The early ski bird misses the snow: winter sports fans change booking strategy to get best conditions

During the winter of 2006/07, Europe suffered one of the worst snowfalls on record. As the busy Christmas and New Year season approached, ski resorts across the continent waited nervously for the snow to arrive. But the snow never came - at least not in the quantities normally expected.

Many skiers and snowboarders were faced with the grim prospect of skiing on thin strips of artificial snow, or were shipped to other resorts higher in altitude, along with everyone else, to compete for what little white stuff there was on the ground.

Global warming was made the scapegoat for the poor conditions, although it's more likely that this was just a freak season, (global warming is generally regarded as a more gradual process) but there's no denying that winter seasons in Europe and all over the world have been getting shorter and ski resorts are receiving less snow than in previous years.

However, rather than putting the punters off, the popularity of snow sports is growing year on year, probably due to the availability of cheap flights to many cities near ski resorts and the rise in the number of young people taking up skiing or snowboarding in one of the growing number of snow domes or dry slopes in the UK.

But along with the weather, the way people book their skiing holidays appears to be changing. Rather than book a ski package several months in advance and risk bad conditions, more people are keeping a close eye on the snow forecast and then booking a D.I.Y. trip at the last minute. Booking flights, accommodation and transfers separately may be a little more hassle than booking a package, but it can actually be cheaper and is also more flexible.

Another tactic is the advance booking of a flight to a city which has several ski resorts within easy reach, and then choosing the resort with the best snow conditions at the last minute. By booking early it is possible to get cheap flights to Zurich, Geneva, Lyon, Innsbruck or Toulouse for example, all of which have dozens of well known ski resorts within just a couple of hour's drive from the airport.

As the world's weather becomes ever more unpredictable and snowfalls become more unreliable, it's likely that these methods of booking will become the norm, and we may see the decline of the traditional "early bird" package, except in the highest, most snow sure ski resorts.