Protect Our Winters from an existential threat
Our outdoor winter activities, like skating on a frozen pond, are under existential threat and need protecting. One way is to join Protect Our Winters.
Photo: Liz McKeen
Protect Our Winters from an existential threat
By Cecile Wilson
[Atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, January 19, 2025: 428.37 ppm]
It’s official: According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2024 was the hottest year on record. Helped along by El Niño, we breached the 1.5-degree Centigrade average warming limit proposed by the Paris Agreement.
It can be difficult to appreciate the significance of that ominous boundary when we’re in a cold snap with nighttime temperatures down to minus 18 and windchills nearing minus 30. After an extremely short season last year and no season at all in 2023, skaters welcomed the opening of the Rideau Canal Skateway on January 11. But as The Ottawa Lookout pointed out, the unreliability of when – or even if – the canal will open has nudged the Skateway from its centrepiece role in Winterlude.
Adapting for economic survival
As Winterlude pivots to respond to climate change and protect its place as an economic contributor to the region, most ski resorts in the Ottawa-Gatineau area have already invested in adaptation strategies.
It’s not just higher than average temperatures that present challenges for ski operators. The area entered winter in a mild drought, and snowfall so far has been light. While cross-country skiers are fine, downhill ski resorts require a minimum of 30 cm to open.
A 2019 study by Daniel Scott from the University of Waterloo and three other researchers looked at 171 ski areas in Ontario, Quebec and the American Northeast. It found that ski resorts need to operate for a minimum of 100 days a season to be financially viable. This includes being open regularly during the critical Christmas and New Year’s holiday period.
Man-made snow can save the season for many operators, if temperature and humidity are within the favourable range for making snow. Both these factors are influenced by climate change. With a low-emissions pathway – that is, one consistent with the Paris Agreement’s goals – the study shows that reductions in the length of the ski season were limited to a 12 to 13 per cent.
With a high-emissions scenario – the one we are in now – seasonal reductions increased to 15 to 22 per cent, and the amount of skiable terrain decreased. Most shockingly, by the end of the century, a high-emission trajectory predicted that only 29 ski areas in Quebec and only six per cent of Ontario ski hills would remain open!
A similar study of American ski resorts by Scott and Robert Steiger showed there was a reduction of 5.5 to 7.1 days in the length of ski seasons between 2000 and 2019, compared with the period from 1960 to 1979. The resulting decrease in attendance and increased cost in snowmaking led to a loss of U.S. $252 annually for the resorts.
As effective as snow-making machines are, they are costly to buy and operate. In addition, they require large amounts of water and power. This adds to the cost of running the resort and can threaten the sustainability of the enterprise. If the power supply is generated from fossil fuels, this can contribute to the problem that is causing the threat to viability in the first place.
“The future of winter is in our hands.”
The organization Protect Our Winters (POW) is acutely aware of the existential threat that climate change poses for outdoor winter activities. Made up of ski resort owners, athletes, scientists, businesspeople and outdoors enthusiasts, POW has several chapters across Canada and is part of an international movement. Its members are committed to taking action to protect their livelihoods and the sports they love.
Last October, a group of POW members were in Ottawa to hold non-partisan meetings with various members of parliament. According to POW’s blog, Snow Is Money, the Canadian snow-sport industry generates more than $9 billion annually. In Ontario, alpine skiing contributes $373 million to the province each year; in Quebec, it’s about $833 million.
To protect the industry and its contributions to the economy, POW members advocate for renewable energy, nature-based solutions and climate finance. The group affirms that the best way to protect the outdoors industry is to fight climate change with effective policies, such as those that lead to a reduction in methane emissions and a cap on industrial emissions.
As Dave Erb, executive director of POW Canada, says on its website: “[T]he ski industry in North America is at a major crossroads . . . Essentially, the future of winter is in our hands.”
What you can do:
Join Protect Our Winters Canada and Protect Our Winters Ottawa. Check out the national website protectourwinters.ca or the Facebook pages for both groups.
Call, email or write your MP and MPP and let them know you support POW’s initiatives to cut methane and cap industrial emissions.
For a deeper appreciation of winter, read Sheila Watt-Cloutier’s 2016 book, The Right to be Cold.
Cecile Wilson lives in the Glebe and is interested in climate action and the discourse of climate change.