Jeremy Jones, a snowboarder, is fighting for climate action that protects winter sports

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These white-snow-covered mountains rise to more than 3,000 feet. 2,000 meters(6,500 feet) are covered in brown scrub and dry. Beijing 2022 will host the first Winter Olympics that almost entirely depends on this. Fake snowSome athletes warn that this could lead to dangerous, icy conditions.

It’s unlikely that it will be the last, however, as the climate crisis is shrinking winters. If the current global greenhouse gas emissions trajectory continues, only one of the 21 previous Winter Olympics locations will have enough snow to host the Games. A University of Waterloo recent study, Canada

Squaw Valley in California’s Sierra Nevada is one of these locations. It hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics. It is now known as Palisades Tahoe and is home to professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones.

Jones is a legend in big-mountain snowboarding, earning Snowboarder Magazine’s Big Mountain Snowboarder Of The Year title 11 times. He has spent much his life climbing mountains and leaving behind a trail of powder. He has seen the effects of climate change firsthand over his three-decade long career.

Jones claims he has seen it rain on mountain peaks during the dead of winter, and watched glaciers recede over the years. “Winters are often ending earlier, starting later and (there are) just as extremes of everything,” Jones says. “We’ll get half of a season’s worth in snow in three days, and then we’ll have two months without any snow.”

Shrinking seasons

Similar events occurred this winter. The sun shone at the end of November when Lake Tahoe’s ski lifts open. Temperatures rose to 58 degrees Fahrenheit (14° Celsius), 12 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal for this time of the year. The next month saw 202 inches of snow (roughly 17 feet, 5.2 meters) poured in the region, closing down roads, resorts, and making it the snowiest December on record.

Research shows that these strange weather patterns are not going away and that the seasons as we know them, are changing. A Recent report in NatureIt could be as short as 35 years before winters across the west have no or very low snow cover. A 2017 studyThe University of Colorado examined the effects of climate change on winter sports in the US and concluded that the average ski season in the US will be cut in half by 2050.

Jones wanted his great-grandchildren, and grandchildren, to have snowy winters. Jones says, “I was seeing changes in winter and it affected me lifestyle.” “But over time, I began to notice that the impacts are much greater than my lifestyle. It’s not just me, it’s all these mountain communities that revolve around winter and/or snow.

Jones has reduced his own climate impact, choosing to climb mountains on foot rather than using helicopters.

Protect Our Winters was established by Robert in 2007 to bring together winter sports enthusiasts and make them a united voice on climate changes. The charity lobbying governments around the world for stronger policies on climate change has over 130,000 supporters.

The cost of having no snow

Jones changed from skiing pants to Capitol Hill in 2017 when he was called to testify before Congress about the effects of climate change on snowsports.

Citing a report from Outdoor Industry AssociationJones informed lawmakers that the US snowsports sector generates $72 million annually and supports 695,000 jobs. These jobs are in danger of losing their low-snow years. An estimated $1 billion in revenue and more than 17,000 jobsA season.

Jones has gone from snowboarder to political lobbyist, speaking in front of Congress in 2017 and in the Senate in 2019 (pictured).

But economic costs are only one side of the iceberg. It is more dangerous for animals and plants, like voles and mice, who rely on snowmelt as a blanket against sub-freezing temperatures. Water supplies are at risk. California, which depends on snowmelt coming from the Sierra Nevada Mountains for 75%, is one example. US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Anne Nolin, a snow scientist from the University of Nevada who is a member of Protect Our Winter’s science coalition, says that less snow causes global warming. Snow is reflective because it is white. However, if it melts and exposes ground beneath, the darker surface absorbs sunlight.

“In recent decades, snowpacks has been melting earlier and sooner so we have an drier dry year,” she said. This can lead, she added, to severe wildfires like the 2021 Caldor Fire, which decimated the Tahoe Basin. She says that forest fires can exacerbate the situation by destroying the tree canopy, which usually shades the snow, making it melt earlier.

Snow saving

Nolin describes “this big vicious loop” as a negative but she still believes in the future. She says that nature is resilient, and things grow back, and that better management of forests can help preserve snowpack.

Less snow has been linked to wildfires, such as the Caldor Fire, which damaged the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort in California.

She says that if you open up the forest, it can increase the snow accumulation on the ground as it is not being trapped in the canopy. “And if you can keep a healthy forest with a healthy canopy surrounding those openings by springtime, that forest can continue shading snowpack, which may make it last longer.

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Jones hopes that policymakers will look for solutions like renewable energy that will reduce greenhouse gasses and limit climate change.

Jones says that a Winter Olympics without snow is a sign of the future, but Jones insists that it has far greater consequences.

“The work that I do is for future generations, so that I can hopefully look back at my grandkids or kids and say, “You know what?” I was given this chance and I did everything I can to get us on a good path.