Months before the start of the 2022 Winter Games, more than 100 Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls converged in the Swiss village of Saas-Fee, nestled in the Alps.
For professional snowboarders and skiers, the glaciers there often serve as a winter refuge in late summer or early fall – a key training opportunity, long before other resorts open for the season. But this year, some athletes said their trips to Saas-Fee also doubled as a lesson or reminder of an existential issue lingering over their sport.
"(It) is a pure physical testimony to how gnarly climate change is," snowboarder Jamie Anderson said at Team USA's media summit in October.