Re-publication :- our Snow Report Summary, being the text up to "The Alps", is free to re-publish, but must be clearly credited to www.J2ski.com with text including "J2Ski Snow Report" linked to this page - thank you.
Here is our quick guide to where to ski in October (winter IS coming!).
Too soon to get excited? It was hard not to in the last week or so of September when the Alps got dumped on with up to 50cm of fresh snow.
Laax - September 23rd - courtesy of Laax Tourist Office
That snow in Europe followed similar accumulations in parts of the Rockies earlier in the month although of course, it still being summer, it largely melted away again after causing a snow-photo tidal wave on social media.
Sustained snowfall through Autumn is what's needed. Some British media outlets have reported that a strong 'El Nino weather event' in the Pacific could not only bring an end to the four season drought in Western North America but also bring 'End of the world' type winter weather to Europe... there is no real scientific evidence of that (but it makes a good story); no one really knows what's coming.
Regardless, there were a few good days of powder skiing on the handful of already open European glaciers.
South of the equator the season is of course winding down. Some areas have already closed and most will have done by mid-October. It has been a good season across the hemisphere, after a very poor start in South America, with regular top ups all through the southern winter including regular snowfalls in September in most countries.
October 2015 Snow Headlines
- 'El Nino' forecast to be strongest for up to six decades (depending which report you read) - meaning possibly huge snowfalls (or not).
- Good September snowfall in the Alps to start Autumn.
- Big fresh snowfalls in the Southern Hemisphere through September.
- Some resorts opening early in the Alps last month, a dozen more set to open through October.
- Some good early snowfalls in Western North America.
In The Forecast
Snow (well, a bit)! Down to 1500m in a few places in The Alps today; mainly to the South and East of the region, with scattered snow across the area for the next few days although with the snow line rising to around 2500m by the start of next week.
The Alps
Austria
September and October are months when Austrian ski areas dominate the Northern hemisphere, in the sense that by mid-October all eight of the country's glacier ski areas are normally open, whereas the number of ski centres open in the rest of the northern hemisphere added together total, well, less than eight. Things are already looking particularly good for one area in particular – Solden. It got the lion's share of the September snow and opened a week earlier than planned. Next month sees it stage the first World cup races of 15-16 and it also hits cinema screens around the world as a location venue in the new Bond movie Spectre.
But other areas are open already – the Stubai, Pitztal and Hintertux glaciers among them. There's been more snow flurries and generally October is looking good in Austria.
France
September – the month when no French ski areas are open – is behind us and this weekend sees Tignes re-opening. Many French resorts posted pictures and reports of September snowfall so after looking pretty sad after the summer heat in august, the grand Motte isn't looking so bad for October. No other French area really opens until later November but Les 2 Alpes does have an annual 9 day opening at the end of October for various ski test festivities. This year it's October 24th to November 1st.
Italy
Passo Stelvio heroically battled on through September as pretty much the only Italian area open after Cervina ended its summer ski run at the start of the month. There are reports that Macugnaga has also been opening at weekends but it is difficult to get accurate information on that. In any case the former summer ski area of Val Senales has now re-joined the list of areas open and Cervinia will be back too in a few weeks, starting with weekend opening before going full time from the end of the month.
Switzerland
Saas Fee reported fresh powder conditions twice in September after snowfalls at the start of the month (still summer) and during the more wide spread snowfall at the start of autumn just over a week ago. Presumably Zermatt enjoyed similar although it also reported one of its highest drag lifts was 'taken out' by very strong winds in September too – so not all sunshine and powder. After several months of these being the only two Swiss options more glacier areas are scheduled to open through the month including Diavolezza near St Moritz in the idle of the month and Laax at the end.
Scandinavia
In Norway the summer glacier ski run at Galdhoppigen remains open and more surprisingly a run has opened at Geilo, not known for its out-of-season skiing, mainly targeted at school children visiting for the autumn holidays. It's open four hours a day.
Some other Scandinavian areas may open during October. Ruka in Finnish Lapland aims for the longest season in the world of a non-glacier resort and tries to open a run by mid October (then keeps it open to next May or June).
North America
Although there's been no lift-served skiing open in north America for several months now since the timberline snowfield on Mt Hood had to close early due to poor cover, it's hoped that snowmaking will start at high resorts like Arapahoe Basin, Copper, Keystone and Loveland in Colorado within the next few weeks and possibly in New England too. October openings are really the norm at some of these locations. As mentioned in the introduction there have been some early snowfalls in Western North America already and the forecasts are for a very severe winter.
Southern Hemisphere
New Zealand
New Zealand's ski areas tend to stay open longer than others and with 2015 being one of the best seasons in years and base depths touching the 3m/10 feet mark at some areas, plus snow still falling in the last week of September, the end of this year's skiing looks to be a strong one. Mt Ruapehu, where Turoa and Whakapapa have 2.8 to 2.9m bases, may well announce shortly it plans to stay open to 'Snowvember' Otherwise it's open to the last weekend of the month, most other areas are still open and will stay open to mid October.
Australia
Aussie ski areas have begun closing for 2015 and most will have called-it-a-day on the ski season by the first weekend of October. There's been a few dustings of snow in recent days and still open centres including Perisher and Thredbo are reporting up to 109cm base depths.
Argentina
The season is in its last days and weeks at Argentinian ski resorts. As we enter October bases are generally looking good however with most areas reporting 1.5 – 2m now lying on their slopes and most have also had a few September snowfalls of up to 30cm a time to keep things fresh. Chapelco reports the deepest base at 1.9m and that it had 5cm of fresh snow over the last weekend of September.
Chile
It has been a good few months in Chile and the snow has been abundant since late July. It's had the best southern hemisphere snow of the last seven days too, with resorts reporting 20cm falls on the last weekend of September. Most areas are still open but will close in the first half of October. Portillo reports the deepest base at 12.9m, most others have 1.3 to 1.8m bases.