livigno Mottolino site alone, whose features will include a half-pipe snowpark as well as a Big Air ramp.

The artificial snow planned for next year will certainly use much less water than that required during the Beijing Winter Olympics, when 890,000 cubic meters were used for Yanqing alpine skiing and 1.9 million cubic meters for all other snow sports, according to Olympic statistics.

Artificial snow is made using snow cannons and guns, which spray water using a stream of compressed air into the cold air, turning it into fine snow.

Environmentalists decry the required energy consumption and the vast water resources needed.

The International Committee for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA) says it takes one cubic meter of water to form about 2.5 cubic meters of snow.

In Italy, eight national environmental groups in 2023 denounced what they saw as a lack of respect for the environment and local communities by the Milan-Cortina 2026 Foundation.

Over-dependence

Italy is the European country that uses the most artificial snow, with more than 90 percent of Italy’s ski slopes using artificial snow systems, according to an April report by Italian environmental group Legambiente.

For Vanda Bonardo of Legambiente’s Lombardy chapter, “the ever-increasing burden of this industry on the mountains” is worrying.

“We have to ask ourselves if it still makes sense to organize big events and gather them in very fragile places like the Alps.

Natural snow essentially becomes the exception,” he told AFP.

According to a December 2024 study published in the International Journal of Climatology, snow cover in the Italian Alps had halved over the past 100 years.

Italian Alpine Club president Antonio Montani said the issue went far beyond next year’s Olympics.

“The Games are the tip of the iceberg, they shine a light on the real problem, which is the hundreds of ski resorts that operate only with artificial snow, with huge energy costs and are financed by public subsidies, because otherwise they could not open.”

The International Olympic Committee itself has recognized a problem. According to her estimates, only 10 countries would still have the snow needed to host the Winter Olympics in 2040.