Alpine ski resorts snowed under
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Your support makes all the difference.British skiers, being offered destinations as exotic as Japan and India to tempt them onto the slopes this winter, for once need head no further than the Alps.
Just when Alpine Europe was starting to seem past it, everywhere is under a coating of snow unmatched for 30 years. St Anton in Austria has seen nothing like it in a century.
Snowfalls have come early and heavy: in Courcheval in France they even lost a mountain restaurant in the drifts; in Val-d'Isere they had to dig a 12ft tunnel simply to open the boot room.
The weather has brought grins to the faces of the tour operators who are facing their best season since the boom winter of 1989-1990, when more than 800,000 Britons took to the slopes. With a solid base of snow already fully established, only an exceptionally warm December and January could spoil what promises to be a record season through to Easter.
There has not been a start to the season like it in 34 years, according to a spokesman for Mark Warner Holidays. "Even the lower resorts are over the moon," he said. "And because they're sure of the snow, people are booking a week for January, February and March."
"The snow is incredible," agreed Andy Perrin of Crystal Holidays, Britain's biggest ski tour operator. "When our reps were trying to get through Bourg St Maurice, the gateway to the Alps, on 30 November there was more snow than they had had since 1963. Not just more snow than any November, but more snow than any time, any winter."
But it is not only the snow which has contributed to the buzz of excitement. Even before the snowfalls, the strong poundwas boosting interest. Bob Day, of the Ski Club of Great Britain, said they expected bookings to be 10 per cent up on last year. "New Year is already chocka," he said.
All the operators agreed that anyone looking for the best deals should grab them now. Thomson's marketing manager, Ian Simkins, said there were still many bargains around, particularly for Christmas, although the start of 1997 was booked up.
However, there are still those who fancy a different kind of challenge. Perrin said Sweden and Alaska are the latest additions to his range of destinations, which also includes Russia and Japan. "They're put on to answer a call for excitement."
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