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J2Ski's Guide to Where to Ski in May 2014
May, 2014
Snow Report Summary With the Northern Hemisphere quiet now, we'll be delivering these reports once a month until the snows come again for the North... so you can keep an eye on what's happening in the South and around the world. May sees most of the few 'still open' ski areas in the northern hemisphere end their 2013-14 ski seasons and excitement build in the southern hemisphere for the start of winter 2014, just days away by the end of the month. But while thousands of northern hemisphere ski areas are closed for the season by the end of April, dozens do soldier on in to May and some even in to June and then the summer months. May 2014 skiing is looking pretty good in some of the areas where the lifts are still turning thanks to big snowfalls in parts of the alps and western North America over the last few days of April. Ironically the falls of up to a metre in 72 hours were the biggest of the winter in parts of California, but they came after 95% of the state's areas had closed for the season, which had been one of the worst for snow cover in years due to a drought meaning almost no snow fell from November to February. May is traditionally one of the two quietest months for skiing around the world (along with September) with most northern hemisphere areas closed by the first weekend (even many summer ski glacier areas which close for a month or two before re-opening), and the southern hemisphere' ski season not getting started until June. But there remain plenty of options to choose from if you need a snow fix, and the options are listed in our detailed report below. So here's the J2Ski breakdown of what's likely to be open where over the next 31 days: (and if we've missed anything please let us know!) The Alps Austria Austria normally has more ski areas open than any other in the northern hemisphere for nearly six months from late spring right through to mid-autumn with eight glacier ski areas to choose from. Things are looking good on those glaciers at the moment with bases built up through the winter, including a healthy snowfall in the last few days of April. Not all are operational right through the summer however, in fact only the Hintertux glacier endeavours to be, although the Dachstein, Kaunertal, Kitzsteinhorn and Stubai glaciers should be open to June and July. The Molltal, Pitztal and Solden glaciers are all scheduled to close at the start of May and re-open in summer or autumn. France France is the only one of the 'big four' ski nations in the Alps where no ski area is expected to be open at the end of May. Tignes and Val Thorens in the Alps and the Pic du Midi in the Pyrenees are expected to be the last centres in the country to close, at the end of the day on Sunday, May 11th. All have nearly 2m of snow lying on upper slopes so should be good for this final week or so. In addition Chamonix and Val d'Isere are open to this weekend only (closing May 4th). Alpe d'Huez, Les 2 Alpes, Tignes and Val d'Isere are expected to re-open for periods in June and July for summer skiing and boarding. Italy With the decision by Val Senales to stop offering summer skiing, the spring skiing options in Italy are looking ever more reduced. A few resorts including Cortina and Cervinia are open for the first few days of May, but after that only Passo Tonale's glacier slopes on Presena above, which have boasted the world's greatest snow depth since last winter – still at 5m at the start of May, seems likely to be open throughout the month. A second Italian glacier option, Passo Stelvio, will open open 31st May then Cervinia will re-open in the summer for glacier skiing liked to Zermatt. Switzerland Thanks to Zermatt, Switzerland offers the highest slopes in Europe at nearly 3,900m, one of the continent's biggest glacier ski areas with an 800m vertical equalling the best in the southern hemisphere (Zermatt again) and offers skiing 365 days a year, weather permitting (at Zermatt). With Zermatt receiving 50cm of fresh snow at the end of April and having a 2m+ base on the glacier, May conditions look good. There are other Swiss options in May though – The long descents of the Diavolezza glacier near st Moritz are often open for much of the month and Engelberg (with a 3.5m base as we start May) plans to be open right through to the last weekend of the month. Scandinavia Finland The Finnish ski season looks set to end earlier than usual as Ruka ski area says it expects to close on May 11th this season, the earliest end to its skiing in 10 years. Although most resorts will be closed by then, the ski area in northern Finland has built a reputation for having the longest ski season for a non-glacier resort in the world – thanks to its northerly latitude and comprehensive snowmaking. 2014 will however be the first season since 2003-4 that Ruka has not been open in to June. It will still have been a long season though, Ruka usually opens in October and this season was no different – the area will nearly make it to seven months of ski operations, having been open since October 19th last year. It will also make its target 200+ day season, with 205 days predicted, although that is the shortest since 2001-02 which was a mere 200 day ski season. Iceland Whilst the ski season at most European resorts has already started to wind down, it is still very much alive and kicking in the north of Iceland where – due to the region's northerly latitude – it runs until the end of June. The area is home to seven well-equipped and flood-lit ski resorts – although that's not usually an issue at this time of year with near 24 hour daylight approaching fast and the chance to ski under the midnight sun from mid-May. The ski areas to consider (Check to ensure operational) are Sauðárkrókur-Tindastóll (tindastoll.is/skidi); Siglufjörður ski area (skardsdalur.is); Tindaöxl (skiol.fjallabyggd.is/is/forsida); Dalvík (skidalvik.is) and Hlíðarfjall (hlidarfjall.is). Norway Many of Norway's conventional ski areas will close by the first weekend of May, but one of the country's leading resorts, Hemsedal, has recently announced it will stay open to May 11th due to the great snow lying nearly 2m deep. The country's three glacier summer ski areas are also open or opening. Folgefonn opened in late April and Galdhoppigen and Stryn are scheduled to follow shortly, the former on 29th May. Sweden Although some Swedish areas remain open for the first few days of May, it's Riksgränsen, the long standing title holder of 'Spriong skiing capital of Europe' that comes in to its own this month. Located 200km within the Arctic Circle, Riksgränsen is one big terrain park and has the novelty of offering skiing under the midnight sun with 24 hour daylight from mid-May onwards. It is normally open for midsummer skiing in late June. Scotland After Britain's extreme winter brought 'weird weather' to the Scottish hills which meant snow piled up to 4m deep, particularly in the Western Highlands, with no snow and little frost in the valleys and a seemingly endless cycle of storms up top, things have settled down a good deal in recent weeks but snow depths are still good at Cairngorm (Aviemore), Glencoe and Nevis Range and it initially seemed likely that most of these would be open through May.
