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Mostly settled in Europe, and snow easing off (a little!) in America...


View from Pic du Midi, French Pyrenees this morning

This Week's Snow Headlines
- This month's snowfall in California breaks all-time records
- More heavy snow in the French Pyrenees.
- Alps back to cold and sunny.
- Still not enough snow for Scottish areas to open for season.
- Big snowfalls in Japan.
- Up to two feet/60cm of snow this week in Bulgaria.
- Dolomites still needing fresh natural snow but snowmaking means most runs are open.
- A foot of snow expected in Sierra Nevada by Friday.

It has been a dry, sunny and often very cold (-20C not unusual in the Alps) week in much of Europe and it looks to be similar, warming a little, for the week ahead. But not all of Europe has been fresh-snowless with the Pyrenees reporting more significant snowfalls in the past few days.

Most major resorts now have healthy bases right down to resort level after all the snow in the first three weeks of January so skiers have been able to enjoy the on-piste conditions. However it's not good across the entire continent as Scottish areas remain closed with temperatures in the Highlands far warmer than southern England this week. The Dolomites also lack fresh snow although most runs are open in the region thanks to the ongoing huge snowmaking effort.

Across the Atlantic it is a different tale with resorts in California in particular setting new all-time monthly snowfall records whilst there was still more than a week of January left. The road-and-resort closing snowfall stats are astronomical - in some cases more than 6 metres/20 feet in three weeks. Most other areas of North America are in good shape too, if not quite so deluged with snow.

In the Forecast

Generally milder weather for the European Alps this next week, with temperatures a little higher than January averages in the East and closer to normal elsewhere. Looking generally dry to the East, but with some reasonable falls of snow possible in the Pyrenees and Western Alps toward the end of the coming weekend.

Looking further ahead, the forecast models continue to tease us with the possibilities of unsettled (snowy!) weather pushing into The Alps in early February but that's still a little outside the reliable timeframe of the forecasts so we'll give you the latest on that next week - but we'll keep our fingers crossed, and you should do your favorite snow dance!

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 dry and sunny week in most of Austria with little or no fresh snow reported after the snowy first half of the month. The situation may change in the coming week with indications of some more fresh snow by this time next week, but so far it appears that it won't amount to more than a few inches, if anything. The earlier January snowfalls do have Austrian slopes in fairly good shape however, with all of the country's leading resorts now reporting the top to bottom cover that some lacked (at the bottom) in December. Many have at least a 30cm base in resort and plenty 60-90cm. Surprisingly perhaps the little ski area at St Wolfgang, one of the lower Austrian ski centres, claims one of the deepest resort-level snow bases of 1.2m (four feet). More than half of Austrian areas now have 1m or more of snow up top and almost all those that don't have at least 60cm so it's looking good across the country. Of the leading resorts only Bad Kleinkirchheim in the south east still reports a thin base of 10-15cm.

France
It has been another week of mostly blue skies and low temperatures in the French Alps, similar to Austria and indeed the rest of the region, allowing skiers to enjoy the accumulated January snow. It's not the case across France however as the Pyrenees down in the south have continued to see more big snowfalls after last week's dumps so are reported to be powder central at present. Indeed the deepest snow base in France is now reported to be at Cauterets in the Pyrenees with 3m/10 feet of snow on upper runs and 1.2m/4 feet in resort. But snow depths across the French Alps are pretty good too, most resorts with at least 50cm lying at resort level and quite a few with over a metre whilst on higher runs the majority of resorts have at least a metre of snow lying and some more than 2m, so generally conditions are starting to look good for at the least the next month, barring some unseasonal sustained thaw horror, and there's not one forecast. There's not much fresh snow forecast either though, although there may be the odd centimetre here and there and we may start to see a change at the weekend but it's a bit too far off to be certain yet.

Italy
It's much the same in Italy, the Alpine region to the West is in good shape after regular snowfalls. The less happy news from the Dolomites continues with little or no fresh snow this week, again, and little or none in the forecast. Instead its cold and sunny so the snowmaking guns keep working. So there's a big East/West divide – 10cm at Alta Badia in the Dolomites to the east, 2m at Pila in the Aosta Valley to the west.

