Spanish ski resorts struggle with lack of snow

Terra Daily via AFP: Spanish ski resorts are watching business melt away as a lack of snow and unusually warm weather force them to close or operate just some of their pistes. "We have not been able to open at all this year. We are talking about the worst thing that could happen," said Agustin Ramirez, the manager of the Valdesqui resort near Madrid as he stood in front of a closed ticket booth.

The 40-year-old resort located some 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the Spanish capital has 27 pistes of different levels of difficulty that normally draw around 1,500 customers on a weekday -- and up to 3,500 on weekends. But on a recent visit its parking lot with its sweeping views of the peaks of the surrounding Madrid mountains was empty except for three staff vehicles and the pistes were covered in brown grass.

Of Spain's 32 ski resorts, eight including Valdesqui were closed for skiing on Friday due to the lack of snow and mild temperatures, according to the website of the Spanish Tourist Association of Ski and Mountain Resorts. None of the 24 resorts that were operating had all of their trails open -- and those that did operate pistes relied on expensive man-made snow to draw skiers....

Not quite fair, but this is part of the ski resort of Pradollano in Sierra Nevada, in August 2010, Andalusia, Spain. Shot by Jebulon, Wikimedia Commons, public domain