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Nordic ski season opens with Swedish victory

Sweden’s Marcus Hellner opened the Nordic skiing World Cup season with a first place finish on Saturday, while fellow Swede Charlotte Kalla settled for second in the women’s opening race.

Published: 20 November 2010 12:36 CET
Nordic ski season opens with Swedish victory

Home favourite Hellner won the first event of the 2010-11 men’s Nordic skiing World Cup on Saturday when he took the honours in the 15km at Gällivare in Sweden.

Hellner, a double Olympic champion this year, completed the course in 33min 36sec, 11.4sec ahead of Switzerland’s Dario Cologna and 20.1sec faster than third-placed Swede Daniel Rickardsson.

The 25-year-old Swede also won over the same distance in Gällivare in 2008, in what was his only prior success on the World Cup circuit.

Norwegian world number one Petter Northug is skipping the early part of the season due to injury, while Norwegian biathlon king Ole Einar Bjørndalen finished 25th on one of his rare forays into Nordic skiing.

Earlier in the day, triple Olympic champion Marit Bjørgen of Norway won the first event of the 2010-11 women’s Nordic skiing World Cup on Saturday when she claimed victory in the 10km freestyle.

The 30-year-old romped home in 23min 48.4sec to record her 38th World Cup victory.

Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla, the Olympic champion in the category, finished 41.1sec back in second place, with Italy’s Arianna Follis third at 51.4sec.

Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk, the reigning world number one, finished in a modest seventh place, 1min 15sec off the pace.

Bjørgen, who won five medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, is the big favourite ahead of a season that will feature the 2011 World Championships in front of her home fans in Oslo.

The Gällivare event concludes on Sunday with the relays.

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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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