Italy's biggest snowfalls of 2017 have been in the south of the country where there are a few domestic ski hills down towards Rome in the mountains northwest of the city. This snow - combined with the awful coincidence of earthquakes - led to the much publicised tragedy last weekend.

Switzerland
It's a similar picture in Switzerland with no fresh snow, not really much in the forecast, and low temperatures with blue skies expected for the week ahead. So once again, on piste great, any off piste snow is now largely skied out. Bases are not quite so varied as in its neighbouring ski countries, Wengen has the smallest base at 45cm up top, Laax the biggest at 175cm, everywhere else is somewhere in between with the majority over 1m. Down in the villages the base does seem to be thawing a little despite the low temperatures with most areas having 29-40cm down in resort.

Scandinavia
It has been a fairly dry week in Scandinavia with just a few centimetres of snowfall reported, mostly in the east of the region in Finland and Sweden. Bases remain pretty good across Scandinavia with most resorts in the 50-80cm bracket. Hemsedal has the thinnest base of the bigger areas with 35cm (a foot) of cover.

Pyrenees
The Pyrenees are in great shape after the heavy snow last week which has continued this, particularly on the French side. In Andorra most areas have around 1m in resort and nearly double that on the top of the mountains with powder conditions still in play. Cauterets in France has the deepest snow base in the region as mentioned above at nearly 3m. Sierra Nevada in southern Spain looks set to get the most snow in the continent over the next 72 hours – about 30cm over Thursday/Friday - so it could be a good weekend to plan a quick trip there if the weather clears on Saturday.

Eastern Europe
It has been one of the snowiest weeks for a while in Bulgaria with resorts posting up to 60cm (two feet) of snow in the last week (Borovets) although much of that was before the weekend. Bases there look very healthy at around 1.5m. Conditions are generally good across the rest of eastern Europe but elsewhere there's been little fresh snow reported in the past week.

Scotland
Scotland's terrible ski season continues with all five centres still closed (except for dry slope skiing at several). Temperatures are back to double digits (it has been far warmer in the north of Scotland than the south of England this last week) and though a little snowfall seems likely in the coming week it currently looks unlikely to be enough.

North America
Canada
Great conditions across Canada with low temperatures, healthy bases and more snow. The biggest falls have inevitably been in the West where whistler has had three feet (90cm) of fresh snow in the last seven days and most other areas have posted 1-2 feet/30-60cm. There's been a few centimetres more in Quebec too where Mont Ste Anne continues to report the deepest snow in the country at 303cm (10 feet, 1 inch-ish).

USA
As mentioned at the start of this report, incredible conditions in Western USA – in terms of the volume of snow, perhaps not so incredible if you'd like a bit of sunshine and a smooth groomed run. Several resorts have had another 2m/6 feet + of snow this week but that is of course the same as the previous two weeks. Mammoth still tops the tables with an incredible 7.4m (over 16 feet) of snow now lying at the top of the mountain. In other states snowbird in Utah has had 1.4m of snow, Telluride in Colorado 90cm – you get the picture. It's even quite good in the east still with another foot of snow this week for resorts like Killington in Vermont. There are signs that the end is finally nigh however in the near two-month long snowy deluge out West, with much smaller snowfall forecast for the coming week.

verbier_ski_bum wrote:I wonder if they take into account winds that followed when reporting base depths.

Unlikely I'd think - and very difficult to do as you'd need to take account of all the different wind directions.

I don't know where they take the measurements in Verbier but I think all the measuring stations I've seen have been in (relatively) sheltered spots.

That's going to give the most consistent results - and is probably the best they can do if you think about it - but, of course, is going to overstate the depths if most of the pistes have been "foehned" for example.

It's a very difficult effect to allow for; light winds will deposit more snow on the windward side (as there's more precipitation from the air pushing up the slope and cooling) whereas a slightly stronger wind will carry that snow over the ridge and drop it all on the leeward slide (classic wind slabs be here).

Also, the pistes have a compacted base where the snow will "stick" more easily so are likely to better hold onto whatever snow does fall when it's windy.

In other words... "wind's a bit of a sod". :|

Here's something for those us interested in looking beyond the brochures of the big Tour Operators, for the many more "authentic" ski areas out there.

