The once-popular ski runs of Dent-de-Vaulion in the Swiss Jura Mountains are now deserted as unusually mild weather has driven away winter sport enthusiasts and forced ski resorts to close across the country. Abandoned pole rods of the ski lift sway in the wind. Crusty snow dots stretches of yellowed grass. Lift pylons stand alone in rocky terrain where cheerful crowds once puffed steam in frigid temperatures. A view shows the closed Dent-de-Vaulion ski lift amid lack of snow at altitudes below 1500 m due to high winter temperatures induced by climate change, in Vaulion, Switzerland, February 2, 2024. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse Switzerland, a major ski destination, is warming at about twice the global average rate partly because its mountains trap heat, the United Nations Intergover...
Read MoreTag: ski resorts
With Ski season quickly approaching, looking for the perfect ski resort to embark upon this year will be on many people's to do list over the next coming weeks. However, the perfect ski resort isn't a one size fits all. Whilst families might find the perfect ski holiday at a child friendly resort, a young couples idea of a perfect ski resort may be at one with a lively Apres-ski scene. With this in mind, team at MoneyTransfers.com, conducted a study in order to reveal the best ski destinations in Europe and North America for 2023/24 for a number of categories, by analysing 50 ski destinations across factors including: The average cost of flights Cost of ski hire Cost of accommodation (for a three-night stay in a studio apartment, one-bedroom apartment or hotel suite) N...
Read MoreMonte Cimone, a popular ski resort in Italy's Apennine Mountains, invested 5 million euros in artificial snowmaking before the winter season in an attempt to stave off the impact of global warming. The money was largely wasted. The snow cannon proved useless because the water droplets they fire into the air need freezing weather for them to fall to the ground as snow, and until mid-January the temperature never fell below zero Celsius (32 Fahrenheit). "The ski-lifts were closed, the ski instructors and seasonal workers had nothing to do and we lost 40% of our revenue for the whole season," said Luciano Magnani, head of the local consortium of ski tourism operators. "It was the first time in 40 years that we were closed for the Christmas holidays." Skiers ride on an artificial ...
Read MoreSnow falls thick as skiers shed their gear and duck into the Sundeck Restaurant, one of the first certified energy efficient buildings in the U.S. — this one at 11,200 feet (3,413 meters) above sea level atop Aspen Mountain in Colorado. WeatherNation plays on the television, looping footage of last year’s megastorms and flashing a headline: “2022 billion dollar disasters.” Aspen Skiing Company's vice-president of sustainability, Auden Schendler, who watches skiers as they walk in, says it's not enough for resorts to just change their on-site operations to become “green.” They must also advocate for policies that combat climate change. As global warming threatens to put much of the ski industry out of business over the next several decades, resorts are beginning to embrace a role...
Read MoreLast winter, most ski resorts at Lake Tahoe had to postpone their usual November openings because there wasn’t enough snow. This season, several have been forced to close at times because there’s been too much. A relentless winter has dumped more than 50 feet (15 meters) of snow on mountain resorts around the lake over the past three months, along the California-Nevada line. The latest Sierra storm, packing more heavy snow, winds gusting in excess of 100 mph (160 kph) and even some flooding, forced about a half-dozen to shut down on Friday. At least three remained closed Saturday. Even when the resorts have been open for business, storms have prompted frequent closures of mountain highways and the main U.S. Interstate connecting San Francisco and Reno to Lake Tahoe atop the Si...
Read MoreSkiing over Christmas holidays no longer guaranteed – even with snow guns
For many people, holidays in the snow are as much a part of the end of the year as Christmas trees and fireworks. As global warming progresses, however, white slopes are becoming increasingly rare. Researchers at the University of Basel have calculated how well one of Switzerland’s largest ski resorts will remain snow reliable with technical snowmaking by the year 2100, and how much water this snow will consume. The future for ski sports in Switzerland looks anything but rosy – or rather white. Current climate models predict that there will be more precipitation in winter in the coming decades, but that it will fall as rain instead of snow. Despite this, one investor recently spent several million Swiss francs on expanding the Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis ski resort. A short-sighted decis...
Read MoreSkiing in Lebanon has long been a luxury for the well-off, but the eastern Mediterranean country's financial meltdown has thrown most people into poverty and made taking to the slopes even more exclusive. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value since 2019. "Skiing is a hobby for the dollar class, not for us," said Mohammad Atwi on a recent visit to the mountains. "We came here to sit and have shisha. The most we spend is 200,000 pounds ($10)." A man holds a child's hand as he walks through snow with ski equipment at a ski resort in Kfardebian, Lebanon, February 13, 2022. REUTERS/Issam Abdallah Prices for ski passes at the Mzaar ski resort, which boasts panoramic views over the Mediterranean, are listed in dollars in a country where the vast majority earn in poun...
Read MoreSwiss ski lifts are open for foreign visitors as long as they respect the rules that the government has introduced to try and break the momentum of the coronavirus pandemic, Health Minister Alain Berset said on Friday. "The government's goal is to keep as much as possible functioning, of course under different conditions as if there were no pandemic," Berset told a news conference when asked about a French ban on British tourists seeking winter fun. FILE PHOTO: Skiers ride a chairlift at Les Portes du Soleil ski resort during the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Les Crosets, Switzerland. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse He was speaking after Switzerland said it will expand from Monday the requirement for people to show proof of vaccination or recovery from the cor...
Read MoreIn the French ski resort of Val d'Isere, staff had been hired, shelves fully stocked and everyone was looking forward to a good season until, that is, France banned British tourists due to fears over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The ban was announced on Thursday, just two days before the start of the holiday season. "It's an economic disaster," said resort director Christophe Lavaut, pointing out that in Val d'Isere, the bulk of the clients come from Britain. "No business in any sector can make it, losing 42% of its clients in two days." A closed chairlift is seen during a heavy snow-fall in the closed winter ski resort of Val d'Isere, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, France, December 12, 2020. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann While he does not co...
Read MoreFrench ski lifts will not reopen on February 1 and it is not clear for now whether French people can start booking winter holidays in February, French Tourism Minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said on Thursday. French ski resorts can welcome tourists but the lifts have not been allowed to open since the start of the season. With no mechanical means to lift them up the slopes, skiers and snowboarders have resort to trudging up the slopes with snow shoes. FILE PHOTO: People practice with snowshoes in the winter ski resort of Isola 2000 as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues in France, January 18, 2021. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard Early January, the government said lifts would be allowed to reopen on Jan. 20 if the spread of the COVID-19 virus had been slowed, but in recent...
Read More
You must be logged in to post a comment.