The future of winter sports on a warming planet

An athlete trains at the Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon Center on February 17, 2014. Thick fog shrouding the mountains at the Sochi Olympics forced organizers to postpone events. Coaches at the Laura biathlon course said the biggest problem was not so much the fog as the poor quality of the snow.

The balmy weather during the Sochi Olympics raises the question: What will be the future of the winter sports on a warming planet?

Earlier today, several events in the Sochi Winter Olympics had to be rescheduled due to foggy conditions. The men's biathlon 15K and the snow board cross event were both postponed.

It's not the first time Mother Nature has failed to cooperate. Earlier in the week, sunny weather made for slushy snow. Several cross country skiers even resorted to cutting the sleeves off their uniforms.

While the warm conditions aren't that out of the ordinary for the region, the balmy weather raises the question: What will be the future of the winter sports on a warming planet?

It's a subject Porter Fox wrote about recently in an Op-Ed in the New York Times. He's an editor for Powder magazine and the author of "Deep: The Story of Skiing and the Future of Snow."