The higher the altitude of a skiing area, the colder it is, and so the snow lasts for longer. The further into March you are, the cheaper it is to venture to European ski slopes.
If you are going on your skiing holiday during March-April, reduce the risk of poor skiing conditions and pick one of the following destinations for more chance of snow:. All these locations have high altitudes and many are based by glaciers, making the snow last longer in the spring months. Whichever month you end up choosing to go, we hope you have a fantastic skiing trip! Anne Wooley is Owner at Ski Cuisine. If you would like to be a guest blogger on A Luxury Travel Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.
Thankfully, for me, money is not a deciding factor in when I go to ski.. I always watch the snow forecasts like a hawk though. Name required Your actual name, not your online persona, website name, company name or keywords, otherwise your comment won't be published. Email required will not be published. Comment required Please do not advertise and make sure your comment adds value, otherwise we regret that it won't be published.
Accommodation: Where to Stay in Chamonix. Skiers and snowboarders at St. Serious skiers head to Austria's Arlberg region for no-nonsense high-challenge skiing, which they find on the more than a dozen super-expert runs at St. The longest of these is the demanding kilometer Valluga-St. Anton, with an elevation differential of 1, meters.
But even the red-marked pistes here are well above the difficulty of other Alpine resorts. Anton is especially known for its roughly off-piste options for advanced skiers - many are places to go with a guide - and its mega-moguls, especially on Schindler Kar. Recently added lifts link St. Anton to ski pistes on the other side of the Flexen Pass, uniting it to the main resorts in the Arlberg: Lech, St. These are all included in the regional Arlberg lift pass. A spectacular new kilometer circuit, the Run of Fame , takes experienced skiers through the entire Ski Arlberg skiing area.
The circuit runs from St. An annual race, the Hunt of Fame, will be held on the new circuit. Accommodation: Where to Stay in St. Anton am Arlberg. Although its colorful, frescoed buildings house deluxe hotels and pricey shops like those of Cortina or St. The most challenging of all downhill races is held here annually, the notorious Hahnenkamm, on terrain as steep as 85 percent vertical in places.
The small Bichlalm area is especially designed for riders and freestylers. Cable car at Diavolezza, St. Moritz, Switzerland.
The number of world ski competitions that have been hosted at St. Moritz should tell you something about this famous resort: this is world-class skiing. The Winter Olympics were held here in and , and you can often see competitions at its Olympic ski-jump.
There's plenty of ski terrain for non-Olympians, too. Moritz is known for its long intermediate runs and other outstanding intermediate terrain , and with more than 20 lifts to choose from, you'll find slopes and pistes for every skill level. Above St. Moritz and reached from town by the Corviglia Funicular, trails from the 2,meter town of Corviglia have magnificent Alpine views. Moritz is one of Europe's first - some claim the first - winter resorts, and it still has a smart clientele and distinct air of luxury.
There are plenty of things to do besides skiing: ice skating, tobogganing, Nordic skiing, bobsledding, and kite skiing. The St.
Moritz Ice Cricket event will be held as scheduled, February , Val Gardena, Italy. With the same world-class skiing as its neighboring Dolomite resort Cortina D'Ampezzo, but without the glitz or prices, the villages of Val Gardena offer a more casual, low-key experience. Val Gardena's kilometers of trails and lifts connect with those in several adjacent valleys between the peaks of the Gruppo del Sella, creating nearly kilometers of interconnected skiing that includes the Marmolada Glacier.
Nearly two-thirds of the terrain reached from Val Gardena is for advanced and expert skiers, one of the highest percentages in the Dolomites. But beginning and intermediate skiers still have more than kilometers to enjoy.
Go to Cortina for that. Instead, you'll find a relaxing and friendly atmosphere of authentic Alpine hospitality, as well as small lodges and traditional inns serving local cuisine. People come here for the skiing experiences, such as skiing four runs used for the men's and women's downhill and giant slalom World Championship races , with average gradients of more than 25 percent.
The new experts-only La Ria run, starting from the Dantercepies cable car, has inclines as great as 52 percent in places. Along with ample natural snow and state-of-the art grooming. Val Gardena's infrastructure is top-of-the-line. Its 81 lifts include Italy's first eight-seater chairlift with heated seats , on the Piz Sella, offering a direct connection to the Sellaronda route. Val Gardena is included in the Dolomiti SuperSki pass, allowing access to 11 other resorts in the region. Zugspitze, Germany.
The Austrian government also states that everyone who has been in Tirol in the past two weeks should be tested for Covid immediately. In an advance retaliation against the rumour of increased restrictions and possible ski resort closures in Tirol, the Skiwelt ski area has publish a note reiterating that it does NOT require skiers to provide a negative virus test to be allowed on the slopes.
