SKI RESORTS IN PICTURES

15th April 2020

Last modified on May 15th, 2021

This week should have been busy on the slopes with families enjoying the final week of the Easter holidays. Sadly, there’s some great spring sunshine but no skiing. PlanetSKI reports on what we’re missing.

If you love your sunshine and don’t mind a bit of slush, this would have been a fabulous Easter break for skiing and snowboarding in the Alps.

For many resorts this week would have been the last of the season, had it not been for coronavirus forcing their early closure. Others would have continued into May.

We have compiled a series of webcam images from Wednesday 15th April and photos taken in the past few days from across the mountains.

They show the deserted villages, resort centres and slopes.

First, the latest on the snow from Fraser Wilkin of WeatherToSki.

“Since lockdown much of the Alps has been dry and sunny,” he says.

“It turned cold in the latter stages of March with some snow in places, heaviest in the south-east (e.g. Dolomites) but it wasn’t widespread and many western and northern parts of the Alps stayed dry.

“In the last couple of weeks it has warmed up again, indeed it was very warm last week (which would have been the busiest of the Easter weeks) with day time temperatures into the 20s in many of the lower valleys. So conditions over the Easter period would have been pretty good, at least if you like good weather and spring skiing.

“As for snow levels, they are still very good at high altitude but lower down it is most definitely looking spring like, as it should do.

“Very roughly speaking, had pistes continued to have been prepared, you might still have been able to ski down to about 1000-1400m on north facing slopes right now, 1500-1900m on south facing slopes.

“People should not read too much into resort level webcams as bashed pistes last much longer than snow just left to melt on its own, which is of course what has been happening over the last few weeks.

“So some resorts that now look completely devoid of snow might have had a ribbon of white returning to resort under normal circumstances.”

FRANCE

We start with four images sent to us by Sue Chapman, who is living in Peisey Village in the Paradiski ski area.

She has been taking her permitted daily exercise around Peisey and Vallandry.

And the images below from Tignes come from Alex Beuchert and her husband Simon Perry.

They took them on Wednesday afternoon.

Alex in Tignes

“Normally The Loop Bar & Tignes Cuisine terraces would’ve been rammed the past 4 weeks—they are a total suntrap & we’ve been blessed with amazing weather all of lockdown!” Alex told us.

“However, according to Météo France, our wonderful weather streak looks forecast to end from Sunday… for the rest of the month!

“I fear that may adversely affect people’s mental health out here, as the sunshine coming through the windows of apartments can be a big mood lifter & using one’s balcony in the sun kind of feels like an extension of our ‘1hr outside allowance’ per day. ”