French ski resorts are opening for Christmas, just without the ski lifts running to take skiers and boarders up the slopes.
But the resorts are offering pretty much everything else, including cross-country skiing and tobogganing on ski slopes. Ski touring is a questionable area as some resorts are encouraging it to a certain extent whilst others are warning that normally groomed and patrolled slopes are not being patrolled and may not be avalanche safe.
However Les 2 Alpes has announced they'll have two groomed blue slopes open over Christmas and New Year, one covering 750 metres of vertical back down to the resort, for ski tourers to use.
The resorts are hoping to get Christmas and New Year visitors from across France, reflecting the bumper business many did with their domestic market over the summer.
It is a different approach to the other countries that are keeping their ski lifts closed over Christmas and New Year. Germany is in full lockdown and Italy had advised against Christmas trips to the mountains. Austria will open its ski lifts from, Christmas Eve but only wants local people to the resort to go skiing and has ordered hotels closed.
Most ski resorts in most other European countries except Andorra have now opened for the season, or will do this coming weekend. Bulgaria and the Czech Republic are among the latest to announce their season starts this Friday or Saturday.
There now appears to be official confirmation that ski lifts will be opening on 7 January 2021 across France, with resots in Austria opening to the wider tourism market and in Italy on the same day.