Ski World Cup: controversy after the looting of a glacier in Zermatt, Switzerland

A glacier dug by excavators Zermattin Swiss. For several weeks, they have been tirelessly moving snow to prepare two slopes for the Ski World Cup, who will hold in a few days. The tests were however announced as ecological. The surprising images are controversial. Some athletes are outraged, like Alexis Pinturault.

“Catastrophic” years

For former Olympic champion Florence Masnada, “the images are terrible”. She ensures: “It’s not the promotion of skiing that we’re doing, it’s the burial of skiing that we’re doing.” For the scientists toothe approach is aberrant, while 94% of the glaciers in the Alps could disappear by 2100. “The last two years have been catastrophic. The glaciers have lost 3 to 4 meters of thickness each year.deplores Etienne Berthier.

However, Switzerland is not the only one moving snow. In 2022, in France, it had to be delivered by truck to build a biathlon circuit in a green valley in December. If snow is increasingly rare, competitions start earlier and earlier for economic reasons.