The Alpine ski season has begun earlier than usual thanks to unseasonably heavy snowfalls.
Last weekend, skiers and snowboarders enjoyed outstanding conditions for this time of the year. There were significant snowfalls across Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland – some up to 20 inches deep. The Austrian resort of Kitzbühel had earlier set an 80-year record by opening on October 24th.
Ski tour operators welcomed the early snow, saying it had helped stimulate sharp increases in bookings, which would go some way to countering the effects of the economic downturn.
Betony Garner, of Ski Club of Great Britain, said:
“The crucial thing is that the temperature has been staying low so the snow is settling – some resorts are blanketed like it’s the middle of winter.”
Many Alpine resorts had been becoming increasingly nervous about the unseasonably warm weather of late, which saw temperatures as high as 18C (65F), fearing a repeat of the dire season of 2006/7.
by Andy Moreton
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Naked alpine ramblers have been warned to keep their clothes on from this spring – at least in one area of Switzerland - or face fines.
Apparently, hiking through the heather with nothing more than a rucksack and a pair of strong boots is a growing pastime, especially among Germans.
The walkers have been at liberty to wander free of clothes and of prosecution because there’s been no law to prevent them. But the Swiss canton (state) of Appenzell Innerrhoden has now said it will slap fines of 200 Francs (£122 / $175) on any holidaymaker who’s caught rambling au naturel.
“We have been receiving many complaints,” said Markus Dörig, a spokesman for the canton. “The local people are upset and we in the government share their concern. How would one feel if one was to go walking and suddenly came across a group of naked people?”
Not surprisingly, there’s been disappointment among naked hiker websites in Germany. One said it was a harmless pursuit aimed simply at getting back to nature. “Abandoning unpractical clothes enables a direct contact with the wind, sun and temperature,” it said.
The area of Appenzell Innerrhoden is well known for its natural beauty but not its liberalism: the canton gave women the right to vote only in 1990 under pressure from the Federal High Court and international human rights groups.
by Andy Moreton
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