Mikaela Shiffrin

[72gmc]

Thanks for that response. I wasn’t thinking of it that way.

[vertical_doug]

Yeah, better than a golf course is splitting hairs. I get that. But I’m an energy guy, and my first thought isn’t about redistributing that water in a better manner, like let’s say for fellow humans to drink. It’s about the massive amount of energy required to pump that water back up the mountain, and the beyond massive amount of energy required to run those air compressors to atomize that water by those snow guns when those few and getting fewer hours make the outdoor air cold enough to freeze it into “snow”.

And the irony that, before we changed the climate, that this simply happened naturally.

Even if you install the guns and make epic amounts of snow, you still get rain events instead of snow events mid-winter now, and in efforts to conserve the snow, resorts just have to stop grooming runs. Especially any steeps that get bumped out.

When I built my ski house in 1999 in Hakuba, it was recommended to have a 3 ft foundation off the ground because of the winter snow levels.
20 years later, homes are built with have that as you just dont get same amount of snow.

Maybe the atmospheric rivers will keep the American West in business, but Japan (Honshu) and the East Coast of the US are definitely in trouble.
Europe will suck until the AMOC collapses, then it should be great. But unfortunately, collapse of AMOC will bring a host of other issues.

[lumpy]

And the irony that, before we changed the climate, that this simply happened naturally.

Sometimes it did. If you read early histories of the ski areas down here, there are lots of bad snow years with just a couple of days of skiing.

https://www.newenglandskihistory.com...jiminypeak.php

https://www.newenglandskihistory.com...esnowbasin.php

There was a bad stretch in the 70's and early 80's that drove a lot of small areas out of business too.

[thollandpe]

There was a bad stretch in the 70's and early 80's that drove a lot of small areas out of business too.

That coincides with when atmospheric CO2 levels really started to jam, the heel of the proverbial hockey stick. According to Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide "In the 1960s, the global growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide was roughly 0.8± 0.1 ppm per year. Over the next half century, the annual growth rate tripled, reaching 2.4 ppm per year during the 2010s."



"The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (blue line) has increased along with human emissions (gray line) since the start of the Industrial Revolution in 1750. Emissions rose slowly to about 5 gigatons—one gigaton is a billion metric tons—per year in the mid-20th century before skyrocketing to more than 35 billion tons per year by the end of the century. NOAA Climate.gov graph, adapted from original by Dr. Howard Diamond (NOAA ARL). Atmospheric CO2 data from NOAA and ETHZ. CO2 emissions data from Our World in Data and the Global Carbon Project."

[72gmc]

A few good days …

[j44ke]

Geez. Crazy two days of downhill at Cortina. Shiffrin crashed the first day and strained her medial knee ligament. Awkward moment where she came out of one turn off balance and kind of stood up, but the next corner was already there and the nets right on the edge of the course so she went feet/skis first into the nets. Looked horrible and she stayed down quite a while. But report later said she just had a strain and prognosis was back in a few weeks. Kind of amazing.

Day 2 was good for flying but not skiing - high winds. So maybe better to have a day off.

Cortina is a crazy place but the skiing is always exciting there. Sofia Goggia’s favorite launching pad.

[vertical_doug]

In the 2026 Winter Olympics, the women's events will be at Cortina and the Man's at Bormio. So finally a proper downhill for the Olympics.

[72gmc]

Part of a longer update Mikaela posted to Instagram. It's an interesting time for all of the open discussion about individual athlete needs vs. sports business demands.

Unknown-9.jpg

[j44ke]

Meanwhile Lara Gut-Bahrami is skiing like she is on rails. That first run of her giant slalom win was beautiful to watch.

[vertical_doug]

Part of a longer update Mikaela posted to Instagram. It's an interesting time for all of the open discussion about individual athlete needs vs. sports business demands.

Unknown-9.jpg

They were discussing this on this week's Ski Sunday on the BBC. They were commenting how the changing winter conditions is compressing a lot of races into a short schedule leading for less down time to recover.
I believe this. Gramisch and Chamonix events were cancelled first week of Feb because of very warm weather. My friend who is in LaGrave, sent me pictures in the backcountry and it is like Spring Korn Snow conditions.
Pitiful.

Hakuba and most of Honshu have been in a cycle of snow followed by rain events all winter. . .

[72gmc]

She’s back!

I’m glad she didn’t try GS or speed events. Lara is too far ahead for the overall globe now, and a full recovery matters more.

[72gmc]

Might as well finish the season in style. This course looks like an XXXL Slurpee minus the syrup.

[j44ke]

Sounds like Ester Ledecka on the commentary? Is she not skiing?

[72gmc]

Sounds like Ester Ledecka on the commentary? Is she not skiing?

I can’t find anything about an injury, but she did pull out of the race in which Mikaela crashed and said she had lost control partway down the run. Maybe she’s waiting until next season? She does have a history of injuries.

Thanks for the reminder to rewatch her snowboard and super-G gold medal runs. Legendary. I’m guessing Atomic gives her some skis next time.

[Bongobob]

Ester Ledecka races speed events--super G and downhill. The finals of the speed events will be later this week. Ledecka is ranked 11th in the super G, and 24th in downhill so she has qualified to race both. The top 25 in an event qualify to race in the Finals.

Bob M.

[j44ke]

Ester Ledecka races speed events--super G and downhill. The finals of the speed events will be later this week. Ledecka is ranked 11th in the super G, and 24th in downhill so she has qualified to race both. The top 25 in an event qualify to race in the Finals.

Bob M.

Aha - makes sense. I thought I remembered her doing slalom, but maybe that was snowboard? So then it was her on the commentary.