According to la Depeche there is a lack of snow in the ski resorts of the Ariege but there may be hope in sight with fresh snow for the New Year. Axe Bonascre has 30cm at the bottom of the pistes, 40cm at the summit. Four pistes were closed yesterday due to lack of snow. Ascou has similar snow levels with 70% of the area open.  Mijanes has 20 to 30 cm of snow with 11 of 13 pistes open. Things are much worse at Guzet with just 16% of the ski area open with a thin 10-20cm of snow.

In the Southern Alpes the resorts of Pra-Loup, le Sauze-Super-Sauze and Sainte-Anne-la-Condamine are nearly 100% for the New Year with 28,000 people staying in the Ubaye valley. Restaurants in the area are saying they’ve seen a 5% increase in turnover for the Christmas period. The poor weather has also seen the cinema, bowling and wellness centers increasing visitors. Despite yoyo temperatures snow levels are above average in the area.

Low mountain areas have been badly hit. In the Vercors and Chartreuse no ski area is operating normally. Méaudre has just 3 out of 16 pistes open, Lans en Vercors has 2 out of 17 pistes open and the biggest resort in the Chartreuse, Saint Pierre de Chartreuse is closed.

Bad luck for small resorts should bring a smile to the big, high altitude areas. Compagnie des Alpes resorts Chamonix Mont-Blanc has 48 of 68 runs open. La Plagne 76/130, Les 2 Alpes 81/94, Tignes and Val d’Isere 138/156.

More info about the Pyrenees: http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2009/12/31/746686-Situation-mitigee-dans-les-stations.html - link in French

Some complaints from the mid-altitude resorts in the Savoie. At Valmorel / Saint-François-Longchamps they’ve had rain and wind to the top of the ski area, same situation in the Maurienne. Businesses are worried, except for some restaurant owners who have seen takings increase as skiers have had to seek shelter in bars. Ski hirers, on the other hand, have seen takings plumet.

The Savoie Mont-Blanc marketing body has given its first report on the Christmas holidays which represent about 20% of the season’s turnover. Holiday makers were there but they didn’t ski as much. Resorts belonging to the group had 73% reservations for the 2 weeks which is a good figure. British skiers, who had been predicted to stay at home, were also present but have abandonned the big resorts for smaller ski areas (les Gets featured on the main French TV news as favoured destination).

The ski lift operators suffered in the poor weather, turnover was down - 4% at Pralognan-la Vanoise, -10% at Méribel Mottaret and -16% at Méribel Alpina. Ski hire also suffered. Other activities (health and fitness, cinema, swimming pools) were up +7%.

January looks about the same as 2009 with 45% reservations. February has 61% booking to date, 5% down on 2009 at the same date. Ski resorts are expecting more last minute bookings.

In the Beaufortain and Val d’Arly there were 20% fewer skier days. The SEMAB who operate lifts at Arêches-Beaufort say that there were 15 to 20% fewer skiers on the slopes and ski pass sales were also down. The majority of skiers are local and the weather naturally has a big impact. 80% of lift pass sales were day or half day passes rather than 6 day passes.

Same picture at Crest-Voland which suffered from a lack of snow on lower slopes and two days of rain. The picutre at Praz-sur-Arly, Flumet and Notre-Dame-de-Bellecombe is more complex. Turnover was down 26% but the ski lift operator had reduced prices by 20%. The resort says they actually had more skiers through the turnstyles.

Similar situation down in the Pyrenees. Saint Lary compensated for the lack of snow with snow making producing a record breaking 300,000 m3 of the white stuff over Christmas. Cauterets suffered 4 days of closure due to violent southerly winds. The resorts turnover was 951,279 € for 57,184 compared to 1,240,000€ for 60,800 skiers last year 2008. Rain closed the cross country ski areas of Payolle, Val d’Azun and Hautacam.