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J2Ski's Where to Ski in July 2025
Started by Admin in Snow Forecasts and Snow Reports, discussing Breuil-Cervinia and Tignes |
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July 2025 sees the southern hemisphere's ski season fully underway, with ski areas in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, and southern Africa all open. Meanwhile, in the northern hemisphere, only a few ski centres are operating.
Mount Hutt, New Zealand, starts July with over a metre, top-to-bottom... Where to Ski in July 2025 July is the month when the southern hemisphere's ski season gets into full swing, with ski areas in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, and southern Africa open. The season has started well in Australia, and ok in Chile, Lesotho, and New Zealand, while Argentina had limited autumn snowfalls, but most centres have at least some runs open as we start the new month. In the northern hemisphere, we are approaching high summer, with just 10 centres open across Europe, Asia, and North America. More than half of these are in the Alps; however, those in France are due to close later in the month. The last resort open in Japan/Asia, Gassan, is also expected to close in the next few weeks as its remaining thin snow cover melts away. July will see the first northern hemisphere ski area open for the 2025-26 season, Saas-Fee in Switzerland. Australasia / Oceania Australia Despite forecasts suggesting a challenging season for Australian ski areas due to above-average ocean temperatures, the season started well last month. After nearly a metre (39in) of snowfall over opening weekend, several more decent snowfalls followed. Aussie resorts start July with 30-90% of their slopes open and base depths of 50cm (20in) to 1 metre. Thredbo has now topped a metre (39in) and starts July with a snow depth of 105cm (41in). That qualifies as "pretty good." New Zealand Most of New Zealand's ski areas are open for the 2025 season, with one of the last big names, Treble Cone, opening on the final weekend of June. Most centres opened on schedule earlier last month after positive weather conditions, including good early snowfalls and low temperatures for snowmaking. Mount Hutt has been the standout with over two metres (79in) of snowfall so far. It starts July almost fully open with a snow depth of more than one metre from top to bottom. Argentina Argentina has not had the best start to its 2025 winter with limited early-season snowfall. However, as we start July, most of the country's ski areas are open, with the majority starting their seasons on the last weekend of June, albeit with limited terrain initially. So far, most areas have only 2-10% of their slopes open, but a few good snowfalls could change that quickly. Chile In contrast, the western side of South America has seen significant snowfalls over the past month, particularly in the southern Andes. Nevados de Chillan is the standout, reporting over 2.5m (98in) of snowfall last month. All of Chile's ski areas are open, with most having good base depths. The Tres Valles area, linking Valle Nevado (which opened a week early in June), La Parva, and El Colorado, offers the largest amount of terrain open on the continent as we start July. Africa Lesotho's Afriski is open for its 2025 season. Although it doesn't report snow conditions, the webcam currently shows that the main run is open, created from machine-snow. There have been a few good snowfalls in June and low overnight temperatures for snowmaking, so the outlook is optimistic for the next few months. Europe The Alps Six ski areas are open in the Alps as we start July, with the most (three) in France. However, by the end of July, half of the centres will have closed—specifically, the half in France! Les 2 Alpes, which now has the country's longest season, and has been open for more than seven months since the start of December last year, expects to end its season on the first weekend of the month. Val d'Isere, which closed and re-opened, ends its four-week summer ski season that same weekend. Neighbouring Tignes continues for a further fortnight until the 20th. Three European ski areas will stay open through July: Passo Stelvio in Italy, Hintertux in Austria, and the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise accessed from both Cervinia and Zermatt. Additionally, Saas-Fee is due to start its 2025-26 season with summer skiing on July 12th. Scandinavia Usually, the Fonna and Galdhopiggen glacier ski areas are open in Norway in July. However, this year, Fonna isn't operating properly due to an ownership change that still appears to be unresolved. There has been some private cat skiing, but the centre's lift hasn't run. Scandinavia's highest lift at Galdhopiggen is running, with about a metre (39in) of snow and some fresh snow falling in the last week of June. It starts the month with all runs open. North America USA Two U.S. ski areas are expected to operate through July. The main option is the Palmer Snowfield high above Timberline Resort on Mount Hood in Oregon, used by national teams for summer training. It typically stays open into August, although its base thawed quickly through June. Freestyle skiers can also access the hike-to terrain park at Colorado's Copper Mountain on Fridays to Sundays through July, reserved for private ski camps from Mondays to Thursdays. The Beartooth Basin summer ski area on the Montana/Wyoming border, which hoped to open in the first week of July, instead closed in mid-June after a three-week season, its first since 2023. |
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J2Ski Snow Report - June 26th 2025
Started by Admin in Snow Forecasts and Snow Reports, discussing Les Deux Alpes and Tignes |
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Hotham Alpine Resort, Victoria, Australia, looking decent today... The 2025 ski season is in full swing in the southern hemisphere with most Chilean and Australian resorts open after heavy snowfall, while a few northern hemisphere areas like Tignes and one Scandinavian centre are open. The Snow Headlines - June 26th - Tignes opens for the 2025 summer ski season. - Most of Chile's ski areas now open, most of Argentina's set to open this weekend. - Fresh snowfall reported in northwestern US and Canada. - Another 40cm+ for Aussie resorts. - Only one centre is still open in Scandinavia. 
