TV tip | Snow of yesterday - snow of tomorrow, or: Every winter begins in summer

The foundation for the success of alpine sports athletes in winter competition is laid in the summer training sessions. This is similarly true for the winter sports industry. The annual investment activities in new, more comfortable facilities, better snowmaking systems or ski area expansion correspond to the basic training of winter sports athletes.

The documentary "The Snow of Tomorrow" is worth watching in many respects. From the much-vaunted Arlberg to the eastern foothills of the Alps near Vienna, the commonalities of the sometimes contradictory are brought into focus. Whether a large ski area or a long-established small ski resort - the answers to the challenges of climate change and the annual tourism flows are shown from different perspectives and critically commented on. From local entrepreneurs to tourism experts and scientists from various disciplines, a wide range of perspectives and views on the phenomenon of winter tourism are discussed.

This reveals an inherent contradiction in mass skiing: on the one hand, advertisers never tire of touting the unique experience of nature alongside the technical innovations. On the other hand, this experience of nature, understood as an experience that derives its appeal precisely from the unpredictability of the prevailing conditions, is hardly possible in this highly technical and man-made mountain landscape.

In a slight variation of Max Weber, one could therefore speak of a "disenchantment of the experience of nature". Nature in the sense of a found, partly imponderable system is - at least in large parts of the industry - almost abandoned for a predictable service to optimize economic indicators.