From Tyrol to the Dolomites, winter resorts face a new reality. Snow can still be made, but the cold that once guaranteed it is no longer reliable. This winter has brought another uneasy season for Alpine resorts.
Several lower-altitude ski areas in France and Austria delayed opening in December because pistes stayed brown well into the month. In the Pyrenees, no major resort managed to open on its originally advertised date.
Hotels remained ready, lifts stood still and snow cannons waited for temperatures to drop just low enough to run.
The Numbers Behind Thin Seasons
A 2023 study published in Nature Climate Change on 28 August estimated that under current warming trends, around 53 per cent of ski resorts in Europe face a high risk of poor snow seasons without extensive artificial snow. At two degrees of warming, that figure climbs above 70 per cent, hitting lower slopes hardest.
This is not an abstract projection. In January 2023, images of grassy pistes in the French Alps travelled widely as resorts trucked in snow to keep a few runs open. The pattern has repeated often enough that locals treat fragile starts to the season as normal.
Visitors, however, still book holidays expecting postcard winters. By early December 2024, Les Gets and Morzine in France had only one run open after three days of heavy rain washed away early snow.
Water, Energy and Contested Cannons
Artificial snow has become the main adaptation tool. It buys time, but at a price. France’s national audit office estimated that the country’s snowmaking systems consume around 95 million cubic metres of water each winter, the equivalent of a city of 1.5 million inhabitants. Energy use remains significant, particularly when cannons run at marginal temperatures.
Environmental groups argue that pumping mountain water onto slopes for a season that may last only a few weeks makes little sense. Farmers downstream worry about reservoirs, and some residents fear that public funds support private lift companies whilst basic services strain under inflation. Resort managers answer that without snowmaking, entire valleys risk losing their main source of income.
The result is a recurring local argument: short-term survival versus long-term adaptation. Each dry winter pushes that conversation further.
Rethinking What Winter Means
Some regions have started to diversify. Resorts in Austria and Switzerland promote winter hiking, spa tourism and cultural events instead of promising guaranteed snow. Italian towns in the Dolomites have invested in climbing centres and food festivals to attract visitors outside the ski season.
These experiments remain small compared with the scale of the ski industry. Many businesses still depend on a model where a few peak weeks pay for the rest of the year. Package holidays, cheap flights and rental chains were built around that rhythm. Changing it requires more than a new brochure; it demands new expectations from visitors.
For younger travellers used to heatwaves and water restrictions, snowless winters are less shocking. They may accept that a January trip to the Alps involves boots rather than skis. The tension lies with those who bought apartments, lifts and hotels for a climate that no longer exists.
Lessons Beyond the Mountains
What happens in the Alps matters far from the slopes. Mountain glaciers feed major rivers that irrigate farms and cool nuclear plants. When winter comes shorter and wetter in violent bursts, flood risk downstream grows.
The choices made now about snowmaking, water storage and tourism will affect more than holiday photos. They are early tests of how societies adapt when a familiar season changes shape. Do governments subsidise business-as-usual for another decade, or back a shift towards different kinds of local economies?
For visitors, a modest adjustment is already possible. Choosing rail over short-haul flights, staying longer instead of flying in for a weekend and accepting that skiing may not be available every year all ease the pressure slightly. These are not heroic sacrifices. They simply align expectations with what mountains can still offer.
The Alps will remain beautiful without perfect snow cover. Forests, villages and high paths do not vanish when the pistes close. The question now is whether winter regions cling to a shrinking past or use this difficult transition to design a different kind of season before the next dry year arrives.
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