After years of drought, ski resorts in the alps are now being buried by snow
Good news some would say, in fact the skiing season hasn't been that good in years!!
Actually though, there were many who got troubled by so much snow, for example in Zermatt (in Switzerland) (at least 1.35meters of cover) thousands of skiers were trapped in the village for three days (Zermatt is connected with civilization only by a train) because the rail access was shut due to high risk of avalanche. It was the second time this happened during this season in Zermatt.
Hotels, even though they are finally filling up their rooms, after year of bad occupancy rates, did not actually manage to reach the ski nirvana due to those road and slopes closures and delays.
Whether this is climate change related or only a one-off event, all in all though, despite the issues, hoteliers are quite happy. In Switzerland 164 thousands people are employed in tourism, an industry which account for 2.5% of GDP, nearly approaching the famous nation's commodity trading sector.
Temperatures are relatively high though, according to MeteoSwiss, Swiss average temperature has had the warmest month of January since 1864 (check out the graph of Geneva temperatures here below). The humid air, from the warmth coming from the Atlantic and Mediterranean, brought storms in Valais and Davos which consequently generated great quantities of fresh snow.
See the Davos snow statistic here below, it is quite impressive, you must have seen the news when leaders of the World were joining the World Economic Forum (WEF), they had big trouble reaching their hotels.
In practically all Switzelands' alps, the levels of snow depth are 2 meters and above
is this the best year we have had and are going to have for a while?
It very much seems like.
Check out the snow depth map from WLF Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF. The snow fell until now it basically equals the amount of snow that usually falls during the whole year!
The only thing that could be concerning going forward is the potential of an arrival of a heatwave, which could definitely melt all this snow and cause floods, which as a result it would mean further issues for the the tourists and hotels.
I thought I would never say it, but please, let is be colder!! Let the cold maintain all this white gold and let us enjoy this season for a bit,
For all the ones that are being lucky to ski/snowboard this season, I would love to hear which ski resort you have been skiing on and which one is your favourite. Were conditions awesome as in Switzerland?
Follow / Upvote / Comment / Resteem
Sources:
Last weekend i was in Saanenmöser. It was quite good weather and the snow was really good in the morning. There were not even that many people so you waited 2-4minutes the most for any gondula. It is also e very easy to ski there. A lot of blue and red slopes. (Blue is the easiest one, then red and after that there are the black slopes)
I know these mountains for 24years now so I'm basically native there.
I try to go there every year at least once and it hardly never disappointed me. If you go in march or even april then the snow gets really bad since the mountains are just about 2000meters over sea level. In the heart of the winter though it is perfect.
I made a blog about that day:
https://steemit.com/travel/@rheteric/snowboarding-in-saanenmoeser-hornberg-and-saanersloch
Cheers and have a nice day!
Hey @rheteric thanks for your comment. Ive never skied there. Is it near GstaadGlacier3000? Amazing places there. I usually ski in valais, quite nice and often sunny weather too.
Do you ski or snowboard? Ive done both but now mostly snowboard.
Have a nice day
No worries mate! Yes it is indeed close to Gstaad. You cannot ski from saanenmöser to gstaad right away but the slopes from both places should be covered with the same ticket.
I'm a snowboarder since I'm eleven so I did both for some time. Since boarding is not the "cool thing" to do anymore I'm even more into it:) great a fellow boarder! Or should I say a Snööber (swiss slang) haha!
Cheers and have a nice day too!
:)
I didnt know this one. Thank you man
Last weekend in cransmontana in valais was very good snow.
Wish you a nice day
Or too little or too much!
Ive been skiing in Flims/Laax this year and the conditions where great! i really enjoy the snow! wouldnt be mad beeing trapped by snow i think :D
Hi @ivansnz thanks for your comment
Ahhaha i know what you mean
Great post, I do hope we will see the trend reverse. I love snow and did several langlauf posts already this season!
Hi @wolfje thank you for the feedback. Yeah i hope so too
Very nice post about whats going on in Switzerland. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully the season will last and be good for a while. Tiptop
Thanks for your comment and feedback. I hope so too. Tiptop
I love Crans Montana!!
Me too fantastic resort. And often sunny!! :)
This post has received a 2.39 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @fedescolari.