It’s the age-old conundrum : when is it best to hit the slopes this winter – assuming you’re in the happy position of being able to choose your dates ?
Guessing when the snow will be best remains as impossible to predict as it always has been. Last season was one of the worst Decembers for snow cover in the Alps on record, with even the usual advice of booking a resort with high-altitude slopes not as reliable, as even at snow-sure altitudes, the cover was thin. But is that the start of a trend, or does it mean that Mother Nature will balance things out this year and give us a very white Christmas? Who knows, but let’s be optimistic and expect the latter !
The good news is that two of the big variables in the ski season are pretty favourable this winter.
The first of those is the day of the week of Christmas and New Year. If these fall on a Saturday in particular, it’s not good for flights and transfers, and Sunday isn’t fabulous either, but we have a Friday Christmas this year, which is OK, pretty much.
Nick Edwards, who works for ski specialist travel agency Snow Finders, has noticed one issue, however – the Christmas Day effect on Boxing Day flights.
“A 7am flight from the UK on Boxing Day morning means a 5am check-in and therefore leaving the house at potentially 2 or 3am, which equates to a rather wasted Christmas Day. Those returning on this date may also feel Christmas Day isn’t quite the same, being the last of the holiday and with an early start on Boxing Day.”
Some tour operators fly on Sundays (27 December) anyway, and others are banking on people caring more about their ski holiday than Christmas Day evening.
“We will fly on Boxing Day. We hope that the desire of skiers to go to the slopes is stronger than the desire to sleep in,” said a spokesperson for one of the big three tour operators.
Many school Christmas holidays are starting late, meaning bookings for the weeks commencing 12 December and even Christmas-week departures on the 19 December (with some schools not breaking up until midweek on the 22 or 23 December) are lower than usual but that at the other end of the holiday period into early January, they’re up.
Credit – Avoriaz and Matthieu Vitré
With the UK government still threatening parents who take their children out of school to go skiing outside of holiday periods in England with fines (in Scotland it’s more likely to be an “unauthorised absence” but no fine), the pressure is on February half-term once again. “February half-term will be a sell-out very soon; the uptake has been phenomenal this year. The government’s stance has just exacerbated availability and caused prices to increase,” says Nick. “From what we are seeing, there are some unusual school holidays, so there are some half-termers from 7/8 February, including Bristol, who can bag a bargain.”
Finally Easter – it’s not too bad this season, in March at least, albeit the last Sunday of the month on the 27 March. The advice is that, because Easter is not too late and demand on school holiday periods continues to rise, bookings are high here too, although prices significantly lower than in the February holidays.
Credit – Crystal
On Christmas, New Year and Easter, by the way, be aware that things won’t be so rosy in the winter after next, 2016–17. Marion Telsnig, who works for the UK’s largest operator, Crystal, (who’ll be booking 2016–17 ski holidays before the end of 2015) warns,
“The season after this next one, THAT’s going to be the perfect storm … Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are both on a Saturday and Easter Sunday is late again 16 April … Brace yourself, ski industry.”
