The famous slopes of the Alps may still be green, but the skiing industry says there's no need to panic, writes Derek Scally
'Experienced skiers are prepared for most things, but not a grassy ski slope. Yet that's the sight greeting anyone hoping to get in a few days on any of the major Alpine slopes ahead of the post-Christmas rush.
"The weather is just lovely. Warm, mild, like early autumn," says Maria Brunner, owner of the Hotel Tiefenbrunner in the Austrian resort of Kitzbühel, a growing favourite with Irish skiers.
Like many hoteliers, Brunner hasn't bothered opening her hotel yet because of the warm weather. Outside the hotel, owned by the family since 1810, the garden that is normally cloaked in crisp white snow by now is instead still a deep green.
Continental Europe is experiencing one of its mildest winters in memory. Trees are still half-heartedly shedding their leaves, confused cherry blossom trees have already blossomed and the migratory birds don't know if they're coming or going.
According to Austrian climatologist Reinhard Böhm, the Alps are experiencing their warmest period in 1,300 years as a consequence of the greenhouse effect. He headed a three-year EU-sponsored research project looking at data going back to the year AD 755 from France's Rhône Valley to Budapest.
Similar warm periods occurred in the 10th and 12th century, he says, but the periods were nevertheless "slightly below the temperatures we've experienced over the past 20 years".
Other researchers say that within 40 years, ski regions in the Alps below 6,500ft will no longer have continuous snow cover.
With just two weeks to Christmas, snow remains a rare sight in the Alpine ski regions in France, Switzerland and Italy. Temperatures have yet to drop below freezing, making it too warm even to use machines to make artificial snow. Cross-country ski events in Austria, France, Italy and Norway have had to be cancelled.
Tony Baumann, vice-president of the tourist authority in the Swiss ski resort of Grindelwald, was anxiously studying weather reports yesterday. The first snow on Wednesday night has already been washed away by heavy rain and any snow that falls in the next days is likely to be melted by the warm earth. The party in Grindelwald tonight, to officially open the skiing season, is likely to be a snow-free affair.
"At the moment it's five degrees thanks to the southwest winds. One way or another we'll have to have our party," says Baumann. "We've had a few cancellations but the show must go on, snow or no snow."
IT'S A SIMILAR scene over the border in Austria, with visitors playing tennis and going on mountain walks to pass the time. Those who really want to ski are being transported to glaciers on higher slopes.
But Austria's Hotel Owners' Association (ÖHV) has warned its members not to get hysterical about the mild weather, telling the Austrian News Agency (APA) that so far bookings are up 15 per cent on last year, and that only 3 per cent of the total season's business is done in the first 20 days of December anyway.
In St Anton am Arlberg, 4,300ft up, hoteliers are taking the lack of snow in their stride. They had a record 2005-2006 season, with skiers out on the slopes in perfect conditions right up to Easter.
"I have the impression that the media see it a lot worse than the visitors," says Wilma Himmelfreundpointner of the local tourist office. "People who booked in advance for after Christmas know it makes no sense to cancel now."
In Austria, the pre-Christmas skiing season is a modern phenomenon dating back to the record early snowfall of 1966. But it's always had a chequered past: in 1967 there was no snow until December 15th, while on New Year's Day 1964 there were mountain fires in the region because it was so dry.
RESEARCH FROM THE Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) in Davos shows that, while average annual snowfall in the Alps is very slowly decreasing, there is no sign of drastic climate change. "Our data shows how variable snowfall is from year to year," says SLF spokesperson Julia Wessels. "Low snowfall at the end of November or start of December is no reflection on later. At this point in 1999 we had average levels of snow but in February of the following year we had record snowfall and avalanches."
Already this weekend's weather prospects in the Alps look very promising, with heavy snow forecast for tonight and tomorrow night.
But Wilma Himmelfreudpointer in St Anton am Arlberg says she has been plagued by British journalists this week, anxious to write about the crisis that isn't.
"Yesterday a photographer with a well-known English newspaper was desperately looking for a cow wandering around a grassy ski slope. He asked us if we could find one but we told him there are no cows around because it's winter," she laughs.
"There's no point getting excited about it," she adds. "Firstly, we can't change the weather. It will either snow or it won't. And second: the snow has never let us down."