The snow drought of 1964

Forty years ago, I was working as a lifty while going to high-school and I remember the 63-64 as being a totally snowless season in the Alps. During Christmas and New Year, my job was to sell lift ticket and punch cards at the Nabor ski lift, an aging T-bar located on top of the Pleney mountain.

The only available snow had fallen in October and November and was only found under the trees of the shaded forest. I remember that we were loading a primitive snowcat and bringing whatever snow we could scrape to keep the uphill lane of the lift covered with a thin layer of snow.

That winter, high pressure and clear weather stubbornly stuck well into the end of March when the first significant snow falls finally occurred.