Ski resorts across Europe are closing at an alarming rate, with experts warning that many more could close over the next two decades as global warming causes the ski seasons to get shorter and shorter
Ski resorts across Europe, including many affordable ones appealing to families, are closing at an alarming rate.
In 2024, five resorts were forced to shut down, bringing the total that have gone out of business since the 1950s to 185, according to The Times. Many of the resorts that have permanently closed are smaller ones with fewer runs.
This year France was close to losing its popular Alpe du Grand Serre ski resort, due to a lack of funds to convert it into a year-round destination, it was reported. The resort, which is located in the village of La Morte, 20 miles from Grenoble, found that many of its slopes like other resorts in Europe, relied upon artificial snow made by forcing water and pressurised air through a snow gun.
While it has been reported that the resort would open for the 2024/2025 season, currently only 50 per cent of the resort’s red slopes are operating, none of the black slopes are open and five of the blue slopes are also closed. Alpe du Grand Serre is not the only resort to have suffered. The Skilift Schratten Flühli small skiing area with two lifts in the canton of Lucerne, Switzerland, has permanently closed due to several operational factors.
In a message shared on its website in September, Skilift Schratten Flühli explained that for the past 12 years, it has only been able to operate for about half the duration of any given winter, presumably due to a lack of snowfall. Its website states: “It was great – many thanks to everyone who contributed to the Schratten flühli ski lift.
“With a lot of passion and great commitment, we have kept the oldest T-bar lift in the canton of Lucerne alive over the last 12 years, together with you. Now we can no longer defy the forces of nature. After careful consideration and with a heavy heart, we have come to the conclusion that we must stop operating the ski lift and the children’s lift.”
In 2023 La Sambuy, a town which runs a family skiing destination near Mont Blanc in the French Alps, decided to dismantle its ski lifts because global warming has caused its ski season to run for only a few weeks, meaning it’s no longer profitable. Talking to The Times about Alpe du Grand Serre, Florent Battistel, who leads a team of 25 instructors, said: “If skiing stops here, not only will the ski school close down, but the entire economy of the village will disappear.”
Now expert Laurent Reynaud of Domaines Skiables de France (DSF), the skiing industry federation, warns that if closures continue at the present rate, then the majority of smaller resorts could close over the next two decades.
“It’s not the big resorts that are most affected now, but the more isolated ski areas, places with one or two ski lifts, that are going to go,” Mr Reynaud told Le Parisien. Some slopes at higher-altitudes are at less risk of closure, like Les Trois Vallées and Les Portes du Soleil ski resorts.
According to Ski Resort Info, there are 3,952 ski resorts in Europe. The Alps alone has 1,154 ski resorts. Around 400 million people visit ski resorts in Europe each year, with the Alps accounting for more than half of those visits. Europe and its slopes account for 62 per cent of total skier visits worldwide.
However, global warming of 2C could raise the lowest elevation at which snow can remain on the ground to 1,500 metres by the end of the century, according to scientists. As a result, lower slopes could see seasons of no snow, and result in less holidaymakers visiting and contributing to the local economy.
