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Snow Report Summary
If you've been with us a while, you'll know that we're prone to saying "it's not over yet" at this time of year... well, guess what...
The warm temperatures of the past couple of weeks look likely to moderate considerably over the coming weekend, and there are some decent snowfalls - to 2,000m and below in some places - in the forecast for early next week!
This Week's Headlines:
* Hemsedal in Norway extends season to May 11th.
* A foot of fresh snow at some Colorado ski areas.
* Up to 40cm of fresh snow in Austria.
With just a touch of irony Mother Nature has decided that now that we're entering our second month of spring and the majority of resorts will be closed by the end of this Easter weekend, it's a good point at which to bring back winter and dump on the Alps. Austrian ski areas, which in the northern half of the country have not had a vintage snow season, will feel that irony most keenly as they needed snow most in the winter and received some of the biggest falls of the past few days - now most are already closed.
There have also been significant falls in Western North America and in parts of Scandinavia.
But there's no irony, just all good news for those ski areas which heroically stay open in to May and in the case of glacier resorts later still, as they're enjoying great powder skiing this week and have bigger bases now to see them through the warmer months. A number of other areas have also announced they're extending their ski seasons.
The Alps
Austria
Around half of Austria's ski areas are now closed and many more will follow on Monday, but there's been fresh snowfall across the country over the past few days. Accumulations of 5 to 40cm have been reported at virtually all still-open ski areas. This is particularly good news for areas like Ischgl and Obertauern, open in to May, and Austria's eight glacier ski areas – most of which are open in the spring and summer. Solden was one of the leading beneficiaries with a foot of fresh cover. Year round Hintertux has a 4m base on upper slopes and had 12cm of fresh snow. Most of the glaciers have at least a 3m (10 foot) base with the biggest falls of 35cm reported at Stubai and 40cm on the Kitzsteinhorn near Kaprun.
France
France has not had the snowfalls of Austria but that's not a huge problem in most cases as snow depths on upper slopes are typically 1.5 – 2.5m still so there's plenty of piste cover right down to resort level (although La Plagne now says only 5cm left at the bottom of its huge 2000m+ vertical). Almost all of the country's leading ski centres are open for Easter but the first swathe will begin to close from Monday with most of the rest following the next weekend while some areas including Chamonix and Tignes expect to keep running their lifts in to May.
Italy
There's been no fresh snow reported in Italy either and the closing schedule is similar here too, with many Italian areas closing after this weekend, or on the 28th, but a few open in to May including two with the deepest snow bases in Italy – Passo Tonale on 6m (still deepest in the world) will probably keep its highest runs open to June and Cervinia, on 3.9m, to May 4th. Cortina (20-80cm) also plans to stay open to the start of May as does Val Senales which has 315cm lying on its glacier at present.
Switzerland
Davos, St Moritz and Lenzerheide reported 10-15cm of fresh snow on Monday/Tuesday this week and with all open another few weeks at least, that's welcome fresh cover. Snow depths are mostly fairly healthy, on upper slopes at least with Andermatt still reporting the country's deepest base (4m) while Engelberg – open to mid-May - has the second deepest at 3.4m. Verbier, open to the start of May, has 10-150cm), Zermatt reports no snow at resort level but 1.8m up on its year round glacier slopes.
Pyrenees
There's been no fresh snow in the Pyrenees to speak of but those early season bases are holding good and we've had a first hand report that the skiing is excellent still on the pistes of Grandvalira which has a 50-250cm base. Across the border the slopes are still in full swing in Spain where Baqueira Beret has reduced lift pass prices and although limited its open terrain, made sure that connections work well between sectors so there still feels to be plenty still available – and indeed with 100km of runs and a 2.5m based, there is. It closes on Monday though.
Scandinavia
Most ski areas in Scandinavia are still open and Hemsedal has just announced it is extending its season to at least May 11ths due to the great snow. There's been fresh snow in Norway too with some areas reporting 10-20cm. Lillehammer still has the region's deepest base with over 2m on some of the higher slopes of the former Olympic venue but generally there's 60-120cm on the pistes of resorts across the region.
Eastern Europe
The season is largely over in Eastern Europe but there is a touch of irony here too as up to 10cm of fresh snow has fallen in Bulgaria where most ski centres are now closed, as are resorts in Romania and Slovenia. Pamporovo is the only large ski area in the region still reporting snow depths – and they're 20-50cm with, they say, 5cm of fresh.
Scotland
Glencoe, Nevis Range and Cairngorm are all in pretty good shape for Easter. Cairngorm has built an impressive half pipe, machine carved out of a valley filled with natural snow, so much still remains. It has a 630m vertical and 1 – 2m snow depth. Snow cover is similar at the other two open resorts in the west, although Glenshee and The Lecht are now closed. It's the latter half of April and temps are generally well above freezing so this is spring skiing.
North America
Canada
More than half of the resorts in Canada are now closed but the snow is still falling, if not so much – a maximum of 6cm. If you do want to ski Canada though there's still a month of the season to go at several ski areas – with Whistler Blackcomb (which currently has the deepest snow base of an open resort in the country, and has had the max 6cm of fresh this week) and Sunshine in Alberta – both open to late May, with the former re-opening for summer skiing in July. Lake Louise and Marmot Basin in Alberta are open in to May too and have good conditions for the time of year.
USA
The season is really winding down in the US now with most resorts closed or about to close this weekend . Some will be open in to May however. Among them, in Colorado Aspen Mountain is set to close this Sunday April 20th but will reopen to skiers for two additional weekends - April 26-27 and May 3-4. Copper Mountain will also re-open for the weekend of April 25th-27th and Winter Park will stay open an extra week through to April 27th. A Basin is likely to stay open through May and probably June however – the resorts still open have benefitted from up to a foot of fresh snow in the state this week. In California end-of-season conditions are great, to make up for the dry November-February, but many areas have already closed. Alpine Meadows and Kirkwood are open to the 27th though, as is Squaw Valley, which will also open weekends until mid May. Over on the east there was fresh snow at Killington although local reports say little is open and the few slopes that are are unprepared.