Rain & Warm Temperatures Hit Low Level Ski Resorts

28th December 2022

Last modified on December 29th, 2022

Heavy rain over the Xmas weekend hit many of the lower resorts hard.

We have been reporting the changing weather and snow conditions in this rolling article on PlanetSKI:

• Heavy snow and rain hits the Alps affecting Xmas skiing

In Les Gets in the French part of the Portes du Soleil only 25 lifts out of 47 are running.

Neighbouring Morzine is facing a similar situation, with 13 lifts out of 21 running.

According to a report in the French newspaper Sud Ouest on Tuesday December 27^th half of the ski slopes across France are shut.

Domaines Skiables de France (DSF), a French group of ski station operators, was quoted in the report:

“We had started the Christmas holidays with a good situation following a wave of cold and snow, but from the end of last week, the mild weather and the rains led to the closure of half of the slopes,” said DSF.  

Les3Vallees, France. Image © PlanetSKI

Here at PlanetSKI we have been unable to verify the claim that half the ski slopes in France are closed.

“If so it would include all the smaller ski areas  in the Jura Mountains, the Pyrenees, the Massif Central and Vosges, plus the foothills of the Alps.,” said PlanetSKI’s editor, James Cove.

“For the main resorts in the French Alps that British skiers and snowboarders head to then most of the runs are open, though the resorts unquestionably need more snow,” he added.

“We’ve been having more and more difficulties since the beginning of December, and the snow is falling at altitude on the north-facing slopes,” said the mayor of La Plagne, Jean-Luc Boch.

“This climatic upheaval has led us to adapt, with artificial snow but also by developing other activities,” he added

At altitude though the slopes are in reasonable shape with many of those over 2,500m seeing fresh snow.

Avoriaz, that is next to Morzine, has 28 lifts out of 35 open.

Good conditions are reported on the top slopes of the high-altitude resorts of Tignes and Val Thorens.

Further east into Austria the rain and high temperatures have had less impact.

Conditions in the French Pyrenees are reported to be difficult with little snow on the lower slopes of resorts.

Ten out of 30 resorts remain closed.

St Lary has 12 out of 28 lifts running.

Matin de printemps à Saint Lary 🔥📷Mathieu Chauvet pic.twitter.com/ozKncvussu

— Météo Pyrénées (@Meteo_Pyrenees) December 28, 2022

Some of the best places for snow are currently in the south eastern Alps – in particular the Dolomites in Italy that escaped the heavy rain seen elsewhere in the mountains.

Some PlanetSKI readers have been reacting to the conditions on social media and praising the work of resorts.

Image c/o Antonia Simpson

Marcus Cooper: We’ve enjoyed really good skiing on piste here in Austria. It’s not the winter wonderland you’d have hoped for but nonetheless has been a fantastic Xmas day’s skiing at 1500m’s!! Let’s remember all the resorts across the Alps and the efforts the teams across several countries have put in to make it a great time 

Tracey Hill – I still can’t think of anywhere else I would rather be…in the mountains is the best gift of all.

John Barnfield – Just back from a week at La Plagne, and just watched the rain on Friday literally wash the snow away. The early week skiing on piste was amazingly good, off-piste deteriorated rapidly as the temps came up. It will need lower temps and another decent snowfall fall to repair the damage done at 2300-2500m and below sadly. Fingers crossed as back out in 3 weeks.

Busy, sunny days on the pistes @thyon4vallees and across the 4Vallees. The pisteurs will have their work cut out during the coming days sustaining the meagre snow cover pic.twitter.com/CtrUj9tZ7t

— Valais Dude (@ValaisDude) December 28, 2022

The forecast is for some dustings of snow, but the warm weather will generally continue into the New Year.

We will be updating this PlanetSKI article so do check back for the latest.

And start a few snow dances.

Please.

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