This comes as Austria has recently come out of a nationwide lockdown. Local authorities in Tirol are desperate to avoid going straight back into a regional lockdown. Discussions are ongoing. The French government announced last week that French ski areas will not re-open at the start of February as had been hoped. Ski lifts are currently closed across France.
However, non-lift assisted activities such as ski touring, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing are exploding in popularity.
Unfortunately, the minutes of fame for these alternative winter activities may be short-lived as France may soon be headed into a third national lockdown. Bricklayer Mick Daffern missed skiing so much that he decided to take a skiing trip around the streets of Wolverhampton. Contrasted with far fewer skiers than in any regular season, the number of avalanche accidents this year has been staggering.
Sadly, many of these incidents have been fatal; there have been 11 deaths in Switzerland in the past 11 days. For a staggering visual of how dangerous the current conditions are, look at this enormous avalanche triggered by the Ski Patrol service in the Col de la Leisse area of Tignes.
Henry is offering an avalanche safety seminar tomorrow evening Jan 27th , via Zoom. You can register here. Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of anyone affected. Since our last update there has been no change to the situation in Austrian ski resorts.
Lifts continue to operate, but without any form of tourist accommodation open, they can only be enjoyed by people who live close by.
There may be some change to Austrian restrictions on the 8th of February, but hotels and restaurants are expected to remain closed until at least the end of February. Resorts in Switzerland continue to operate more or less normally, with relevant social distancing measures in place. Our readers on the continent, however, might just be seeing a faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Austria opened many of its ski areas, including St Anton , to locals on December 24th, keeping hotels and restaurants closed to ensure only those coming for a day trip were able to enjoy the slopes.
They had originally planned to open resorts to all visitors from January 7th, but as Austria has just extended their national lockdown , that date has been pushed to January 24th. This date is, of course, subject to the current conditions at the time. Andorran resorts like Grandvalira are taking a more positive view of the situation and plan to allow visitors from neighbouring Spain and France from January 9th.
These resorts are operating at around two-thirds capacity, with obligatory face masks and social distancing. Even before the latest nationwide lockdown in the UK, many holidaymakers who had booked ski trips for this half-term had moved them to next winter season, instantly slashing the number of spaces available. We traditionally see strong demand for Christmas, New Year or Half Term holidays far in advance and those bookings have started a lot earlier than normal.
People already searching for next season typically have a choice of nearly all the properties in our portfolio, but this year is different. With the season opening delayed in France, Austria and Italy, the majority of skiers who had Christmas and New Year booked for this winter have chosen to defer their stay to next year, so there is less availability than usual. However alongside that positive note, he also introduced a number of tighter restrictions on the nightly curfew, and said that the rate of infection — around 15, new cases per day — was much higher than the 5, cases per day needed to re-open cinemas, theatres and museums.
This move was proposed by several regional governments who felt they needed more time to adequately prepare. Although the number of daily Covid cases has fallen from a high of around 40, in mid-November to just over 20,, the infection rate has recently begun to edge higher. The Saslong lift company that serves part of Val Gardena has decided to pack it in early, announcing on December 17th they will remain shut for the entire winter.
Ski resorts in Slovakia were running as usual until the government made a snap announcement on January 1st, immediately closing all ski resorts until the 24th — despite resorts in the neighbouring Czech Republic opening for the ski season on the same day.
Ski areas across Scotland have been forced to close in accordance with new coronavirus measures announced by Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. The extent of early skiing available in Zermatt is dictated by snow conditions, but by early December there is normally a good network of pistes open linking all three of the resort's main areas.
Don't forget that weather-permitting you can also ski into neighbouring Cervinia , across the border in Italy, which has its own extensive and snow-sure ski area, open from late October. Late November. Open from 25 November Obertauern does not have a glacier to fall back on, but its impressive natural snowfall and comprehensive snow-making usually mean that there is plenty of terrain open by the time the resort opens in late November.
The resort's geography is also a factor in helping to preserve the snow. The top height of m is not spectacular but, situated on the eastern side of the Alps, average temperatures relative to height are considerably lower than in the western and especially north-western Alps, which are more exposed to the warming effects of the Atlantic gulf stream.
Looking for hotels in Obertauern? Early December sometimes opens for one or two weeks during the late-October holidays. Les 2 Alpes used to always open its glacier area for the autumn half term in late October before closing again in November, and re-opening "properly" in early December.
Note that in recent years this has not been possible due to insufficient snow cover, but this year the resort will be open from 17 October to 1 November thanks to significant early snowfall. W hilst complete early December snow cover is not guaranteed, the resort boasts the largest skiable glacier in Europe and the highest pistes in France. I ts upper slopes are likely to have good conditions, especially on the glacier, which is one of the best in the Alps.
Lower down, early season conditions are more temperamental particularly on the steeper west facing home-runs , but they do have snow-making and, if you are very lucky, you can enjoy one of the longest vertical drops in the Alps.
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