Mountain biking rivals skiing in Austria as Alps warm

The village of Sankt Corona am Wechsel, at the foot of the Alps about an hour's drive from Vienna, was long known for its small ski resort, but today another downhill sport has taken over: mountain biking. Bikers of all ages, some as young as three, ride over landscaped jumps and curved forest trails, breathing new life into a region forced to adapt to waning snow due to climate change and offering a model for others.

"We used to be a 100 percent winter destination. Now, we have to think about climate change, and summers are booming," said Karl Morgenbesser, who runs the adventure park in Sankt Corona.
As the coronavirus pandemic increases enthusiasm for outdoor activities, many Austrians hope mountain biking and other summer sports can make up for winter losses in the Alpine nation, where skiing accounts for around three percent of the GDP. 
Nearly a month of snow cover has been lost in the Alps at low and medium altitude in half a century, according to a March study published in The Cryosphere scientific journal.
And a recent report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that in the Alps the snow cover will decrease in areas below 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) throughout the 21st century.
Situated at an altitude of nearly 900 meters, Sankt Corona dismantled its winter infrastructure in 2014 after years of losses as annual visitor numbers fell to 25,000 from 70,000 some 20 years earlier.

Ski resorts first reacted to the lack of snow by investing to make it artificially. 
But temperatures have become so warm that resorts across the Alps will have to look into other options, says Robert Steiger, a University of Innsbruck expert on the impacts of climate change on tourism.  
"Diversifying into summer is necessary for all of them, and mountain biking is definitely something everyone's interested in," Steiger says.