This winter, Europe is recovering under cover.
Due to the worsening Covid-19 epidemic and the threat of variants, the European Commission, like most governments on the Old Continent, advises against all travel outside national borders that even Germany is considering closing. .
Lockdown sometimes governs movement within certain national territories, where curfews and more or less severe re-containment alternate.
In the middle of winter, the health situation hits the mountain world head-on, upsetting all or part of the winter sports season, just like at Christmas.
The chairlifts will remain frozen at the departure station in France as the February school holidays approach (a period when less than 10% of French people usually ski), in Germany or in Italy.
Four of our neighbors, Switzerland, Spain, Andorra and Austria are trying to find a compromise to allow a small portion of their population to descend partially open slopes, in an unprecedented atmosphere of restrictions, and for an economic balance. almost untraceable.
Read also: February holidays: without downhill skiing, the French resorts are preparing despite everything
Germany: a white season is looming
The Garmisch-Partenkirchen station in Bavaria has not opened its ski lifts.
Like France, Germany is moving towards a tourist season without alpine skiing.
Vladimir Sklyarov
Germany, which had coordinated with France not to open the ski lifts during the Christmas holidays, should follow the same path for the rest of the season.
The fate of winter sports was not even the subject of a special communication on Tuesday, January 19, at the end of the video conference bringing together Angela Merkel and the minister-presidents of the Länder.
As if the activity of the stations did not weigh more than a snowball in the face of the dreaded avalanche of variants of the coronavirus.
In fact, the case seems to have been heard since mid-December, with the new version of the order for protective measures against infections.
In the process, the winter holidays paid the price for the fight against Covid 19. They were, for example, brought forward to next week in Thuringia, or canceled altogether in Bavaria, due to remedial education.
The managers of ski lifts, who have suffered a net loss of 30% of their annual turnover with the cancellations of the Christmas holidays, are chomping at the bit.
Their federal association (VDS) highlights the seriousness of their sanitary protocol for an activity in the great outdoors, but
"the
trauma of Ischgl
(named after the Austrian station epicenter of a huge chain of contamination in Europe last year )
, this is the authorities' sledgehammer argument!
»
, Deplore the professionals.
The initiative of a Bavarian operator in mid-January - to rent a track to a family for one hour for 110 € - has fizzled out.
From the Nordic ski courses of the Black Forest to the alpine slopes of Spitsbergen, the survival of several ski lift companies is threatened.
Read also: Germany strengthens surveillance at its borders
Andorra: a quarter of the lifts open, skiing reserved for residents
The slopes of Grandvilara, one of the three resorts in Andorra.
arenysam - stock.adobe.com
After giving up on opening the alpine ski slopes of its three resorts (Grandvalira, Ordino-Arcalis, Pal-Arinsal) at Christmas, Andorra finally started 25% of its ski lifts on January 2, opening access to 40% of ski lifts. alpine ski slopes to date.
But the principality intends to reserve its domain to its residents only, by relying on
"the possession of the season ski pass
- a habit for Andorrans -
or by asking at the cash desk for the residence permit"
, affirms to
Figaro
Montse Guerreiro, director skiing in Andorra.
The bars and restaurants of the Pyrenean confetti are open by time slots of three to four hours, one at noon and one in the evening, with a limitation of tables to 4 people.
The government was awaiting announcements from its French and Spanish neighbors in the area of skiing, to possibly change its position.
Read also: Skiing: Andorra timidly opens its slopes
Austria: open lifts and closed accommodation for
"national"
skiing
Ischgl, Austria's "party" resort, epicenter of contamination last winter.
By closing accommodation and restaurants and establishing strict border controls, Austria de facto reserves skiing to its residents only, as part of a national semi-containment.
vitma - stock.adobe.com
Slopes partly open but accommodation and restaurants closed.
This is the "compromise" that Austria, second ski tourist destination in Europe behind France, has found to avoid attracting foreign visitors to its slopes and, in other words, to "reserve" skiing for the inhabitants.
The ski lifts, most of which have public transport status, partially opened on December 24.
Since then, the slopes have only been frequented by local skiers or Austrians who can return to their homes in the evening, under the confinement in force, which authorizes outings for sport.
The sometimes high attendance at weekends, in stations near Vienna in particular, raised concerns about too close contacts in a context of epidemic outbreak.
But strict health measures apply in the chairlifts and cable cars: in addition to a physical distance of 2 meters to be respected, the wearing of an FFP2 mask is compulsory.
The number of infections remaining high, the government extended the third confinement until February 7: curfew, stores closed….
For hotels, accommodation and restaurants, the tunnel is still long: they will remain closed at least until early March.
Read also: Covid-19: for fear of the variant, Austria extends its confinement
Spain: fractions of open slopes but few skiers
Some Spanish resorts have opened part of their slopes, here Baqueira-Beret (archive photo).
But few skiers take advantage of it, due to the travel restrictions in force in the autonomous communities.
Tono balaguer
In Spain, ski resorts are allowed to open and some do… but they are pretty much empty.
