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ALPINE

Two Swedish skiers reach World Cup podium

Sweden's Andre Myhrer clinched his second career World Cup win on Thursday when he triumphed in the night slalom ahead of Croatia's Ivica Kostelic.

Published: 7 January 2011 07:41 CET
Two Swedish skiers reach World Cup podium

Fellow Swede Mattias Hargin, who was 30th after the first run, took third for his first ever visit to a World Cup podium.

Myhrer, whose first World Cup win was at Aspen four years ago, celebrated turning 28 five days early when improving from fourth after the first leg, edging victory by ten hundredths of a second.

“It’s the first time I have led the overall slalom standings and I intend to stay there as long as possible,” said Myhrer, who picked up Olympic bronze at Vancouver last year.

For Kostelic there was the renewed heartache of finishing second for the third time on the slopes where he had learned to ski.

Italian Giuliano Razzoli, the Olympic champion, was in pole position after the first run, narrowly missed out on third place.

Myhrer also claimed a second spot at Levi in Finland in November.

“Zagreb is one of the most beautiful courses of the season. I am happy to beat Ivica as he deprived me of a win at Wengen last year, ” he said.

“It’s also great that we have two Swedes on the podium. It’s been a long time since that has happened in a slalom, perhaps since the 1980s, the era of Ingemar Stenmark.”

In the overall World Cup standings, Swiss skier Silvan Zurbriggen, only 30th in the race, missed out on taking over the lead from Austrian Michael Walchhofer.

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SKIING

Snow report: What’s the latest outlook for French ski resorts this winter?

Good news for skiers in France, as a mild December has given way to a cold blast in early January that's bringing some much-needed snow.

Published: 5 January 2024 14:50 CET
Snow report: What's the latest outlook for French ski resorts this winter?

After a mostly dry and mild December, snow returned to the the Pyrenees on Friday.

Meanwhile most resorts in the Alps have been able to stay open after a promising early start to the ski season, thanks to fresh snowfalls, with more on the way this weekend.

Pyrenees

Snow has returned in the Pyrenees. Some 5cm fell overnight into Friday, January 5th in eastern parts of the mountain range, with forecasts predicting a further 15cm to 20cm to be on the ground 24 hours later. The region had not seen any snow since December 2nd.

In Angles, 20cm of snow had fallen at higher altitudes by mid-morning on Friday.

Further west, numerous resorts in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département remained closed this week after early December snow had melted in mild conditions that have dominated France in recent weeks, but significant snowfall is expected over the weekend into Monday, and resorts are hoping that they will see enough to open.

One resort, Artouste, has been unable to offer skiing since the start of the season on December 23rd due to a lack of snow. A scenic rail service – usually reserved for warmer months – has kept the resort going. It is set to stop running on Friday, amid expectations of enough snow to finally open the slopes.

READ ALSO Climate crisis: ’90 percent’ of Europe’s ski resorts face critical snow shortages

Alps 

Many ski resorts opened on time, or even a little earlier than scheduled last month, after significant early snow fall, and have enjoyed deposits in the first days of 2024. But, even here, resort managers welcomed the promise of more significant snow this weekend.

Some resorts weren’t so fortunate. Ski areas in Gérardmer, in the Vosges, were still closed in the week leading up to Christmas because of poor snow conditions, but they are hoping for enough snow to finally get started this weekend, while La Bresse-Honeck was using ‘stocked snow’ made by using snow that fell earlier in the winter months to stay open as recently as December 30th.

In the Northern Alps, resorts such as Alpe d’Huez benefited from fresh snowfall on December 22nd, while Val d’Isère had new snow on December 29th. In the Southern Alps, Les Orres’ last pre-New Year snow was on December 8th.

And the French Alps have enjoyed more snow since the start of the year. There’s at least 50cm of fresh snow on the higher slopes of Les Gets and Morzine, for example, a significant improvement on the same time last year, when the resorts were among several that had very little snow to speak of.

In Chamonix, meanwhile, snow has fallen on eight of the last 14 days, with more expected every day between Friday and Monday.

Massif Central

As the post on X / Twitter shows, the Massif Central has not had the best of winters for snow so far. But between 30cm and 50cm is expected in Le Lioran by Monday. 

READ ALSO ‘So many barriers since Brexit’: The French ski businesses no longer willing to hire Brits

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