Alpe d'Huez Facebook Status says it all...
Winter arrived in The Alps last week, as forecast, and is continuing to tighten its grip as we write - with a major snowstorm in progress for much of the region.
This Week's Snow Headlines
- Large snowfalls in the Alps and fresh snow in the Pyrenees, Dolomites and elsewhere.
- A number of resorts have announced "extraordinary" openings this weekend, including Courchevel, Alpe d'Huez, Engelberg and Verbier.
- World Cup in Levi, Finland this weekend.
- Snow falling in the Alps, with another half metre or more forecast for some areas.
- Big-name non-glacier ski areas opening this week include Mammoth, Hemsedal, Andermatt and Laax.
- Huge snowfalls predicted for northwestern North America over coming week.
- Some US areas delay planned opening (e.g. Breckenridge, Copper and Lake Louise).
We struggled to find a webcam view not obscured by snow this morning! But here's Flaine...
After a final warm week of Autumn, Winter in the Alps has arrived quite dramatically; many areas have reported up to 50cm of fresh snow since the weekend, with a second wave of snow still falling. Temperatures are also well below freezing, and below their seasonal averages, so in many resorts snow making systems are operating 24-7. This is of course more like the normal pre-season that was missing in 2014 and 2015 so resorts across Europe are increasingly optimistic.
Around 20 ski areas are already open and there have been great powder conditions over the past few days at most of them, with a number now planning weekend openings this coming weekend.
The snow has not been restricted to the Alps either, with the Pyrenees, Dolomites, Scandinavia and Scotland all reporting significant snowfall.
Across the Atlantic a big snowstorm is expected to hit the Northwest of the continent and temperatures have dropped at last in Colorado too, so some big name resorts plan to open this weekend.
In the Forecast
The snowstorm currently in progress in The Alps will continue for another 48 hours in most locations, and we expect accumulations of half a metre to, perhaps, even a metre locally. A day or two of clearer weather should bring amazing pre-season conditions to those resorts planning to be open, to be followed by another band of lighter snow at the end of the weekend.
Further out, temperatures look like rising a little to just above seasonal averages but not enough to cause any significant melt of the new snow. We keep our fingers crossed...
A couple of caveats to note :- As usual, at this time of year, the snow reports from resorts are somewhat sporadic; most resorts are not yet fully-staffed and a few are still reporting last seasons depths.
And finally, if you are lucky enough to be heading into the mountains this weekend, do take care; there is a lot of new snow on a young (or non-existent) base and - with the quantities expected - it will be unstable and we expect there to be a High Avalanche Risk over a wide area; take local advice, and conservative lines! But enjoy.
Re-publication :- our Snow Report Summary, being the text above this line, is free to re-publish, but must be clearly credited to www.J2ski.com with text including "J2Ski Snow Report" linked to this page - thank you.
The Alps
Austria
It has been a snowy few days on Austrian's mountains leading to powder conditions at the country's nine currently open ski areas. Some of the biggest snowfalls were reported by the Molltal and Solden glaciers with 48cm and 40cm in 24 hours of snow respectively at the weekend. Many resorts planning to open later this month or in early December posted social media images of snow down to resort level or of skiers hiking up to ski down on the accumulated cover. Base depths on the glaciers are currently around the metre mark and the snow is still falling. No Austrian areas have announced plans to open this weekend, next up is likely to be Obergurgl in just over a week's time.
France
French mountains too have been seeing healthy snowfalls and low temperatures. Altitude resorts like Montgenevre, Avoriaz and others were able to post particularly impressive pictures and video of conditions and people walking through knee deep powder. The snowfall also reached down to the French Pyrenees. However as yet only Tignes is open in the French Alps, and skiers and boarders there have been enjoying powder snow which has greatly bolstered its previously rather thin (20cm) hard packed base – now reported to be 50cm and growing. That changes this weekend though when Alpe d'Huez will also open – for two days only initially – thanks, they say, to all the fresh snow. The next resorts to open in France are likely to open in a little over a fortnight for the last weekend of November with Val Thorens planning the biggest opening weekend.
Italy
Italy too has seen a good share of the recent snowfall with Cervinia posting a 20cm accumulation ion 24 hours at the weekend – it's forecast to get another 30cm this week which should take its base (Currently 95cm) past the metre mark. Heavy snow has been reported at most not-yet-open-for-the-season ski areas in Italy too, raising hopes for a good start to winter 16-17 after an exceptionally bad start last winter. Resorts like Cortina have been posting video of heavy snowfall there. Besides Cervinia, also now open in Italy and enjoying fresh snow is the Val Senales glacier and Sulda in the Dolomites.
Switzerland
Switzerland has had its share of snow too of course with up to 30cm of snow in the last few days and another 30-40cm expected by Friday. There are half a dozen resorts open in the country most reporting powder conditions at present. Zermatt, with cross-border skiing in to Italy, has had 25cm of new snow and has nine lifts open. Andermatt and Laax are scheduled to open this weekend, joining the country's glacier areas and Arosa Lenzerheide taking the number of Swiss areas open to nine, the same as Austria.
Pyrenees
Although there are no plans for any ski areas in the Pyrenees or elsewhere in southern Europe to open for another three weeks at the earliest, the region has been seeing consistent moderate to heavy snowfalls over the past week, raising pre-season morale down there. Sierra Nevada, down in southern Spain not far from Malaga, which had a terrible season with almost no snow until late February last winter, has had a lot of pre-season snow and seen its base area coated in white, something that never happened last autumn.
Scandinavia
There's been a lot of fresh snow in Scandinavia over the past week and more than a dozen areas will be open by the weekend. Saturday and Sunday will also see the World Cup 2016-17 tour make its annual autumnal stop in the Finnish resort of Levi for Men's and Women's slalom competitions. Hemsedal in Norway will be one of the big name openers for the season at the weekend too, it has had more than 30cm of fresh snow over the weekend after a huge snowmaking effort in the weeks before so is in great shape. It joins already-open Norwegian resorts including Bjorli, Geilo, Sjusjoen and Beitostolen. Vradal, Sjeikampen and Hafjell also plan to open for the season this weekend.
Scotland
Scottish slopes – particularly in the eastern Highlands - have been dumped on all week leading to speculation that one or more may open some terrain in the near future. Glenshee said on Monday that whilst there was not at that point enough to groom a piste, ski tourers might find enough to turn on. It has snowed a lot since then.
Canada
It's a little ironic that in the part of Canada where the snow is already lying a metre or more deep there are so far no plans to open early. Resorts like Revelstoke and Whistler say they are well ahead of 2015 for pre-season snowfall and are expecting more big accumulations over the coming week. To add to the irony ski areas a little further east in Alberta, including Nakiska and lake Louise that had planned to open this weekend have decided to delay a week as conditions there are not as great as hoped. Sunshine at Banff does remain open after opening last week, early, however, and is still the only centre open in Canada.
USA
A mixed picture from the US with some fresh snow and more resorts opening from today onwards, but others that had planned to open on Friday/Saturday delaying doing so.
The big resort opening on Thursday 10th is Mammoth which has a 30cm base at its base and says both bowl and piste skiing will be available above.
Colorado is where things get tricky – one of the world's highest ski regions and where the first resort in the country to operate for 16-17, Arapahoe basin, opened a fortnight ago – it has been suffering a rather warm autumn. Despite this A Basin is still open and there have been some fresh natural snow showers. But Copper, Breckenridge and Keystone which had all planned to open this weekend announced yesterday they'll be delaying, at least by a week. Loveland however, one of the highest ski areas in the world that has been trying to open for the best part of a month, says it will finally do so on Friday.