The spots closest to the French border, on the southern slope of the Pyrenees, in particular see their activity considerably reduced by the restrictions on mobility decreed in the autonomous communities, as part of the fight against the coronavirus.
In Catalonia, for example, all the resorts, including Baqueira-Beret, have opened a small part of their area, but hardly anyone can go there!
Because at the moment, while the whole country is submerged by the third wave, the Catalans are prohibited from leaving their municipality without proof related to their work, their studies or a medical reason.
And the descent of the slopes is not considered a case of force majeure.
If the epidemic evolves favorably, the geographical limitations could be alleviated… but there is no guarantee that this will be the case before February at the earliest.
So why open stations that almost no one goes to?
"
The managers of the stations are optimistic that the situation will improve in February,
decrypts a source of the Catalan regional government.
In this case, it would be more expensive for them to open the slopes at the last moment than to have them opened for nothing in January
.
"
In neighboring Aragon, only one resort has made the same calculation, that of Astún, which only opens a fraction of its slopes.
The autonomous community imposes on its inhabitants a confinement by provinces (the equivalent of our departments) coupled with municipal confinement in the nine most important municipalities in the region.
Read also: Covid-19: in Spain, a thick thicket of rules
Italy: slopes closed until at least February 15
The resort of Alta Badia, in the Dolomites.
The prospect of opening the ski lifts on February 15 seems very precarious on the other side of the Alps.
Oldrich pridal
The soap opera is straining the nerves on the other side of the Alps.
The lifts of Italian ski resorts were first closed on Christmas Eve and until January 7, to prevent the influx of tourists during the holidays.
Closed extended until January 18 pending clarification of the epidemiological situation.
Since ?
The chairlifts are shut down again, following a decree of January 16.
Faced with the increase in new cases of Covid-19 recorded during the Christmas holidays, the government also prohibited Italians from moving outside their region, until February 15.
To read also: "The debate on the vaccine passport for travel is premature"
Which, in fact, does not prohibit ski touring and snowshoeing, as in Valle d'Aosta.
The managers of Italian resorts are urging the executive to set a certain date for the opening of the ski season.
Without results.
Some regions have tried to overcome the restrictions imposed by Rome.
But the decision to open alone or only part of the estate can be counterproductive.
In South Tyrol, the autonomous province of Bolzano, then classified yellow ("moderate risk zone", according to the classification which prevails in the Boot) had tried at the end of the year to open the ski lifts for the only inhabitants of the province.
Before giving it up, faced with the deterioration of the epidemiological situation in this region of Haut Adige, the ban on travel between regions and the low profitability for a small number of skiers.
As for opening after February 15, when the season will already not be very far from the end, this is again a dissuasive financial arbitrage.
Except perhaps for those with lifts reaching 3000 meters, like the Pontedilegno Tonale ski area southwest of Bolzano.
The Presena Glacier guarantees skiing there until the end of May, and it could still be interesting to open the lifts if the government gives the green light.
But for most ski professionals, February 15 is too late to hire the necessary staff and make the season profitable.
The State has provided aid in return, in an attempt to compensate for the loss of turnover in the mountain world in Italy.
Read also: Travel diary in the magnificent mountains of the Dolomites
Switzerland: ski resorts open, bars and restaurants closed
In Crans Montana, 66 km of alpine ski slopes are currently open, out of a total of 140 km (archive photo).
2020 Didier Marti
Switzerland increased its health restrictions on January 18 by recommending teleworking and closing so-called
"non-essential"
stores
.
But most of the country's 230 alpine ski resorts have partially reopened their ski lifts and welcome the public, as part of a national and specific health protocol (physical distancing, gondolas and cable cars two-thirds occupied ...).
"The opening decision is the responsibility of the cantons, but no request for a station has been retoked to date,"
Véronique Kanel, spokesperson for Switzerland Tourism
, told
Figaro
.
If discordant voices are heard, there is no question for the moment of closing the slopes, including in St. Moritz.
A mutant virus was detected in residents of two luxury hotels in the Grisons resort a few days ago.
Local officials have defended the decision to keep the ski slopes open, believing that wearing a mask and social distancing could help limit infections.
"If there are 100 people on the ski slopes, then there will be 100 fewer in the villages,"
said Christian Gartmann, an official of the Covid-19 cell in the region, indicates the Reuters agency.
Bars and restaurants, on the other hand, remain closed throughout the country - even if take away is allowed -
“with the exception of hotel restaurants, which have the possibility of welcoming their only guests, in accordance with the plans of protection ”
, indicates Switzerland Tourism.
Switzerland is preparing to tighten the conditions for entry into the country.
From February 1, a mandatory 10-day quarantine will nonetheless concern tourists from areas on a sanitary red list.
The region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur appears there.
On the French side, a decree of December 19 allows the prefects to prescribe in particular "
measures of quarantine or the placement and maintenance in isolation, in particular people returning to the national territory from an area hosting stations. ski: cantons of Graubünden, Jura, Neuchâtel, Uri, Valais and Vaud ”
, recalls France Diplomatie, while the government has advised against all travel abroad since January 18.
