Bergün Philisur The white peaks rising far away. Against them, the slopes of the lower mountains are gray, rocky and in some places green – a bit harsh.
The Eastern Swiss Alps, in the heart of European winter tourism, has been exceptionally low in January. Water has been lottery in winter sports centers just as in most Finland.
As the climate warms, the winters of the Alps have become unpredictable.
Snowbreak strikes a winter tourism that employs hundreds of thousands of people and produces tens of billion euros in annual income.
In Bergün, at an altitude of over 1,300 meters, the snow is still almost guaranteed, but below, winter sports centers have to offer more and more summer sports in winter.
The sled hill will remain in plus degrees
The pride of Bergün winters is snowmobile. They can be kept open throughout the winter more easily than ski slopes.
– When the snow is hard and a little wet, the glide is even better, in the middle of Bergün village Britt Messmer and Raphael Köchli laugh.
Bergün’s second tourist asset is the famous Albula Trail, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The tourist does not need a car to get here.
– We have a lot of Dutch people and they always come by train. Our hotel parking lot is never full, Köchli says.
Some tourists just want ecological tourism, and Bergün has it.
Little snow has also been noticed by regular tourists in Bergün. The environment looks different than in previous years.
– Usually there is a lot, much more snow and no green areas are visible at all. And there is snow in the trees, says Corinne, who came on a four -hour train journey after a four -hour train ride.
– But fortunately, the sled hill remains despite the snowfall.
Water rains more than snow
The rise in temperature reduces the length of the snowy season and changes the form of rainfall in the Alps. It rains more than snow. It thinned the snow layer.
The snow cover is now on average one third thinner than 50 years ago, reveals 46 regions follow -up study. For example, in the nearby Davos Winter Sports Village, the number of frost days has decreased by a fifth of 40 years, the Swiss Meteorological Institute Meteoswiss says.
Snow decreases faster than expected. It raises concern from the perspective of both the environment and the economy.
Alps have already measured several record -breaking winters this decade. For example, the average temperature of January 2023 was up to 4-6 degrees higher than the long -term average.
Also in January 2025, at least the daytime temperatures of Eastern Switzerland have been firmly on the plus side, while the average temperature of January days in the last decade was over five degrees Celsius.
The low snowy winters of the Alps also affect elsewhere in Europe. Glaciers are important to the waters of the European rivers.
For example, after the warm winter of 2023, a record dryness was experienced in the summer.
Snow is a natural tank
Low snowfall has serious consequences for natural ecosystems. Snow is a natural tank that releases water slowly as it melts in the spring.
As the glaciers of the mountains run out, the water reserves end in the hot times of the summer. It threatens both agriculture and urban water supply.
In France and Switzerland, the electricity production of nuclear power plants has had to be reduced in recent summer because there was not enough water to cool them.
In addition, plants and animals that have adapted to cold winters have to struggle under changing conditions.
Are the glaciers melted off?
Switzerland Academy of Natural Sciences According to the glaciers, the glaciers can even melt completely. There has always been a variation in the thickness of glaciers, but now the speed of their waning is worried about researchers.
For example, in 2022, Switzerland glaciers lost six percent of their volume, four per cent in 2023 and last year 2.5 percent.
Thus, in three years, they lost more ice than between 1960 and 1990 total.
– If the warming continues at this rate, all the ice from the Alps will disappear by 2100, except for a few rips of more than four kilometers, a Swiss glacier researcher Matthias huss says the Academy of Swiss Science on the website.
The mental quality of the tourists will change
However, as a result of the decrease in snow, tourism does not disappear. Alpine scenery attracts tourists in the summer, and the popularity of the summer season at the Weisses Kreuz Hotel in Köchlin and Messmer has grown.
Tourists’ minds have slowly changed.
– Our guests may not need snow anymore. As we strengthen the provision of services in the summer and cultural offerings, there will be tourists, Messmer trusts.
“And the three -star hotel just offers a five -star service,” Köchli explains.