Falls Creek, Australia, looking like a great place to be right now...
Powder in Australia, snow coming for NZ.
The Snow Headlines - 29th June
- 90cm (3 Feet) of Snowfall in 7 days at Falls Creek.
- Three US ski areas aiming to be open for the 4th of July.
- Las Lenas in Argentina closes after snow conditions deteriorate.
- A cold and snowy week delivers powder days to Australian ski areas.
- New Zealand ski areas struggle with borderline conditions.
- Cervinia re-opens lift connection to glacier ski area above Zermatt.
Some decent snow bound for New Zealand and South America
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World Overview
There's mixed news from the southern hemisphere where the 2023 season is gathering pace.
The good news has come from Australia where successive snow storms and cold temperatures have created a really promising picture now after a shaky start with all areas open and each opening ever more terrain. But it's less good in New Zealand and South America where resorts like Mount Hutt and Las Lenas have closed again due to poor conditions.
That said, the past 24 hours have seen some improvements and resorts have begun opening again - with more snow in the forecast.
In the northern hemisphere, we have about a dozen ski areas still open with little change from last week. That's a lot better than the start of July last year when it was just a couple. But temperatures are warming up (even if there has been more snowfall up high in the northern Rockies!) and several centres including Les 2 Alpes, Val d'Isere and The Palisades, will end their summer skiing this weekend or next week.
Southern Hemisphere
Australia
It's been a great week – nearly two weeks now in fact – of cold weather and snowfall for Australia's ski areas.
All of the country's centres are now open and rapidly expanding the amount of terrain on offer. Bases are still not yet at a 'safe' depth to see centres through the season if there is a mild spell, but are now several feet deep in some cases and heading towards the metre mark.
Last of the big names to open for the season was Selwyn Resort, offering skiing for the first time since 2019 having been rebuilt after a catastrophic bush fire in early 2020.
Perisher, the country's largest, has all four mountains open but suffered a bit of a PR disaster when images of huge lift queues appeared online.
It is looking good at Falls Creek, where powder days were declared on Sunday and Monday after snowfalls reached 90cm (3 feet) in the previous 7 days. Great conditions too at Mount Buller, Hotham and Thredbo.
New Zealand
It's not been a great week in New Zealand alas with mild temperatures impacting snow cover so much that two of the handful of areas that had managed to open, Mount Hutt and Coronet Peak, both decided to temporarily close again until things improve, while Treble Cone, which had planned to start its season last weekend, has delayed doing so.
Midweek precipitation did see fresh snow on higher slopes but more rain at bases.
The Remarkables has managed to open more terrain, thanks to the heroic effort of groomers and snowmakers they said.
The other good news is that a $5m grant means the bankrupt and in-search-of-new-owners Turoa and Whakapapa ski areas can open this season when there's snow. Looking ahead, although conditions remain marginal, things are improving and light snowfall and lower temperatures have been reported since Wednesday. This has raised hopes of closed areas reopening and Treble Cone have said they hope to open from Monday.
Argentina
Mixed news from Argentina as well with two centres, including the continent and the world's most southerly, Cerro Castor, opening at the weekend but one of the country's biggest and first to open this winter, Las Lenas, closing again while awaiting improved snow conditions here too.
Despite a big snowfall with over a metre accumulating in May, mild weather has led to most of that disappearing.
Most of the centres that haven't opened yet plan to over the coming week.
South America's largest ski area, Catedral near Bariloche, opened on Thursday but just a couple of runs initially.
Chile
There was a decent snowfall with 40cm of fresh snow reported at Portillo last weekend but most of the country's ski areas remain closed while more consistent cold and snowy conditions arrive.
That is starting to happen and Valle Nevado was the first to open, on Thursday, reporting a 20-60cm base and about half of its 40 km of slopes open.
Most of the rest of the country's centres are expected to open this coming weekend.
Africa
At present, it does not appear that either of southern Africa's ski areas – Tiffindell in South Africa, which last opened in 2019 for skiing and Afriski in Lesotho – will open for skiing this winter. Tiffindell appears to have gone out of business and while Afriski has been making snow when it has had electricity and temperatures low enough, it says it is only for sledging and tubing.
Europe
Alps
The only real change on a week ago is that Cervinia re-opened its lift connection to the already open Matterhorn Glacier Paradise ski area above Zermatt for the summer at the weekend, making access to the slopes from Italy possible again.
You can also still ski at Passo Stelvio in Italy or Hintertux in Austria.
There are also currently three centres open for summer skiing and boarding in France – Tignes, Val d'Isere and Les 2 Alpes, but for the latter, this is expected to be the final weekend of the 2023 summer ski season, and for Val d'Isere there's just next week left of its summer season too.
Temperatures have been climbing and above freezing by a degree or two even at night on glaciers over the last week, with lots of sunshine as well, although a few snow showers have been reported.
Scandinavia
After a brief re-opening for midsummer midnight sun skiing at Riksgransen in Northern Sweden, we're back to Norway's two remaining small glacier areas offering the only July lift-served skiing in Scandinavia.
The Fonna Glacier Ski Resort and Galdhøpiggen summer area have two and three-metre snow depths respectively but are being impacted by increasingly warm temperatures making it more important than ever to make the most of early morning ski conditions.
North America
There's been more snowfall up high to end June in the Rockies with the Beartooth Pass closed by snow at the weekend – and up to 4 feet (1.2m) of new snow reported in fact.
That's near the location of the summer ski area of Beartooth Basin which closed earlier this month.
Three resorts further west are still open and gearing up for skiing on the 4th of July. Mammoth Mountain and the Palisades in Colorado both report their snowpacks still 10 feet (3 metres) thick up top and it's nearer five feet (1.5m) at Timberline in Oregon on the Palmer snowfield.
For The Palisades this coming week will be the last of an eight-month 22-23 ski season with planned closure after Independence Day.