Compagnie des Alpes to by 90% stake in les Deux Alpes:-

http://pistehors.com/news/forums/viewthread/385/

Man lost for 4 days in the Pyrenees

A wife gave the alert after her husband had been missing for 4 days in the French Pyrenees. The man had left to walk on the GR10 from Luchon to the lac d’Oô with the aim of crossing to Perdiguère. Blocked by a meter of snow he managed to reach the refuge at le Portillon. After a couple of days he decided to rescend to the lac d’Oô where he was spotted by a rescue helicopter in the Espingo sector.

http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2009/12/04/729464-Bagneres-de-Luchon-Un-randonneur-bloque-quatre-jours-en-montagne.html

The Guardian are running a very similar story to our Perfect Storm article looking at the financial problems facing skiers, ski businesses and resorts in the 2nd year of the credit crunch (or the Brownturn as they call it in the UK).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/dec/03/early-season-skiing

If you read French France Soir is confirming what we have been hearing. Poor reservations for ski resorts. They say la Plagne is 9% down on the same period last year. This is in part due to the late arrival of snow. Gilbert Blanc-Tailleur, mayor of Courchevel, says he thinks things are similar to last year. However the luxury end of the market has suffered from a lack of foreign guests. Last year this was compensated by French guests but they cannot replace the spending power of the Brits.

http://www.francesoir.fr/societe/2009/12/05/ski-montagne.html

Same theme in the Torygraph which claims it is the worst winter for 10 years. Claims are of a 15% drop in reservations compared to last year. Again the Torygraph confirms something we have heard, resorts benefitted from a higher number of summer guests due to Britain’s “wash-out” summer.

Back to the Backcountry and the Guardian is checking out the Icelandic fjords by rubber dingy (it seems) on a “ski-hiking” holiday.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Travel/Pix/pictures/2009/12/4/1259938121595/Iceland-Westfjords-All-ab-001.jpg

At least Iceland will be cheap this year, even for British and American skiers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/dec/05/skiing-sailing-iceland-adventure-travel

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/snowandski/6727462/Ski-deals-as-French-resorts-cut-prices.html

Avalanche on Loveland Pass buries a skier

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/21801733/detail.html

Apparently it is the 10th human-triggered avalanche in Colorado this ski season that resulted in at least a partial burial.