French 22-23 October Season Start on Hold
French 22-23 October Season Start on Hold
Published : 12-Oct-2022 06:09
A dozen glacier ski areas have opened in Austria, Italy, Norway and Switzerland and two more centres have opened using snow farming in northern Finland, but the start of the 22-23 ski season in France appears to be currently on hold.
Two glaciers – Europe's largest for winter sports at Les 2 Alpes and Tignes (pictured top) – has originally targeted the coming weekend as their hoped for season start dates but that has now slid.
Les 2 Alpes currently says they still hope to delay by just a week and open from the 22nd October in just over a week's time. Earlier in the year the resort won the chance to host the season openings for two 22-23 world cup tours, the Snowboard Cross World Cup [26, 27, 28 and 29 October 2022] and Ski Cross World Cup [2, 3, 4 and 5 November 2022] so it is pulling out all the stops to be open.
"Despite the fact that the glacier is still there, the usual opening of the Glacier for autumn skiing has been compromised. Indeed, following a winter of 2021-2022 which did not generate as much snow as in other years, as well as a particularly hot spring and summer, the optimal conditions for good practice and safety cannot be guaranteed on the Grande Motte Glacier at this time," a Tignes statement explains.
The resort previously offered skiing 365 days a year, then ensured it opened every month of the year for at least a day or two, but gave up on that goal too about five years ago.
"However, a good weather surprise may be in store. If the snow conditions were to evolve sufficiently positively during October, the opening of part of the Tignes ski area could be envisaged," the resort statement continues.
It has in fact been around freezing for about a month now at glacier height in the Alps and Tignes had had some snow, reporting a depth of 15cm (6 inches) on its glacier at present.
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