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Here is our guide to where to ski in August.
Snow depths in the Southern Hemisphere have been building through July with good falls in virtually every major ski country at some time or other in the past month. In the Alps though there's been almost no new snow (well, it is mid-summer) and instead it has been exceptionally warm giving freeze-thaw conditions and leaving some of the continent's ski glaciers in a rather sorry state. The result is that snow depths are largely fairly similar on both sides of the planet as levels south of the equator increase and those to the north decrease a little.
There's also not a lot of change in the number of ski areas open as fresh centres have been opening to counter those like Val d'Isere, Whistler and Norway's Stryn which have already ended their brief summer ski openings.
August 2015 Snow Headlines
- Big July snowfalls for Australia, Argentina, Chile and (comparatively!) Southern Africa!
- Hot in the Alps - no fresh snow since June.
- July snowfall in the Rockies.
- Tignes finishes its summer skiing but Saas Fee re-opens for a 9 month season to next spring.
The Alps
Austria
There's been no fresh snow on Austrian slopes over the past month, but the thaw on the high glaciers hasn't been too bad either. Year-round Hintertux still has up to 20km of slopes open and a 165cm base reported, although no new snow since mid-June. The Molltal glacier re-opened last month and says it has nearly eight feet of snow lying (2.3m to be precise) and around 18km of runs open. The Dachstein Glacier is a third Austrian option but it has only limited terrain available.
France
Val d'Isere's summer 2015 opening has already come and gone and its neighbour Tignes, once open year round, is calling it a day on the second Sunday of August (9th) leaving only Les 2 Alpes open for the rest of the month. Tignes currently has a 70cm base on its glacier and 10 lifts running, Les 2 Alpes, which has a more substantial five foot/155cm base remains open through to August 29th. Neither area has had any snow since around the time they opened for summer snowsport in mid-June.
Italy
The cross-border connection between Cervinia and Zermatt will be open throughout August. The Italian resort reports no fresh snow since May but says it has a 1.3m base up on the glacier so as long as you're up early, that's not a problem. The other Italian option, Passo Stelvio, is also available with most of its terrain open and a 100cm base on upper slopes although cover is thin at the base.
Switzerland
As mentioned year-round Zermatt remains open with that 1.3m deep base on 16km of slopes shared with Cervinia. Another neighbour, Saas Fee, has also just opened for its 10 month long season through to spring 2016. It reports the snow a metre deep up on the glacier and that it has slightly more terrain – 20km – open.
Norway
Although the snow in Norway remains the deepest of any still-open area, Stryn has already closed after its short season and the Fonna centre with 6m (20 feet) on upper runs will be closing this Sunday August 2nd. However the day before , Saturday 1st August, the third Norwegian summer ski area Galdhøpiggen is due to re-open!
North America
The last lift for the Canadian 2014-15 ski season ran on the Blackcomb glacier above Whistler last Sunday. The only centre still open is the near year round Timberline Lodge ski field on Mt Hood in Oregon where all runs and terrain parks are reported to be open. Several areas in the Rockies on both sides of the border reported decent fresh snow coverings in the last few weeks of July though – amongst them Sunshine, Jackson Hole and Marmot Basin.
Southern Hemisphere
New Zealand
Kiwi ski centres have had the most consistent snow cover for the first two months of the 2015 season of all southern hemisphere ski areas, albeit with their fare share of gales and other weather extremes thrown in. They was fresh snow in most areas during the latter half of July and most areas report bases now in the 1-1.5m bracket on upper runs, with most centres fully open. Cardrona claims the deepest depth in the southern hemisphere at present with 245cm (over eight feet).
Australia
Most ski centres in Australia are fully open following some splendid snowfalls in the past week. Base depths are approaching a very-healthy-for-Australia 70-90cm thanks to all the new snow, which even saw a once in a century snowfall close to Sydney in July. Mt Hotham has the deepest reported base as we enter August at 90cm whilst Perisher reported the biggest accumulation in the snow storm, with nearly 80cm falling over three days and nights.
Argentina
After the slow start to the season in late June and early July, Argentina got huge snowfalls in mid-July and they haven't really stopped since with another foot or more landing on most of the country's ski slopes in the last days of July. As a result most have at least a metre of snow on upper runs now with the biggest resorts like Catedral and Las Lenas the deepest bases at around 1.5m/five feet on upper runs. Most centres are fully open across the country.
Chile
Chile's ski areas also got their seasons off to a late start, nearly a month late in most cases, after significant snowfall finally arrived in mid-July. After that 'biggest storm for a generation' temperatures have mostly kept low but there has not been a huge amount of fresh snow. Most areas remain in good shape with 70-100cm snow depth on upper runs and most terrain open. Portillo reports the deepest snow base in the country.
Africa
Tiffindell on South Africa's cape and Afriski in Lesotho have both had several good snowfalls in July to boost their normal machine snow operations. Lesotho was cut off briefly by snow and ice making access roads hazardous during last month. Coming after an also snowy June and considering some winters both centres see no natural snow and are entirely reliant on machine made stuff, it's a very good winter – which should continue through August with closing dates set for the end of the month.