Ed Leigh is co-presenter of Ski Sunday, which starts on 4 January (17:50 GMT) on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer. This winter will be Ed's 20th year working on the iconic BBC Sport programme.

Context is everything. Twenty years in the context of geology is a heartbeat, a snowflake in the blizzard of time - but change the context to the world of television and the same period represents a fifth of TV's lifespan.

In my two decades on Ski Sunday, I have witnessed huge leaps in human performance, frightening environmental changes, inspiring shifts in alpine and winter sports culture and incredible advances in technology.

The biggest (and my personal favourite) change during my tenure at Ski Sunday has been in women's sport.

Ski Sunday's coverage was dominated in its early years by the daring of Franz Klammer and Jean-Claude Killy, the machismo of Alberto Tomba and the aggression of Hermann Maier.

But the rise of female stars in the 21st Century has been a joy to watch. Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Schiffrin's record-breaking careers have elevated female skiing's profile above male skiing in many countries.

Closer to home my co-presenter Chemmy Alcott was a consistent top-10 campaigner in alpine and Jenny Jones, Izzy and Zoe Atkin, Charlotte Bankes, Mia Brookes and Kirsty Muir have outshone the men, claiming numerous British firsts with World Cup, World Championship and X Games titles.

Jenny and Izzy have both won Olympic medals and it is impossible not to dream, looking at Mia, Kirsty, Charlotte and Zoe's form, that the 2026 Winter Games in Milan in February might produce Team GB's first ever gold on snow.

One uncomfortable truth is that winter sport is wrestling with climate change and here it is hard to be so upbeat.

As I mentioned, 20 years should be a blink geologically, and yet the speed of the changes I have witnessed are terrifying.

More than a third of glacier mass has been lost in the past 25 years. High-altitude areas are the canary in the coalmine for climate change.

The latest forecasts show Europe's glaciers are shrinking faster than anywhere else on the planet.

The best-case scenario is if the temperature rise stays at 1.5C we will lose 2,000 glaciers by 2041. The worst case would mean 4,000 glaciers - almost all the glaciers in the Alps - being lost by 2055 with a rise of 4C.

If you are interested in helping, you can support climate action groups like Protect Our Winters. It is not too late - and is more important now than ever.

In the past two decades the leap in camera technology and high-speed connections has been spectacular. The idea that drones would be chasing athletes down mountains at 80mph giving us a video-game style FPV (first-person view) of the action would have been ridiculous in 2007.

Yet, here in 2026, chase drones are an almost compulsory aspect of any self-respecting broadcast.

In 2008 we wore pencil cameras that were hardwired to camcorders carried in massive puffer jackets with a microphone hardwired back out. I remember a couple of big slams which resulted in both broken camcorders and ribs.

In terms of culture, Ski Sunday has come a long, long way. I would rather go three rounds with an adult male grizzly bear than watch any of the early shows I was a part of. The action was as compelling as ever, but I don't feel our self-indulgent challenges have aged that well.

In our defence that was the style of the time. Top Gear ruled the world and blokey challenges were the all the rage, so that's what we did.

I'd like to think the show now allows more people to relate to winter sport through stories we're covering - from amazing Para-athletes and youth outreach programmes to sustainable resorts and the adventures of restless souls. We try to cover the broadest spectrum of alpine culture possible.

Ski Sunday actually started in 1978 off the back of Klammer's mesmerising turn at the 1976 Winter Olympics.

That means the show is starting its 49th year in 2026, which makes us three years older than the Antiques Roadshow and three years younger than Mastermind.

I was about 10 years old when I first watched with my family. I remember we would marvel at the exotic glamour of a fur-clad David Vine on a chalet balcony and his excitement as catsuit-wearing men tomahawked down the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuhel.

It had a profound effect on me and my brothers - my dad too, seemingly.

Not long after that we found ourselves up at the newly constructed Gloucester dry ski slope, sharing laps with Eddie the Eagle and dreaming of snow.

When we did finally get to the Alps it was on the tail-end of a school trip that my mum (a teacher) had managed to wangle.

I meet so many families who describe similar experiences and I am so happy to say that my family still travel to the mountains - two, often three generations on snow. Name me another activity where you can do that - a whole day with kids, parents and grandparents sharing the same joy.

I believe that unique shared experience underpins Ski Sunday's lasting appeal, the X-factor that has defied TV's declining audience trends.

Families make Ski Sunday appointment viewing, sitting down together at the end of the week to teleport themselves out of Britain's cold, dark January days to stunning snow-capped peaks. Long may it continue.