It's been hot and snowy (not at the same time!) in Europe, with a late start to some seasons in the southern hemisphere.
It's a tale of 2 Altitudes at Les 2 Alpes today, with the glacier looking very wintry...
This Week's Snow Headlines
- Snow depths reach 2m in Chile.
- Glacier ski areas open in the Alps back in double figures, and some with fresh snow!
- New Zealand ski area delays opening due to warm spell.
- Late June snow in Australia after one of the worst starts to the season in 20 years.
- Fresh snow in Southern Africa.
Top 100 Snowiest Ski Areas Worldwide
Thanks to the start of the southern hemisphere's ski season there are now about 100 ski areas open as we enter July - the most for two months. The numbers are actually up, just past 20, in the northern hemisphere, where a few glacier ski centres closed last month, but more re-opened for summer skiing and boarding.
As we enter July there are big weather variations. The Alps have had very hot weather but ended June with storms that brought sub-zero temperatures and the first fresh snow in nearly two months to the highest peaks. Scandinavian summer ski areas have the deepest reported snow bases on the planet at up to 7 metres and in North America, although the snow bases have been thawing at still-open ski areas, it's still lying up to 4m deep in California.
South of the equator Australia, southern Africa and parts of New Zealand have been battling warmer-than-usual conditions meaning little snow cover, whilst there have been big snowfalls in the Andes and powder conditions for much of June, with bases growing to 2m at one area in Chile. Parts of New Zealand have seen snowfall, with bases up to 60cm deep.
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
The Alps
We're back in to double figures for the number of ski areas open in the Alps, just about, for the first time in nearly two months. Although a few ski areas like the Stubai and Kaunertal glaciers closed last month after long 8-9 months seasons (and they'll re-open in just over two months in September), another half-dozen glacier areas re-opened in the past few weeks, increasing the choice.
It has been warm however with many glaciers seeing double digit temperatures even at 3000m through much of June, so as usual snowsports between 7am and 11am are best. That has changed, at least temporarily, at the end of June with more stormy conditions bringing heavy rain to valleys but a few inches of fresh snow on higher slopes for the start of July.
Base depths are around the 1m mark at each area, and each has a terrain park. So whilst some (Zermatt, Hintertux, Les 2 Alpes, Tignes) have larger areas than others, there's not a huge difference between them.
Austria
Austria, as usual from May to November, has the most ski areas open in Europe, although it is only one ahead of France and Switzerland so it's closer than usual. Along with the year-round Hintertux (195cm base, 15cm of fresh snow reported on June 30th) and recently re-opened Molltal glacier, there's also the Dachstein open into the start of July and the Kitzsteinhorn, until its 10 month season ends on the 23rd.
France
Having had no ski areas open at the start of June, all three of the summer ski centres in France are operational for the start of July, with the two larger options, Les 2 Alpes and Tignes, re-opening on the last weekend of June. Les 2 Alpes have made a particular fuss of their summer snow options creating a 2km snow tubing fun sledge run and staging a season opening festival with gear tests, competitions and a whole host of activities. Val d'Isere, which was first of the three to open last month, will be the first to end its (short) summer season on July 16th; the other two are open to August/September.
Italy
In Italy only Passo Stelvio (90cm base, six lifts out of six open and all runs too) was open throughout June but Cervinia re-opened on the 28th meaning that once again you can ski on both sides of the Swiss/Italian border with Zermatt always open on the swiss side (weather permitting).
Switzerland
In fact if you don't count the snow fun area at the Jungfraujoch above Grindelwald and Wengen, Zermatt is the only snowsports area open in Switzerland at present, but on July 15th it will be joined by neighbouring Saas Fee which re-opens then for its nine month ski season through to spring next year.
Scandinavia
After the summer solstice the four-month long season at Riksgransen in Sweden has come to an end so that's the end of skiing under the midnight sun for another year. There was fresh snow reported in Lapland on the first day of summer in late June but no centres have re-opened as yet. There are still three small glacier ski areas open in Norway, claiming bases of up to 7m, although Stryn expected to end its season on July 9th. Folgefonn and Galdhoppigen should however be open through to the autumn.
North America
Seven ski areas are open in North America as we enter July, although that number is expected to drop to four by the time the month ends. In California, Squaw Valley and Mammoth have both announced they'll be open until at least August (Neither has given a season end date). Mammoth still has top to bottom skiing and just over 4m of snow on its upper slopes despite warm temperatures there, and remains open daily. Squaw Valley is open on Saturdays only except for the Independence day long weekend at the start of July. That holiday period will also see Mt Bachelor in Oregon re-open for a few days only, just over the holiday. Fellow Oregon ski area Timberline is also open. The other centres to choose from are Beartooth Basin in Wyoming which offers summer skiing for the first few weeks of July and the summer camp at Copper in Colorado which has a summer terrain park set up. The seventh option is north of the border at Whistler where summer skiing and boarding on the Blackcomb Glacier is available until mid-July.
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
Australia
After a promising start to the season a month ago the snowfall stopped and it got rather warm on Australian slopes for much of June, meaning ski areas could only open limited terrain, if any. Some commentators said this made it one of the two worst Junes in Australia for snowsports in the past two decades. Things are still 'not great' with most areas reporting base depths of 20-30cm at best but on the upside it has been snowing for much of the last week of June (start of the official winter in the southern hemisphere) so things are definitely looking up for July.
New Zealand
It was a 'mostly good' first month of the season in New Zealand with, on the whole, generally cold temperatures which allowed for snowmaking to progress and for what natural snowfall there has been to stay on the slopes rather than thaw away as can often happen in June. It has not been universally good news however as some ski areas have had to delay opening, including Rainbow and cult favourite Treble Cone, but things are looking increasingly good there with cold temperatures for snowmaking after a 'warmer than usual for the time of year' period. However most are in pretty good shape with up to 60cm/2 foot bases (at Mt Hutt and the Remarkables) reported as we enter July and some recent natural snowfalls. 20cm is expected at Cardrona over the first weekend of July for example.
South America
Conditions are good across Chile which now has the deepest fresh snow base in the world. Several areas already have more than a metre of snow lying only a few weeks in to the start of the season and Valle Nevado is the first in the southern hemisphere to reach the 2m mark (210cm/7 feet as of June 30th). This comes after six weeks of good conditions which led four areas to open early for the season a month ago and resulted in several powder days in June. Hopefully this is set to continue in July.
Argentina's ski centres are (as normal) not buried quite so deep but still most have had fresh snow through June and have 50-110cm bases and are largely fully open.
Southern Africa
Both Afriski in Lesotho and Tiffindell in South Africa are open for the season. Both have had fresh snow but as usual are largely reliant on machine made snow, each currently with just a few hundred metres of snow slope open. There have been low temperatures and there was indeed snow in the last few days of June, so conditions are definitely improving for July.