ROBERT HARDMAN visits alpine resorts forced to close slopes or even close completely

Let it snow! It was 20°C on New Year's Day and the rain has barely stopped, ROBERT HARDMAN visits alpine resorts forced to close slopes or even close them completely - and asks: is this the end of skiing as that we know?
By Robert Hardman for the Daily Mail
Posted: 22:10 GMT, 6 January 2023 | Update: 09:07 GMT, 7th January 2023

At 10:30 this morning, viewers around the world will watch Olympian talent race down an alpine pasture at breakneck speed to at 70 mph in the final round of the Ski World Cup.
The sold-out crowd of 25,000 at the base of the hill will be authentic enough, as will be the dangers for athletes.
However, if the cameras pull back from the action, they will see a narrow strip of white pasted against a vast landscape of greenery.
Audiences may wonder whether they're looking at Exmoor or the Brecon Beacons or a modest Scottish hill - until they see a strange cottage in Heidi style on grassy slopes.

For it is only thanks to the combined efforts of dozens of artificial snow cannons, several trucks of real snow from elsewhere and a battalion of conscripts from the Swiss army...

Travel Jan 7, 2023 0 67 Add to Reading List

ROBERT HARDMAN visits alpine resorts forced to close slopes or even close completely

Let it snow! It was 20°C on New Year's Day and the rain has barely stopped, ROBERT HARDMAN visits alpine resorts forced to close slopes or even close them completely - and asks: is this the end of skiing as that we know?

By Robert Hardman for the Daily Mail

Posted: 22:10 GMT, 6 January 2023 | Update: 09:07 GMT, 7th January 2023

At 10:30 this morning, viewers around the world will watch Olympian talent race down an alpine pasture at breakneck speed to at 70 mph in the final round of the Ski World Cup.

The sold-out crowd of 25,000 at the base of the hill will be authentic enough, as will be the dangers for athletes.

However, if the cameras pull back from the action, they will see a narrow strip of white pasted against a vast landscape of greenery.

Audiences may wonder whether they're looking at Exmoor or the Brecon Beacons or a modest Scottish hill - until they see a strange cottage in Heidi style on grassy slopes.

If the cameras pull back from the Ski World Cup action, they will see a narrow strip of white pasted against a vast landscape of greenery

Adelboden, like much of Europe, has its hottest, wettest, and - for skiers, at least - worst January ever. January that most people remember

For it is only thanks to the combined efforts of dozens of artificial snow cannons, several trucks of real snow from elsewhere and a battalion of conscripts from the Swiss army...