Snow in the French Alps

Alpine ski resorts received snow at last

This autumn in the Alps was the hottest since 1864. The season was opened in early December only at several glacier resorts such as Val Thorens in France and Zermatt in Switzerland. Snow shortages on the slopes forced most ski resorts to postpone the date of the season opening. Thus, Val d'Isere ski resort due to the lack of snow was forced to refuse from the Alpine Ski World Cup, which was to be held on December 10-11.

European travel agencies and tour operators were forced to sell December tours with huge discounts. And even in this case low prices were not always able to attract vacationers. It is not excluded that now those, who refused from super cheap Alpine tours in December, eat their hearts out.

Anyway, hoteliers and ski instructors panic mood was replaced by relief. French ski resorts were the first to report about the good news. In the French Alps snowfalls began on December 5 in the afternoon. Val Thorens, Courchevel and Tignes reported about the improvement of the track snow conditions. Long-suffering Val d'Isere recorded a 20 cm snow cover. Then the cyclone moved further east to Switzerland, Austria and Italy.

Additional centimeters of fresh snow on its slopes were recorded by the Austrian ski resorts of Lech, St. Anton and Obergurgl, as well as Swiss resorts of Davos, Arosa, Andermatt.

Weather forecasters promise intense snowfalls at least until Friday. The level of snow cover at the alpine resorts during the snowfalls will be minimum 75 centimeters.

Against the background of the European problems, U.S. and Canadian ski resorts look very promising. Here had been snowfalls since October and there practically were no critical problems with season openings.

Photo: Marcus Lenk

Date: 07/12/2011