There is no snow in the Alps and skiing is dying.Legambiente's alarm:«150 million of public money for the plants is therapeutic obstinacy»

There are 241 plants that survive only thanks to public funding, while scientists warn:snow in the Alps has never been so ephemeral in the last 600 years

In Italy it snows less and less, and there is a marked increase in the number of ski resorts that have to close due to the increase in winter temperatures.There are 177 temporarily closed across the peninsula.That is, 92 in the Alps and 85 in the Apennines, according to the survey carried out by Legambiente in the report Nevediversa 2024.The figure includes an increase of 39 units compared to the 2023 report, which would be even greater if 241 plants - an increase of 33 units compared to a year ago - did not survive only thanks to the injection of public money, in a practice that the environmental association defines as "therapeutic obstinacy », financed with 148 million euros, used for modernization and artificial snow, compared to only 4 million allocated to the promotion of ecotourism.

The numbers

The ever-increasing use of artificial snow is confirmed by the increase in the number of reservoirs created for this exact purpose, which are now 158 across the country, 16 more than in 2023.Furthermore, there are 93 plants that have remained open in fits and starts, nine more than in 2023.The abandoned structures increased by 11 units compared to last year, reaching a total of 260.Legambiente analyzes dozens of plants in detail and gives the example of Piedmont, where the winter ended with a temperature three degrees higher than the average for the period 1991-2020 and which makes it the warmest in the last 70 years.Despite this - writes the association - in Piedmont, where the funds disbursed are among the most transparent and traceable, the contributions foreseen for the two-year period 2023-2025 amount to 32,339,873 euros (compared to 29,044,956 euros for the two-year period 2022 -2024).

«The most ephemeral snow of the last 600 years»

These are numbers that highlight the need to rethink winter mountain tourism and which according to Legambiente were not taken sufficiently into consideration in the choice to host the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.A recent one study of the University of Padua published on Nature – Recent waning snowpack in the Alps is unprecedented in the last six centuries – in fact, it highlights how it continues to snow in the Alps, but less and in an increasingly discontinuous manner and with temperature changes that do not allow the snow to settle and whiten the peaks throughout the winter.In February 2024, 64% of the snow that is normally found on the country's mountains in the same period was missing.The duration of snow cover has been reduced by an average of one month, and Carrer, Dibona, Prenden and Brunetti write, it has never been so ephemeral in the last 600 years, given that snow is slow to accumulate in autumn and melts more rapidly in spring .