Alpine farmers making cold cash by selling snow to ski resorts

Cash-strapped Alpine farmers are raking in a fortune harvesting snow and selling it to desperate ski slopes.

Despite a freezing winter, snowfall levels at lower altitudes are down and Austrian resorts have had to buy in trailerloads of the stuff from higher up the mountains.

Across the country, thousands of tonnes of snow have been dug up from high Alpine ski fields and shipped to keep ski pistes open. In Austria, the biggest "snow harvesters" are the owners of the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrassen AG (GroAG), a 65-kilometre stretch of road 2,500 metres above sea level that is Europe's highest Alpine crossing.

GroAG spokesman Dietmar Schondorfer said, "Even if it doesn't snow, every day we have tonnes of snow dumped on the road by the wind, all we have to do is drive back and forward to scoop it up."

Resort News

MONTGENEVRE - Chondolas (a mix fo gondolas and chairs) continue their inexorable alpine rise with not one but two opening in Montgenevre this season. Les Chalmettes gondola, which accesses the intermediate friendly north facing Gondrans slopes, is being replaced and another is planned to link this area with the Chavlet slopes. The good news? This will replace a soul-sapping uphill walk. Kids and families will rejoice!

HINTERTUX - Peak-time queues to get up the Hintertux glacier will be eased this season with the opening of a new 24-man gondola, the Gletscher I, from the base of the resort up to Sommerbergalm. It may sound like a spaceship but we are assured it is a conventional gondola. It replaces one of the old parallel gondolas which has now been decommissioned.

ZERMATT - Beginners get the benefit here with a new nursery slope at Leisse, just above the Sunnegga funicular and new linking lift this will be ideal for kids and first-timers.

LA THUILE - Small is beautiful in La Thuile this season. A new fast quad is being built near the base to serve three new runs, a blue, a red and a black. Keeping them short and sweet, the lift only rises 180m but all runs are powered by artifical snow.

TREMBLANT - Access to and from the sunny side of the mountai will be greatly improved this season with a new eight-seat gondola which will link the Versant Soleil sector with the centre of the village.

Spanish resorts benefit from early snow

Sierra Nevada and Formigal both opened their doors last weekend and Baqueria Beret is opening on the 22nd November.
Over 7000 skiers and boarders took to the slopes at the Sierra Nevada resort near Granada last weekend, a week ahead of the planned opening date. It was the first time the resort has opened early for 20 years, thanks to heavy snowfall the previous weekend and currently has over 33km of pistes open.The resort is one of 15 new ski resorts added by Crystal for the 2008/2009 ski season which also includes Formigal, which opened on 15th November for weekend skiing. The resort will re-open on 22nd November. Formigal is Spain’s largest resort, recently expanded into four valleys and new direct flights to Huesca have cut the transfer time to just over one hour.

Snow News

- There is fine sunny weather on Monday across the open Austrian resorts.
- The combination of last weeks fresh snow at Tignes and the cold weather this week is providing excellent riding conditions on the glacier.
- The Swiss resorts of Saas Fee and Zermatt both offer great autumn riding on their glaciers.
- Glorious sunny weather blesses the open Italian resorts on Monday.
- Geilo in Norway is open for snowsports but the amount of terrain available is limited at the moment.
- In Scotland Cairngorm is now closed for lift maintenance until early December. The Lecht is also now closed but this is due to the lack of snow.
- Breckenridge and Keystone in America opened over the weekend and Mammoth received 30cm of fresh snow on Saturday.
- Lake Louise and Mount Norquay at Banff in Canada both opened on 8th November, offering good skiing. Sunshine Village is scheduled to open on 11th November.

Snow Report

AUT: Last week's fresh snow has boosted snow conditions across Austria.
FRA: Tignes benefited from 30cm of fresh snow last week, doubling the snow depth. Cold weather is helping to maintain the great snow conditions.
SWI: Saas Fee and Zermatt are both open for skiing and expect more fresh snow on Tuesday.
ITA: Val Senales received 50cm of fresh snow last week. Light snow is forecast until Friday.
SCO: The Lecht is open for snowsports. Although this week is milder than last week, the temperature is expected to drop again on Friday.
USA: More resorts are opening for winter skiing; Killington opened over the weekend and Mammoth opened on Monday.
CAN: Sunshine Village is scheduled to kick off the Canadian season this week, opening on Friday.