No snow and 16C winters — but skiing has a plan to save itself - The Times
No snow and 16C winters - but skiing has a plan to save itself
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No snow and 16C winters — but skiing has a plan to save itself
Balmy temperatures have cut the Alpine ski season by a month and tourists are considering other options. Resorts are looking to summer instead
Five years ago Megève had an abundance of snow but temperatures of 16C this month have wrecked the ski season
SAM74100/GETTY IMAGES; KATIE GATENS FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES
The Sunday Times
February half-term in the French Alps. Manicured women parade in Dior ski suits down the main street of Megève; families sip hot chocolate outside wooden chalets bedecked with fake icicles and white fleece. It’s an alpine postcard. Just one problem: there’s no snow.
Outside the Bar des Alpes, venerable villagers and childhood friends Pierre and Michel, both 66, are having a drink in the sunshine and marvelling at this uncanny sight. The temperature? A balmy 16C. About the same as Barcelona.
Pierre was born in the town and ran a patisserie for 30 years before retiring. “In winter when I was a child, I used to go to school on skis and we would get around town with horse-drawn sleighs,” he recalls, sipping his mid-morning
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