More snow forecast for New Zealand and South America.
World Overview The 2025 season kicked off in Chile last weekend, and almost all Chilean centres are now open; some having posted over 2 metres of snowfall this week. The snowfall hasn't really extended to the East so Argentinian areas, by contrast, are currently struggling to open. Las Lenas to the south though, which says it has had a lot of June snow, plans to start its 2025 season this Friday. Across the South Pacific, more centres in New Zealand have also been opening whilst the remaining resorts in Australia opened at the weekend. There was more snowfall in the country this week and resorts are able to open more and more terrain. In the northern hemisphere there are around 10 areas open, more than half in the Alps, with Tignes the latest to join them. Bases are getting thin at the few ski areas still open in North America (Western US) and Asia (Japan). There is also just one area still open in Scandinavia. There was a freak start-of-summer snowfall in north-west North America but otherwise plenty of sunshine and highs touching +30C. Southern Hemisphere Australia Australia continues to enjoy a great start to its 2025 season with more fresh snowfall over the last few days and more slopes opening across the country. That includes Charlotte Pass and Selwyn Resort which opened for the first time this year at the weekend. The largest ski area, Perisher, now has about a third of its terrain open including runs in all four of its sectors; however Falls Creek, with 45% of its runs open already, perhaps has a few kilometres more piste available. Thredbo is posting the deepest base so far at 90cm. After the recent snow showers, which saw more than 40cm on Wednesday/Thursday for most areas, sunny skies are expected through the weekend with temperatures in the -6 to +6C range. New Zealand New Zealand's 2025 ski season continues to pick up the pace with more of the country's club fields opening last weekend and most of the final few that haven't opened yet, including big-name Treble Cone, opening this coming weekend. Mount Hutt is posting some of the best numbers in the southern hemisphere at present with almost 90% of its slopes open already and a healthy base depth of 1 – 1.5 metres. Most of the country's other areas have opened 10-35% of their slopes so far. It's looking good for the week ahead with a big snowfall hitting as we publish this week's report that's expected to deposit up to 60cm on the South Island by the weekend then lighter snow showers continuing through to next week. Argentina Argentina's season is yet to really get off the ground, but that is expected to change over the next few days as most of the country's resorts plan to open their season on the last day of June. So far only southerly Cerro Castor down near Tierra del Fuego, the world's most southerly ski area, has opened some slopes, with another resort, Cerro Bayo, opening nursery slopes only. The problem has been a lack of adequate snowfall, but that does now seem to be changing with heavy falls bringing several feet of snow this week to many areas and expected to continue through to the weekend. Big players including Las Leñas, which is reported to have had over a metre of snowfall at its base and over 2 metres on the upper slopes through June, open for the season this weekend Chile It's been a good week in Chile with more snowfalls, most of the country's resorts opening last weekend and already-open areas adding more terrain thanks to the good conditions. Temperatures have been and will continue to be, below freezing 24-7, getting as low as -15C on high slopes overnight. Most ski areas have more than a metre of snow lying on their slopes with Valle Nevado and Nevados de Chillan both posting more than 75% of their ski areas / 30km+ of runs open, the most in South America at present. Lesotho After the major snowfall and nearly week-long access road closure that followed, Lesotho has enjoyed cold but largely dry weather conditions, but including some very low, -10C or below temperatures overnight. Afriski still has no webcams and no published snows reports and rarely publicises current images of its slope but is believed to have around a 500-800m run complete. Northern Hemisphere The Alps Tignes joined Les 2 Alpes and Val d'Isere to become the third French ski area currently offering summer skiing. That beats Italy's choice of two – Cervinia and Passo Stelvio, along with Austria's one (Hintertux) and Switzerland's Zermatt, the same glacier ski paradise accessed from Cervinia. Hintertux and Zermatt are posting the most terrain open, around 25km and 15km of slopes respectively, for the rest it's less than 10km each. The past week has brought plenty of sunshine, with temperatures staying above freezing overnight even as high as 3500m altitudes, then daytime highs have crept up above +10C. The result of that has been that showers there have been have fallen as rain or sleet more than snow. Scandinavia The Stryn summer ski area in Norway ended its 2025 season at the weekend and the Fonna summer ski area hasn't opened for its 2025 season yet and doesn't look like it will do so now, so that only leaves Scandinavia's highest slopes at the Galdhopiggen glacier still open for summer skiing. Galdhopiggen reports the snow lying about a metre deep, all runs open and some fresh snowfall in the last seven days. Conditions are set to continue mixed with a freeze-thaw temperature range and more precipitation forecast. USA There was some surprise start-of-summer snowfall in western and northern North America with ski areas as far south as Lake Tahoe posting snowfall at the Summer solstice, with heavier accumulations, up to 20cm, reported further north in the Canadian Rockies. That was very much against the general trend of hot, sunny weather, with daytime highs nearing +30C at some ski areas. There are two centres still open, the main one is Timberline in Oregon, which has a few miles of slopes open high on Mt Hood, the best conditions from 7am to 11am daily. Copper Mountain in Colorado also has its hike-to terrain park which is open to the public from Fridays to Sundays each week. |
