Val Thorens opens Tomorrow, Ischgl Friday
Val Thorens opens Tomorrow, Ischgl Friday
Published : 23-Nov-2011 01:37
Conditions aren't great in Europe at the moment, it's been too warm for the mighty arsenal of snow cannons to work much and the last good snowfalls were three weeks ago, and then only in places. The problem has affected everywhere on the continent it seems – from the Arctic Circle down to the Pyrenees and from the Western side to the east.
There are some 'positive signs' – Scandinavia, which has been too warm, for resorts to open for a month (usually 20 or 30 are open by now) did see half a dozen areas open at last at the weekend, thanks to temperatures there dropping and Val Thorens, the continent's highest resort, which postponed opening last weekend promises it will open tomorrow.
Although most of the 20 or so areas that are open (excluding those in Scandinavia) are glacier areas, a few big name resorts that don't rely on glaciers have opened – Bormio, Livigno and Obergurgl among them.
And although resorts like Grandvalira in Andorra due to open this weekend are already announcing postponements, one resort at least, the mightly Ischgl in Austria, is determined it will start its five month season with its 20,000 fans expected for the season-opening gig by Roxette.
The centre in the country's westerly Paznaun Valley which has a ski area linked to duty-free Samnaun in Switzerland where the Santa Claus World Championships are also due to take place this weekend, is reported by one media source to be spending half a million Euros a day on snowmaking at the moment, with a promise that more than 70km of piste will be available on opening day this Friday, 25th November.
If you want to be there the nearest airports to Ischgl are Innsbruck (BA; easyJet), Munich (BA; Lufthansa) and Zurich (BA; Swiss). British tour operators to the area with packages starting in a few weeks time include Inghams, Crystal, Ski Total, Ski Independence and First Choice.
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