The local government in the department of Drôme in southeast France has decided to ban snowmaking, according to local reports.

Drôme has three small ski areas according to SkiResort.info, Col de Rousset, Font d’Urle and La Jarjatte.  These have 47km of slopes, 28 lifts and highest lifts at 1700m between them.

All are currently closed due to lack of snow and the local council has decided that snowmaking won’t be used  in the future, “It costs a lot of money to make snow and it’s bad for the environment, whereas we know it’s just a delay,” Cedric Vermond, responsible for the region’s ski areas, told media, referring to the onset of climate change.

The news follows a winter which saw half of all French ski slopes closed in December due to a lack of snow cover and ice melting in mid-winter on Mont Blanc at 3842m.

In future Drôme’s ski centres will operate to a summer model investing in “four seasons tourism”: including hiking, biking, archery, go-karting and golf and will open for skiing whenever there’s enough natural snowfall.