When the Rosa Alpina resort reopens, in December, as Aman Resorts’ first hotel in the Dolomites, expect major changes—and not just snazzy new interiors from designer Jean-Michel Gathy.
Owner Hugo Pizzinini, whose family has run the hotel in only the summer and winter since 1939, is changing things up. “We want to stay open almost year-round, and go from the monoculture of just skiing to something else,” he says, planning to market summertime frolics and fall hikes as much as idyllic ski days.
Pizzinini’s tactic is driven by evolving climate patterns. “The line of snow has changed a lot over the past 15 years,” he says. “It’s shifted about 100 meters [328 feet] up—we’re at 1,500 meters [4,900 feet], and if we were at 1,600 meters [5,250 feet], we’d have much more snow. Everything below us usually has just rain.”
Pizzinini’s plans reflect the new mood of many of Europe’s toniest ski spots: less off-piste, more piste off. For reasons even top climate scientists can’t quite identify, the Alps are warming at a faster rate than the global trend; their temperatures are averaging 3.6 degrees higher today than in pre-industrial times.
Europe’s ski season is now 38 days shorter than it was in 1970, starting 12 days later and ending 26 days sooner. Last winter, it didn’t properly snow in Gstaad (elevation 3,445 feet) until the second week of January. Resorts are turning to expensive, arguably eco-unfriendly methods to ensure that their ski runs are still, well, running. That might involve snow cannons, such as the 700-strong battalion deployed in Megève (elevation 3,600), which produce icy pellets that are harder and more durable than natural powder (but not nearly as much fun on top of a mogul).
For the past 15 years, Davos (elevation 5,120) has turned to snow farming. Last season’s fall is raked into piles, cosseted under insulation over the summer, and spread again as soon as it’s cold enough.
Josh Geller, a ski specialist and travel adviser with the tour outfitter Embark, booked his December vacation at Val d’Isère because, at over 6,000 feet, it’s a safer choice. “People who love to ski are being more strategic about where we go, when we go, and how far in advance we book,” he says. Clients are adopting his approach, shifting to higher-altitude options in both Europe and the United States. (Mammoth, in California, is becoming a popular choice because it tops out at just over 11,000 feet.)
“Early- and late-season bookings are dropping off, and a lot of people are penciling in plans for a four- or five-day ski trip and then monitoring to see where [the snow] is looking good,” says Geller.
He’s also noticed the surging popularity of C.F.A.R. (Cancel for Any Reason) insurance. It’s pricier than typical travel plans, costing between 16 and 39 percent of the trip’s total, but it will reimburse 75 percent of a client’s outlay, no questions asked. “You don’t even have to list the weather,” he says. “Say you had a bad-hair day.”
But according to some industry insiders, the situation isn’t all that dire. Patrick Thorne, the British editor of In the Snow magazine, is among these contrarians. “Every winter, there are winners and losers. This season, at peak period, the snow was better in Gstaad than Aspen,” he says. “Most of the big ski areas are higher than 2,000 meters [6,562 feet], and they’ve had near-record snow depths,” he says. “The deepest in the world, in France’s case.”
Danielle Stynes agrees. Her helicopter-and-ski-focused luxury-travel company, SwisSkiSafari, has been operating in the Alps for almost 20 years, and she has enlisted a weather forecaster to help her navigate new climate patterns. “Woe, woe, woe is rubbish,” she scoffs. “The climate is changing, but it’s becoming more unpredictable—we’re getting more extreme conditions and higher variations in temperature. That could be big dumps of snow earlier or later than usual, or warm temperatures in the middle of the season.”
She’s now planning heli-skiing trips in early January, several weeks ahead of the traditional kickoff, since the glaciers have been snow-packed and stable. “Flexibility” is the key word, Stynes insists—the best conditions must be chased. Recently, she took a six-day trip to Courmayeur (elevation 4,015 feet). It didn’t snow, but she whisked her client over a glacier in a helicopter, and they had a great day racing down a mountain pass and through the Vallée Blanche. “We need to work around the changing conditions and take advantage of what nature is giving us,” she says. But consider yourselves warned: her services will be a bit more expensive than a lift ticket.
Buying coverage from the insurance firm Sensible Weather is a less eye-watering option. The start-up, founded by climate scientist turned hedge-fund quant Nick Cavanaugh, offers a money-back guarantee on trips when weather doesn’t cooperate; he calls it “a climate-change buffer for travel.” Those who book at partner resorts such as Crans-Montana and Val-Cenis will need to pay only between 5 and 10 percent of the trip’s total cost to insure it against adverse weather. Sensible Weather will then monitor conditions on the ground and send a text message offering a pro-rated refund every day when it rains. (You’ll also get some money back if a snowstorm closes the runs.) “You do not have to cancel, but you’ll get your money back and go skiing for free,” says Cavanaugh.
Perhaps the biggest insurance these resorts already have, though, is the impact of climate change elsewhere. With the mercury in the Mediterranean regularly hitting six digits in summer, travelers are primed to seek out cooler alternatives. Stynes says she now runs more trips to the mountains in summer than in winter.
This is good news for Rosa Alpina’s proprietor. “When it’s too hot in the city or at the seaside, just come to the mountains,” says Pizzinini. Wait until you see the pool.
As he says, Mark Ellwood focuses on “froth in all its forms.” He is also a columnist for Bloomberg Pursuits, the creator and a co-host of Bloomberg’s Travel Genius podcast, and the author of Bargain Fever: How to Shop in a Discounted World
