Week Ending October 18th, 2013
* Free to re-publish in whole or part so long as clearly credited to www.J2ski.com with the words "J2Ski Snow Report - October 17th 2013" linked to this page or http://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast/
As predicted, we saw a fair amount of snow across the Northern Hemisphere this last week.
This Week's Headlines
* Heavy snow in the Alps - deep powder conditions on open glaciers.
* Resorts open in USA.
* 255cm base on Val Senales glacier in Italy.
* French 2013-14 ski season gets underway at Tignes.
* Ruka, Finland, opening Saturday - first non-glacier resort in Europe to open.
* Cervinia scheduled to open on Saturday (weekends only in October).
Hintertux, Austia, 11th October 2013
Heavy snow in the Alps has been the main talking point of the last seven days with accumulations of up to 50cm reported; great news for the already open glacier ski slopes and those that are about to join them.
The biggest falls were reported at the weekend but snowfall is ongoing, with around 10cm reported on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier above Kaprun on Wednesday. More is expected over the coming weekend.
It's not just the Alps either; there have been snowfalls reported in many parts of the northern hemisphere and in combination with low temperatures these have allowed the first non-glacier ski areas to open for 2013 in Colorado and (this weekend) Scandinavia.
South of the equator only Turoa in New Zealand is continuing the southern hemisphere's 2013 season.
The Alps
Although it can no longer claim to have more than half of the open ski areas in the northern hemisphere, Austria's eight open ski areas represent a third of the world total now most southern hemisphere areas are closed, and half of the tally for the Alps.
More exciting than the open area numbers however is the recent snowfall numbers which has brought powder conditions to all areas, and the snow is still falling.
Tirol has five areas open for which the snow depth data, much of it fresh cover, is Kaunertal Glacier: 93cm; Stubai Glacier: 100cm; Hintertux Glacier: 135cm; Pitztal Glacier: 86cm and Sölden Glaciers: 75cm. Elsewhere in Austria snow depths on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier are up to a metre, on the Dachstein have leapt from zero to 50cm and for Molltal are at 1.5m. The fresh snow has tied in perfectly with special October season start festival and gear testing weekends being staged at present at most centres.
In France, the 2013-14 season has begun, with the Grande Motte Glacier above Tignes first to open and for the next month (bar a week long appearance by Les 2 Alpes later this month), the only open French area. ed to open this Saturday, October 12th. Tignes reports an 85cm base with fresh powder.
In Italy Cervinia is re-opening, currently at weekends only, 19th-20th and 26th-27th October and then every day for six months from the 1st November to the 4th May next year. It reports base depths of around a metre. Two other Italian glacier resorts - Val Senales and Passo Stelvio - are also open.
Four ski areas are now open in Switzerland, although the Titlis glacier above Engelberg is only open at weekends, it has a 22cm base. The Diavolezza Glacier close to St Moritz, along with the glaciers of Saas Fee and Zermatt, each with bases around the 1.5 metres mark, are the other options.
Scandinavia
Ruka in Finnish Lapland has an online countdown to opening day this Saturday, 19th October, two days later than initially planned. Once open it has a season length expected to last around seven months/200+ days, the longest for a non-glacier resort in Europe and (depending on how long already-open areas in Colorado, see below, stay open) the world. In fact some US ski areas have already opened (see below) but they have closed again whereas Ruka will try to remain open thanks to its snowmaking. The Galdhøpiggen glacier in Norway is also open and Levi, which will host World cup Racing in four weeks' time, reports snowmaking underway on its front pistes.
Pyrenees
Although it seems likely the ski season in the Pyrenees is still at least six weeks away, Baqueira Beret, one of Spain's leading resorts, has announced it has run a successful test of its 600+ snow gun system this week, thanks to low temperatures. The resort says its ready to go as soon as a longer spell of cold weather is in the forecast.
Scotland
The widespread snowfall in the northern hemisphere extended to Scottish mountains with online pictures posted from Cairngorm showed snow at least six inches deep on the summit slopes. There's no news yet of any early openings, but ski areas including The Lecht have opened as early as Halloween in the past.
North America
Snow has continued to fall in North America and has reached as far east as the mid-West. Thanks to the snow and snowmaking Colorado's 2013/14 ski season got underway on Sunday at Arapahoe Basin which opened its Black Mountain Express lift to crowds of animated skiers and snowboarders to ski on intermediate run High Noon.
It was joined on Thursday (17th October) by Loveland and both areas reports a 45cm base. Both resorts had begun making snow on the evening of Friday, September 27, and had made snow or received natural snow most days since then.
New snowmaking equipment upgrades, ideal snowmaking conditions, and recent natural snowfall have added to Arapahoe Basin's base accumulation resulting in the resort's current conditions described as, "packed powder" by the resort.
"Seeing skiers and snowboarders taking their first turns of the season is one of the highlights of the year," said Colorado Ski Country USA President and CEO, Melanie Mills. "Since the first high country snowstorms several weeks ago, we've seen the enthusiasm in skiers and snowboarders building towards this day. Thanks to helpful weather patterns and the hard work of Snowmakers and groomers, all of Colorado's resorts will open with top notch products our guests will enjoy."
The near-year-round ski area of Timberline in Oregon is a third ski area open in North America.
Southern Hemisphere
Virtually all ski areas in the southern hemisphere are now closed. However Turoa in New Zealand on Mt Ruapehu is likely to stay open in to November and currently reports a 118cm base, down around 20cm on a week ago. Temperatures are just above freezing.