Lack of Snow Delays Opening of French Ski Resorts

Lack of snow in the French Alps, Pyrenees and Jura led to postponement of opening several resorts by atleast a week.

Lack of snow in the French Alps, Pyrenees and Jura led to postponement of opening several resorts by atleast a week. In the Alps, early snow that fell in November has since melted as temperatures rose. The popular upmarket resort of Courchevel, for one, had planned to open on December 6 but is now pushing that back to December 13.

"The snow has melted quite a bit with the thaw and it's not cold enough to make artificial snow," a ski lift worker told AFP.

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The nearby resort of Meribel also said it would throw open its slopes on December 13 "provided there is snow", while Montgenevre further south had planned to rev up its chairlifts starting late last month but has postponed indefinitely, as have others in the region.

"We opened on the weekend of November 22. Then the rain and thaw damaged the snow at the bottom of the slopes," said a spokeswoman for Montgenevre, near Italy.

According to the national weather service, there is very little snow below 2,000 metres (6,600 feet) for this time of year -- and in some cases none at all -- but snowfall is forecast for the end of the week.

In the southwestern Pyrenees mountain range, resorts are also considering postponing their official openings due to a lack of snow, according to Jean Canal, head of the local tourist office.

And in the eastern Jura range, the Metabief resort has also decided to open later for the same reasons.