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This Week's Snow Headlines
In Europe we wait; in America it snows... this week!
Snow Piles up at Jackson Hole - courtesy JH Tourist Office
- US now has more ski areas open than any other country.
- Resorts open early in Canada and US.
- Snow, snow and more snow in Western North America.
- Opening weekend coming up for Obergurgl, Sunshine, Big White, Heavenly, Breckenridge.
- Heavy snow forecast for Scottish hills.
The two extremes of sunny dry weather in the Alps and large snowfalls in Western North America that we reported a week ago have, if anything, widened over the past week. Snow tallies of as much as five feet (1.5m) have now been reported at some resorts in Canada and the US (Revelstoke and Jackson Hole being particularly deluged).
But whilst an ever growing number of areas open early on the western side of the Atlantic, the first sign of nerves are beginning to show in Europe where Crans Montana, which had planned to open this weekend, has postponed doing so.
There are positive signs on the horizon, however; Verbier is amongst those saying it expects colder temperatures next week - hopefully bringing some natural snowfall and allowing more snowmaking.
More and more ski areas have been opening in California and Colorado, many of them opening early. In Colorado, Copper and Breckenridge join the 15-16 party this weekend and there are now half a dozen areas open in Colorado (Tirol, 11 to choose from, is the only region with more), In California the list gets longer every day with Squaw Valley, Heavenly, Northstar and Alpine Meadows among those which either have opened earlier than planned or are about to, with more ski areas joining already-open Mammoth, Mt Rose and Boreal. So Colorado may overtake Tirol by the weekend.
Elsewhere there's been fresh snow reported in parts of Lapland, snow forecast for Scotland and (ironically) large snowfalls around Beijing in China where resorts have opened early in the area some have criticised as the 2022 Winter Olympic destination due to its poor snowfall record.
In The Forecast
The mild Alpine Autumn is set to continue through the weekend, although the forecast models are now fairly insistent that the weather's going to break around the middle of next week. Distinctly un-settled weather (that'll mean precipitation!) looks highly likely, with temperatures cooling toward seasonal averages. Keep watching your favorite forecast; change is afoot!
The Alps
Austria
There's been little change in Austrian ski conditions over the past seven days with sunshine dominating leading to mostly great skiing on the groomed pistes at the eight glacier areas that are open, along with Kitzbuhel. Obergurgl opened for what they say was a highly successful 'preview weekend' last weekend and will open permanently for the season from this weekend, it will be joined by Obertauern next Wednesday taking the number of open Austrian areas to 11.
The Solden, Stubai and Tux glaciers continue to claim the biggest open areas with about 30km/20 miles of runs to enjoy each. Kitzbuhel has revealed in German media that its early opening last month was in part down to stockpiling snow under cover from the previous winter.
France
It's another week with only Tignes open in France. Five runs are open there and the snow depth still reported at 50cm. Temperatures on the glacier are hovering around the zero mark. More French resorts are scheduled to start opening the weekend after next with Val Thorens first up, although web cams there are currently showing zero snow at resort level and daytime temperatures of +5. Sunny skies are due to end at the weekend and temperatures drop.
Italy
It's a similar picture in Italy with blue skies, warm valleys and the same three ski areas to choose from as last week – Cervinia, Val Senales and Sulden. Again there's been no fresh snow but conditions on glacier pistes, where temperatures are staying around zero in the middle of the day, remain excellent. Snow depths are 50-110cm with limited terrain open. Livigno has posted pictures of mostly snowy slopes and has hinted it may open imminently.
Switzerland
Switzerland has had the same conditions as the rest of the Alps this past week with sunshine the dominant factor. Saass Fee and Zermatt continue to offer the largest open areas at the moment with around 30km of slopes open each. Areas also open include Davos, Glacier 3000 at Diablerets, Laax and the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz, however any new areas opening look set to be delayed until the hoped for colder temperatures and fresh snow next week with both Crans Montana and Verbier which might have opened this weekend saying they won't be doing so yet.
Scandinavia
There has been snow in parts of Scandinavia and more light snowfall is forecast over the coming days. Ruka in Finland, which has nearly been open a month already, is looking in the best shape with fresh natural snow on top of its machine made base. Levi, which was due to hold World Cup events this weekend but was ruled out due to poor snow cover, has had another few centimetres, as has already-open (one run anyway) Geilo in Norway.
Pyrenees
Higher slopes at some resorts in the Pyrenees still look snowy from falls in late October but again have not reported much fresh stuff since the start of November. Most hope to open in just over a fortnight but they'll need a rapid drop from the current double digit daytime temperatures for that to happen – which it still may.
Scotland
Scottish slopes remain fairly brown at present but that looks likely to change at the weekend when heavy precipitation and sub zero temperatures are forecast for Scottish mountains – a combination which ought to mean a lot of snow. Unfortunately gale force winds are also in the forecast. It's much too early to say when snow accumulation might add up to enough for one or more area to open, but things can change quickly.
North America
Canada
Canada's season got started a week ago with Mt. Norquay near Banff beginning its 80th season on 5th November, then Lake Louise opening the day after. The third Banff resort, Sunshine, says it will open this weekend, completing the set.
"Large snowfalls over the last couple of days have made this mid-November opening possible," says Dave Riley, Chief Operating Officer, Sunshine Village, "and we couldn't have done it without the hard work and determination of the entire Sunshine Village team."
Most other Western Canadian resorts have been posting big snowfall totals but few others have opened yet. Revelstoke has said 1.5 metres/5 feet have fallen. Sun Peaks has opened for international team training ahead of the Lake Louise World Cup races and Big White has announced it will open early this weekend thanks to all the snow.
USA
Things are moving so fast in the US it's hard to keep track and during the few hours' gap between this being written and you reading it it's likely things will have changed again. But, for the Western US at least, the news is all good. Basically it just keeps snowing, and snowing, so more and more resorts are opening early – particularly, as mentioned in the intro, in California and Colorado. Californian ski areas are especially excited to get the season off to an early and great start after four successive lacklustre season with last winter seeing the worst of the bunch and a dramatic drop in visitor numbers. This season the much talked about 'Godzilla el Nino' seems to be coming true, even if it's too early to be sure.
So at time of writing Jackson Hole (which hasn't yet announced an early opening) has had the most snow since the start of November at four feet/1.2m, but most Western areas have had significant falls of 2-3 feet. Snow is right down to resort level in most cases. Resorts opening early include Breckenridge, Heavenly, Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley. Powder alarms of a foot or so in 24 hours have been flying in from already open areas like Arapahoe Basin, Keystone and Loveland in Colorado as well as Mt Rose and mammoth in California.
There's no real downside to Godzilla El Nino except that resorts in the Midwest and on the East Coast have been rather warm compared to usual and reports are starting to appear indicating that the fear is that cold and snowy in the West means warm and dry in the east. But again it's too early to tell.