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This is our guide to where to ski in June, with an overview of the coming season for the Southern Hemisphere.
Snow Report Summary
June 2015 Snow Headlines
- Heavy pre-season snowfall in New Zealand.
- Resorts to open on four continents on last day of spring.
- Norwegian summer ski areas have to delay opening due to too much snow on access roads.
- Heavy late May snow in the Alps good news for glaciers open in June.
- Lift-served skiing in France recommences in June.
- Some Alpine ski areas received more snow in May than they did in December.
June is a key month in the southern hemisphere! The 2015 ski season gets underway in South America, Australia, New Zealand and at a few small centres in southern Africa. So far it is looking quite promising at most of these areas, particularly New Zealand where accumulations of up to 1.5m were reported during May at some areas. Australia has had snow too and more recently low temperatures to allow for snowmaking.
There are fewer than 20 areas open in the northern Hemisphere as we enter June but J2ski.com can report that that number may actually increase overall by the end of the month, as more glacier areas are scheduled to re-open for summer skiing than shut down in June. Low temperatures and some substantial snowfalls in late May mean most are looking good for the last few weeks of spring.
Saturday June 20th will see ski areas open on four continents simultaneously, including Les 2 Alpes in France, Europe and Whistler in Canada, North America for summer glacier skiing and Portillo in Chile, South America and The Remarkables in New Zealand, Australia,/Oceania for their winter ski seasons.
The Alps
Austria
The Kaunertal and Stubai glaciers both aim to stay open at least to June and Hintertux is open year round. Snow depths are good at all three centres with the Kaunertal reporting three lifts open and a base of 1.2-2m at the start of June. Hintertux however has the most terrain open (21km) served by 10 lifts and a 2.7m base.
France
Although there are no ski centres currently operating in France that's set to change later this month when the glacier slopes of Les 2 Alpes (on the 20th), Tignes (on the 27th) and Val d'Isere are scheduled to re-open for summer skiing and boarding.
Italy
After unusually having no ski centres open from mid-May, Italy's Passo Stelvio re-opened at the weekend for its season which traditionally runs from late spring through to autumn. However Cervinia will provide a second Italian option, at the end of the month at least, it is scheduled to re-open on 27th June for summer skiing through to early September.
Switzerland
With the Diavolezza and Engelberg glaciers closed for the season after last weekend, and Saas Fee not re-opening for summer skiing until July, the only real June skiing option in Switzerland is at Zermatt, where around 20km of glacier slopes are open, weather conditions permitting. The slopes got a boost a few weeks ago when more than a foot of fresh snow fell in a heavy late May snowfall that brought more snow to the Alps.
Scandinavia
Norway
All three of Norway's glacier ski areas should now be opening, having all opened last month, although the Stryn glacier, which was due to open on May 22nd, had to delay doing so for several days as the road to the complex was still blocked by snow.
Sweden
It's the last month of the season for Europe's 'spring skiing capital' Riksgransen in the Swedish Arctic. The centre has been offering skiing under the midnight sun on selected dates now that 24 hour daylight has arrived at its latitude and is now gearing up for its traditional sell out big season finale over the summer solstice weekend.
North America
Canada
Only Whistler remains open in Canada at present with glacier skiing. It has moved its closing date back to next weekend (Sunday June 7th) and will then close for 12 days before re-opening for five weeks of summer glacier skiing from the 20th, mostly concentrated in organised camps.
USA
Following Mammoth Mountain in California's and Killington in Vermont's decision to close last week, there are only two areas still operating in the US since 2014, Colorado's Arapahoe Basin and Timberline in Oregon.
Timberline is open year round and A Basin, which had a big snowfall (50 inches/125cm in total) in mid-May which attracted thousands of weekend skiers, still has a 1.3m base as we enter June. It has just announced it will open Fridays-Sundays until at least June 14th, a date which may be extended.
Last Wednesday Killington said it would just scrape in to June by staying closed on the final weekend of May and just re-open on June 1st for one last blast on the Superstar trail, there's so little snow left – but that went after rain storms on that Wednesday night so it has had to give up the ghost on its long 2014-15 season.
Southern Hemisphere
Africa
Southern Africa's two ski areas of Afriski in Lesotho and Tiffindell in South Africa are usually amongst the first southern hemisphere areas to open for the season, usually thanks to their 100% snowmaking cover. Afriski has announced its winter season starts on Thursday, 4th June, but at time of writing there was no snow on the ground, although the centre reports there has been some pre-season snow.
Australia
Most Australian ski areas officially open for the 'Queen's birthday' national holiday weekend at the start of the month whether or not they have snow. Pre-season signs have been promising with some good snowfalls in April and May and the last week of May seeing temperatures dip to -6C, great for snowmaking so it seems likely that at least some skiing will be possible for the opening weekend.
New Zealand
New Zealand is in great shape for the start of 2015 and it's perhaps slightly concerning for some Kiwis that with several of the area's resorts reporting perfect conditions right now with the snow lying two feet deep top to bottom at resorts like The Remarkables, there are however no plans to open(announced so far at least) ahead of the official opening dates 3 weeks away.
Snowfall during the month of May amounted to claimed accumulations of 1.5m at some areas whilst others began snowmaking early thanks to accompanying low temperatures from the 'Antarctic Blast.'
Mt Hutt, Coronet Peak and Cardrona aim to be the first resorts in the country to open on Saturday, June 13th.
More snow is forecast for the first week of June.
South America
Most ski areas in South America will open around the weekend of 19/20th June, all being well. There's been little information about pre-season snowfall accumulation but the more optimistic forecasters are optimistic that an 'El Nino' weather system in the Pacific which brought another warm, dry winter to West coast ski areas in North America will bring heavy snow to South America and social media images published by ski areas in Argentina and Chile have shown some very white mountains. A possible random factor is the latest volcanic eruption in April close to Bariloche but this is not currently thought to be a major issue for skiers.