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J2Ski Snow Report - June 19th 2025
Started by Admin in Snow Forecasts and Snow Reports, discussing Les Deux Alpes and Tignes |
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Nevados de Chillán, Chile, with heavy snow this week (and there's more on the way). The 2025 southern hemisphere ski season is now fully underway with openings across Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and Chile following major snowfalls, while summer skiing begins in Europe and two US ski areas remain open as others close after long seasons. The Snow Headlines - June 19th - Ski season underway in Argentina, the last southern hemisphere ski nation to open for 2025. - Australian ski areas open more terrain: great start to 2025 season. - New Zealand's season gathers pace with more centres opening. - More Chilean resorts open after big snowfalls. - Tignes about to open for the 2025 summer ski season. - Riksgransen re-opening for midnight sun / summer solstice ski days. - 7-month ski seasons end at Arapahoe Basin and Mammoth Mountain, US. - Two US ski areas still open. 
There is more snow forecast for Australia, Argentina and Chile!
World Overview The southern hemisphere's 2025 season has really taken off over the past week with most of New Zealand's ski areas starting their seasons last weekend and a huge snowstorm hitting the Andes, delivering over a metre of snowfall in 72 hours to some resorts, leading to a scramble to open for most Argentinian and Chilean ski areas. At the same time, already-open Aussie areas have been consolidating their good start to winter 2025 by opening more terrain. Unsurprisingly it's a different picture in the northern hemisphere with warm weather dominating. Three of the five areas that were still open in North America ended their long seasons last weekend leaving two centres still open. Six glacier areas remain open in the Alps and Scandinavia with a seventh, Tignes, expected to join them from this weekend when it re-opens for a month-long summer ski season. Southern Hemisphere Australia Australia's ski areas have been consolidating following the great start to the weekend with the heavy snowfall the weekend before last. Resorts reported cumulative totals of nearly a metre and have also had snowmaking systems working whenever possible to build bases. All centres opened more terrain last weekend after initially having just a few lifts and mostly easy runs available. Most are now reporting between 10 and 25% of their terrain open (although Hotham has reached 45% already) and base depths of up to 75cm, very healthy numbers for mid-June. There was more snowfall earlier this week, as much as 30cm more, but there's been plenty of sunshine too. Overnight lows continue to allow for more snowmaking. Some of the last Aussie resorts yet to open, including Charlotte Pass and Selwyn, are scheduled to start their lifts spinning for 2025 from this weekend. New Zealand New Zealand's season proper got underway on Saturday with Cardrona, Coronet Peak, Mount Hutt and The Remarkables on the South Island opening for 2025. To be clear, these were not the first to open in the country as the Stratford Ski Club had opened their Manganui ski field last weekend before rain stopped play. Whakapapa on the North Island has had a snow play area maintained by all-weather snowmaking open at weekends too, however, they are the first to fully open daily for the season. Mount Hutt opened with an impressive 125cm base and 80% of its terrain open, a much higher percentage than any other southern hemisphere ski area yet open. However, there was a final twist in its aim to be the first in the country to open. Having first been forced to abandon two planned early opening dates, it was then forced to also miss its original planned date, last Friday 13th, after dangerous avalanche conditions above its access road led to a third delay decision. So, Mount Hutt eventually opened a day later than planned, with the others on Saturday. By then weather conditions couldn't have been more perfect – a beautiful sunrise above the clouds, with cold temperatures and no wind. At Cardrona, the snowmaking guns were on full blast and bragging rights were up for grabs for the 2025 First Chair t-shirt winners, with some of them lining up at the bottom of the Cardrona access road from 1 am that morning. When the road opened at 5.30 am, it was all on, and the six winners finished with a foot race to the McDougall's Chondola lift line to claim their spot on the first chairlift ride for the season. It stayed largely dry and sunny for most ski areas for the first half of this week