However Nevis Range decided to end their season on April 27th last weekend and Glencoe and cairngorm also look likely to close after the first weekend of May, more due to lack of business than lack of snow it seems. North America Canada Although there's lots of snow left on the ground in Canada, only three of the country's resorts will be open beyond the first weekend of the month, although they do include three of the four largest. Lake Louise, which had been due to close on May 4th, has instead decided to stay open to May 11th due to the great snow. It's neighbour Sunshine, along with Whistler Blackcomb, plan to last another week and be the last in the country to close on May 19th. All three have bases around 2m so should have no problems maintaining cover for the final week of their seasons. USA May is off to a good start in Western USA with some of the biggest snowfalls of the whole 'winter' season occurring in the last week of April in California. Mammoth, one of only two areas still open in the state, got a metre of fresh snow which should set it up well for May. It has announced it will stay open at least to the 25th. The other area, Alpine Meadows in North Lake Tahoe, will stay open to May 11th. Other 'still open' options in Western North America include Arapahoe Basin in Colorado (likely to be open to June), Snowbird in Utah, Mt Bachelor and Timberline in Oregon (the latter open to August) and Crystal Mountain in Washington State. On the East Coast Killington in Vermont has still not decided on a closing date. Japan Japan does not really offer glacier skiing but some resorts are open to the end of may, including Hakuba. The main late-spring-skiing destination is Gassan, a small area which, rather like Riksgransen, is normally only open from April to June or July. Southern Hemisphere Although resorts in Australia, New Zealand and South America very occasionally open early after big snowfalls, most do not plan to open until early June in to July. However in southern Africa two ski areas in South Africa and Lesotho are usually the first to open in the southern hemisphere each year. Afri-Ski (afriski.net) in Lesotho officially opens June 5th but may open sooner if conditions are good. It and Tiffindell (tiffindell.co.za) in South Africa has limited skiing compared to the big resorts of Europe and North America, or indeed other southern hemisphere areas, with only about a kilometre of pistes each and may rely on snowmaking if there's no natural cover. But you're skiing in southern Africa, in summer, so who cares? Indoor Snow and Dry Slopes If you need a quick snow fix closer to home there are more than 50 year-round indoor snow centres and several hundred artificial surface 'dry slopes' operating in more than 50 countries around the world. For the UK there are six indoor snow centres from Hemel Hempstead to Glasgow and around 60 dry slopes. Well that was a long one... there are more options than we expected! |
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A couple of weeks back, my lads and I were lucky enough to watch some of the locals (including one rather well-known gent) and their mates hitting up the superb freeride playground of La Balme, at La Clusaz.
Don't try this at home (or on holiday) kids, but here's what Candide Thovex and the rest of "The Faction Collective" threw together... (and if you squint, with the eyes of a hawk, you might just make out Admin and mini-Admin starring as "distant specks" for almost a whole second...) |
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Idkwia,
You need to start here :-
We put that on every snow mail - because it's true.
That's right. 8)
And that's very wrong. When the 'theme' is a nice stable high pressure you'd be right. But that means no snow, so you'd probably not notice that most of the forecasts will be pretty 'accurate' (and very similar) in those situations. Snow tends to fall when it all gets mixed up though - and the biggest snow falls often happen over relatively localized areas as weather systems collide. If you're under a storm track you'll get dumped on; if you're two miles away you might not get a flake. At the start of last week the models had the Tarentaise in the sights of the weekends weather; but that was revised daily and most of the big snow went further North (e.g. Zermatt got plastered).
