‘Just let go,’ our ski instructor insists. But it is not easy to relax. To the left, a panorama of the Swiss Alps and a 1,500ft drop to the Rhône river. To the right, a school of children adeptly winding through cones as we learn to turn. The Londoner’s instinct is to be tense, stand on the right and wait for it all to pass by.
It takes time to get used to Crans-Montana. People are relaxed. Residents move in step with the tourism industry, which is seeing a ‘renaissance’ with new investment. It is no wonder the resort – a merger of several small Alpine communities – is the yearly destination of choice for the City of London‘s high-flyers; once you ‘let go’, the rest of the world may as well not exist.
The challenge now is to scale it up. Europe’s mountains are melting, and historic resorts like Crans-Montana are pressed to find new ways to draw in tourists year-round, making ski seasons longer and offering seasonal passes that invite new kinds of tourists to enjoy local sports, walks and cuisine against a mountain backdrop.
Crans-Montana is at the forefront of this revolution, hoping to bring some £26.6mn of investment into improving its ski lifts and customer experience, while also making the most of its stunning landscapes and open spaces to welcome new kinds of tourists – including those, like me, who don’t know how to ski.
Crans Montana has welcomed Brits to ski and take in the clean air for over a century
Now, they are looking to welcome different kinds of tourists interested in sport and local food
A room for guests to relax at the luxury Six Senses Crans-Montana hotel which opened in 2023
Crans-Montana has no shortage of top class restaurants. James dines at Casy, above
Crans-Montana – which remains open until April 21 – has welcomed Brits for more than a century. It began as a lonely hotel on the plateau in 1893 before Swiss doctor Théodore Stephani set up a clinic for TB sufferers to enjoy the fresh air. That freshness is still palpable from the mountains. Grey Zurich – barely three hours by train – feels a million miles away.
The town is relaxed, but activity is built into the community’s ethos. A golf course was built in 1906 and the resort still lays claim to the first official ski race, organised by British pioneer Sir Arnold Lunn five years later.
For decades, locals say, the resort grew steadily around this mixed model, attracting foreign visitors in search of a thrill… and somewhere to kick back with schnapps as the sun sets. Residents point to the historic home of Sir Roger Moore as an example of when Crans-Montana peaked and forged its identity.
Today, the house is obscured by construction work – perhaps in some sense symbolic of the desire to breathe new life into the resort. Building work is forbidden during peak ski seasons but around the municipality it is impossible to miss the signs of an organised desire for change.
Change is urgent. More attention is falling on European resorts at lower altitudes battling rising temperatures and a lack of snow. For many, this is an existential threat. Crans-Montana is higher up and does not have this problem yet, but has the resource to start thinking about solutions.
Ahead of the new ski season, we visited a number of projects taking shape throughout the mountains. Beyond skiing, the tourism board has set up fairy-light-lit walks along the town’s expansive lakes, hosts ice hockey and indoor curling, and has filled a museum with art from around the world.
We dine at CASY, a memorable modern European restaurant set up by Caroline Ogi, daughter of the former president, evidently still convinced of Crans-Montana’s long-term success. Billboards around the town boast the town’s preparations for the World Championship for Alpine Skiing in 2027.
The skatepark in Crans-Montana. The resort looks to diversify its offer to tourists, says James
James stayed at the traditional Hotel la Prairie is a charming, chalet-style property
Events like the City Ski Challenge help the resort by bringing a cohort of businesspeople
The seasonal Lantern Trail runs between Lake Moubra and Etang Long Lake
There is something for everyone. At the intersection of ‘beer Europe’ and ‘wine Europe’, Crans-Montana chose both, championing a rich Après-Ski tradition that caters to British sensibilities while also growing quality wine locally on the slopes from Sierre.
Frequent skiers say the municipality has changed in recent years, in part due to the adoption of a controversial law that enforces a minimum £33,800 minimum annual wage for chalet and catering staff. With Brexit, too, it has become harder to recruit foreign staff – but residents acknowledge the opportunity for locals to fill in the spaces.
A ski-instructor, who spoke to MailOnline on condition of anonymity, tells me she has seen fewer groups of lower-income children coming from London as part of a long-standing exchange.
‘They used to come every year… but since Brexit, Covid probably, I haven’t seen them,’ she says.
After leaving Crans-Montana in 1989 to return in 2011, says she was ‘so surprised that nothing had changed much’ and renaissance ‘is needed’.
She says there was a feeling of hope among staff that a recent acquisition by American company Vail Resorts could revive the region.
‘I am just hoping they work on the slopes as fairly as possible – and I believe they will. They have a good reputation. I am very curious about the next winter season and I hope they will make the changes needed to the eldest installations… some are ancestral.’
She points to long queues, premiums on parking and restaurants closed in-season as some of the small challenges the new owners will have to navigate. The trail taking skiers back to town, she notes, ends in mud – an abrupt end to a day of skiing that could be easily addressed with artificial snow.