The national ski teams of the world are often worth watching for their choice of training venues between races; you can pretty much guarantee they'll be going to places with good lifts and facilities - with slopes of suitable pitch and length to emulate World Cup courses, of course. Beyond those requirements, they have little need for the infrastructure most of us associate with the best known resorts and so can lead us to some of the "hidden gems" we might otherwise overlook.

The following PR, recently received, describes the use of the Italian Dolomites ski area of Paganella (incorporating the slopes above Andalo and the main village of Fai della Paganella) by the Norwegian team :-

Paganella: Slopes fit for Vikings

Henrik Kristoffersen, Kjetil Jansrud, Leif Kristian Haugen, Sebastian Foss-Solevaag and Aksel Lund Svindal, the five leaders of the strong Norwegian team – which has shown and is showing great qualities in the Alpine Ski World Cup - enjoy a special relationship with Trentino, and above all with the Paganella Ski Area; until 2018 the area will be the federal Alpine centre of this Scandinavian national team.

On these slopes they have often trained for important sports events, and especially for the Italian races held in December.


Aksel Lund Svindal - Photo (c) Pierre Teyssot, Photo Archive

"I have had the pleasure of getting to know Andalo thanks to my first participations to the Alpine Rockfest - said Svindal -, and soon afterwards the Paganella became our training centre: here I have had the opportunity to appreciate not only the fantastic Olympic track 2, which is a unique slope thanks to its varied and technical features - but I am also enjoying the food and hospitality of the Trentino people."

At the end of the training session on the Olympic track 2 on the Paganella Kristoffersen remarked "We've managed to position 50 gates for a giant slalom of 1'10", just like in the world cup. This allowed us to recreate the race effect and enjoy a very useful session in view of future commitments, where my aim is to reconfirm my results. The track is well-prepared, and it is especially fit for our high level training."


Norwegian Ski Team Training in Paganella - Photo (c) Photo Archive

This is a modern and comprehensive ski area which boasts 50 kilometres of wide slopes, 1,100 metres of altitude difference and a programmed snowmaking system covering 100% of the tracks. The ski area can also accommodate every type of skier thanks to the variety of slopes it offers: 10 blue runs with varying degrees of difficulty, to accompany beginners in their progress; 13 red slopes for ski enthusiasts, 1 black run for experts; for snowboard lovers there is a large snowpark with plenty of facilities.

Andalo and Fai della Paganella are served by an efficient network of ski lifts (17), with the most modern cable cars, chairlifts and treadmills that guarantee an hourly capacity of 27,000 people and are all accessible with a single ski-pass.

The area offers slopes for all tastes and levels, but the surroundings should not be missed either: the mountain huts on the slopes offer food and wines that make holidaying even more sparkling, pleasant and enjoyable.

Henrik Kristoffersen while skiing in Paganella (video)
https://www.facebook.com/paganellaski/videos/922991231123060/

NIGHT SKIING

Since 2015 on the Paganella Ski slopes it is also possible to ski at night: an important opportunity for those who love skiing in Andalo, Trentino. This important investment for our ski resort now allows all skiers and snowboarders to have fun after sunset on the slope Cacciatori 1, reachable via the cable car Andalo - Doss Pelà (up to the middle station in the Dosson area). The facility is open every Tuesday and Friday from 19.30 to 22.00.

Discover Paganella and Andalo Ski Area through the following link www.andalovacanze.com.

Find out more on J2Ski :-
The Andalo - Paganella ski area
Paganella Snow Forecast

Have fun everyone! And post some pictures (but not too many if it's really, really good...) :thumbup:

Hi Ricardo - it will help people to know your flight / taxi times? 8)

Hope you find someone!

A more settled week for Europe - and yet more snow in America.


Dawn over a very snowy (3metres / 10 feet base) Cauterets, France this morning.

This Week's Snow Headlines
- Base at Mammoth Mountain near 7 metres.
- After big snowfalls, its cold and sunny in the Alps.
- Scottish areas open a bit of terrain briefly, then close again.
- Pyrenees looking good after nearly 2m of snowfall at some areas.
- Some fresh snow in the Dolomites, but not much.
- Good conditions in Eastern Europe after lots of heavy snowfall.

