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This Week's Snow Headlines
- Two Feet of fresh snow in Jackson Hole; the most in the world this week.
- Up to 40cm of fresh snow in the Alps but 5-15cm for most areas.
- Second Scottish area closed by thaw.
The forecasts which predicted moderate snowfall in the western Alps a week ago proved to be a bit 'off' with Austria reporting the biggest accumulations in Europe and less significant falls in France and Switzerland. Cover remains good on the pistes almost everywhere for the start of April though with typical freeze/thaw spring conditions. There's little powder to find off-piste now though and there's currently not much fresh show expected in the Alps in the week ahead.
Elsewhere In Europe the Pyrenees continue to look good and 30cm more snow is forecast for the coming week.
In North America it's been snowing heavily again on the western side of the continent with the biggest snow in the world reported in Jackson Hole, which got two feet of fresh snow in the past week. Other areas typically posted 12-18 inches / 30-45cm.
Scottish slopes are struggling to stay snow covered, despite a few fresh snow flurries; Glenshee is currently closed for lack of adequate cover, joining The Lecht, whilst the other three areas are still open.
In The Alpine Forecast
Spring is certainly in the air... The Alps are looking to be generally warm, albeit with regular light precipitation at altitude, for the next week or so.
Although many lower altitude ski areas will be closing this coming weekend, there is still a wide choice of skiing above 2,000 metres with areas such as Paradiski (Les Arcs and La Plagne) and Espace Killy remaining open through April.
We'll be posting a round-up of April skiing options in the forum in the next day or two, once we've checked with a few Tourist Offices!
The Alps
Austria
There was a wave of fresh snowfall across Austria at the end of last week. Almost all areas got at least some snow, the smallest 24 hour accumulation was a couple of inches, but some got as much as 45cm/18 inches; including Mayrhofen with good timing for the big "Snowbombing" Festival about to take over the Tirolean village. Fugen received 40cm in 24 hours. The deepest snow bases have dipped below 3m (10 feet) everywhere except the Kaunertal Glacier now with the spring thaw and the first lower elevation resorts will close after this Sunday. On-piste conditions should be good for a few more weeks, for the ski areas like Ischgl and the glacier resorts that will be open into May.
France
There was not so much fresh in France last week, although 20cm was reported for Chamonix and 16cm for Tignes. Most areas in the northern Alps got 5-10cm, however, which freshened up pistes. Chamonix continues to claim the world's deepest snowbase at 7 metres (23 feet) on upper runs, but only 10cm down in resort. Bases remain good across France and skiers in the resorts this past week have declared themselves happy with good conditions under sunny skies, slopes getting a bit sticky lower down later in the afternoon.
Italy
A clear week in Italy, although snow in Cervinia and la Thuile at the end of last week brought 40 and 20cm of fresh snow to each respectively. As with the rest of central Europe on-piste conditions remain good, even excellent across the country with reasonably good bases for the start of April in both the Italian Alps and Dolomites. The Western Alps continue to have marginally the best conditions with La Thuile on 290cm (just under 10 feet) the deepest base in Italy and over in the Dolomites Arabba has the deepest base at 180cm/six feet. Not much snow forecast for the coming week but what there is – 20cm at max – is again expected in the West/Aosta Valley region.
Switzerland
Very little fresh snow was reported in Switzerland over the past week; like Italy just a few areas reported more than 10cm of snow. Grindelwald, which has a 180cm top base, reported that biggest accumulation of 17cm which fell on Easter Sunday/Monday. Base depths on higher slopes continue to be healthy across Switzerland but some resorts are losing lowest bases now – Adelboden and Champery say there's zero in resort and Grindelwald and Wengen have 5cm a piece. At the other extreme Engelberg, open to late May, has 3.9m (13 feet) up on its glacier, 15cm at its base.
Eastern Europe
Not much new snow in Eastern Europe in the past week but in Bulgaria Borovets had a few inches of snow. Bansko has a 1.6m base on upper runs, nothing down in resort. Pamporovo has the most challenging conditions with only a 20-30cm base now. Snow depths in Solvenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are in the 50-70cm region.
Pyrenees
No fresh snow for the past week but on-piste cover remains fairly good as we enter April. In Andorra the snow base is over a metre on upper runs and still several feet deep at resort level and the deepest snow is at Formigal on the Spanish side at 2.6m (8 feet) deep. Snow is forecast in the Pyrenees this week with up to a foot of snow expected.
Scotland
A colder week than the previous two and some fresh snowfall on higher peaks since the Easter weekend. However the thaw has also continued and now Glenshee has joined The Lecht in being forced to close. Although the other three Highland centres remain open, with the best skiing on higher slopes.
Scandinavia
Just an inch or so of snow in Scandinavia this week with on-piste conditions looking good across the region and bases typically 80-120cm. There's still a month or so of the season to go at most Scandinavian resorts. The deepest base of 230cm is still at Voss in Norway and its Norway where up to 20m of fresh snow is expected in the week ahead.
Canada
Not too snowy a week in Canada but what snow has fallen has as usual been in the West with Big White getting the most – 30cm/a foot of fresh snow. Other areas in the west got 5-15cm of snow and Fernie, Whistler and others have bases of more than 3m/10 feet. Despite this most will be closing over the next few weekends.
Whistler and Sunshine are open to the end of May however. Whistler has had 10cm of new snow and is at 325cm in depth.
USA
It just keeps snowing in Western North America as we enter April. But whilst ski areas in the East have been closing due to a lack of snow cover, in the West resorts are starting to close because it's their end of season – even when the snow may be lying 10 feet deep on the ground. Jackson Hole has had two feet of snow, as has Winter Park in Colorado which reported 45cm (18 inches) in the last 24 hours. Mammoth has the second deepest snow base in the world at 510cm (17 feet). More areas have closed in New England where no fresh snow has been reported in the past week and conditions continue to be challenging, with Attitash and Mount Snow amongst those calling it a day on this season.