We have had almost two metres of snowfall in the last week. It was so prolonged that skiing lifts were stopped, the train has been terminating at the train station in Chamonix and not going up to Le Praz. Roads were closed past our luxury chalet and avalanche announcements published.

Contrast this to a couple of seasons ago, with the unusually mild Feb conditions, earth appearing on ski slopes, and admonitions that climate change would mean the end of skiing in the European Alps. Indeed the OECDs study from winter 2006 admonished that global warming would make snowboarding far too dear for a lot of holiday makers, with a 3rd of ski domains shutting and the melting of alpine glaciers. Climatologists say that it’s impossible to ascribe the seasonal deviations in the snow conditions to the outcomes of climate change.

We may have the longest recession in nearly 30 years, and the Sterling has plummeted to record lows versus the euro, but the snow is excellent, and the latest bookings highlight that snowboarders are keen to take of advantage of the first-class snow conditions. It is undoubtedly the finest in eight seasons, and lots of skiers are stating its the nicest skiing conditions in 10 winters.

Nevertheless recall that lots of snow like this means high avalanches risks.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 3:23 am and is filed under Web Of Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.