TWIN TOWNS: Football and Skiing

With the football season now under way, time to look again at which ski resorts make the best twins for the Premiership sides.  Here is the 2014/15 version.

With the demise of Hull, QPR and Burnley, which resorts should be twinned with the three sides that take their place?  Here are three candidates:

AFC Bournemouth: ORCIERES-MERLETTE.  Way down in the south - none of the fancy big players ever paid them a moment's notice previously. But when you look at what they now have, it's quite impressive.

Norwich City: SERRE CHEVALIER.  Remote location, historic centre, good cuisine. Yo-yos in and out of the big league.

Watford: MONTGENEVRE. Strong Italian influence, previously traffic-clogged but road improvements now take most of the traffic away from the centre.  Always in the brochures in the 1980s; back in the top flight now.

Flaine would doubtless want to challenge
its twinning with Aston Villa

FRENCH SKI RESORTS: The Premiership for 2013/14

The 2012/13 season saw Wigan (Areches-Beaufort), Reading (Valmorel) and QPR (Les Gets) relegated from the Premier League - which means we need to identify the French ski resort partners of the new teams.

Looking at the three promoted clubs, it seems reasonable to say that Hull City are Areches-Beaufort: off the beaten track, quietly doing some good things, strongly patriotic locals.

And Crystal Palace are Valmorel: getting back to where they were in the 1980s, but still not entirely convincing.  Just as Palace market themselves at their south London catchment area, Valmorel targets its marketing at the south too (of France, that is).

Cardiff City is a tricky one.   I don't really see them as Les Gets.  So I've opted for Montgenevre, mainly because there seems to be some serious money going in there, but (until now) nobody really talks about them much.

THE SEASON SO FAR

It's been a pretty good season so far - snow depths are looking healthy, with La Plagne reporting 102/102 lifts open, and the Ski Club of Great Britain giving piste conditions an "excellent" rating.

And the skiers have duly arrived in resort to enjoy the snow.  Pierre et Vacances report a better season than 2011/12, and Odalys say they are 95% of the way to reaching their targets.  "We are surprised.  Everyone is surprised" they say, bearing in mind the depressing economic backdrop.  It's a bit early to know what this means for the British ski market, or indeed whether the Swiss are starting to recover.  Another barometer is the performance of the giant Compagnie des Alpes, who run the lifts for most of France's Premier League resorts.  The first part of the season was "satisfactory" - we need to wait until 25th April to see if they upgrade their assessment.

Les Arcs is one of the resorts run by
the Compagnie des Alpes

From a British ski business point of view, the big news is the "banning of ski hosts" by the Albertville court.  It's a complex issue - more here - and one which the tour operators have vowed to keep on fighting.  Twelve ski holiday providers, including Inghams, Crystal and Thomson, met last week, although they are pausing until they've seen the written judgement.  A useful update from the Telegraph is here.  And here's another perspective on the issue from The Good Ski Guide.

The abundant snowfalls also bring reminders of just how dangerous it can be.  Le Monde reports that 8 people have died over the last week in avalanches, including a guide and their client in Tignes.

Looking to the future....which resorts should we watch out for?  La Rosiere is clearly on the up, but watch out for more coverage of Montgenevre in your Saturday travel supplements.  There's been a lot of investment in accommodation, it's reasonably easy to access via Turin, and is having a marketing push aimed at Parisien and Northern European skiers.  It could do with a new website though...