For British skiers and snow-boarders, Christmas came early. Heavy snow
engulfed the Alps in the first few weeks of December, just as tour operators
held a fire sale of early-season holidays.
A week in some of the snowiest resorts sold for less than £200 - including
flights, transfers, food and lodging. Those who blew off the Christmas
shopping and went skiing instead had the time of their lives.
Well, bully for them. What about the rest of us - can we join the party?The
answer is yes. The ski season still has three months to run, and many places
have had fantastic snow recently - the Colorado resort of Vail has just
clocked up its snowiest December for eight years, and Whistler, in British
Columbia, broke its early-season snow drought with more than a metre around
New Year.
The resorts of western Italy have had regular top-ups since then, and even in
the northern Alps, where it’s been pretty dry since Christmas, temperatures
have been low, which means - on piste at least - the snow is still in good
shape.
In the short term, it looks as though it’s going to stay cold, so at the very
least the resorts will be able to use their snow cannons and keep the pistes
topped up with man-made stuff.
Whatever happens, though, many resorts in the Alps and North America have a
deep snow base, which should see them through the months to come.
And there are enough discounts at the moment to suggest that nobody who shops
around will have to pay full price - helping to offset the weakness of the
pound once you get to the resorts.
JANUARY
For departures on January 17 and 24, there are lots of discounts and
availability. Choose a catered chalet, and breakfast, afternoon tea and
dinner (with wine) are included in the cost, so you can largely avoid high
resort prices.
Save £265: one week at Chalet Beutsons in Verbier, Switzerland,
arriving on January 18, costs £344, half-board, including flights and
transfers, with Ifyouski.com (0844 371 7733, ifyouski.com
).
Save £180: one week at Chalet Ptarmigan in Vail, Colorado,
arriving on January 25, costs £799pp, half-board, including flights and
transfers, with Ski Independence (0845 310 3030, ski-i.com
).
Save £498: one week at Lodge Danube in St Anton, Austria, arriving
on January 18, costs £925pp, half-board, including flights and transfers,
with Scott Dunn (020 8682 5050, scottdunn.com
).