before a fresh wave of snowfall got underway. Conditions are now more unsettled with another snow-bearing front forecast to move in imminently. Argentina Argentina's season is just about to get underway with Cerro Bayo, which has already opened but without skiing, saying it will start running its lifts this Thursday, June 19th, with Chapelco following on June 20 and the world's most southerly ski area, Cerro Castor, this Saturday 21st. Their decision follows some big snowfalls earlier this week which saw most Argentinian areas get at least 50cm of snowfall, some quite a lot more. Big players Catedral near Bariloche as well as Las Lenas to the south are also expected to open imminently. Chile Chile (and South America)'s season started as we were publishing last week's report with Valle Nevado opening a week earlier than planned last Friday, June 13th. It timed it to coincide with a major snowstorm hitting the Andes, which saw many areas get over a metre of snowfall by Monday. Resorts further south like Nevados de Chillan did particularly well, reporting 1.2m in a little over 36 hours; it's opening this Friday. Valle Nevado's neighbours in the Tres Valles (3 Valleys of The Andes - linked ski areas near the capital Santiago), La Parva and Corralco are now open. The famous resort of Portillo plans to start its season as planned this Saturday, June 21st. It's been sunnier but stayed very cold – as low as -15C – in the days since the snowstorm. Lesotho After the drama of the snowfall and closed access roads at the start of last week, it appears things have settled down in Lesotho with a return to predominantly dry weather. Overnight lows have continued to dip well below freezing allowing snowmaking to continue and it's believed a run several hundred metres long is currently available. More sunshine is forecast with overnight lows down as far as -8C. Northern Hemisphere The Alps There are still five glaciers open in the Alps this week. A sixth is due to open this coming weekend, with Tignes due to be the third French resort to open for summer skiing, joining Les 2 Alpes (which hasn't actually closed since it opened last autumn) and Val d'Isere. You can also ski at Austria's Hintertux, Passo Stelvio in Italy and on the slopes of Matterhorn Glacier Paradise above Cervinia and Zermatt. Hintertux reports the deepest snowpack remaining at 2.5m and the most terrain open, about 27km of slopes. It's been a mostly sunny week, the freezing point up between around 3,000m and 4,000m. There was a front move-through on Sunday/Monday which brought a few centimetres of snow up high, but rain to most levels. Afternoon highs have been hitting +10C at 3,000m altitudes. There's more sunshine forecast. Scandinavia Norway's Galdhopiggen and Stryn glacier ski areas remain fully open with all runs complete, but the third area, Fonna, isn't operating its lift at present, though is reported to be open for those prepared to skin up. It's not been the best week with lots of blustery wind and rain showers at Stryn, with daytime highs around +10C but it has been close to freezing with snow showers reported overnight. Higher altitude Galdhopiggen has seen a lot more sunshine and similar temperatures. In addition, the famous Swedish Arctic Circle ski area of Riksgransen has just re-opened for four-days and three-nights of skiing during 24-hour daylight over the summer solstice, including at midnight, through to Sunday. USA Arapahoe Basin in Colorado and Mammoth Mountain in California both ended their 7-month plus 24-25 ski seasons on Sunday. The Beartooth Basin summer ski centre in Wyoming also closed its first season in two years, in its case after only three weeks, not making it to July as it had hoped. The remaining option for skiers in North America still wanting a lift up the slopes is the Palmer Snowfield at Timberline on Mt Hood in Oregon. You can also access an impressive hike-to terrain park, open to the public Fridays to Sundays, at Colorado's Copper Mountain. The weather has remained mostly full sun for another week (and that's the forecast for the coming days again too) with temperatures getting well into the teens above freezing, but overnight lows on high slopes have still been dropping down to zero Celcius, sometimes a few degrees below. |
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J2Ski Snow Report - June 12th 2025
Started by Admin in Snow Forecasts and Snow Reports, discussing Les Deux Alpes and Val d'Isère |
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It's been quite the opening week for Hotham, and other Australian resorts... The 2025 southern hemisphere ski season is off to a strong start, with Australia blessed by a big snowstorm. Skiing has also begun in New Zealand, Lesotho, and soon South America, while Val d'Isère opens briefly for summer and the last U.S. resorts wrap up this weekend. The Snow Headlines - June 12th - Sensational start to Australian season as biggest snowstorm for three years arrives on cue. - Val d'Isere opens for short 2025 summer ski season. - New Zealand's 2025 starts early at one area after big snowfall. - Final weekend of season coming up in California and Colorado, last resorts closing Sunday. - Skiing and riding now possible in Lesotho as Afriski opens run a week after season start. - Ski season in South America starts Friday. 
There is snow forecast for Australia and rather a lot for Argentina and Chile!
