Munich

Slippery slope: climate change is driving ski resorts to head for higher altitudes in search of snow. Credit: WESTEND61/ALAMY

As summer comes to a close and millions of skiers eagerly prepare for winter, a heated argument has broken out over plans to build new ski resorts high in the Alps.

The disagreement has been sparked by an initiative to open the second largest glacier in the eastern Alps — the pristine Gepatsch glacier in Tyrol, Austria — to skiers.

Climate change is causing snow lines to creep farther up many mountains, leaving some small ski resorts with access to snow for only a very short time. In response, many ski centres are looking to expand into glacial areas at higher altitudes.

But ski-lift stations, restaurants and piste vehicles produce tonnes of harmful waste, grease, lubricant oils and salts, says Peter Hasslacher, a development planner and conservation expert with the Austrian Alpine Club in Innsbruck. When placed on glaciers, such facilities soon pollute the surrounding soil and water.

Nevertheless, a recent change in Tyrol's environmental law permits the construction of ski lifts in high regions — even in areas that form part of a European network of protected natural landscapes.

Environmentalists have expressed horror at the Gepatsch expansion plan, which they say could ruin one of Europe's last wildernesses. If it goes through, they say, it will open the floodgates for similar projects in other parts of the Alps. “Driving skiers higher and higher is the worst strategy if you want ecologically sound winter tourism,” Hasslacher says.

But the tourist industry is facing a difficult future. According to a recent study by the United Nations Environment Programme, about half of Switzerland's skiing resorts are likely to suffer from a lack of snow in the near future. Within a few decades, the losses to Swiss tourism could reach US$1.6 billion per year, says the UN report Climate Change and Winter Sports: Environmental and Economic Threats.

Leisure companies, such as the French market leader Compagnie des Alpes, are already focusing investment on high Alpine regions, says Michel Revaz of the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA), a non-governmental conservation group based in Liechtenstein. Huge skiing areas, such as those around Zermatt and Saas Fee in Switzerland, are promising a good return on capital, he says.

Environmentalists agree that Alpine communities need to find a way to address their potential losses from climate change. But they would rather they market forms of tourism that have less of an effect on wilderness areas — such as developing conference facilities, or providing support for hiking or sledding in patchy areas of snow at lower altitudes.

“High-altitude skiing is a ruinous waste of energy and natural resources,” says Andreas Götz, CIPRA's director. “Clinging to it shows a lack of imagination, and sets a bad example for emerging skiing tourism in places such as China and Russia.”

The Alpine Convention, an agreement signed by Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany and France, does not expressly disallow new high-altitude ski areas. But ministers of the seven countries bordering on the Alps will discuss possible changes to these regulations at a meeting in Bavaria in November.