It was “The start of the end of skiing in the Alps” two seasons ago when in the middle of one of Europe’s worst ski seasons for snowfall the small French resort of Abondance announced it would not be running its lifts.

The Associated Press agency seized on the news and it appeared in newspapers all around the world as evidence that skiing in the Alps was coming to its end (eg: http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth/archives/2007/07/whatta-mean-the.html)

The problem with the story was that Abondance’s decision was not really related to climate change, but more to economics – a problem faced by thousands of small ski areas around the world in the past decade. It’s a very similar scenario to other business sectors, the decline of small local shops as customers favour supermarkets being the obvious parallel.

Their lifts, often built in the 1960s or 70s, are getting elderly, their costs for staffing, power, insurance are all escalating, the trend is for skiers and boarders to head to the big glossy resorts favoured by tour operators and newspaper reviewers. In short, the future’s not looking bright and huge bills for maintenance and possible replacement appear unavoidable as a major government inspection looms.

Hundreds of small ski areas had already decided to call it a day, largely un-noticed, before Abondance, and this season, as every season, dozens more will decide not to open.

Abondance, happily, will no longer be closed. Alas climate change is still with us, but none-the-less Abondance re-opens this winter, thanks to its purchase by an American investor, who already works in the ski lift industry so can help there. He apparently wanted to get a toe in to the European market and sees Abondance as a good bet.

Skiers seeking inspiration this winter can check out the new-look www.maddogski.com for advice on everything from the best places to ski, advice on booking holidays, finding the nearest resorts to destination airports and even searching for the best mountain restaurants.

Designed by digital marketing agency MadeWith, the new site has been influenced by user feedback to offer an independent one-stop shop for skiers with more interactive features and online guides to more than 50 of the world’s finest ski resorts.

In addition to the existing news and advice, new features on the site include a ‘trip planner’ section – with interactive maps, the MadDogSki master packing checklist, links to ski insurance, special offers, top ski tips and a handy resort comparison feature letting users choose up to five resorts to review side by side

Resort guides – independent reviews of more than 50 resorts, with detailed guides to travelling, where to stay, things to do, food and drink and useful tips on every page
Mad Dog Club – sign up to a regular newsletter with offers, deals and news

Flight planner – users can select their local airport to generate a list of destination airports coupled with the closest ski resorts to that airport

Snowpedia – users can read articles, kit reviews, get up-to-scratch with ski jargon and add their own comments or entries

Commenting on the new website, Kate Whittaker, founder of MadDogSki said “Over the past few months, we have developed the site adding loads of news content and tools to help our site visitors plan their best ski trip ever. Working with MadeWith, we have worked to combine our knowledge and expertise with their know-how and capability to present the information effectively and efficiently. This is a website whose main focus is helping people have better ski holidays”

The world’s largest ski resort operator, the French-based Compagnie des Alpes (CdA) has moved to sell its shares in SwissAlp, a wholly-owned Swiss subsidiary of the company.

CDA, concluded a memorandum of understanding on October 21, 2009, with a group of buyers headed by the municipality of Saas Fee. The buyers include the municipality, local business leaders, and an individual investor, Edmund Offermann.

This memorandum of understanding covers the sale for 10.4 million Euros of the entire SwissAlp SA stake (41.6%) in Saas Fee Bergbahnen (SFB), the operating entity of the Saas Fee ski area.

CDA became a shareholder of SFB in 2001, and raised its stake from 35% to 41.6% (2007). However CDA recently sold its shares in another Swiss resort, Verbier, in July, while acquiring more French resorts, with Les 2 Alpes the latest it intends to acquire.

The sales of its Saas Fee shares will result in a net gain of 1.5 million Euros for CDA for the 2009-2010 financial year and will lower CDA debt by 35 million Euros.