Snoworks Ski Courses were in Norway, where it's still snowy, this week...
Fewer than 50 ski areas now open worldwide, mostly in North America, whilst pre-season snows are teasing New Zealand.
The Snow Headlines - May 8th
- 10 ski areas are still open in the Rockies.
- More than half the ski areas still open in Europe are in Austria.
- Heavy snowfall in New Zealand as excitement builds ahead of 2025 season.
- Around two dozen ski areas still open in North America.
- Season over in Germany and Spain after centres there make it into May.
Snow for a few still-open ski areas.
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World Overview
Last weekend saw dozens of ski areas across the northern hemisphere that had made it into May, end their 24-25 seasons; including Sierra Nevada, Europe's most southerly resort and the last operating in Spain, as well as Germany's Zugspitze Glacier.
Many centres in Japan were open through the country's Golden Week holidays which ended on Tuesday, but most are now closed. A few small areas remain open, including the Gassan Glacier which is posting the world's deepest snowpack at over 8 metres.
There are still more than 40 ski areas open worldwide. More than half of them are in the US and although that number is set to drop a little over the coming weeks, any decline will be offset a little as summer ski centres begin opening.
We're also getting ever closer to the start of the southern hemisphere's season. This past week has seen mostly warming temperatures in the northern hemisphere as you'd expect (although there have still been some snowfalls up high), but in the southern hemisphere, many ski regions have seen pre-season snowfall over the past week, most marked in New Zealand where some resorts have had more than a metre.
Europe
The Alps
With more than a dozen ski areas in the Alps closing for the season after last weekend, we are left with seven centres open this week, five of them in Austria. Here you can choose between the Hintertux, Kaunertal, Kitzsteinhorn, Molltal and Stubai glaciers which are all still operating, although the Stubai currently plans to end its season on Sunday.
Only Les 2 Alpes remains open in France, after Tignes, Val Thorens and Val d'Isere ended their seasons last Sunday (with snow falling). L2A is endeavouring to maintain a 1000m lift-served skiable vertical through May.
You can also still ski high slopes on each side of the Swiss/Italian border with Zermatt and Cervinia the only two centres now open in each country. Cervinia currently reports lifts up to Plateau Rosa and the Bontadini lift are in operation, with skiing possible as long as snow conditions allow.
It has actually been a cold and snowy week on Alpine glaciers with temperatures typically in the -2C to -18C range and regular light to moderate snowfalls bringing seven-day totals of up to a foot of fresh.
The weather is expected to clear with sunshine and warmer temperatures at the weekend for most areas.
Scandinavia
Scandinavia saw most of its still-open ski areas close at the end of last weekend.
Finland's Levi, now into its eighth month of operations, is still going for one more week, whilst fellow northern resort over the border in Sweden, Riksgransen, has a fortnight left. Both are now operating in (or close to) 24-hour daylight due to their northerly latitudes. Riksgransen has begun offering skiing at midnight on several evenings a week.
Having been constantly sub-zero for months temperatures are climbing above freezing in the daytime now although still dipping to -5C below overnight.
Both centres also reported fresh snowfall at the end of last week and the start of this but the past few days have been drier with more settled conditions, and that's the forecast through the coming weekend.
There's nowhere open in Norway this week after the final centres open there, including Hemsedal, closed on Sunday, but its three glacier summer ski areas are scheduled to start opening from this weekend for their 2025 seasons.
North America
Canada
With Lake Louise and Jasper's Marmot basin ending their seasons at the weekend, there are just three Canadian ski areas still open, Whistler's Blackcomb Mountain in BC, Sunshine Village near Banff in Alberta and (on selected evenings and weekends), Quebec's Sommet St Sauveur.
They're all aiming to stay open for another fortnight.
It's been a mostly sunny week with temperatures getting above freezing even on high slopes overnight and into the teens above freezing at bases in the daytime. The sunshine is set to continue through the weekend with just the possibility of light showers.
USA
The US continues to offer the greatest choice of open ski slopes, with skiing still available at around 20 ski areas across eight states and from East to West Coasts!
Another season extension at Brian Head means it and Solitude, although both are currently due to close this Sunday, are amongst four still open in Utah, along with Brighton and Snowbird.
In Colorado you can also still ski at no less than five areas including Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper, Loveland and Winter Park. Additionally, Arizona's Snowbowl has announced two extra weekends, so it's reopening this weekend and next too.
Half-a-dozen areas are open on America's Pacific Coast, including California's Mammoth and The Palisades; Mt Bachelor and Timberline in Oregon and Crystal Mountain in Washington state.
Finally, Vermont's Jay Peak and Killington are still operating on the East Coast, as is Michigan's Boyne Mountain, the latter two both thanks to piling up the snow on select runs through the winter so that whilst the snowpack is now thawing fast, it'll take a good while until it's all gone.
As to the weather over the past week, it's been mostly warm and sunny along the Pacific Coast, there have been some decent snowfalls in recent days (Tuesday/Wednesday) on high slopes in the Rockies, and warmer, sometimes wet weather in the East.
For the coming week, it's looking to stay sunny into the weekend in the west, with just some clouds moving into the far northwest. More unsettled in the Northeast with temperatures in the 0 to +12C range and some showers forecast, mostly likely to be rain.
Southern Hemisphere
The start of the 2025 ski season in the southern hemisphere is probably less than a month away now, and the past week has seen snowfalls reported on ski slopes in South America, Australia, Lesotho in Southern Africa and New Zealand.
New Zealand saw the most spectacular falls, along with violent winds, with Mt Hutt saying it had had "about 1.2m" (four feet) up high. It hinted at a possible early opening (the official start date is still a month away) but added "no promises".
Ski areas in Argentina also got a good covering, if not quite such volumes (it was about this time last year that they started to see the first of metres of May snowfall in the Andes).
Lesotho's Afriski reported a good covering as well.
For Australia it was just a dusting but Perisher reported "snowmakers on standby" as overnight lows reached down to -4C.
Quite when the 2025 season starts is a matter of opinion as more ski areas buy all-weather snow-making machines. Australia's small Corin Forest area has already opened a "snow play fun slope" using theirs for sledging and the like and on New Zealand's North Island Whakapapa and Turoa on Mt Ruapehu say they'll start their seasons, probably exclusively using snow-making, on the 30th and 31st May respectively.
Another New Zealand area, Porters, also offered snow fun at the weekend, at its case on natural fresh-fallen snow.
For the week ahead it's looking largely dry and sunny in the South American mountains but with overnight lows down as far as -10C, though daytime highs still getting up towards +8C.
A similar forecast for Lesotho whilst in Australia it will be dry too but only just get down to freezing overnight with daytime highs reaching +15C.
More unsettled in New Zealand with light rain/sleet/snow showers forecast, temperatures in the -2C to +8C range.