Milano-Cortina 2026 Faces a Warmer Alps, Raising Stakes for Snowmaking—and the Winter Games

On a late December morning high above the town of Bormio, the men’s Olympic downhill course showed more brown than white. Patches of grass and rock broke through the thin snowpack on the Stelvio slope, even as snowmaking guns stood ready along the fences.

The machinery was not the problem. The temperature was.

“We know right now that the snowmaking equipment is working, but we have an additional problem, and that is that the temperatures are very warm,” said Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), during a visit before Christmas. “Which means we can only produce snow during the night, not during the daytime, because it’s too warm. So the theoretical capacity simply can’t be met.”

The scene in Bormio is a preview of the challenge facing the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, which open Feb. 6 next year. The Games are returning to the Alps for the first time in 20 years, to a region that is warming faster than the global average and has recently endured historic snow droughts. Organizers have billed 2026 as a model for “green” Olympics, promising renewable electricity, existing venues and low-carbon legacies. But behind the branding lies an industrial effort to manufacture winter itself—and a test of how long the Winter Games can outrun climate change.

Scientists say the stakes extend beyond two weeks of competition.

A shrinking snowpack in the Alps

The latest global assessment by the U.N.-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concludes that snow cover in the European Alps will continue to shrink this century as temperatures rise, especially below 1,500 to 2,000 meters (about 4,900 to 6,600 feet). Even with artificial snow, the elevation at which ski resorts can reliably operate is projected to climb by 200 to 300 meters in coming decades, squeezing low- and mid-altitude areas.

In Italy, recent winters have shown what that means on the ground. A study of the 2022–23 season found that snow water equivalent on many Alpine glaciers was 45% to 75% below normal, driven by temperatures 2 to 3 degrees Celsius above average and reduced snowfall. In January 2025, the CIMA Research Foundation reported a 63% national deficit in snow water resources, with particular shortages along the Alpine arc. Hydrologists warned that the shortfall would ripple through river flows, hydropower production and drinking water supplies.

The host towns for 2026 have already warmed substantially. Cortina d’Ampezzo, which staged the Winter Games in 1956 and will host women’s alpine skiing and bobsled events next year, has seen its average temperature climb by about 3.6 degrees Celsius (6.4 Fahrenheit) since those first Olympics. Data compiled by climate researchers show Cortina now experiences roughly 173 freezing days per year, down from 214 in the decade after 1956—a loss of nearly one in five freezing days. Average February snow depth has dropped by about 15 centimeters since the early 1970s.

Milan, which will host ice hockey, figure skating and the opening ceremony, is much lower and warmer. Average February temperatures in the city have risen by more than 3 degrees Celsius since the 1950s. Long-range outlooks suggest a greater than even chance of above-normal temperatures in northern Italy in February and March 2026, when the Paralympics will be held.

Manufacturing winter: water, reservoirs and snow guns

Those trends have pushed organizers and local authorities to scale up artificial snow production across the Olympic clusters in Lombardy, Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige.

Precise figures vary, but estimates from organizers, snowmaking firms and independent analysts point to roughly 800,000 to 950,000 cubic meters of water needed to blanket the competition slopes—enough to fill several hundred Olympic-size swimming pools. Because one cubic meter of water yields about 2.5 cubic meters of snow, that translates into millions of cubic meters of man-made snow.

To supply that demand, new high-elevation reservoirs have been dug or expanded. In Livigno, venue for freestyle skiing and snowboarding at around 1,800 meters, a 200-million-liter artificial lake feeds a network of more than 100 snow guns. In nearby Bormio, an 88-million-liter reservoir supplies the Stelvio downhill. Additional storage basins have been added around the cross-country and biathlon courses in Val di Fiemme and Antholz.

The head of SIMICO, the public body overseeing 2026 construction sites, pushed back on concerns that snow production was behind schedule.

“Snow production started on 20 December,” Fabio Saldini said in a statement responding to Eliasch’s comments.

He acknowledged a pipeline break on Dec. 12 but said it had been repaired within five days and that production was running at full capacity. He said 53 cannons in Livigno were “in perfect working order,” capable of producing 3,500 cubic meters of snow per hour, with about 160,000 cubic meters already stockpiled and a target of 910,000 cubic meters by mid-January, “as requested by FIS and the IOC.”

Local leaders say altitude will ultimately work in their favor.

“We’ll have all the snow we need to host a great Olympics,” Livigno Mayor Remo Galli told Italian media, noting that the town sits at around 1,800 meters. “Temperatures will drop further in the coming weeks, so I’m very optimistic.”

