Venezuela Once Had Skiing Competitions — Now It’s the First Country to Lose All Its Glaciers
All in less than 70 years…
Back in the 1950s and 60s, and despite being just 8 degrees north of the equator, two international ski championships were held on Venezuela’s Pico Espejo in the Sierra Nevada de Mérida.
The First National Ski Championship was convened on October 12, 1956, on the 250-meter-long slope of the Pico Espejo glacier, running down from 4,850 to 4,600 meters above sea level. Participants included 28 skiers from nine countries, four women among them. Comparisons rolled in, likening the Sierra to the Swiss Alps and foreseeing a prominent future for the rare equatorial winter destination. But on the day of the championship, heavy snowfall led to practice suspension, and the weather would never improve, leading to an eventual cancellation.
The Mérida Cable Car, the world’s highest at the time, opened in March 1960, bringing about a second chance. Ski seasons ran from May to October, and a second Venezuelan skiing competition took place between October 25 and 30, 1961, featuring two tests, speed and style, for a single classification.
With clear skies, competitors could spot the interconnected peaks of the Humboldt and Bonpland glaciers. Austrian-Venezuelan Carlos Feix emerged as…
