Comment: The decline of French winter ski resorts is no bad thing
Nick Inman says it is high time to let nature reclaim the mountains
Skiing boomed in the 1960s and ’70s when package holidays became more affordable, giving rise to France's mountain resorts
Jordi Prats/Shutterstock
I sympathise with anyone who cannot wait for winter to come so that they can take to the pristine white slopes mounted on two strips of smooth, laminated wood.
I have been skiing often enough to know it is a great pleasure, but I admit to being in two minds when I read that the French ski industry is contracting and may be in permanent decline.
First, global warming started to shrink glaciers. Then milder winters caused the snowline to begin to recede upwards.
“We haven’t had a winter for the past two years,” a heating engineer remarked to me the other day. Less work for him – and less work for anyone who makes an income from skiing.
The snow arrives later and melts earlier and the consequent shortening of the winter sports season is now threatening the viability of several mountain towns and, with it, thousands of jobs.
At least two French ski resorts have announced that they will not be opening this winter because it would not be profitable. Others, particularly at lower altitudes, are sure to follow suit.
Diversifying into year-round tourism does not always work. There are only so many summer hikers around willing to spend money on a day out in the fresh air.
For me, the point of going into the mountains is to get away from consumerism and not spend any money.
Read more: Ski chalet owners in French Alps hit with exit fees of up to €200,000
Winter sports and global warming
Some winter sports resorts will survive but some will not. An era is coming to an end and I would like to anticipate its epitaph by putting what is happening in context.
Skiing may seem as if it has always been part of the way of life of developed countries, but really its career has been remarkably short.
In Scandinavia, cross-country skiing for practical purposes has a reasonably long history but in France, principally the Pyrenees and the Alps, leisure/competitive skiing is a relatively modern phenomenon.
The sport did not really take off in France until the 1924 Chamonix Winter Olympics.
The first national ski school was established in 1932 but demand remained moderate. Only the rich could afford the expense. In 1938, the country still only had six ski lifts and 11 cable cars.
Skiing boomed in the 1960s and ’70s when package holidays became more affordable. Its popularity seemed to grow exponentially – until global warming began to have an effect measurable not only by scientists but also by the tills of ski lifts and ski-hire shops.
The truth is that downhill skiing is not an essential human activity. It is an entirely artificial one, dependent on great technological structures sprawling across the mountains. It has never been cheap and egalitarian. Even if you own your own gear you still have to get to the mountains and pay exorbitant prices for accommodation, meals and lift passes.
Read more: I moved to France and became a mountain guide
What will happen to French ski resorts?
It is probable that as unviable resorts have to shut shop, those that remain will go further upmarket. They will certainly have to invest in more snow cannons, as essential rather than back-up equipment, to compensate for the shortcomings of nature.
Skiing is likely to go back to where it started: exclusive to the mega-rich. Some of the millionaires in their designer salopettes will probably give up on France altogether and fly to other countries in search of reliable snow, further expanding their carbon footprints in search of winter thrills.
You will have realised by now that I am not going to cry if resorts close and lifts have to be dismantled. Quite the opposite. Skiing was good while it lasted but now it is time for the mountains to do what they do best: return to being rugged and wild, inhabited by animals that belong there, not spoiled bipeds who shape the landscape for their own convenience.
Do you agree or disagree with Nick Inman? Is the decline of French ski resorts a good thing for nature? Share your opinion with us at letters@connexionfrance.com
