J2Ski Snow Report - April 11th 2013

Week Ending April 13th, 2013
* Free to re-publish in whole or part so long as clearly credited to www.J2ski.com with the words "J2Ski Snow Report" linked to
http://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast/

Spring is on it's way but...

...not before this epic winter has had one more throw of the snow dice! The next couple of days will see some significant precipitation with anything up to 30cm of new snow falling at altitude. That will be rain lower down, of course, but it's yet another few powder days if you can get there.

...there are some cracking deals available for the last weeks of the season...

E.g. Late Package Deals (from the UK) to France and Austria.

As we move into next week, the weather will clear and by mid-week things will be warming up considerably with above average temperatures taking hold.

Skiing in the Summer?

Over the next few weeks on J2Ski, we'll be featuring some of the ski resorts that open in the summer... for skiing as well as mountain biking, paragliding and many other mountain sports. So keep an eye out.

Our first item covers Summer Skiing in Les Deux Alpes.

This Week's Headlines

- Plenty of fresh snow on deep bases in the Alps as resorts begin to close for the season.
- First snow of year reported in New Zealand at Mt Ruapehu.
- Scottish resorts expect season to last to May, potentially June.
- Some US west coast resorts announce season dates in to June.
- Sierra Nevada in southern Spain now only resort claiming more than a 5m base.

Europe
Austria
It's still snowing in the country, even though around half of ski areas in Austria have now closed and around 90% of the country's ski areas will have shut down for the season by next Monday as is traditional there. But Austria also has more glacier ski areas than any other so around a dozen centres will remain open to late April and in some cases in to May, June and beyond.

Hintertux, which currently has a near three metre (10 foot) base and received 5cm (2 inches) of fresh snow on Sunday, is one of two resorts worldwide that's open year round. Other areas open through April including Obertauern with a 2.5m base and 20cm (8 inches) of fresh snow this week, Obergurgl, with a 1.9m base and 12cm (5 inches) of fresh snow and Ischgl with a 1.4m base and 10cm of fresh snow. The Pitztal glacier, with Austria's highest slopes and open in to May, also has the country's deepest snow still at 3.9m (13 feet). It also reports 10cm of fresh snow, most of it falling last Sunday.

France
Unlike in Austria, the vast majority of French ski areas are still operating this week although closures will gather pace from the coming weekend and continue for five weeks until May 19th when France will be the only country in the Alps with all the areas closed until for five weeks or so until the glacier ski season begins.

Like Austria there's been plenty of fresh snow though with up to 25cm (10 inches) reported in the Northern Alps (at la Plagne, which still has a 3m/10 foot base on upper slopes) . There's also been fresh snow reported at Flaine (390cm/13 feet base) – with 10cm new cover and at neighbouring Les Arcs (284cm/9.5 feet base) and la Rosiere (3.7m/12.3 feet) – both with about 20cm of new snow, much of it falling in the past 48 hours. In terms of resorts open in to May, Chamonix still has 3.9m (13 feet) of snow on upper slopes although nothing left at resort level, at Val Thorens its a foot less at 3.6m and thaere's been 16cm (6 inches) of fresh snow, much of it falling on Tuesday.

Italy
Most resorts in Italy remain open too, although ironically Arabba, which had reported the deepest snow in the dolomites for months and in next to the former summer ski area on the Marmolada Glaccier is one of the few that has now closed for the 12-13 season. But not so it's not too distant neighbour Cortina d'Ampezzo where the Faloria sector will remain open in to May and where the snow has kept falling – the base there is 1.5m (5 feet). The country's biggest accumulation of the past seven days, and one of the biggest in the Alps this week, has been at Cervinia, with a fresh foot (30cm) dump. There's been 10cm in the Milky Way too and in terms of late spring and summer skiing bases are in good shape at ski areas like Val Senales (3.3m/11 feet) and Passo Tonale (4m/13.3 feet).

