Where to Ski And Snowboard - France keeps ski hosting ban

France keeps ski hosting ban

4th September 2014, by Abi Butcher

Le Ski has five days to appeal the ban to the Supreme court in Paris

The future of ski hosting in France continues to be in doubt tonight, with the news that Le Ski’s appeal against a ban has been rejected.

Tour operator Le Ski today had its appeal against a ban on ski hosting rejected at the appeal court in Chambery. But managing director Nick Morgan has always vowed to fight the ban to the European court in Luxembourg and this afternoon he told WTSS it was “unthinkable” that Le Ski will not continue to appeal.

Le Ski and the 10 other UK winter tour operators supporting Mr Morgan in his court action — Alpine Elements, Crystal Ski Holidays, Esprit Ski, Inghams, Mark Warner, Neilson, Ski Olympic, Ski Total, Skiworld and Thomson Ski – now have five days to consider appealing to the Supreme court in Paris. They released a joint statement this afternoon saying they are “very disappointed” the appeal was rejected.

“The other companies are reacting very quickly to this and we hope to make an announcement shortly,” Mr Morgan added.

There was some good news, however. The court in Chambery upheld part of the appeal referring to Le Ski’s insurance policy, confirming it did cover the company for ski hosting.

“The original ruling in Albertville said we were guiding illegally and that we didn’t have the insurance cover to do so,” explained Mr Morgan. “Chambery appeal court has ruled that we were insured to guide our guests, which is incredibly important to us.”

The court also substantially reduced the amount of damages which had been awarded to the Ecole du Ski Français (ESF) — the figures will be confirmed in due course.