Alps' holiday snow shortage leaves skiing addicts in withdrawal

Rome

FOR the third year in a row, the search for Alpine snow is on.

An ultra-dry December marred the start of the ski season in the mountainous heart of Europe, which draws millions expecting Instagram-ready white peaks and pretty villages. A colder January is improving conditions, but the unpredictable early winter weather cut ticket sales at resorts and confounded holiday planning.

"The general discussion in the office after Christmas has been about lack of snow," said Mark Dowding, portfolio manager at Bluebay Asset Management LLP in London, who's been checking snow bulletins frantically ahead of a planned February trip to Austria. "There is an understanding now that Christmas is just not the right time to go skiing." After precocious storms in November raised false hopes across the Alps, December produced the least snow in Switzerland since record-keeping began more than 100 years ago. The Jungfrau ski region, around the resort villages of Wengen and Grindelwald, suffered a 25 …