Expecting the forecast, any forecast, to be static is a fundamental misunderstanding. You need to watch the forecast develop and change every day. All the weather models suffer from "compounding" of errors; if they're a bit out for Monday, then Tuesday's forecast will be further out, Wednesday even worse, and so on. There is no "accurate, reliable" weather model. End of. If there was one, then we'd all be using it. Weather is chaotic and we try to keep up. Sometimes the models we use win out, other times Snow Forecast or Meteo France will get it right. And where you happen to be on any particular day will determine which you think is best. Take a look at the ensemble graph ("The Wigglies" linked from this page); the different coloured lines represent runs of the model with very slightly varied parameters - they diverge rapidly as time progresses... for 7 days ahead they're currently giving predicted daytime temperatures (for Geneva) varying from 0C to 13C.
Well the Tourist Office report the upper depths have gone from 190cm to 210cm so they think they've had a fair bit more than that... 8) There's not a lot more I can say TBH; if weather actually was "predictable" we'd have a lot less to talk about... :lol: |
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First locked thread of the silly season?
Handbags to be taken outside please gentlemen; let's talk skiing (or boarding, or whatever else you enjoy on the snow)... TVM, Adders |
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Now Three Separate French Legal Actions Against British Ski Companies and Clubs
Started by User in Ski News, 3 Replies |
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I'd be delighted to be corrected, but - despite the pronouncements from the SCGB that the LeSki case doesn't apply to them (as they are "volunteers") - it does appear that they're sailing pretty close to the wind.
Possibly, but it's no more right to refer to it as "guiding" either. As far as I'm aware, the Ski Club's Reps (sorry, "Leaders") will have been on a training course for a couple of weeks but are not required to have any recognised qualifications. So, I'd have thought...
...might put them in a bit of a spot, although (again AFAIAA) they no longer go off-piste officially.
...not that well trained then... :lol: :evil: |
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It's not over in Scotland either!
This just in from Glencoe...
Happy Valley with a wide and still very deep cover (24th April) 
Amazing cover still on the upper mountain runs, picture looking from the rock garden over towards the main basin (24th April) Thanks to Billip for the heads-up |
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End of Season party for Lake Annecy Ski Resorts this weekend with the 'Defy Foly' in La Clusaz
For the last 26 years the crazy "Défi Foly" has been the final event of the winter season. Taking place this year on 26th-27th April 2014 it sees sportsmen and women competing on skis, mono skis, snowboards, or anything that slides! Not on snow… The aim is to slide the longest distance over the Confins Lake! Launched in 1986, over 150 competitors compete each year in front of thousands of spectators. 
Just for fun…The star attraction of this weekend of fun and frolics has to be the OGNI event, otherwise known as Unidentified Floating Objects (UFOs), floating inventions - anything goes. These elaborate creations provide a hilarious end to the event, as the spectators witness their sometimes catastrophic descent into the icy waters of the Confins Lake in the exceptional surroundings of the Confins, overlooked by the magnificent Aravis mountains. 
New to the event - Freeride World Champion(s) celebrated On Sunday, around noon, the resort will celebrate the Freeride World Champion title of La Clusaz's Loïc Collomb-Patton (and the Junior champions also from the region, Illona Carlod and Arthur Raskin) at the lake.  |
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Week Ending April 24th, 2014
Snow Report Summary END OF SEASON, LAST CHANCE, EURO POWDER FEST! 8) 8) Well, as we said last week... "it's not over yet". Winter is throwing one last double six to finish the season. It's been snowing this week and there are some very heavy snowfalls forecast as low as 1500 metres for the coming weekend. Conditions for the last few days of this season, at the higher resorts, are going to be fabulous! This Week's Headlines: * Pic du Midi extends season to 11th May. * Up to 50cm of fresh snow reported on high slopes at still-open-ski-areas in the Alps. * Folgefonn glacier in Norway opens for summer ski and board season. * Base depths still up to 5m in Europe, 3.9m in North America. If you're still able to get out to the mountains this weekend you'll find fresh snow on higher slopes in the Alps and bargains galore at the still open ski centres. But please do double-check before you travel; many resorts are closing their lifts regardless of the snow, so do check directly with the local Tourist Office to make sure. Most ski areas in North America and most of Europe's lower-elevation resorts are closed, but nearly half of the leading resorts in the Alps are still operational - if only to the end of the coming weekend. With the final week of April upon us and all but about 100 northern hemisphere ski areas ending their seasons this weekend, this is our final weekly snow report before we go monthly until next Autumn, although we'll still be posting summer