Re-publication :- our Snow Report Summary, being the text up to "The Alps", is free to re-publish, but must be clearly credited to www.J2ski.com with text including "J2Ski Snow Report" linked to this page - thank you.
Snow Report Summary
END OF SEASON, LAST CHANCE, EURO POWDER FEST! 8) 8)
Well, as we said last week... "it's not over yet". Winter is throwing one last double six to finish the season. It's been snowing this week and there are some very heavy snowfalls forecast as low as 1500 metres for the coming weekend.
Conditions for the last few days of this season, at the higher resorts, are going to be fabulous!
This Week's Headlines:
* Pic du Midi extends season to 11th May.
* Up to 50cm of fresh snow reported on high slopes at still-open-ski-areas in the Alps.
* Folgefonn glacier in Norway opens for summer ski and board season.
* Base depths still up to 5m in Europe, 3.9m in North America.
If you're still able to get out to the mountains this weekend you'll find fresh snow on higher slopes in the Alps and bargains galore at the still open ski centres.
But please do double-check before you travel; many resorts are closing their lifts regardless of the snow, so do check directly with the local Tourist Office to make sure.
Most ski areas in North America and most of Europe's lower-elevation resorts are closed, but nearly half of the leading resorts in the Alps are still operational - if only to the end of the coming weekend.
With the final week of April upon us and all but about 100 northern hemisphere ski areas ending their seasons this weekend, this is our final weekly snow report before we go monthly until next Autumn, although we'll still be posting summer snow news in the J2Ski forums.
The Alps
Austria
Around two thirds of Austrian ski areas have now closed for the season and most others will follow after the coming weekend. However a handful of non-glacier Austrian resorts stay open to the start of May, and the country also has more glacier ski areas open through late spring, summer and autumn than any other. Ischgl has the biggest end of season party of them all with it's top of the mountain concert, this year starring Robbie Williams. It still has 80cm on upper slopes, nothing at resort level and no fresh snow reported. Obergurgl looks better reporting 16cm of fresh snow in the past few days and a 1.4m base. The country's eight glacier ski resorts top the snow depth league with year-round Hintertux top of them all with a 4m base, and a nice 6cm of fresh on top.
France
Some two thirds of French ski areas remain open with the big closing weekend coming up – although Chamonix and Val d'Isere plan to stay open to first weekend with Val Thorens and Tignes last to close the weekend after. And its Tignes that's reported the biggest snowfall of the last seven days with more than a foot of new snow at the weekend keeping its upper slope depth above the 2m mark. Many other still-open French resorts posted 10-20cm accumulations. La Plagne, with a 215cm snows depth (12cm fresh) has the deepest base in the French Alps although down in the Pyrenees Cauterets claims the country's deepest snowpack at three metres.
Italy
It has been a snowy week at the around half of Italian ski areas that are still open. Most reported snowfall of at least 10cm, some as much as 30cm. That biggest accumulation was at Passo Tonale, where the top glacier slopes normally stays open to June, and which is claiming a 5m base – still the world's greatest but suddenly down a metre on the 6m claimed for the past few months. Cortina, open to the start of May, got 25cm of fresh snow at the weekend, good news as its base has dropped to 10-80cm. Cervinia on the west side of the country got the same amount of fresh snow but reports a much healthier base depth of 3.3m.
Switzerland
It's fitting that the highest slopes in the Alps got the most snow over the last week – and that they're open all year round. Zermatt reported 50cm of new snow over the weekend and now has 2.5m on upper slopes, although there's nothing left down at village level. Saas Fee, with almost the deepest base in Switzerland at 399cm, also got 50cm. Andermatt still claims the deepest snow in Switzerland with a centimetre more at a never changing (for several months at least) 4m upper slope base depth. About half of Swiss centres are already closed, most of the rest follow this weekend. Engelberg, which reported 10cm of fresh snow in the 24 hours to Monday is one of those staying open in to May and has a healthy 360cm base on its glacier.
Pyrenees
The season is over in Andorra and the Spanish Pyrenees but the Pic du Midi in the French Hautes Pyrenees on the French side has just announced it will stay open to skiers/riders to 11th May.
Scandinavia
Scandinavian areas tend to come in to their own in late April and early May as tens of thousands of Finns, Swedes and Norwegians enjoy the rapidly increasing daylight and warmth on the snow slopes. Bit festivals are coming up at Are in Sweden and Hemsedal in Norway, the latter now planning to stay open to at least May 11th. Snow depths are slowly dropping but remain at around the 1.8m mark at open areas in Norway and 60-80cm in Finland and Sweden. Riksgransen up in the Swedish Arctic is nearing its midnight sun ski season too and the first of Norway's summer glacier resorts, Folgefonn, has opened for the season this week.
Eastern Europe
The season is over at all leading Eastern European resorts.
Scotland
Several Scottish ski areas enjoyed a bumper Easter weekend with some of the best conditions of the season thanks to idyllic blue skies, warm sun and no wind on the deep snow base. Cairngorm, Glencoe and Nevis Range all have a lot of snow remaining but after initially saying that skiing in to May looked likely, Nevis Range now say this weekend will probably be the last of their season and Cairngorm have hinted that they may end their season in the next few days too, "unless it gets colder."
North America
Canada
Most Canadian resorts are now closed, but three will be open beyond the first weekend of May - -Lake Louise Ski Resort will remain open until May 11 after extending their ski season by a week due to the exceptional snow conditions this spring, Sunshine Village will be the last to close on May 19 with their annual Slush Cup, the same dates that Whistler plans to close. Bases at the three are reported to be between 195 and 235cm on upper slopes. Marmot Basin is also open to the start of May.
USA
Like much of the rest of the northern hemisphere, the season is over at many resorts, in fact around 90% of US areas are already closed with most of the rest, including Colorado's Copper Mountain, joining them after this weekend.
But a select band of ski areas are open next week and in to May, among them Timberline in Oregon (which currently has the deepest base of an open area in North America at 3.9m/13 feet), Crystal Mountain in Washington state, and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado. Killington in Vermont and Mammoth in California have not yet decided on their closing dates either, nor has Snowbird in Utah.