Only a few hours ago French ski areas were insisting they had no plans to close, but draconian new restrictions on the opening of public spaces announced this evening by the French Government makes it inevitable that all french ski resorts will close early for this season, today.

The directive does not specifically mention ski areas but applies to restaurants, cafes, cinemas and discos, as well as, “non-essential businesses.”

It comes in to force at midnight tonight.

Val Thorens is one of the first to formally announce its closure, issuing this statement,

“These new directives require us to close the Val Thorens ski area tomorrow morning and for the rest of the season. This decision also applies to bars, restaurants and all non-essential shops.”

The resort says they are waiting for further information from the French government regarding the arrangements for departure from the Val Thorens resort – many skiers and boarders will only have arrived in resort today and would have been expoecting their first day on the slopes tomorrow.