Alps Skiing Panic: Where’s All The Snow?

Weeks before our planned skiing trip over New Year, I had daily updates from my husband bemoaning the snow situation in the Alps. For a long time it was just white noise. His family haven’t given him the nickname ‘weathercock’ for no reason and he does have a tenacity to go on (and on) about it every time we go away (Seriously, there is NOTHING you can do about it!).

But then I realised, he might actually have a point and it wasn’t just him doing his usual “the snow’s going to be crap” routine. No, some of my friends started talking about the lack of snow possibly ruining their skiing holidays too (I know, these first world problems of ours). And THEN they even started talking about it on the NEWS! It really must be serious!

As it transpires, December was the worst start to a ski season in Europe for 25 years. Lower resorts had barren slopes, people were cancelling their holidays in lead up to the important Christmas holiday period and warmer temperatures were threatening our ski holiday . This was getting real!

To be honest, I was just looking forward to getting away, snow or no snow. But deep down, despite my husband’s panicking, I knew it would snow. It always does around Christmas.

As I predicted the snow came. And came. And came some more. It came suddenly and in volume. There was so much of it, traffic chaos ensued in the French Alps affecting 15,000 people! Hundreds among them were Brits trying to get to their resort from nearby airport!! People were forced into emergency shelters or to stay overnight in their cars during sub zero temperatures. My friend was stuck in a coach for 16 hours! But why so severe? Well, the snow came at the worst possible time, in peak season, on a Saturday which is known as ‘change-over day’ when chalets boot out occupants for the next load to come in.

This has taught me two things.

1. Always have blankets in the car and have plenty of food and water for all the family – especially when travelling in colder climes. Obvious I know, but easy to forget and when you are parents, you’ve got others to think about.

2. Never travel on a Saturday. As we go to a private chalet we aren’t restricted by the ‘change-over’ day. We did though look into flights on the Saturday and they were SUPER expensive. I also had to work that day (never before have I been so pleased to be on shift during the Christmas period)! Even if we did ever book a Saturday to Saturday trip, I would definitely consider forfeiting a day in the chalet/slopes for a cheaper flight and to miss the mad rush and crowds at the airports and on the road.

Anyway, somehow we managed to get away with getting stranded AND we got snow! Hooray!

As it happened Avoriaz in the Portes du Soleil (the ski area we went to) was one of the few which managed to stay open prior to the snowfall due to its high altitude of 1,800 – 2,600 metres. It meant people from nearby resorts were heading to the area in search of snow. It was getting so busy, they had to bring in quotas to limit the amount of people on the mountain.

New year is always busy at resorts and with fresh snow this was no exception. My highlight of the holiday was going up the mountain on New Years Day (great for blowing the boozy cobwebs away), heading over to Chatel and and happening on a bar/restaurant owned by an eccentric woman called Chez Babeth. We all got a balloon which we released in amongst a load of dry ice being pumped out like a 90s disco, a cocktail (not so good for keeping the cobwebs away) and a rendition of ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ by the proprietor who is quite possibly tone deaf but it was great fun.

Towards the end of our week-long stay the temperatures started to soar again and the rain came. Rain is not good. On the lower slopes, snow was washed away and skiing on the higher areas was challenging to say the least as conditions had got icy. I wouldn’t have fancied taking a beginner or young children on it. We managed a couple of hours before abandoning it.

Unfortunately, in the lower areas of Morzine and Les Gets, there was more rain after we left, leaving snow patchy and it has been mild for this time of year. But the outlook IS promising. According to my husband, snow HAS fallen at the lower resorts now, such as Morzine, Chatel and Megeve. In fact, just this morning he informed me it was “banging it down now”. So YES there IS snow. No doubt a huge relief for businesses, skiers and those heading to the Alps for the half term break, including us! Well, I suppose having a weathercock for a husband does have some advantages.