J2Ski Monthly Snow Report - June 2013

Introduction

The start of June typically sees fewer than 20 ski areas open worldwide - unless the southern hemisphere ski season starts early! That doesn't look likely this year, although there have been promising signs for a good winter south of the equator.

By the end of June more than 100 should be operational and although there's another dip in September before the autumn glacier pre-main-2013-14 season kicks off in the Alps, the numbers shouldn't drop quite so low.

Worldwide Snow Day?
June 22nd looks like a particularly auspicious day in world skiing, as resorts on four continents are all supposed to be open - among them Portillo in Chile, South America; The Remarkables in New Zealand, Oceania; Les 2 Alpes in France (Europe) and Whistler Blackcomb in Canada, North America.

Mid to late May has seen some very heavy snowfall in the Alps and northern Europe - unprecedented snowfall in fact with up to a metre of snow on the high points of the alps in the last week of May. That's good news for the areas still open or due to re-open soon for summer skiing in Europe although in the short term there have been bad weather closures and a high avalanche risk.

There have been significant pre-season falls south of the equator throughout May too.

The Alps
It's a remarkable spring-ski season in Austria, which as usual at this time of year has more ski areas open than any other country on the planet - although that is still only five. But what's remarkable is the heavy snow for the latter half of May - up to a metre of fresh, with on-going conditions in to June. The Stubai glacier has a base of 1.9m and is staying open into July. It's -7C at the Hintertux glacier where the snow depth is up above 3m after another 20cm of snow in the past 24 hours. The Dachstein reports 3.3m of powder.

Austrian glaciers due to re-open later in the month: 9 June: Kaunertal; 21 June: Molltal; 28 June Kitzsteinhorn (also open 1st and 2nd of June before three week closure).

All French ski areas had closed by mid-May, but in an unprecedented move the Pyrenean resort of Porte Puymorens decided to open the first weekend of June due to the cold weather, deep snow still lying from last winter. It may open more in June depending on the idea's popularity and conditions.

Up in the French Alps, Val d'Isere's brief summer ski season kicks off on 8th June and runs to 14th July 2013 on the Pissaillas glacier, with Tignes opening their summer ski season a week later on the 15th and keeping it open through July. Winter 2012-13 was a record season for Les 2 Alpes. The resort had a total of 10.75m of snow at 2,600m, which is the biggest snowfall since 1982 when the resort started to record the winter snow and it is still snowing at the end of May. The glacier, which claims to be Europe's biggest skiable glacier, is opening on 22nd June, The snow conditions for this summer will be outstanding, they promise. The glacier opens every day from 7.15am to 1.30pm, until 31st August.

In Italy Passo Stelvio is scheduled to open on June 1st, with 20km of terrain to enjoy. It joins the only Italian area still operating for winter 2012-13, the Presena Glacier above Passo Tonale, which still reports a 4-5m base. Only two red runs are open there and the centre usually closes by mid-June. However Cervinia will re-open for summer skiing after a two month closure, with cross-border skiing to Zermatt, at the end of the month from June 28th.

In Switzerland only Zermatt is open in June, with Engelberg and Glacier 3000 closing in late May. The resort reports 15 runs are currently open served by five lifts. Verbier announced it might open for one day only on 2nd June due to all the fresh snow, but then decided it wouldn't due to too much fresh snow! However it is now talking about possible summer skiing in July.

Scandinavia (and Scotland!)
Norway's three glacier ski areas all opened last month for summer skiing at Folgefonn, Galdhøpiggen and most recently Stryn. Each operates a drag lift or two, terrain park and long piste. Folgefonn delayed open at the start of last month due to heavy snow.
In the Swedish Arctic Circle Riksgransen is now closed but will re-open just for the midsummer weekend 21st-23rd June with skiing under the midnight sun.

Over in Lapland, Ruka plans to stay open to June 9th this year, heroically maintaining its reputation as having the longest ski season in the world for a non-glacier resort - 230 days this year having opened on October 23rd last year.

The last Scottish area still open for 12-13, Cairngorm, ended its season in mid-May.

North America
In the USA Mt Bachelor, Mammoth and Snowbird all closed last week on May 27th, however Arapahoe Basin has extended its season by a weekend to June 9th, after 10cm of fresh snow fell on May 30th. In addition, Crystal Mountain In Washington State is open weekends to June 16th and Timberline in Oregon is usually open right through the year, just closing for a few weeks in September.

There's nowhere open in Canada at present following Whistler's closure last weekend, however the Whistler Blackcomb glacier re-opens for summer snowsports including some of the world's best summer terrain parks from June 22 - July 28, 2013.

Southern Hemisphere

June is the month when most ski centres are scheduled to open in the southern hemisphere and there are about 100 commercial and club fields located in six countries - Argentina and Chile in South America, South Africa and Lesotho in southern Africa, and Australia and New Zealand.

Although pre-season snow is of course no guarantee of a good season, resorts in Africa received healthy falls as early as late April and those in Australia and New Zealand by mid-May, so excitement levels are rising ahead of opening.

In Australia opening day for most resorts for the 2013 season is June 8th. It looks like even without fresh snow there'll be some skiing on snow that fell mid-May, but most areas could do with a fresh cover.

In New Zealand the snow has continued to fall and the slopes are in good shape. Resorts open throughout June with Coronet Peak (40cm base as of May 31st) first up on 8th June, followed by Mt Hutt (55cm base) a week later.

In Lesotho, Afriski plans to open later this week on June 6th, and has started snowmaking. Tiffindell is not setting a precise opening date but says 'early June' - it had a great pre-season snowfall in April and reports it's snowing on May 31st.
South American ski areas have been posting snowy images on their Facebook pages for weeks now, so if pictures cannot lie, it's looking good.

Portillo in Chile, which opens on June 22nd, says it has had a metre of snow in the past week and it's a similar story at many other South American ski centres which all have projected opening dates of 21st or 22nd June.

Rest Of The World
Gassan in Japan is normally open to July having only opened in April for its unusual season.

There are more than 50 indoor snow slopes operating worldwide including slopes more than 500m long in France, Germany and Lithuania as well as the six British centres.