“It was dire.”
That was how one outdoor industry leader categorized this winter at a frank conversation among leaders in the ski industry at the Progression conference, an event that connects investors, founders, and thought leaders to drive climate impact.
In a talk titled, “Where’s all the snow?” moderated by Mountain Towns 2030 Executive Director Chris Steinkamp , ski industry leaders talked about the real economic impacts of climate change on their businesses – while also discussing the opportunity to create change through innovative technologies, education, and athlete activation.
“We had a pretty significant impact on sales,” Backcountry CEO Kevin Lenau shared about the impact of this year’s lackluster snow season, citing a significant downturn in revenue.
Sophie Goldschmidt , CEO of the US Ski and Snowboard Team added that climate change is increasing costs for their organization as they pivoted to change venues or adjust to get athletes the time they need on snow. “Flexibility comes at a high cost and investment,” she explained. “On the training side and the competition side, it’s having a material impact on us.”
How this winter changed the ski industry
Lenau said the lack of snow has led Backcountry to diversify into other sports, but he believes the situation is “actually worse than it looks,” adding, “Even though you can still ski, it’s going to become more and more expensive as smaller resorts aren’t going to be able to pay for the snowmaking necessary to stay open. As the supply shrinks, you’re going to have less young people and less people coming into the sport. It’s dire.”
Raj Basi Raj B., VP of Sustainability for POWDR, which owns ski resorts like Copper Mountain and Snowbird as well as training facilities like Woodward and concessions in national parks, said that adapting to uncertain conditions was a logistical challenge.
Lack of snow this year forced them to “revisit planning structures and hiring structures to be more dynamic.” They’ve also been looking to create more alternatives for guests who visit their mountains. “You can’t expect things to be the way they were 30 years ago,” he said. “Expectations have to change and we have to come to terms with that reality. There’s also a lot of opportunity for innovation.
Looking toward the future
One positive outcome Lenau described is increasing innovation in more sustainable materials and technology, as well as a stronger interest from consumers around sustainability in their purchasing decisions.
“Our consumer really cares about these problems… We are seeing search trends on sustainability, recycled, organic materials increasing,” he said, adding, “It’s great to see another revolution in material science that is really moving us forward.”
While technology can help address climate change, Goldschmidt says we have to move quickly.
“We still can slow down what’s happening and in some instances, I believe, reverse it, with new technologies,” she said. “But we don’t want to wait for that. We need to impact it right away. I think people have maybe been lulled into a false sense of security because the past few years we’ve had great snow years.”
If we don’t address the impacts of climate change, she warned, “in 10-20 years time, our ski season will be a lot shorter.”
Goldschmidt sees a huge opportunity to affect change tied to the Olympic Games coming to Park City, Utah in 2034.
“Let’s use the next 8 years to educate about the issue we have, which is dire, but what we need to do to impact it,” she suggested. “There are things everybody in this country can be doing to make a difference, and we can take the profile of this issue to a whole new level.”
That might include mobilizing athletes and their platforms. “Our athletes authentically care about this, they’ve been pushing us to do more,” she said. “They are absolute key stakeholders to help us to market some of what we can do, but also some of the challenges. No one should be in the dark about the situation.”
Brad Chedister, Head of Project Orion from the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee called for collaboration and innovation.
“It is an existential threat, it is very serious. But let’s be a little more optimistic on the tech side,” he said. “We win together. We need to set up purposeful ecosystems that collaborate with each other.”
That’s the mission of Mountain Towns 2030, which helped seed the Mountain Collaborative, an effort among the four largest ski resorts to share solutions across their organizations.
Combining that collaboration with consumer awareness could be a key unlock, Basi added. “We have millions of people visiting our locations who are receptive to climate messaging every day.”