According to Josy Arrossagaray, director of Txalet de Irati, "time is changing up there." He explains that weak winds and changes in temperature make working with snow difficult and that is why they have decided to close the slopes. In the 2021-22 season the slopes were also closed, one year earlier they were opened for three days and in 2022-23 only eight days.

Climate change will force you to close cross-country slopes, but not rackets. In the new season they will continue to organize tours with rackets and other activities that are usually carried out during the summer, such as mountain trips and organized in collaboration with local agents, among others, as explained by Arrossagaray in the Mediabask media: "We have a multifunctional team that we want to make local agents work, we want to be a path for them. For example, we want to be able to offer mountain departures in Basque." He adds that as for the posts of Chalets de Irati, it will not affect the head of the houses.

Artificial snow, essential

According to the Pirenaico Observatory on Climate Change (OPCC), 63% of the mountain stations without artificial snow should be closed within a few years, and yet the destination of one in three is to disappear, especially those that are south or at the lowest altitude. In the Spanish state, 52% of the slopes of the six largest ski resorts (five of the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada) are equipped with cannons to generate artificial snow, as stated in the report issued by the Ballena association Blanca.Estos and many more are the data you will find in the long report “Sport and Climate Emergency” (ARGIA 2.879).