It has been the snowiest week in the Western Alps this season but things have now quietened down again and we're back to clear, sunny skies. In fact it is also very cold with it, with many Alpine resorts seeing temperatures below minus 20C over the past weekend. Ski areas in the Alps and Pyrenees have seen up to 1.5m / 5 feet of fresh snow over the last week, much of it falling last weekend, and there have been smaller accumulations since.

Across the Atlantic the snowfall has perhaps slowed a little but totals for January remain meteoric and after some 20 feet/6m has fallen on Mammoth so far its edging up towards a 7m (23 foot) base which is fairly unprecedented, especially this early in the season.

In the Forecast

In Europe, temperatures - in particular - will see the biggest change as the severe cold of this week gives way to more moderate weather. Temperatures should rise to, or a little above, seasonal averages (for January) by next weekend.

Generally, conditions will remain clear and there's not a huge amount of snow forecast for the main Alpine areas. That said, there is the possibility of a "Genoa Low" developing through this coming weekend which may bring snow into the Aosta Valley and other locations (particulary Italian) on the South of the main Alpine ridge. Definitely worth watching the forecasts if you're in the area, or can get there!

Moving into next week, there are early indications of quite widespread snow for the last week of January; potentially good for the North and West Alps. Keep an eye on the J2Ski forecasts, but that's too far ahead to be relied upon as yet.

Going Skiing? Please upload a Photo Snow Report!

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Find a Ski Buddy or Group

You can now easily share your plans, and find others going to the same ski area. See Recent Ski Chat and follow the Who's Skiing Where, When link.

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
Austria had the biggest snowfalls in the first week of January when the snow did not really make it much further west in to France and Switzerland. In the 'second wave' last week it got less than further west, but some areas in Salzburgerland including Saalbach have had around 2 metres of snow now since the start of the year. Bases are now looking much, much better than they were in December as a result. Most areas have 1-2m bases and at Solden it's up to 2.2m, the deepest in the country. The only area that doesn't look too healthy still is Bad Kleinkirchheim down in the far Southwest which still only has a 15-20cm base although it says all but one of its 24 lifts are operating and runs are in good shape. Although there's been less fresh snow in Austria than elsewhere still most Austrian areas got 30-60cm of snow in the last 7 days and a couple of small areas as much as a metre.

France
French ski resorts have had their snowiest week of the 2016-17 season with much of the snow falling between Thursday and Sunday. Although parts of the Chamonix Valley claimed more than 1.5m of new snow, most areas were in the 60-90cm bracket although the French Pyrenees also did very well with more than 1.5m of new snow reported at Cauterets. As with most of Europe, French slopes are generally now in great shape with blue skies and (currently) very low temperatures. Of the resorts that had a tricky December for limited snow cover, Flaine claimed a 1m snowfall in 24 hours at the end of last week and now has a 40-200cm base, so problem appears to be solved. Morzine, which had very little snow, now has a 40-90cm base. The country's deepest snow base is reported to be in Val Cenis at 40-245cm.

Italy
After our forecasts a week ago showed no snow again for the Dolomites, a few hours after posting the models started to predict snow – if not a whole lot. In fact Alta Badia, which is perhaps suffering the most, claimed one of the bigger snowfalls – 25cm, and now reports a 10-20cm base, 10cm better than last week if still not that great. Unfortunately our forecast is again showing sunny skies and low temperatures for the week ahead with nothing fresh on the horizon, so let's hope that again changes soon after posting. That said, it is ideal snowmaking conditions for The Dolomites where thousands of kilometres of groomed runs have been successfully created with artificial snow this winter again. As has been the pattern this season though there was snow in Western Italy with 80cm for Cervinia, 50cm for Courmayeur. Conditions are very good there and Pila has the deepest base in Italy at 2m.

Switzerland
Switzerland, like France, saw some of its biggest snowfalls this season during the past week, particularly around the weekend. More than half of the country's leading ski areas got a least a foot (30cm) of new snow and many double that. Grindelwald – one of the areas that had been suffering from poor cover – saw the biggest snowfall of 83cm; it now claims a 30-70cm base, much better than before. The snowfall was so heavy that the classic Lauberhorn downhill above neighbouring Wengen had to be cancelled. Swiss areas are now generally in pretty good shape with snow at resort level for the first time this winter for many and over 1m at altitude for most. Sadly St Moritz has the least impressive stats of 18-49cm ahead of it staging the bi-annual Alpine World Championships. However the cold weather and lack of fresh snow may be welcomed there rather than having the event-cancelling snow that Wengen had.