Switzerland
Almost all Swiss ski areas remain open and like the rest of the snow there's been fresh snowfall in the past few days on a still deep upper slope snow base. The biggest fall was reported at Saas Fee, which has a 3.3m (11 foot) base and got 45cm of fresh snow in the last week, the largest reported snowfall in Europe this week. Verbier (75cm-3m) base wasn't far be far though with a 15 inch (37cm) accumulation, including yet another 20cm (8 inches) yesterday. Also reporting new snow were Zermatt (2.3m base) with 15cm/6 inches and there were similar falls of at least 10cm/4 inches at Villars (2.2m base), Les Diablerets (1.5m base), Adelboden (1.45m), Andermatt (3.8m), Champery (1.7m base) Crans Montana (3.2m base), Grindelwald (135cm base) and Engelberg (4.7m base). Gstaad still has the deepest snow in Switzerland, but only 3cm/an inch more than Engelberg.

Pyrenees
Up to a foot (30cm) of fresh snow fell in the Pyrenees last Sunday to round off a great season at closing resorts including Spain's Formigal and Andorra's VallNord. Others, including Spain's Baqueira Beret intend to soldier on into May in celebration of the best season in the region for a decade, and with a base depth of 3.9m (13 feet) on higher slopes to rely on, plus the fresh snow, why not? An Andorra's Grandvalira there's 2.5-3m of snow lying and Cauterets on the French side of the border still has a 3.5-4.5m, no longer the world's deepest after its two months at the top, but still top 10.

Scandinavia
Scandinavia is normally a good choice for late season skiing with most of the region's resorts remaining open throughout April and some big end-of-season festivals and competitions to enjoy too. There's not much fresh snow to report and bases remain around the metre mark at most of the big ski areas. Are in Sweden (60-105cm) got a 7cm freshen up of its slopes on Saturday, but Voss in Norway still has the deepest snow for a major resort in the area at 1.6m (5.3 feet). Ruka in Finland has an 85cm base and should be the open at least two more months in to mid-June.

Scotland
The remarkably consistent 'winter' in Scotland has continued for yet another week of low temperatures and top-to-bottom snow cover at all five centres. Scottish television has been running stories of the possibility of snow continuing in to June and this being the best winter in decades for some areas such as Glenshee. The final week of the school holidays (for most) is drawing to a close though and where Scottish slopes have had good snow cover in to May the operational problem can be a lack of skiers to make operations financially viable rather than a lack of snow.

North America
Canada
The ski season in Canada either ended last weekend or will end next weekend at most Western Canadian resorts, but that doesn't mean it has stopped snowing. At Revelstoke in BC, which has the biggest lift-served vertical in North America but closes this Sunday, another 28cm of snow fell in the past 24 hours from midnight yesterday resulting, the resort says, in fantastic powder conditions. Snow. A total of 69cm of snow has fallen in the last 7 days at Revelstoke Mountain Resort and there's been a total of 1122cm of snowfall to date there this season – a few metres below its world top five 15m average. Not all Canadian ski centres are closing though, Lake Louise, Marmot Basin, Sunshine and Whistler are all open in to May, have 1.3-2.4m bases and have reported 5-15cm of new snow in the past few days. And there's been snow on the east coast too where it's traditional for Quebecois resorts to stay open to May. Mont Ste Anne has an on-going month long party in play and has had 8cm of fresh snow on its metre deep base.

USA
As with Canada, many US resorts have closed last weekend or are closing next. But also as with Canada there are exceptions with Squaw Valley and Mammoth in California; Mt Bacherlor and Timberline in Oregon and Crystal Mountain in Washington State among those announcing they'll be open to May or even June. There's been heavy snowfall too with Timberline reporting two feet of new snow (60cm), equalling the most in the country, but falls of up to 60cm reported in Colorado too at Aspen (45cm), Breckenridge (48cm), Copper (44cm), Keystone (46cm) and Steamboat (60cm). Mammoth, Timberline and Alaska's Alyeska all still have 4m+ bases. It's warming up on the East Coast and there's been no new snow reported but many resorts remain open with 90-110cm upper-slope base, among them Killington, Stowe and Sugarbush.

Seems lifts in Chamonix will now open all way to May 18th at GM. Snow conditions are superb at moment. 800m skin to top of Le Tour yesterday and nice run back down to car park. Biking today and back on slopes again tomorrow. Might even treat myself to a lift pass.

Ive just read that Hinterux is open all year round, is that a good place to snowboard and what will snow be like in summer months ?
I could be tempted to go there instead of a beach holiday