Heavy snow forces ski chalet evacuations and lift closures
Heavy snow has led to evacuations and more resort closures in some of Europe’s most popular ski resorts.
French resorts, including Val D’Isere and Tignes, were closed on Monday due to extreme weather and some lifts were closed in the Chamonix ski area.
More than 100 chalets in Chamonix were evacuated and hundreds of people were told to stay inside because of avalanche risks.
Mayor Eric Fournier said five months worth of snow has fallen in just 45 days.
Lisa O’Neill, who lives in the town, told TravelMole: "The authorities are hoping the worst of it will be gone by Tuesday morning, but anyone in an ‘avalanche zone’, which is most of the valley, is advised to close all shutters and stay indoors."
In Italy, Cervinia and Val Senales were both closed to severe avalanche risk.
The extreme conditions have also prompted lift closures in Zermatt, Saas Fee and Anzere.
Zermatt has again been cut off, with the railway line to the car-free village closed due to avalanche risk.
According to the Ski Club of Great Britain’s latest snow report, the neighbouring resorts of Nendaz and Verbier have had limited skiing due to high winds.
Meanwhile, much of Austria continues to impacted by the storm, with full resort closures in Axamer Lizum, Galtur and and Kaunertal and others due to avalanche risks.
Sportgastein was closed within the Gastein region, while limited lifts ran within connected ski areas.
Ischgl is only operating 11 of its 45 lifts and Arlberg is running less than half of its 88 lifts.
Significant avalanche risks are in place across almost all resorts, meaning any skiing or boarding should remain restricted to pistes until conditions improve.
Conditions are set to improve from today (Tuesday) but a new storm looks set to arrive on Friday, potentially bringing more disruptive weather.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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