World Overview The southern hemisphere's 2025 season proper got underway at the weekend with most Australian areas open after (and during) substantial snowfall (over half a metre in places). The first small area opened in New Zealand too and Lesotho's Afriski which opened on June 1st said it now has a short snow run available. The early start of New Zealand was thanks to an equally welcome big weekend snowfall, and the first of the major centres will be opening for 2025 this weekend. It haw not been such a promising picture to date in the Andes with ski areas in Argentina and Chile delaying opening or saying they're opening this coming weekend but with no runs open yet. Things may change quickly though with big snowfalls currently underway and one resort just announced at short notice it plans to open on Friday. In the Northern Hemisphere, it's one out, one in, in Europe with the Molltal glacier ending its long 24-25 season and Val d'Isere re-opening for its short summer ski run. There are six other glacier areas open, four in the Alps, and two in Norway. Five centres are open in the US with Copper's summer hike-to terrain park opening last weekend, but two are due to close for 24-25 this Sunday. You can also still ski on Japan's Gassan Glacier. Southern Hemisphere Australia Australia's season got off to an almost perfect start at the weekend as possibly the biggest snowstorm in three years hit the country with ideal timing thanks to a Polar blast from the south. The country's ski areas had been struggling to open much terrain for opening day on Saturday as the run-up to the season had been often warm and dry with limited snowmaking opportunities, but by Sunday resorts were posting pictures of deep powder descents. Ski areas posted 20-30cm accumulations daily for three days before the storm began to peter out and sunnier, drier conditions followed. Perisher, Corin Forest, Mt Hotham, Mt Buller and Thredbo were among the resorts opening on Saturday with Falls Creek following on Sunday. The sunshine has now returned but it's much cooler than it was on Australian slopes with temperatures still low enough for overnight snowmaking. Resorts have been opening more terrain ahead of the coming weekend and there's now more snowfall forecast. New Zealand New Zealand's season got underway on Saturday with Manganui Ski Area, a club field operated by the Stratford Mountain Club, first to open after more than 50cm of snowfall. It opened Sunday too but had to close on Monday as warmer weather brought rain, unfortunately. The main commercial centres including Cardrona, Coronet Peak, Mount Hutt and The Remarkables are due to open from this Friday or Saturday. There were big snowfalls across the South Island on Friday/Saturday with Mt Hutt reporting up to a metre there. Since then, it has been mostly dry, other than some lighter midweek showers, with temperatures ranging from -0C to +6, but snowfall has returned now. Argentina Several ski centres in Argentina have announced they've started their winter seasons, but they're also stressing they can't offer any skiing yet – it has been too warm and dry. Leading resorts Catedral near Bariloche and Las Lenas to the south are among them. The dry, often warm weather has continued for the past week, but there are now signs of a switch to more wintery conditions over the next seven days with potentially some big falls early next week if forecasting models prove correct. Chile It had been a largely dry, sunny and often warm week in Chile although cold enough at night for snowmaking to operate where facilities exist. So far nowhere has opened yet but Valle Nevado announced late on Wednesday that it will make a limited early opening from Friday, the first for 2025 in the Andes. There's always a chance somewhere else might join them. That chance appears to have increased with a change in the weather just starting to happen and forecast to continue for the coming week – a switch to more wintery conditions with some significant snowfall expected. Lesotho Lesotho's Afriski area has had another week of largely dry, sunny weather with warm afternoons. Despite announcing its winter season had started on 1st June the resort was coy about detailing what skiing was open, but by last weekend was publishing video that appeared to show a small snow area available to ski, created by snowmakers. There was some snowfall on Monday/Tuesday leading the resort to recommend no one attempted to visit until roads were made safe and the pass from south Africa remained closed on Wednesday. Since then the weather has returned to predominantly sunny for the rest of this week, with temperatures in the -5 to +5C range. Northern Hemisphere The Alps It's been a largely warm and sunny week in the Alps, the temperatures ranging from 0C to +10C on glaciers, the freezing point up at 3500-4500m. It's looking similar through the rest of the week and the weekend. Val d'Isere has opened for summer skiing, joining Les 2 Alpes for a second French option; both are open up to the first week of July. Austria is down to one area open, Hintertux, after Molltal ended its season last Saturday, a day earlier the planned due to weather conditions. Hintertux is posting the most terrain still open in Europe, still around 25km of slopes available. You can also still at Italy's Passo Stelvio and above Zermatt at the Glacier Matterhorn Paradise, Europe's highest slopes, also accessible from Cervinia on the Italian side. About 10 miles of runs are open there. Scandinavia The Stryn and Galdhopiggen glaciers remain open but temperatures have been climbing quite high in the afternoons, above 15C at Stryn. It's been a largely sunny week although both centres saw a few centimetres of snowfall on Tuesday morning. Stryn has been operating weekend cat skiing on top of its lift-served operation. The Fonna Glacier remains closed due to ownership issues. It plans to offer some cat skiing later this month, according to reports, but won't run its lift this season. USA There are five ski areas still open in the US but barring any last-minute changes, this weekend is the final one (after seven-and-a-half-months of operations each) for Mammoth Mountain in California and Arapahoe Basin in Colorado. Mammoth's base makes it seem like it could go on a little longer if it wants to but it's getting thinner at Arapahoe Basin and they're stressing this one is definitely the last there. The summer hike-to terrain park at their neighbour Copper Mountain is still operating though, as is North America's only summer ski area at Beartooth Basin in Wyoming. Oregon's Timberline is usually the last still open, into August, but its base depth has been dropping very fast, more than three feet in a week from the 10 feet it had lying at the start of the month so it remains to be seen if the current mostly very warm and sunny weather in the west influences that. As it is conditions are obviously best in the mornings when temperatures are close to freezing, but things do deteriorate pretty fast as the day rapidly warms up. Any cloud cover to help keep things cooler helps! There just hasn't been much recently and not much forecast either. |
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J2Ski Snow Report - June 5th 2025
Started by Admin in Snow Forecasts and Snow Reports, discussing Breuil-Cervinia and Les Deux A... |
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Zermatt and Cervinia's Plateau Rosa (Switzerland and Italy) earlier today... Ski season about to start in Australia, with snow in the forecast. A handful of summer options in the Alps, and a few in America. The Snow Headlines - June 5th - Australia's 2025 ski season starts this weekend. - Val d'Isere is opening for summer ski season, joining Les 2 Alpes. - Japan's Gassan Glacier only ski area still open there, base thawed to 3.3m (11 feet). - Colorado's A basin adds another weekend but says it will be the last of the season. - Molltal Glacier ends long 24-25 season, only Hintertux still open in Austria next week. 