Scandinavia
Large quantities of new snow, a prolonged cold period and lots of open slopes – the heavy snowfalls over recent days and the ongoing cold weather are good news for skiing enthusiasts in Scandinavia. SkiStar, the region's largest resort operator reports that over the last few days, significant amounts of snow have fallen in the Swedish and Norwegian mountains. In SkiStar's resorts of Åre, Sälen, Vemdalen, Trysil and Hemsedal there is up to 35 centimetres of new snow.

"It's great that we have had so much snow. We're opening new slopes all the time. The conditions for skiing are perfect with lots of new snow and plenty of sunshine in the forecast," said Linda Morell, head of PR at SkiStar.

The heavy falls mean that in many places in the mountains of Sweden and Norway the snow is almost one metre deep. At SkiStar's resorts, new slopes are being opened every day.

Pyrenees
A really good week for snowfall in the Pyrenees with several areas claiming 1.5m (five feet) of fresh snow or more. Unlike the Alps, a little more is expected over the next few days too. Resorts in Spain all have at least 1m bases now, with Baqueira/Beret reporting the deepest in the region at 1.8m (six feet). All resorts report excellent piste conditions and off piste powder. In Andorra there's over a foot of snow in the villages and 1.2-1.8m up top, with Soldeu claiming it has had 1.8m of snow this week. A similar picture on the French side with Cauterets also reporting nearly six feet of fresh snow.

Eastern Europe
Conditions continue to be the best in years in Eastern Europe with most ski areas now having 1.5m/5 feet or more of snow lying and another 30cm/1 foot in the last week. There's also more snow forecast here. Borovets has the deepest base in Bulgaria at 155cm but the other centres are very close behind.

Scotland
Scotland's ski season remains fairly disasterous. After just a few areas opening very limited terrain on a couple of weekends in November and nothing open at all in December or the New Year holidays almost all areas did open briefly at the weekend, again limited terrain, but it is warm and sunny once again now so the bit of snow cover there was is no longer skiable and looking towards February there's so far no big change in the weather in sight.

North America
Canada
After a fairly snowless week or so in the West, the snowfall has been getting heavier again in Canada; Whistler reported nearly 40cm/16 inches overnight on Monday/Tuesday and other areas in the West got 20-30cm too. There's been more snow in the East too, if not quite so much, 10-20cm in the last 7 days in Quebec. Bases remain good East and West with Whistler and Mont Ste Anne the two deepest at around 2m each.

USA
More big snowfalls in the US if perhaps not quite so big as the previous fortnight. So we have a situation where 2-3 feet of fresh snow doesn't look great, as it normally would, when compared to double that in previous weeks. But the good thing about the latest big falls is they're not so huge they close the resorts. Mammoth once again claimed the biggest 7 day snowfall at 1m, but there's been typically 40-60cm in states like Utah and Wyoming and 20-40cm in Colorado. More snow in the Eastern US too, just not so much.

acarr wrote:Attempt to wear all your clothes at once? :lol:

This gets my vote. Please send us a picture as you check-in looking like a Sumo wrestler Tony...

I did once see someone wear their ski boots on the plane from Gatwick, but I think they might draw the line at letting you wear your skis.

There is (or was) a service that will pick up your bags in UK and then drive them out to your resort in a van, but I'm not sure if they're still going - might be worth a Google though?

Wanderer wrote:Adders, as I am heading to the Dolomites for half term

Small point of order, but Mr. J2SkiNews is not me but the most esteemed and revered Patrick of Snow, Lord of all he surveys (and a small part of Loch Ness, where he nests in a Xmas Tree over the summer). I'm just some geezer darn sarf.

...but, yes, snow for the Dollies is on the cards; we do try to be a little more circumspect than certain other well-known forecast sites...

That all said, the current storm is going further and heavier than expected and the next week or two are looking rather tasty! 8)