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...
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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 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 MoreAustria will require protective face masks and COVID-19 passes for the use of ski lifts this winter as it tries to attract foreign skiers for the first time in two years and also prevent coronavirus outbreaks. The conservative-led government outlined the rules for the coming season at a news conference that underlined the importance of reviving tourism, which directly contributes about 5% of economic output in Austria. FILE PHOTO: Skiers practise COVID-19 social distancing on a chairlift in Flachau, Austria January 15, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger The new rules stop short of requiring all skiers to be vaccinated and left many details unclear even though public frustration over confusing coronavirus rules has grown. "This year there will definitely be winter holidays in Austri...
Read MoreSuggest a holiday in Africa and most people picture baking hot sun, palm-fringed beaches or herds of wildebeest galloping across the savannah. Few think of skiing. People ski and snowboard at Kapoko Snow Park at Afriski Mountain Resort in Butha Buthe, Lesotho, July 31, 2021. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham Yet the continent contains five mountain ranges with enough seasonal snow to make potential slopes, of which two host rudimentary ski resorts. Tucked into South Africa's stunning Drakensburg range, one such resort in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho attracts tourists seeking a more adventurous skiing destination - despite visitor numbers being drastically slashed by COVID-19. !function(e,t,c,a){if(!e.fwn&&(a="fwn_script",n=e.fwn=function(){ n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,...
Read MoreK2 conqueror Andrzej Bargiel has become the first person to climb the towering 6,178m Yawash Sar II peak in Pakistan before skiing down. The ski mountaineer summited K2 in 2018 without oxygen and skied from peak to base without removing his skis – a seemingly impossible challenge which had never been completed before. In 2018, a Polish expedition also set out for Yawash Sar II to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Polish independence by reaching the summit but plans were thwarted by avalanche conditions. This time, Bargiel and his Karakoram Ski Expedition team (with partner Jędrzej Baranowski , Darek Załuski, Kuba Gzela and Bartłomiej Pawlikowski) set off into the Karakoram mountain range 10 days before making history. Andrzej Bargiel seen skiing down Yawash Sar II during his ...
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