There is snow forecast for Australia.
World Overview If we measure the seasons on the meteorological scale, winter arrived on Sunday in the southern hemisphere and summer in the northern. By astronomical measures, though, it's still autumn/spring for another fortnight or so. Whichever you prefer, we can all agree it hasn't been a very snowy week anywhere... but there is snow forecast for Australia this weekend. It has been close to freezing, or below, overnight at the southern hemisphere centres that aim to open for their 2025 seasons imminently, and up high on European glaciers and selected Japanese and US centres that are among the dozen or so where we're still skiing in the northern hemisphere. That's been cold enough for snow-making in the southern hemisphere and for freeze-thaw summer ski conditions in the northern. The main action this coming week is the official start of Australia's ski season with possible areas opening in Chile and Lesotho too. In the northern, more summer ski glacier areas have been opening for their 2025 seasons in the Alps. Southern Hemisphere Australia Australia's ski season begins this weekend, the first of the main four southern hemisphere ski nations to see most of its resorts open, although it seems not all will have ski runs available initially. This weekend is a long one in Australia, with the King's Birthday public holiday on Monday the 9th in most Aussie states, including the two main ski states of New South Wales and Victoria. It's not yet clear quite how much terrain will open from Saturday, although there is a useful amount of snowfall now in the forecast for the weekend and into next week. Mount Buller has been making much of its five Snow-factory TechnoAlpin all-weather snowmakers having produced a big pile of snow to spread out on their main run. Thredbo has also confirmed they'll have at least on run open on Saturday. However, Falls Creek, Mount Hotham and perisher all say it's a close call, with the chance of some terrain opening but with 48 hours to go, unsure if they definitely will have. The only major areas not opening this weekend are at Charlotte Pass and Selwyn Resort. Perisher reported a beautiful sunrise on Thursday with their teams preparing the finishing touches to the resort before opening day this Saturday. Temperatures dipped to -6C overnight with 103 snow guns firing up, as well. Conditions are set to turn much more wintery from Saturday with colder temperatures and significant snowfall expected at the weekend continuing into next week, so it could be a snowy season start. New Zealand New Zealand's season proper was always scheduled to start the weekend after next, and Mount Hutt's tentative early-opening plan has now rolled back to the weekend of the 14th, when several other areas also plan to open. It's actually looking like this will be a wintery weekend with some decent snowfalls but temperatures are set to warm again next week with tropical airflows coming down from the north. Argentina Argentina's ski season is not expected to start for another week or so, with the continent's largest area, Catedral, likely to be amongst the first to open in the middle of the month. Much of the past week has been dry and sunny, but many mountainous regions benefitted from a front moving through on Tuesday-Wednesday which brought 20-40cm snowfall accumulations, further improving bases ahead of the season start, which for most areas will be around the 21st of the month. We're back to sunshine for most areas this weekend but temperatures remain low and more snowfall is forecast next week. Chile It's been a largely sunny week in Chile, with temperatures cold enough for snowmaking overnight (-5/-6C), but getting up to +7 or +8 in the daytime, so not ideal for base building. Several centres including La Parva, Corralco and El Colorado often do open at the start of June so there's a chance one will this weekend, but none have announced an intention to do so as yet. There's currently little change in the forecast with sunny skies and similar temperatures continuing into next week. Lesotho Lesotho's season is officially underway but there's been no confirmation as yet that any ski slopes have opened. Webcams are currently offline (blamed on a power surge) and the resort has stopped publishing snow conditions itself on its site, so it's a case of waiting for social media evidence that people are skiing again, of which there has been little sign. Northern Hemisphere The Alps We're briefly up to six ski areas open in the Alps this weekend with Val d'Isere opening for the start of its brief 2025 summer ski season (through to the start of July) whilst Austria's Molltal glacier completes its seven-month run from last October, closing the few hundred metres of slope it still has open this Sunday. That leaves just the Hintertux glacier still open in Austria whilst the French count is back up to two with Les 2 Alpes still operating its glacier ski area. Italy's Passo Stelvio opened for its 2025 season in glorious sunshine last weekend, reporting the snow lying six feet (1.8m) deep up top. You can also take ski lifts up from Cervinia still to ski the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise area shared with Switzerland's Zermatt, the only centre currently open there and still posting 35km of slopes open across the border, probably the most in the world at present, certainly in Europe. The weather has continued to be a mix of prolonged sunny periods and occasional showers. The freezing point has been up to 3,000m, sometimes 