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.
This Week's Snow Headlines
This week in Europe, the waiting is (nearly) over with heavy snow expected... whilst America suffers an East/West split in fortunes.
Powder at Lake Louise - courtesy LL Tourist Office
This Week's Snow Headlines
- Revelstoke reports 3m/10 feet of pre-season snowfall so far.
- (Potentially) huge snowfalls for the Alps forecast.
- More Western Canadian and US resorts open early.
- Val Thorens delays opening due to fears that heavy snow forecast may disrupt opening.
- Eastern US resorts delay opening.
- Obergurgl fully open for season with 60km of runs available (biggest in Europe at present).
- More snow forecast for Scotland in coming week.
- First good snowfall of autumn for parts of Scandinavia.
An exciting week for snowfall across the northern hemisphere (hence our longer list of headlines than usual!) with Western North American areas continuing to get dumped on and more and more announcing early openings as a result and at the same time big snowfalls forecast for the Alps over the coming weekend.
The probable snow in the Alps is of course causing the most excitement and reports of a likely 20cm fall at the start of Monday had grown to excited "up to 2m probable" by the end of the day. The exact extent of the snowfall, which is scheduled to start on Friday and continue through the weekend will be known by Monday. Some forecasters are saying the snow will be 'at altitude' but temperatures are expected to drop to double digits below, which should be good news for top to bottom coverage and for resorts to kick off snowmaking too. With the start of the season only weeks away nerves at the dry, warm November weather to date were beginning to get stretched.
Elsewhere in Europe Scotland has had more snow at altitude and that's expected to accelerate in the size of falls over the coming weekend too, whilst in Scandinavia Norwegian resorts have had a decent snowfall on Monday/Tuesday this week, transforming conditions for the better.
But the 'El Nino Effect' that is credited with all the early snow in western North America isn't helping the rest of the continent and Eastern US ski areas are in a battle to open in time for Thanksgiving, desperately posting pictures of snowmaking underway on green grass slopes since temperatures dropped in the past 48 hours. Stowe has announced it has to delay its planned opening this weekend.
In The Forecast
The Alps are about to experience a dramatic change in weather, that will leave no doubt as to the arrival of winter! Plunging temperatures and heavy snow are expected across much of the region, with a number of ski areas likely to see accumulations of one metre or more over this weekend.
There's more discussion in our Forum here - The incoming Snow.
The Alps
Austria
It has been another dry sunny week in the Austrian Alps with the same 10 areas open - eight glaciers plus Kitzbuhel and Obergurgl, as before. Obergurgl is however fully open and after two months with limited glacier skiing, has opened the biggest area in the country (and Europe at present) with 60km of runs open. Otherwise open terrain and snow depths are little changed on last week either with Hintertux and Solden posting the next biggest numbers for both at around 32km/20 miles of runs each and bases around the metre mark. Austria is due to get a good dump of snow this weekend but perhaps not so much as further West in the alps, although the forecast is being constantly updated. At time of writing total accumulations of 20-40cm across the Austrian Alps were forecast.
France
Tignes remains the only ski area open in France and is also set to receive the biggest snowfall in Europe over the coming weekend if forecasts are correct. The big snowfall news, which applies across most of the French Alps, has caused Val Thorens to delay the planned opening this weekend, due to time needed to prep slopes (and the traffic chaos and operational difficulties resulting from the ongoing snow).
Italy
It's a similar story to the other glacier area in the Alps, with the same areas open as the rest of the month – Cervinia, Val Senales and Sulden the three open options. As with the rest of the alps it has been a largely dry and sunny week – nice on the pistes. And as with the rest of the Alps big snow is coming with 60-90cm of snow expected over the weekend, the biggest falls currently forecast for westerly located resorts.
Switzerland
Switzerland too has had its third successive dry, sunny week. The ski areas that have been open since last July or year round – Saas Fee and Zermatt – continue to offer the biggest open ski areas in the country with around 30km of runs open each. Other areas that had hoped to be open or had opened previously including Crans Montana, Davos, Engelberg and Laax are looking forward to snowfall this weekend. The biggest volumes forecast are for westerly ski areas with the 4 Valleys possibly receiving up to 90cm/three feet. Most areas are expected to receive at least 30cm/a foot though.
Scandinavia
Scandinavian ski slopes are continuing to look ever more wintry and less like ribbons of white machine made snow on brown hillsides. That's thanks to the first decent natural snowfalls of the autumn in the past few days at many areas, particularly in Norway where Geilo, which has managed to have a slope open since late September, now says it plans to open more terrain. In Finland Ruka is looking good too, a month after opening, and has got the FIS go ahead for staging the Nordic World cup opener in a weeks' time.
Scotland
It has been colder in Scotland, particularly on the hills this week and Glencoe reports that gullies are starting to fill in with snow at higher elevations. Much more snow is expected at the start of next week so although it is too early to predict opening dates, conditions continue to improve and make opening sooner rather than later appear likely – so long as it stays cold.
Pyrenees
There's little or no snow on slopes in the resorts at present but the Pyrenees are also expecting decent snowfalls this weekend, even if they are not forecast to be quite on the same scale as those in the Alps. Most areas would like to open the weekend after next if feasible, or at the latest the first weekend in December, as there's a major public holiday in Spain in early December which is a key one for the total business through the season for resorts on the Spanish side of the region.
Eastern Europe
No areas have opened yet in Eastern Europe and conditions reports are limited as a result but ski areas are hoping for some of the snow that's forecast in the Alps to extend their way.
North America
Canada
Sensational snowfalls have been the order of the week in Canada and it just keeps coming. Most resorts on the west side of the country have had at least a metre of snow in the last seven days, many much more, with Lake Louise reporting 1.5m and fantastic powder conditions. Revelstoke has now had more than 3m of snow this month although it still won't open until the last weekend and Kicking Horse and Nakiska both reported around 60cm/2 feet in 24 hours on Tuesday/Wednesday. Cypress mountain, Sun Peaks and kicking horse and joining Big White and Whistler in opening early. Conditions are great at already open areas like Banff and Marmot Basin.
USA
One of the most remarkable Novembers of recent years continues in the Western USA with the snow, credited to El Nino, still falling in abundance. Many areas in Colorado and California are reporting more than a metre since the start of the month now and most have either already opened early or are about to, with Aspen and Steamboat among the bigger areas to announce they're doing so this weekend. Thanksgiving is of course a big holiday weekend coming up imminently so ski resorts in the region couldn't have hoped for a better start to 15-16. It's the reverse scenario in the east however with resorts struggling to make snow due to warm conditions and Stowe, which had optimistically hoped to open this weekend has announced they won't be doing so now. Resorts in the area are hoping to open for thanksgiving still and are making snow in the marginal conditions whenever possible. Sunday River in Maine has completed a top to bottom run.