snow news in the J2Ski forums. The Alps Austria Around two thirds of Austrian ski areas have now closed for the season and most others will follow after the coming weekend. However a handful of non-glacier Austrian resorts stay open to the start of May, and the country also has more glacier ski areas open through late spring, summer and autumn than any other. Ischgl has the biggest end of season party of them all with it's top of the mountain concert, this year starring Robbie Williams. It still has 80cm on upper slopes, nothing at resort level and no fresh snow reported. Obergurgl looks better reporting 16cm of fresh snow in the past few days and a 1.4m base. The country's eight glacier ski resorts top the snow depth league with year-round Hintertux top of them all with a 4m base, and a nice 6cm of fresh on top. France Some two thirds of French ski areas remain open with the big closing weekend coming up – although Chamonix and Val d'Isere plan to stay open to first weekend with Val Thorens and Tignes last to close the weekend after. And its Tignes that's reported the biggest snowfall of the last seven days with more than a foot of new snow at the weekend keeping its upper slope depth above the 2m mark. Many other still-open French resorts posted 10-20cm accumulations. La Plagne, with a 215cm snows depth (12cm fresh) has the deepest base in the French Alps although down in the Pyrenees Cauterets claims the country's deepest snowpack at three metres. Italy It has been a snowy week at the around half of Italian ski areas that are still open. Most reported snowfall of at least 10cm, some as much as 30cm. That biggest accumulation was at Passo Tonale, where the top glacier slopes normally stays open to June, and which is claiming a 5m base – still the world's greatest but suddenly down a metre on the 6m claimed for the past few months. Cortina, open to the start of May, got 25cm of fresh snow at the weekend, good news as its base has dropped to 10-80cm. Cervinia on the west side of the country got the same amount of fresh snow but reports a much healthier base depth of 3.3m. Switzerland It's fitting that the highest slopes in the Alps got the most snow over the last week – and that they're open all year round. Zermatt reported 50cm of new snow over the weekend and now has 2.5m on upper slopes, although there's nothing left down at village level. Saas Fee, with almost the deepest base in Switzerland at 399cm, also got 50cm. Andermatt still claims the deepest snow in Switzerland with a centimetre more at a never changing (for several months at least) 4m upper slope base depth. About half of Swiss centres are already closed, most of the rest follow this weekend. Engelberg, which reported 10cm of fresh snow in the 24 hours to Monday is one of those staying open in to May and has a healthy 360cm base on its glacier. Pyrenees The season is over in Andorra and the Spanish Pyrenees but the Pic du Midi in the French Hautes Pyrenees on the French side has just announced it will stay open to skiers/riders to 11th May. Scandinavia Scandinavian areas tend to come in to their own in late April and early May as tens of thousands of Finns, Swedes and Norwegians enjoy the rapidly increasing daylight and warmth on the snow slopes. Bit festivals are coming up at Are in Sweden and Hemsedal in Norway, the latter now planning to stay open to at least May 11th. Snow depths are slowly dropping but remain at around the 1.8m mark at open areas in Norway and 60-80cm in Finland and Sweden. Riksgransen up in the Swedish Arctic is nearing its midnight sun ski season too and the first of Norway's summer glacier resorts, Folgefonn, has opened for the season this week. Eastern Europe The season is over at all leading Eastern European resorts. Scotland Several Scottish ski areas enjoyed a bumper Easter weekend with some of the best conditions of the season thanks to idyllic blue skies, warm sun and no wind on the deep snow base. Cairngorm, Glencoe and Nevis Range all have a lot of snow remaining but after initially saying that skiing in to May looked likely, Nevis Range now say this weekend will probably be the last of their season and Cairngorm have hinted that they may end their season in the next few days too, "unless it gets colder." North America Canada Most Canadian resorts are now closed, but three will be open beyond the first weekend of May - -Lake Louise Ski Resort will remain open until May 11 after extending their ski season by a week due to the exceptional snow conditions this spring, Sunshine Village will be the last to close on May 19 with their annual Slush Cup, the same dates that Whistler plans to close. Bases at the three are reported to be between 195 and 235cm on upper slopes. Marmot Basin is also open to the start of May. USA Like much of the rest of the northern hemisphere, the season is over at many resorts, in fact around 90% of US areas are already closed with most of the rest, including Colorado's Copper Mountain, joining them after this weekend. But a select band of ski areas are open next week and in to May, among them Timberline in Oregon (which currently has the deepest base of an open area in North America at 3.9m/13 feet), Crystal Mountain in Washington state, and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado. Killington in Vermont and Mammoth in California have not yet decided on their closing dates either, nor has Snowbird in Utah. |
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