Ski season starts at weekend in some Swiss resorts

The arrival of snowfall has led to some Swiss ski areas opening for the first time this season. Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

Thanks to the snow that fell last weekend, the first ski slopes are opening this week in the Vaudois and Valais Alps. The good quantities which fell made it possible to anticipate the start of the season.

Between the snow and the still golden larch trees, two seasons collided in the space of one night. But, if we go up, it is clearly winter that wins. On the heights of Nendaz (VS) at an altitude of 2,400 metres, more than 60 centimetres of fresh snow fell.

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“It’s nice to find good conditions again,” rejoices Kevin Fatton, snow groomer driver, in Tuesday’s 7.30pm. And to admit that, last week, he was in his fields, under 20 degrees. “It changes everything!”

Given the lack of snow in past years and the summer temperatures of October, the snow so early in the season was indeed unexpected.

In the ski areas of Valais or the Pre-Alps, this snow is a godsend: the possibility of making a base layer and launching the season for some.

“This allows us to launch the season early, it creates a certain emulation among customers for winter sports and then it allows us to sell our annual subscriptions as best as possible”, indicates François Fournier, director of NV Remontées Mécaniques .

In Valais, in Nendaz, Veysonnaz and Verbier, slopes are open this weekend. You can also ski on the glaciers in Saas Fee and Zermatt.

At Glacier 3000 (VD), part of the area opened on Wednesday, with a slight delay. The fault, paradoxically, is the snow.

“We needed snow. We lost three meters of ice this summer,” explains Bernard Tschannen, director of Glacier 3000. “We accumulated two meters but as it was still quite warm, there was therefore frost and snow. the ice that has formed. We need time to prepare the facilities and reopen the ski area.”

These openings will take place with the new snowflakes which are planned for the end of the week. Enough to guarantee a beautiful layer of natural snow in the ski areas. But be careful, between autumn and winter, the standoff is well underway, but is not necessarily over.

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