A rare lack of snow in the French Alps has resulted in the women and men’s Alpine Skiing World Cup been moved from the French resort of Courchevel to Are in Sweden.

The International Ski Federation (FIS) made the decision to cancel the women’s slalom and giant slalom races due to be held on 13 and 14 December in Courchevel following a shortage of snow. The men’s races, scheduled to hold at Val d’Isere, had already been called off for the same reason.

The federation announced on Friday that the Swedish town of Are, one of the Scandinavian country’s largest ski resorts, would now host the events. The resort is located in Jamtland, close to the Norwegian border, and has a population of around 1,500 inhabitants. It also hosted the Alpine World Championships in 1954 and 2007, and is in line to do so again in 2019.

World Cup Are CEO Karin Stolt Halvarsson said it was “fabulous” to be hosting both the men and women’s events. She revealed they were now looking forward to showing off their snow-filled mountains, something that France had been able to do when it mattered most.

She said that a number of ski teams arrived on Monday to begin their preparations, noting that it would be a really busy time for everyone involved as they were expecting to have to accommodate and feed around 1,000 people. However, she added that they had many experienced volunteers on hand to make sure everything went according to plan.