This Month's Snow Headlines
- Southern Hemisphere 2016 Ski season ready for launch.
- Heavy May snow in many ski regions leave excellent conditions for the start of June.
- Half a dozen ski areas still operating in North America including one re-opening.
- Up to 1,300 metres of lift-served vertical skill skiable in the Alps.
Coronet Peak, viewed from The Remarkables (who we thank for the photo) today
After the northern hemisphere has wound down its ski season through May, with less than 20 areas open worldwide as of 31st May, things start to ramp up again in June with northern hemisphere resorts re-opening for summer glacier skiing on both sides of the Atlantic and of course ski areas starting to open for the 2016 season in the southern hemisphere. By the end of the month we should be back up to triple figures in terms of the number of areas operating.
May 2016 wasn't a normal May either, it was one of the snowiest on record in the northern hemisphere and there have been some hefty snowfalls in New Zealand and South America too, as well as moderate accumulations in Southern Africa and Australia, so things are looking good on Europe's glaciers and for the start of winter 2016 south of the equator.
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NORTHERN HEMISPHERE (for South, please see below)
The Alps
Austria
There are three glacier ski areas open in June in Austria – slightly less than usual (of the eight that have year-round snow) as the Stubai glacier, normally open in to June or July, as closed early in order to work on a major lifts overhaul. A fourth area, the Molltal glacier, re-opens on 18th June. But open now, year-round Hintertux has had a very snowy May (snowier than last December in fact) and now has a 3.3m (11 foot) base on the glacier. There are 36km of runs open and around 1300m of skiable vertical available down from the summit at 3250 to the mid station at 1950m. The Kitzsteinhorn glacier is open to late July and reports similarly spectacular ski conditions for the start of June and the Dachstein glacier is the third choice.
France
France is the only one of the big four Alpine nations to go for periods in late Spring and late summer when there's no ski lifts operating at all. This has seemed particularly odd over the past few weeks as there have been big snowfalls on French mountains. Things do change in June when the small ski area at Val; d'Isere opens for a few weeks, and then Les 2 Alpes opens what it claims is Europe's largest glacier ski area on 18th June. It will be followed a fortnight later by Tignes at the start of July.
Italy
There are just a handful of choices in Italy through the late spring to autumn period now. One resort that usually stayed open to early summer, Passo Tonale, has closed in early spring for the second year running as major infrastructure projects have been underway. Cervinia is also between the end of its long spring and start of its summer ski season (which begins on 25th June) so with Val Senales also no longer open in summer there's really just Passo Stelvio to ski in Italy, which re-opened on the last Saturday of May and is in good shape.
Switzerland
Only Europe's highest ski slopes above Zermatt are currently open in Switzerland following Engelberg and other late May-openers ending their seasons in the past few weeks. Snow conditions on the Klein Matterhorn have been 'epic' through May with heavy snow bringing powder conditions.
Scandinavia
Two of Norway's three glacier ski areas – Stryn and Folgefonn are open with the third, Galdhoppigen, due to open at the end of the month. There's reported to be a lot of snow if not quite so much as this time last year. Riksgransen up in the Swedish Arctic Circle, the so-called 'Spring skiing Capital' is also open through to Midsummers and is offering weekly midnight skiing and boarding sessions under the midnight sun as an added novelty attraction now that 24 hour daylight is here.
North America
As with the Alps, it has kept snowing through May in Western North America allowing for some great fresh snow conditions at still open areas. Aspen Mountain keeps re-opening at weekends altough it says that so far, the Memorial Day holiday weekend last weekend would be the last time this season, maybe. Arapahoe Basin has stayed open, with most of its terrain open, but currently expects to end its eight month winter on June 5th.
It looks like the season will have ended on May 30th at Mammoth and Squaw Valley in California, Snowbird in Utah and Killington in Vermont, the last areas open in each state, although some to be being cagey about whether they're definitely going to call it a day on 15-16 or not.
Mt Bachelor in Oregon also looks set to have closed, but the near year-round ski area of Timberline, also in Oregon, has more than a 2m base and is scheduled to stay open all summer.
Crystal Mountain in Washington State which has been closed since mid-April has also re-opened for summer skiing this past weekend.
North of the border Whistler Blackcomb closed on the final weekend of May but will re-open again on the 10th for five weeks of glacier skiing in to early July.
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
Australia
Australia's ski season is due to launch on 10rd or 11th June as the 13th is a bank holiday Monday. Traditionally all Aussie ski areas open that weekend whether there's any snow or not, and in that regard most areas are looking as marginal as usual. However there have been some good pre-season snowfall but in mixed reports some forecasts are for heavy snow in the week up to opening day whilst others say rain is the more likely due to a strengthening La Nina weather system in the Pacific (see Chile report below).
New Zealand
Most New Zealand ski areas are scheduled to open in June with Mt Hutt scheduled to start running its lifts first on Friday 10th June and Coronet Peak and Cardrona up next on the 11th. After a worryingly mild first half of May conditions are looking good on most of the country's slopes as opening day nears - in fact very good at some resorts that have had up to a metre of natural snow along with constantly low temperatures to allow for snowmaking. So at this point it's looking good for season start.
Argentina
Argentina's ski areas are scheduled to open from around the weekend of 18th/19th June with the south American continent's largest area Catedral, targeting the following weekend, and a 24th June opening. It has spent 45 million in the off season – mostly on maintenance and upgrades, but with a third of that spend on five new groomers shipped over the Atlantic from Germany. Here's been some good pre-season snow in May although it's a bit early to say how good the season start will be later this month.
Chile
Chile's 2016 ski season runs from late June until late September, but some resorts are reported to be considering the possibility of an early June opening if snow coverage permits. Excitement levels are running high after some significant pre-season snowfall and a forecast from the Chilean Weather Service's for massive snowfall this winter thanks to the 'El Niño effect' which brought healthy snowfall to Western North America during the northern hemisphere's winter just ended, although the US weather service has recently announced that it believes the strong El Niño is now waning and that La Nina is on the way back.
Southern Africa
Southern African ski areas Tiffindell in South Africa and Afriski in Lesotho are scheduled to be among the first in the southern hemisphere to open for winter 2016 on the 1st and 2nd of June. Both areas are heavily reliant on snow making but equally both have seen some healthy pre-season natural snowfalls in April and May, so it's looking good for season kick off.