She invites new owners Vail Resorts to add routes for beginners at Arnouva, a restaurant with stunning views at 1,719 metres where we later stop for fondue.
On the other hand, she recognises a wider problem across the industry. Scientists recorded record ice losses on Swiss glaciers this year after a blistering hot summer on the continent, warning the trend could soon spell ‘disaster’.
Crans-Montana is full of activities, but encourages down time and makes space to relax
The Italian Dolomites (undated). Italy’s skiing heydey peaked in the 1960s-70s. Today, it has as many abandoned slopes as it does fully operational, a problem exacerbated by climate change
A view of a closed chair-lift at a ski slope without snow at the resort of Mount Terminilo on February 1, 2024
The scene at the closed Dent-de-Vaulion ski lift in Switzerland on on February 2 amid lack of snow at altitudes below 1500m
The Alpe du Grand Serre and Grand Puy resorts in France have announced they will not be opening in 2024.
In Grand Puy, Seyne-les-Alpes, it was the decision of residents to shutter the ski lift as a lack of snow and visitors was costing the town hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.
The Alps’ skiing industry is worth some £23.8bn (30mn euro) to Europe, attracting 40 per cent of global ski tourists. The United States follows with a with 23 per cent of holidaymakers.
But experts warn that Europe’s mountains could be thrown into crisis as temperatures rise. Lower altitude resorts are the most at risk, with many having to shutter operations through key ski seasons in recent years.
Heavy rainfall caused delays at Morzine and Les Gets last season, with tourists unable to access slopes until just two days before Christmas.
Les Gets has bounced back, with renovations, traveller discounts and a new covered ski lift for beginners on offer to welcome seasoned and more inexperienced guests in 2024/25.
But as many as 98 per cent of ski resorts across 28 European countries are still projected to be at ‘very high risk’ of snow scarcity if temperatures warm by just 4C – and 53 per cent with just a two degree jump, a report in Nature concluded in 2023.
Snow cover in the Alps during key skiing months fell 8.4 per cent per decade between 1971 and 2019, according to research published by the European Geosciences Union.
With Europe relying on the mountains for 90 per cent of its water, the findings have sparked concern among experts, who say snow cover has seen an ‘unprecedented‘ decline since the Middle Ages.
Monitoring body GLAMOS reported in October that glaciers in Switzerland had lost 2.5 per cent of their volume this year – above average for the decade.
‘It is worrying to me that despite the perfect year we actually had for glaciers, with the snow-rich winter and the rather cool and rainy spring, it was still not enough,’ said Matthias Huss, Director of GLAMOS.
‘If the trend continues that we have seen in this year, this will be a disaster for Swiss glaciers,’ he added.
Skiers wait for a bus to ferry them to Crans-Montana at the base of the Rhone Valley
Separated from the rest of the world, the town still enjoys snow where lower altitudes don’t
High altitude resorts like Crans-Montana still enjoy snow… but are finding new offers for Brits
Foreign news reporter James Reynolds hits the slopes of Crans-Montana in 2024
Crans-Montana is ahead of the curve. Events like City Ski help the resort by bringing a yearly cohort of foreign businesspeople to compete and unwind.
We caught a set by German record producer Mousse T., of ‘Horny ’98’ fame, at a Revival event one afternoon. The crowd is a mix of young people who have travelled up to the show and corporate clusters indulging in great Salmanazars of rosé.
The arrival of retreats like the spectacular five-star Six Senses, which opened only last year, also suggest faith in the resort’s wider project.
Christian Gurtner, the general manager, told MailOnline: ‘The recent acquisition by Vail Resorts has set the stage for significant growth, with anticipated additions including new luxury hotels and resorts, the introduction of thermal baths, and enhancements to ski lifts.
‘These developments align with the evolving demands of tourism, catering to a discerning audience seeking elevated experiences.’
There is a balance to be made, he says, between ‘preserving the unique charm of Crans-Montana and integrating modern amenities to enhance the overall guest experience’.
While praising 2024’s conditions for skiing, he noted: ‘Many of our guests choose us not solely for the skiing experience but also for our 2,000 square metre wellness area.’
In this way, Crans-Montana has kept to its roots as a haven for outsiders seeking respite from daily metropolitan life and bad air. And diversity of opportunity makes the resort more accessible.
Hiking, golfing and water sports are less cost-exclusive and a Youth Hostel offers fair rates. SWISS flights are regular, reliable and reasonably-priced from London to Zürich.
Our hotel is quaint, a traditional chalet-style building not far from a paintballing centre and a rock-climbing wall. I find an empty miniature of Johnnie Walker in an old wooden night table, a microcosm of the place itself, perhaps. But the staff are friendly, the food is good and the bar is open late.
Whether you are looking to experience isolated luxury or sink into a warm, homely space with fantastic views – Crans-Montana has it all.
European skiing may face a number of challenges in the coming years, but Crans-Montana is showing just how to deal with them.
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