J2Ski Monthly Snow Report - July 2013

Where to Ski in July - 2013
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Introduction

July may be one of the warmest months of the year in the northern hemisphere but more ski areas are open in the Alps than last month and as winter kicks off in the southern hemisphere nearly 100 areas should be open south of the equator by the end of the month.

So by the middle of July about six times as many ski areas are open on planet earth as at the end of May - and we should be back up to triple figures for the first time since early May.

After the remarkably snowy late May and early June in the Alps, the snow largely stopped falling in Europe in the middle of June and things were much more normal - sunny days and often a bit of a thaw by the afternoon even above 3000m. However that's not been the case everywhere, particularly in the last week of June, with up to 50cm of new snow reported in the Austrian Alps.

South of the equator, the season has got off to a great start in New Zealand where up to 3m (10 feet) of snow has fallen and many resorts in South America have had big snowfalls. Australian ski areas reported a foot of snow falling in late June too and conditions continuing to improve.

The Alps

As we enter July it has been snowing heavily once again on the summer ski glaciers of Austria – where more centres are open than any other northern hemisphere country.

Austria
The Stubai glacier is nearing the end of its 10 month season! It currently plans to close, a for a couple of months, on July 5th, but it's still looking good with a 1.7m base and 20cm of fresh snow last week. There was 40cm of new snow in 24 hours at year-round Hintertux last week which has a 315cm base and 22km runs open served by 10 lifts. The Dachstein is looking good too, reporting 20cm of fresh snow I the last week of June too, a 3m base and describing conditions at the start of July as "powder". The Kitzsteinhorn opened for a three week run last weekend (closes 21st July), it reports a 3m base too with 10cm of fresh snow. There are 12km of runs open on a 3.2m base on the Molltal glacier which re-opened for its near 11 month season on the first day of summer. 20cm of fresh here.

France
Having started June with no ski areas open, three French glacier areas opened on successive weekends and all remain open in to July, although the first to open and smallest summer ski open, Val d'Isere, will close by mid-month on 14th July. Les 2 Alpes and Tignes are both due to remain open into August and both start the month with good snow cover following the heavy snowfalls of late May and early June.

Italy
In Italy Passo Stelvio remains open with 20km and while the limited skiing on the Presena Glacier above Passo Tonale has now closed, Cervinia has just re-opened on the last weekend of June for summer skiing after a two month closure, with cross-border skiing to Zermatt.

Switzerland
In Switzerland the year-round ski slopes at Zermatt offer skiing from 3880m down to 2939m meaning a summer vertical of over 900m is possible. The resort's famous Gravity Park closed at one location in the last few days of June and is currently making its summer migration up the hill. It is scheduled to re-open at the higher altitude Plateau Rosa from around 13 July where it will be served by an extra T-bar lift. A special spring and summer ski pass is available as are accommodation inclusive packages through to 14th September, 2013. Saas Fee is due to join Zermatt, its neighbour, from the last weekend of July, re-opening on the 27th.

Scandinavia
Norway's three glacier ski areas are the only remaining options in Scandinavia - all open since May for summer skiing at Folgefonn, Galdhøpiggen and most recently Stryn. Each operates a drag lift or two, terrain park and long piste.

North America
In the USA – Timberline in Oregon is in good shape with a 2m base and terrain park operating. A second option, Beartooth Basin on the Montana/Wyoming basin, home to the famed Red Lodge International Summer Racing Camp, is open to July 13th. In Canada Whistler Blackcomb's glacier has re-opened for summer snowsports with some of the world's best summer terrain parks open until July 28th.

Southern Hemisphere - Africa

It's been cold but sunny on the slopes of Afriski in Lesotho and Tiffindell in South Africa. The result is that the snowmaking is working well, resulting on the slightly surreal sight of big white streaks of snow across African grassland under bright sunshine. Of course, natural snow could roll in at any time, but as we write there are runs up to 600m long with machine made snow up to 80cm deep lying on African mountainsides and the lifts are turning!

Southern Hemisphere - South America
Argentina
Argentina's ski season has had a slow start with little natural snowfall up to the end of June. Las Lenas ski area which was due to have opened on 20th June had only a few centimetres of snow at the end of last week although temperatures did allow for snowmaking. It was a similar picture at the other big ski area, Catedral, the continent's largest, which had little cover and warm temperatures at the end of June although 20cm had accumulated at the very top of the runs.

Chile
The snow is looking good for the start of the season in Chile, Portillo received 1.2m of snow in a storm last week, building on an 80cm fall earlier and currently has a 1.2m base down at hotel level for the start of July. It's a similar story at other Chilean resorts which are all ecstatically posting snowy pics on their Facebook feeds.

Australia
Australian areas open regardless of snow conditions in early June and in the first few weeks several areas had no snow while others scraped together some terrain thanks to snowmaking. In the last week of June however the snow did arrive – with typically 20-40cm bases building. The weather needs to stay cold and hopefully more snow to fall soon to make those bases secure.

New Zealand
New Zealand has seen record snowfall since resorts began opening at the start of last month, an ongoing process which continues in to July. Mt Hutt was forced to close within a week of opening as up to 10 feet (3m) of snow blocked access roads and made the slopes dangerous – controlled avalanches led to one disaster as an avalanche set off by 'bombing' from a helicopter descended on the resort's triple chair, causing substantial damage. However parts of the resort reopened last Monday, 24th June. It's been a similar, if marginally less snowy June at most other NZ resorts which bodes well for July and the rest of the southern hemisphere winter. Cardrona, which opened on Saturday, 22 June, 24 hours later than planned following a three day blizzard which brought 80cm of snow to the slopes, reported some of "the best opening conditions in the ski area's history!" attracting 1,300 skiers and boarders on opening day.

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.