Thousands of skiers are once again flocking to the mountains to carve down freshly groomed slopes. Once they reach the bottom, the next gondola, chairlift or T-bar lift takes them back up the mountain. And so the game begins all over again. Thanks to the mountain railroads, winter sports have become a fundamental pillar of the Alpine economy. Skiing is even a social factor in Switzerland and Austria; the sport is a form of cultural heritage. The opposite is true in summer: people fight tooth and nail against downhill routes for mountain bikers. But skiers don't actually do anything different from downhillers, just at a different time of year and with a different means of transportation. The irony of fate: it is often the same people who are passionate about alpine winter sports but then deny the summer version its right to exist.

For winter sports, extensive snow-making facilities with artificial reservoirs are built, trees are felled for wider slopes and alpine pastures are leveled to create more even ski slopes. Sometimes more, sometimes less criticized, such drastic projects are almost invariably approved, as the economic importance of alpine winter sports is too great. But if a mountain sports region then considers a downhill run for mountain bikers, the official whinnies and the conservationists howl.Skiers and mountain bikers are measured by different yardsticks. But we mountain bikers sometimes have to take ourselves to task for this. Freeriders and downhillers are still seen in the light of an extreme sport. Downhill routes are becoming increasingly difficult, jumps ever higher and man-made structures ever more daring. Compared to winter, it's as if a ski resort consisted only of monster pipes and big kickers. With its extreme position, the freeride scene is moving into an offside position in terms of tourism.A different situation can be found in the USA and Canada: although there are extreme routes here too - even more so than in Europe - they have never lost sight of the broad tourist spectrum. Today, overseas families can be gondolaed up the mountain with their children to ride a trail down into the valley together. The resorts now have easy access to mountain biking. And not just because the licensing procedures are simpler, but because they have given downhill biking an additional face. A face in which moderate winter sports enthusiasts can recognize themselves.