Environmental concerns and the “green Games” pitch

Environmental organizations and some scientists are less sanguine. Italian advocacy groups have criticized the approval process for certain new reservoirs, saying they were authorized with incomplete environmental impact assessments and limited public consultation. They warn that diverting large volumes of water from mountain streams such as the Spöl in Livigno and the Avisio in Val di Fiemme could strain sensitive ecosystems, especially in dry years, and risk conflicts with agricultural and domestic water uses.

Organizers counter that most competition venues already existed and that almost all new structures will have post-Games uses. The Milano-Cortina 2026 organizing committee says 92% to 93% of competition sites are pre-existing, limiting the need for fresh construction. It has pledged to power all Games operations with certified renewable electricity and to deliver what it calls “Games attentive to sustainability and inclusion.”

A new Olympic Village in Milan’s Porta Romana rail yard is being built with solar panels, high-efficiency heat pumps and rainwater reuse, and is slated to be converted into student housing after the Games. The committee has also set targets for recycling and food waste reduction and says it will publish a full carbon footprint and offset plan.

The choice of energy partner has drawn scrutiny. The Games’ main energy sponsor is Eni, Italy’s largest oil and gas company, which has announced a long-term plan to reach net-zero emissions and is marketing renewable power for the Olympics. Environmental critics argue the partnership allows a fossil fuel producer to burnish its image at a climate-stressed event.

Athletes confront volatility—and safety risks

On the slopes and tracks where those debates play out, athletes are already encountering the new normal.

“It was pretty horrible there,” American cross-country skier Gus Schumacher said after training sessions at the Olympic venue in Cortina. “Super icy one day and pretty slushy the next. Not ideal.”

Canadian aerials skier Marion Thénault described visiting the Livigno site in 2024.

“There was no snow, and conditions were so, so bad,” she said.

A year later, a World Cup event at the same venue in March 2025 took place on what she called “snow-packed and idyllic” slopes, underscoring the volatility from one season to the next.

“We just don’t know what we’re going to get,” she said. “We’re rolling the dice.”

Studies of elite winter athletes and coaches indicate that concern is widespread. Survey research conducted for international sports bodies has found that more than 90% of top competitors fear climate change will harm the future of their disciplines, citing shorter seasons, patchier snow and greater travel to find reliable conditions.

Those worries reach beyond training convenience. Race organizers and medical officials have documented how marginal temperatures can turn courses into a patchwork of rutted ice and soft, waterlogged snow, raising the risk of falls and injuries and amplifying the effect of small weather windows on competition fairness.

A narrower future for Winter Olympic hosts

The International Olympic Committee has begun to adjust. A study it commissioned from Canadian and Austrian researchers examined 93 past and potential Winter Games host cities and concluded that, under mid-century emissions scenarios, only 52 would remain “climate-reliable” for February Olympics by the 2050s. For March Paralympics, which take place later in the season, the number of reliable sites fell to 22. By the 2080s, those numbers shrink further.

In response, IOC officials have said they are considering limiting future Winter Olympics to a rotating pool of high-latitude or high-altitude locations with strong snow reliability and infrastructure. They have also floated the idea of moving the Winter Paralympics earlier in the calendar to avoid the warmest part of late winter. Starting in 2030, the IOC says, all Games must be “climate positive,” meaning they remove more greenhouse gases than they emit, though details of how that will be measured and enforced remain under development.

Alpine towns weigh Olympic bets against a warming reality

For communities in the Italian Alps, the 2026 Olympics arrive amid a broader reckoning over the future of snow tourism. Across the mountain range, particularly at lower elevations, ski areas have closed or drastically shortened seasons as winters warm. Some former resorts in France and Switzerland have been dismantled, leaving behind idle concrete pylons and eroded slopes. European Union-funded projects are working with towns to diversify into hiking, cycling and cultural tourism less dependent on natural snow.

In Italy’s Valtellina and Dolomite valleys, mayors and business owners are betting that the Olympics—and the global exposure they bring—will help sustain a ski-centered economy for years to come. Others worry that heavy investments in snowmaking and winter-only infrastructure could lock regions into a model that grows more expensive and fragile as the climate changes.

Eliasch, whose federation oversees alpine, Nordic and freestyle skiing, has warned that financial and climate pressures are converging.

“We shouldn’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish,” he said of investments needed to prepare the Olympic venues. “There are certain tipping points in the process beyond which there is no return.”

As the countdown to 2026 continues, organizers and athletes are watching the thermometers as closely as the clock. By the time the flame is lit in Milan and Cortina next February, the Alpine winter will be a little warmer than it was in 1956, the snow line a little higher. How well these Games manage that reality may help determine not only who stands on the podium, but where—and whether—the Winter Olympics can be held in the decades to come.