Skiers Hit the Slopes in Paris Amid Wintry Weather of "Rare Intensity"

by admin in RSS Social News. Posted January 7, 2026

This week, Paris transformed into a winter wonderland as snow fell, prompting flight cancellations, causing travel quagmires, and encouraging an unexpected local activity: skiing.

Photos captured on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, show snow blanketing the City of Light. In one memorable scene, a skier was spotted ski touring in front of the Eiffel Tower. See below.

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A skier slides past the Eiffel Tower at the Champ de Mars covered in snow.

Ludovic MARIN / AFP via Getty Images

A skier jumps down a snow-covered slope next to spectating pedestrians at Montmartre following snowfalls in Paris.

Anne-Christine POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images

The snow arrived earlier this week as widespread cold and weather struck Europe. That’s proven problematic for travellers in Paris and elsewhere.

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport saw the grounding of about 400 flights, CBS reported. In Paris, at Charles de Gaulle airport, more than 100 flights were cancelled, according to the BBC. On Monday, local officials in the Parisian capital also ordered trucks off the road amid traffic jams.

Skiers in Paris, though, were likely excited to take advantage of the storm. The Guardian shared footage of skiers and sledders alike riding the slopes in the Montmartre neighborhood.

Skiing in Paris on January 7, 2026.

Photo&colon; Anne-Christine POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images

How Rare Is Snow in Paris?

According to the Météo France national weather service, the wintry weather was of “rare intensity for the season.” The agency also encouraged people to avoid travel on Wednesday, if possible, and issued an “Extreme Low Temperature” alert through Thursday night. According to AccuWeather, though, warmer weather and rain will arrive in the coming days.

This latest storm is one of the largest the city’s seen in recent years, although there have been significant winter storms in 2018 and 2019. Unsurprisingly, those cold snaps gave local skiers the downhill itch, too. Similar to the ski tourer this year, one caught air with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

A man enjoys skiing at Trocadero square covered by snow in front of the Eiffel Tower on February 7, 2018 in Paris.

Chesnot/Getty Images

Among all the unusual places to ski, Paris ranks high on the list. It wouldn’t take the top spot, though.

That honor could go to the Great Wall of China—which professional skier Candide Thovex slid in an advertisement for Audi—or an enormous Peruvian sand dune. Snow makes skiing more fun, of course, but it isn’t always a requirement.

admin

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