Auron
© Stations du Mercantour
Some years, the professionals of altitude compete with incantations to hope to see it arrive. This season, the snow has (almost) fallen too much on the Southern Alps.

"We could have done better if the weather had been better. There were even several days of closures due to the storm" summarizes Pascal Lequenne, director of the Auron tourist office, where the turnover of ski lifts, the second highest ever recorded, still climbed 15%.

'Incredible for this time of year'

The resort of Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée repacked all its equipment on Sunday despite a record snowfall for mid-April: up to 2 m (6.5 foot) at the top of the slopes. Another three feet fell on Thursday. It's incredible for this season" says the manager.


A few kilometres away, Isola 2000 has also just lowered the curtain on a positive balance (+3%), but "which could have been more so if the weather, especially at weekends, had been less bad," says Lionel Fernandez, in charge of the tourist office.

The South of the Alps, and in particular the Alpes-Maritimes, is facing a snowstorm until tomorrow evening. At #Isola2000, we expect 1.30m (4.3 foot) of fresh snow in 24 hours. Tonight, snow is already falling in abundance. Credit : http://m.webcam-hd.com/isola/front-de-neige ...
"It penalized us especially on the local customers who were waiting for sunny spell", he also specifies. In total, 8 m (26.2 foot) of snow fell in the resort.

Why is it closing when the trails are open?

A real powder mountain (still between 165 and 375 cm (5.4 foot and 12.3 foot) at Isola 2000)... Then why close? On the social networks, sliding fans were moved to see the resorts stop their ski lifts.

"Seasonal contracts are planned well in advance and it would not be profitable to renew them" they explain in the stations. There wouldn't be enough skiers."

Translated by Sott.net