Climate Change Makes Winter Olympics Preparation Difficult

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Photo: John Lillis, Aerial Skier, Training In Sass-Fee Switzerland
Jon Lillis, the men's aerial skiing world champion from the United States, on the glacier above Saas-Fee, Switzerland in October 2017.

Olympians are traveling farther than ever to train for their sports ahead of next month's Winter Games. Aerials skier Jon Lillis lives in Park City, but just recently, he was on a glacier in Switzerland training with his U.S. teammates.

"Without the snow and the cold in the places in the U.S. where it's normally cold, we have to come over here, to find a glacier to get a couple of jumps off," Lillis told the Associated Press.

It's just one way climate change is affecting Olympians' preparation and the economies of U.S. states that rely on ski and snowboard traffic, both professional and recreational. AP national sportswriter Eddie Pells tells Colorado Matters the athletes he interviewed were surprised by how quickly climate change had affected their sports, and it's made some of them reflect on their own climate impact.