Christmas is saved!
Skiers heading to the Alps for Christmas will be relieved to hear that, unlike last year, the slopes are covered in snow. Well, almost, says Linsey McNeill.
"There hasn’t been a lot of precipitation recently – some resorts haven’t had any fresh dumps since late November – but resorts have pulled out all the stops to manufacture enough man-made snow to provide a decent enough coverage, especially in the northern French Alps.
I took a mini-break with iGOSKI to the Three Valleys, France’s largest ski area, early this week. The best snow was in the highest part of the Three Valleys, in Val Thorens, but it was also acceptable in the lower resorts of Courchevel and even La Tania, where around 60% to 70% of the runs were open.
"The Three Vallyes have done a great job making enough snow to provide pelnty of skiing," said James from the British-run ski school New Generation in La Tania. "Even though all the runs aren’t open, the skiing is great and they’ll be enough of the runs open for the busy Christmas and New Year weeks."
Snow coverage in La Tania and the linked resort of Courchevel is quite thin in places, and some of the runs are bare in parts so skiers do need to take care.
A lack of natural snow means there’s no off-piste skiing to be had in the Alps, which will mean the pisted runs will be even busier than normal once the peak season gets under way this weekend, but at least things are looking a lot better than they were this time last year.
"A year ago in Tignes (France), the slopes were green in the week before Christmas," one of the iGOSKI chalet reps told me. "This year the skiing is good, it’s such a relief."
As no more snow is forecast before Christmas, the best advice to clients looking to book a last minute trip is to aim high. According to the ski weather website weathertoski.co.uk, the best snow can be found in the higher resorts of the northern and western Alps such as Val d’Isere, Tignes, La Plagne and Zermatt as well as Val Thorens in the Three Valleys.
However, the website pointed out that hundreds of resorts in the Alps are managing to manufacture enough artificial snow to stay open. This includes some of the lower resorts such as Saalbach in Austria and in the central and eastern Italian Alps, which have had very little of the real stuff so far this season."
For anyone looking for a last-minute New Year break, iGOSKI and sister company Alpine Elements still have some availability in resorts with snow, including departures on December 27 to La Plagne, Les Arcs, Val d’Isere and Tignes, which now start at around £799 per person for seven nights, a saving of around £400 per person."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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