It is a bucolic scene. The sky is blue, the grass is green and locals stroll through the meadows. The only problem is the grass should be under several feet of snow and the locals should be wearing the red, white and blue of the French ski school.
The French ski season opens this weekend but warm temperatures have meant the closure of all but the highest runs and disappointment for thousands of holidaymakers. Last week, Val d'Isere, one of the highest stations and a favorite among skiers, was forced to cancel the international world cup men's downhill races scheduled for next weekend due to the lack of snow.
Though Alpe D'Huez and Les Deux Alpes are opening, skiing will be limited to zones that are usually used only in the summer. The glamorous Swiss resort of St Moritz has warned that it has no snow for scheduled world cup women's downhill races either.
In Germany and Italy the situation is as bad if not worse. In Austria, rain meant the World Cup races on glaciers were cancelled in October and the situation has only improved a little since. In the Czech Republic the world cup ski jumping competition has been cancelled
"It is a critical situation, not just for the races, but for the major impact it will have on the skiing public," said Atle Skaardal, director of the women's skiing world cup.
"We just have to hope for colder temperatures and snow very soon or there will be a major crisis," he said.
The climate is so clement that even the artificial snow guns will not work.
"The soil is too warm. We need a week of freeze for the snow to stick and we haven't had it," said Guy Mure-Ravaud, a resort manager near Val D'Isere.
Last week was particularly warm in France with a record 22.4oC recorded at Grenoble, the capital of the Alps. Bernard Saunier of the French national meteorological service in the town, said the temperatures were "unusual" but "a kind of unusual becoming more and more usual."
"We can expect warmer and wetter winters and hotter and drier summers for the next decades," Saunier said.
The winter has been the warmest in France since 1947.
In terms of revenue, ski resorts, hugely profitable multi-million dollar industries, are yet to suffer though many in the business are worried.
"The snow has to turn up before the 22nd and the beginning of the Christmas holidays," said Dominique Vassal, director of the station of Villard-de-Lans.
"We're not going crazy. If the snow falls before, it's just pocket money," he said.
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