Those who love skiing will have to make do with a limited number of resorts, will have to venture to ever higher altitudes, and will need to choose the timing of their ski holiday very carefully. Climate change is indeed threatening hundreds of ski resorts across the entire Alpine arc, particularly those at low to medium altitudes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5jRchFa0Rw

"100 ski resorts threatened by lack of snow in France"

This is certified by a study presented in the French city of Grenoble in February 2015, signed by a research group from Cnrs led by glaciologist Jérôme Chappellaz. The analysis focuses in particular on the French mountains, but clearly serves as a warning for the other countries that host the Alpine chain as well.

"The weather station installed at Col de Porte since 1960 (on the Chartreuse massif, in the Isère department, at an altitude of 1,326 metres – ed.) – the scientist explained – confirms a very marked decrease in snowfall. This is directly linked to the rise in average global temperature, which over fifty-five years has caused the average depth of the snowpack in winter to fall from 120 to 50 centimetres."

According to the Cnrs report, around one hundred French ski resorts find themselves in the same situation: "Within a decade, two at most, all ski slopes below 1,800 metres are doomed. Snow will fall from time to time, but there is nothing left to do now but think about reconverting them." Thierry Gamot, mayor of Autrans, a municipality situated on the Vercors plateau, between 1,050 and 1,700 metres above sea level, is well aware of this: "It has been years now that we have been preparing, by diversifying our activities."

Competitions saved by artificial snow

The negative forecasts are, moreover, also borne out by recent news. A few days before Christmas, even at Alpe d'Huez, which reaches 3,300 metres, only thirty out of 130 runs are open. "Only artificial snow is saving us," explains Christian Reverbel, the resort's director. According to the Meteo France agency, across all the French Alps snowfall is "low" or "extremely low" relative to the normal values for the season. In the Southern Alps in particular, the deficit reaches as much as 80 per cent.

In Italy, at Madonna di Campiglio, 400,000 cubic metres of artificial snow were used to allow the ski season to open. But production comes at a high cost, and the systems consume a great deal of energy (even though the latest-generation installations are more efficient). In mid-December, the World Cup ski race in Val Gardena could only be held thanks to artificial snowflakes, which were used to lay long strips of snow across an autumnal landscape. At Hochfilzen, the biathlon event on 13 December was held under similar conditions.