Top Alpine skiers have raised alarm over the accelerating loss of glaciers during the Winter Olympics in Cortina.
Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin said many training glaciers from their youth have nearly disappeared.
Host nation Italy has lost more than 200 square kilometres of glacier area since the late 1950s.
Athletes rely on glaciers for reliable early-season snow.
Shrinking ice now threatens training schedules and the future of the sport.
Shiffrin said skiers have a front-row view of climate change on the mountains.
Glaciologists report a continuous and accelerating decline in ice volume.
Glaciers near Cortina have shrunk by about one-third in recent decades.
The Marmolada glacier, the largest in the Dolomites, has halved in 25 years and could largely vanish by 2034 if warming continues.
The loss brings wider risks beyond sport.
Melting glaciers reduce freshwater reserves, increase mountain hazards and raise sea levels.
A deadly collapse on Marmolada in 2022 showed the growing danger.
Researchers say limiting global warming to 1.5°C could preserve many Alpine glaciers.
Current trends suggest far greater losses.
Globally, more than 6.5 trillion tonnes of ice have disappeared since 2000.
Skiers from several nations say the changes are impossible to ignore.
They report thinner snow, exposed rock and unsafe crevasses on former training sites.
Many now call for stronger climate action and an end to fossil-fuel sponsorship in winter sports.
Athletes warn that decisions made this decade will determine how much ice – and how many future Olympic venues – remain.
