Top 100 Snowiest Ski Areas Worldwide
Snow piling up in Le Grand Bornand, France
This Week's Snow Headlines
- Up to 1 metre of fresh snow in the Alps in past 48 hours.
- Riksgransen opens for 2017 season with 1.8m/6 foot base.
- Up to Another 1.8m / 6 Feet of Snow Reported in California.
- Up to 40cm of fresh snow in the Eastern Alps/Dolomites.
It has been a snowy day or two in the Alps, much to the delight of resorts which, in many cases, are seeing their best falls for a month. Up to 50cm of fresh snow was reported in the 24 hours up to Wednesday morning, March 1st (at Chamonix and Bonneval-sur-Arc, amongst others) with many leading areas reporting 20-40cm of snow in the same period. The biggest falls have been at higher altitudes, but snow has fallen right down to resort level for many lower lying towns such as Chamonix and Mayrhofen.
The latest snow falls have also brought 30cm or more of snow to areas like the Dolomites and South eastern Austria.
Elsewhere in Europe it has stayed snowy; the Pyrenees are due more snow later this week and even one Scottish ski area has managed to open almost half of its runs despite the ongoing very challenging conditions (for those trying to run ski centres) up there.
Scandinavia has seen more snow also.
In North America there have been yet more big snowfalls in the West, but it's been a drier week in the North East, and even a warm one for some more southerly resorts in that region, some of which are having to close early for the 16-17 season, despite its snowy start there, because of a serious thaw.
In the Forecast
Although the snow in The Alps will pause for a day (North West) or three (East), whilst temperatures rise after the weekend, it appears likely that the weather will cool to seasonal averages by mid-week and - importantly - significant amounts of snow will continue to fall over a wide area.
It is likely to benefit higher altitude resorts most, due to the temperatures, but such areas should then be well set-up for a strong end to the season.
More Snowy News
There is much more detail of the snow around the world in the full version of our J2Ski Snow Report - 3rd March 2017 online.
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The Alps
Austria
Austria received snowfalls at the end of last week when other parts of Europe didn't, and this week its resorts were amongst the first to benefit from the latest big snowstorm in the Alps, with some areas (Silvretta Montafon and the Arlberg) reporting up to 50cm of fresh snow so far from the two systems over the past week. Most of that though (up to 40cm in the past 24 hours) is from the current snows which are expected to continue, on and off, through the weekend. Ski areas that have little or no cover in resort such as Mayrhofen, and areas in the south east which have had little snow at all this season (such as Bad Kleinkirchheim) have done well from the fresh snow so far with 25-35cm of new cover reported.
France
It has been a snowy 48 hours in the French Alps meaning a good start to March. Many of the country's leading ski areas have posted figures of 30-40cm of fresh snow in the 24 hours to Wednesday 1st March, including ski areas in the 3 Valleys, Grand massif, Portes du Soleil and Paradiski regions, Espace Killy who have been delighted to report powder conditions. 'On the ground' reports have been slightly less enthusiastic from lower elevation centres which are seeing rather wet snow, so as so often it is a case of where on the mountain you take your measurements. Much more French snowfall is forecast.
Italy
Some good news for The Dolomites of Eastern Italy with one of the best snowfalls of the winter so far here – albeit a winter with very little natural snowfall to date. After 'spring like' conditions a few weeks ago, ski areas in the region have reported full on winter with Arabba reporting 35cm in 24 hours, the biggest snowfall of the year, on Tuesday-Wednesday. Other resorts in the region reported 15-30cm of snow (20cm in the Fassa Valley for example). It's very similar to last year when there was heavy snow in the region in the first week of march after a dry winter in 2015-16 too. The snow is expected to continue through the weekend.
Switzerland
Swiss ski areas too have had their share of the latest snow storms. No areas have as yet reported accumulations quite as big as in neighbouring ski nations, with Verbier reporting 30cm; Saas Fee and Murren 25cm each and Andermatt and Anzere's 20cm in 24 the hours to March 1st. Over the last 7 days, Swiss areas have reported the biggest numbers in the Alps – Champery in the Portes du Soleil and Verbier in the 4 Valleys both reporting more than 60cm/2 feet of fresh snow in the period since this time last week. Gstaad, which reports the deepest snow base in Europe by some distance at 4.5m, says it has had 70cm of new snow. Forecasters currently expect Switzerland to get much more snow (in fact more than anywhere else) over the coming week too.
Scandinavia
Scandinavia has had good snow too for the past two weeks. Several resorts in Norway reported nearly a metre of new snow, including at Voss. Perfect timing for Riksgransen, Europe's most northerly resort, to open for its 2017 season last weekend. Hemsedal, which has had quite a thin base for much of the season compared to other leading Norwegian resorts, has had more than 30cm of fresh snow in the past 72 hours leading to powder conditions. Over in Sweden there's been 20cm of new snow at Are, the region's biggest ski area.
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees have enjoyed a largely dry and sunny week, but that's about to change with about 30cm of snow expected across the region over the next few days. Resorts in Andorra got 3cm (an inch) of snow in the last 24 hours for starters. Otherwise base depths remain good in Andorra and on the French and Spanish sides of the southern European mountains. Sierra Nevada down in the south of Spain got 25cm/10 inches of fresh snow this week and reports a 2m base.
Eastern Europe
Not much fresh snow reported on the Eastern Side of Europe over the past week. Bulgarian ski areas have now not seen much snowfall for three weeks but base depths remain good there thanks to the big January snowfalls – generally in the 1m to 1.5m bracket. At other leading resorts in the region bases are more like 60-80cm – perfectly adequate as we enter March.
Scotland
Two of Scotland's five ski areas are currently open and Nevis Range, with 14 of its 32 trails open on its upper mountain, has the most open terrain of any Scottish ski area so far this (let's be honest, fairly terrible) season. Cairngorm has less than half a dozen high runs open, the other three areas don't have enough snow to open but it is currently cold and snow machines are operating.
North America
Canada
A 'middling' week in Canada with up to 48cm more snow in the West but a fairly dry seven days in Quebec and Ontario to the East. Fernie posted that biggest snowfall and, like all large Canadian resorts, continues to boast a healthy base (2.7m/9 feet) and great conditions on and of piste. Most resorts have at least a 2m base and are reporting off piste snow as 'powder' Although only a few centimetres of fresh snow this week Mont Ste Anne claims the deepest base in the country at 406cm up top (90cm at the base of the slopes). It is quite rare for a Canadian ski area to reach a 4m base.
USA
Yet another very snowy week in Western North America with up to 1.8m (six feet) more snow in California, 1.6m (over five feet) in Utah and plenty of snow in other states in the region too. Mammoth still has the deepest snow base in the world at 8.9m with Squaw Valley approaching 6m in second place. It's been drier on the East after a snowy February with just a few inches of snow reported in Vermont. Base depths remain good though with 30-60cm on lower slopes and over 1m at most resorts in the East – at least at more northerly resorts in the area. Further south and west it's a less enticing picture with warm weather and rain leading to early closures of resorts, although cold weather forecast later this week have led some to announce a planned resumption of snowmaking when that happens. More snow on both East and West coasts for the week ahead, although perhaps not quite such huge volumes for California and Utah this coming week.