3,500m, meaning it's been rain to ever higher altitudes although most glaciers have also reported light to moderate snowfalls, typically 10-15cm, mostly in the late afternoons and/or overnight. Scandinavia Two Norwegian glacier areas, Stryn and Galdhopiggen, are currently open. Both have been reporting overnight lows down at freezing and some snow showers. Daytime highs have been around +5C at Galdhopiggen, but warmer at lower-lying Stryn. The new operators of the country's third summer glacier area Fonna have confirmed their drag lift won't operate this year, but they are offering catskiing sessions later this month. USA After half a dozen US ski areas closed last week we can now count the number of still open areas on one hand. Arapahoe Basin in Colorado has, as usual, been open the longest, its season is now more than seven months old. It has announced it will open this weekend and next, but that it will end its season on the 15th. Its snow depth is down to about a metre on the upper mountain. It's probably a similar story at California's Mammoth Mountain, with Oregon's Timberline normally the longest to stay open and currently posting the continent's deepest snowpack at just under 3 metres. Besides these three that have been open since 2024, Wyoming's Beartooth Basin summer ski area opened last week for its first operation in two years and there's also a hike-to terrain park open at weekends at Copper Mountain in Colorado. Most of these are open daily but A-Basin has now dropped to Friday-Sunday opening and that's when Copper's terrain park is open to the public too (it is for private use by attendees of its summer snow camps during the week). The past week has been mostly sunny across these five areas, with temperatures on the highest slopes close to freezing at night but afternoons seeing highs of +15 to +20C, so plenty of thawing and as A-Basin put it; "slushy snow". That's pretty much the forecast for the week ahead too. |
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J2Ski's Where to Ski in June 2025
Started by Admin in Snow Forecasts and Snow Reports, discussing Les Deux Alpes and Tignes |
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June marks the start of the 2025 ski season in the southern hemisphere, with most resorts in Australia, New Zealand, and the Andes expected to open by late month. By the end of June, nearly 100 resorts across six continents should be open.
Arapahoe Basin, Colorado, USA will be open for the first couple of weekends in June, and maybe beyond. Where to Ski in June 2025 June sees the southern hemisphere's 2025 season get underway after mixed signs in May. Most ski areas in Australia, New Zealand, the Andes, and Southern Africa's Lesotho will be open by the end of the month, with the majority starting their seasons in the third or fourth week of June. In the northern hemisphere, about 20 ski areas are operating in Europe, Asia and North America, most of them still going from last autumn. However, we're also now seeing the first resorts re-opening for summer skiing along with a few 'summer only' operations getting underway in Italy, Norway and Wyoming. Altogether we should go from around 20 ski areas on three continents open as we start the month to nearer 100 ski areas open on six continents (something that only happens for about four weeks of the year) by the end of June. Australasia / Oceania Australia Australia's ski season is due to begin on 7th June with the traditional start tied to a long holiday weekend to celebrate King Charles III's birthday (the holiday is Monday 9th although his birthday isn't). Most ski areas in the country will open then, regardless of snow conditions. The two that are guaranteed snow are Mount Buller, with five SnowFactory all-weather snowmaking machines and Corin Forest, with a new machine for this winter. Elsewhere, the latter half of May has seen some light snowfalls and overnight lows that have enabled snowmaking systems to fire up, so anticipation levels are high! New Zealand New Zealand's 2025 winter season has started early, thanks to some big autumn snowfalls, particularly in the first half of May. Mount Hutt should be open for the weekend of the 7th June, and then open every day from 14th (snow permittig). Most of the rest of the country's ski areas plan to open as scheduled from mid-June, although a few, including Whakapapa on the North Island, have all-weather snowmaking machines and are opening limited early terrain from the start of the month for snow play and beginners. South America Argentina Argentina's ski season is likely to start in the middle of June with the Catedral ski area near Bariloche, South America's largest, due to start its season on the 14th, and most of the rest of the country's ski areas expected to join in a week later. There have been some promising early snowfalls this year but nothing like those huge accumulations of 2024, so currently early opening is looking less likely. But things can change quickly. Chile Chile saw some good snowfalls in the latter half of May with Portillo among the areas posting accumulations of up to 40cm in 24 hours. However, like Argentina, these did not match the falls of many metres in May 2024 that saw most Chillean areas open early, by the start of June, last year. At present, most ski areas should open by the third weekend of the month, around the 20th. Africa Lesotho Lesotho Afriski Centre has a season that officially runs from June 1st to august 31st. It rarely opens on June 1st however, last year it was about