Big Swiss ski resorts report ‘positive’ winter season – so far

Skiers enjoy the snow at Crans-Montana in canton Valais on February 23, 2023. © Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

Large ski resorts in Switzerland have managed to make up for the difficult start to the season, which was plagued by persistent warm weather. But small and low-altitude resorts continue to suffer.

“We are having a record month for February,” Pascal Bergero, director of the lift company covering the Swiss side of the Franco-Swiss Portes du Soleil ski area, told the Keystone-SDA news agency. 

Thanks to sunny weather over the past few weeks, the ski area has managed to make up for financial losses during Christmas and the first two weeks of January.

At the start of the season, many resorts suffered from huge swathes of green mountainside, persistent warm weather and slushy runs at medium and low altitudes. This was followed by large snowfalls in early January.

+ Swiss ski resorts struggle with snow shortage and record temperatures

Ovronnaz, in canton Valais, also gives an positive interim assessment. The 20% drop in visitors over Christmas and New Year has been recovered in January and February. “If March is correct, we will be able talk about a good season,” said Gianluca Lepori director of Téléovronnaz.

The Vaud resorts of Villars, Gryon and Les Diablerets also gave a “good” assessment for the season.

“We are happy with the season so far despite a complex start. There are many people in the resorts, hotel reservations are good, we have managed to maintain quality snow and the weather is fine,” said Sergei Aschwanden, director general of Bex-Villars-Gryon-Les Diablerets tourism.

Record in Graubünden

Officials in large resorts in German-speaking resorts also have smiles on their faces. In canton Graubünden in south-east Switzerland, Davos-Klosters has recorded an 18% increase in overnight stays so far this year compared to 2021/22. St Moritz also recorded a record number of overnight stays in December.

Tourism officials in central Switzerland are also upbeat. Engelberg says it has had a “very good season” so far and Andermatt talks of a “very positive” winter. Officials in the Jungfrau region in the Bernese Oberland described the “fourth best start to the season in the past ten years”.

+ Switzerland smashes January heat record north of Alps

Lack of snow

However, smaller resorts, and those located at lower altitudes without artificial snow, have had a more difficult winter. For some the season started late due to the lack of snow; others even had to close their slopes.

At Sörenberg, in canton Lucerne, the season only began in mid-January due to the high temperatures. As a result, turnover from ski lift passes is 35% lower than last year.

The situation is even more difficult in the Jura mountains. “It’s been a horrible year,” Jean-François Léchot, president of the Jura Arc lift company, told RTN radio on Friday. 

The introduction of snow cannons could be a solution, he says, but it would represent “a real challenge”. It would require not only sufficient funds, but also cold weather, and the necessary authorisations and water supply.

Léchot does not see the end of skiing in the Jura mountains in the short term, however. “As long as there is snow, there will be customers”, he says. The region is popular with families and easy to access.