Given that winter skiing is the classic activity for well- heeled families throughout Europe, it’s doubtful that a season or two of poor snow will dramatically change habits. In France, where many people get five or more weeks of vacation, families with children often take ski holidays at least once a year, aided by a school system that guarantees time off every February. Munich schoolchildren take ski classes in school and go on a ski trip once a year, and no proper Austrian misses a ski vacation.
This year, that can mean broken bones and worse. Innsbruck University Hospital, where complex cases are helicoptered in from resorts all over Austria’s Tyrol, is getting 100 skiers and snowboarders daily. They are hurt worse than usual because of the artificial snow, the narrow slopes and the presence of rocks and trees, said hospital spokesman Johannes Schwamberger. While the number of patients is slightly smaller than last year, the injuries are more severe and paraplegia more frequent, he said.
“Normally, you break a leg and you fall, maybe you slide a bit further and hit the snow but that’s it," he said. "Now, when you fall you slide and hit a rock, or a tree, break another bone, get a bruise, that’s where the multiple injuries come from.”
Because people often book their holidays four to nine months in advance, many resorts saw decent crowds over the Christmas break. At La Plagne, the largest ski resort in France, bookings are at 97 percent of capacity, the same as a year ago, said spokeswoman Anais Alaurent.
That’s not the case everywhere.
“This year is the first in which we can’t say we’re fully booked in the period around New Year’s,” said Petra Nocker- Schwarzenbacher, head of the Tourism and Leisure Industry chapter of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. “‘We’re at about 80 percent to 90 percent of capacity, and with the weather forecasts showing no snow until well after New Year’s, our phones remain silent right now.”