French mountain resorts are starting to open for the first time since Covid-19 made last season a write-off, with winter sport enthusiasts and sector professionals hoping that no fresh virus wave will spoil the fun, reports FRANCE 24.
Val Thorens, Europe's highest winter sport resort at 2,300 metres (7,500 feet) and hugely popular with Britons, was the first of France's Alpine resorts allowing skiers back on the lifts and slopes on Saturday.
Others will follow over the coming weeks.
"Amazing, we're the first," said one skier testing the slopes with a group of friends. "It's a bit cold, but we'll be fine," the skier added.
Some 10,000 people descended on the station on Saturday, local media reported, with the snow in good shape and favourable weather.
France's resorts are the world's third-most popular skiing spots in the world, after those in the United States and in Austria, and an economic lifeline for many regions.
"This year will be important for us, crucial even," said Olivier Simonin, in charge of ski lifts in Val d'Isere which is to open next Saturday.
"Our future is at stake and we can't imagine not having a winter season, so we did everything possible to make sure we'd have one," he told AFP.