Sometimes, it really does take a village.

The tiny ski station of Saint-Urcize, Cantal, is one of the many French low-altitude “domaines skiables” suffering direly from lack of snow.

Wandering around the area today, we were surprised to find it open despite a light snow cover. How could this be?

The town council cooperates closely with volunteers from the local ski club to make sure the place can open up when it’s viable. Today’s “ouverture exceptionnelle” involved a week of transporting snow from other hills to make the lower slopes skiable.

Many more people had shown up by the time we left, but I shied away from taking photographs of this clearly local gathering.