This weekend Val Thorens celebrates “Le Grand Dernier”, the resort’s last lift-served days of the 2025/26 Alpine season. It has been quite a season, with some memorable and some sobering highlights.
The 60th FIS Alpine World Cup season was defined by legendary comebacks and historic firsts: Mikaela Shiffrin secured her sixth Overall World Cup title, equalling the legendary Annemarie Moser-Pröll; Lindsey Vonn claimed her 83rd career victory in the St. Moritz downhill at age 41; and Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, now representing Brazil, made history in Levi as the first skier to win an Alpine World Cup race for a South American nation.
The Winter Olympics returned to the heart of the Italian Alps, and the home athletes certainly delivered. Federica Brignone won an emotional gold in the Super-G on home snow, completing a fairytale recovery from major leg fractures just a year prior. Meanwhile Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen became the breakout star of the Games, securing a golden treble in the speed events.
Whilst competitive winter sports were spectacular, the season was marred by a tragic surge in avalanche fatalities across Europe, largely triggered by a persistent weak layer of sugar snow formed early in December, which became buried under nearly 2.5 metres of heavy January snowfall. This created a ticking time bomb snowpack that caught even experienced off-piste skiers off guard.
The most notable trends in ski tourism include the increased interest in Norway, aided by a weaker Krone, the increasing attraction of relatively crowd-free Furano and Tomamu in Hokkaido and the increase in bookings for snow-sure resorts like Val Thorens and Obergurgl. Many lower resorts are surely going to suffer in future seasons unless they can broaden their winter appeal.
Conversely more snow-sure resorts continue to invest in infrastructure, with Les Deux Alpes, Courchevel and Ischgl all making significant investment in new lifts.
