Climate change thawing athletes' hopes of Games glory

SAAS-FEE, Switzerland - The athletes' half-hour commute in the Swiss Alps - up two gondolas, then through a tunnel in the world's highest underground train to a glacier at 11,000 feet - served up daily grim reminders that global warming is threatening their line of work.

After exiting the train, they squelched through a field of grayish mud to reach shrinking snowfields scarred by new crevasses.

Occasionally, they heard the sharp roars of glacial ice breaking off in monster chunks, then echoing across the peaks where they trained jumps, tricks and turns for the Pyeongchang Olympics.