a week in. Temperatures have been getting below freezing overnight in the final days of May, and there were a few brief snow coverings last month. Snowmaking is required to create the main run here in. Europe The Alps We had dropped down to four glacier ski areas still open in the Alps as we reached the final weekend of May, but a fifth, Italy's Stelvio Glacier, opened for its long 2025 summer season (to 2nd November) on the final day of the month. Two more summer glacier ski areas, this time in France, Val d'Isere and Tignes, are due to start their short (4-5 week) summer ski seasons on the 7th and 21st of June respectively. The only currently open area due to close this month is Austria's Molltal Glacier in Carinthia, due to close on the 8th, which means we should end the month with more centres open (6) than we start (5)! That's all weather permitting, of course; snow depths are currently 'moderate' on glaciers for early June and there have been snowfalls and temperatures close to freezing above 2500m for prolonged periods in late May, so it's really down to how fast things warm up and how hot it gets at altitude. Besides those already mentioned above, currently open are high slopes in the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise above Zermatt and Cervinia in Switzerland/Italy, glacier terrain at Les 2 Alpes in France and the Hintertux glacier in Austria. Scandinavia We start June with two ski areas open in Scandinavia, the Galdhopiggen Glacier, with the region's highest lifts, and the Stryn Glacier, both in Norway. Both will hopefully stay open through June, but their bases aren't huge and Stryn has closed after less than a month of operations in recent years, so that's not a certainty. A third centre, the Fonna glacier, had been expected to be open too but its former operator was declared bankrupt last autumn and - although a new owner has been found and a delayed season start date of June 19th announced under the new owners - more recent posts from the centre have cast doubt on whether that will happen or not. Between these two, or three, Sweden's Riksgransen plans its annual midsummer reopening with 24-hour daylight and skiing at midnight, this year from June 19-22 inclusive. North America USA Five US ski areas have made it into June, although one, the Arizona Snowbowl, just to June 1st, as the centre marks the longest season in its 80+ year history, operating more than 180 days over the past seven months. Staying open longer into the month are Mammoth Mountain in California and Colorado's Arapahoe Basin, which have both extended their seasons into June, though it's not yet clear for how long. After they close, Timberline in Oregon will likely be the only place in the US staying open through to July, although Beartooth Basin summer ski area on the Montana/Wyoming border may also make it. Asia Japan Japan's only summer ski centre, the Gassan Glacier, remains open and should continue to be so through June. Starting its season with an 8m base in mid-April, that depth has already halved under sunny skies, but higher slopes at least usually survive into July here and the centre is currently on track to keep operating through. |
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J2Ski Snow Report - May 29th 2025
Started by Admin in Snow Forecasts and Snow Reports, discussing Les Deux Alpes and Mammoth Mou... |
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The glacier at Hintertux, Austria, open for a summertime fix. The southern hemisphere's ski season starts this coming Saturday, whilst a handful of ski areas remain open into the northern summer. The Snow Headlines - May 29th - North America's only remaining summer ski area is open for first time in two years. - New Zealand (and southern hemisphere) 2025 ski season starts Saturday. - A second Norwegian glacier area opens for the 2025 summer. - Half the still-open US areas closed after Memorial Day Monday, but five continue into June. - New Zealand's Mount Hutt abandons plans to start season early. - The only remaining 'summer only' ski area in the Alps, Italy's Passo Stelvio, opens Saturday. Check the latest Snow Forecasts here.
World Overview The expected early start of the southern hemisphere's 2025 ski season has fallen back towards the scheduled date (a week or two into June) as Mt Hutt will not now start its season a fortnight early this Saturday. Much of the metre or so of snow from the start of the month, which led to the early-opening announcement, has subsequently melted away. This led to a delay until at least June 7th, the date when Australian and some Chilean areas, and probably southern Africa's Afriski area in Lesotho, are expected to open anyway. Meanwhile, select areas remain open in the northern hemisphere with a couple of summer-only areas starting their 2025 seasons this week. The number open in the Alps is actually up, by one, this week compared to last, but in North America, the number has halved after six of the areas open last week ended their seasons at the end of Monday's Memorial Day holiday. Including Japan's Gassan summer ski area, there are still around 15 ski centres open across three continents in the northern hemisphere. Europe Alps The number of ski areas in the Alps is actually starting to grow again, with the first summer ski areas opening in 2025. First up, Italy's Passo Stelvio opens this weekend, due to be followed by a re-opening Val d'Isere the one after, only five weeks after its winter season ended. A handful of runs will be open on the Pisaillas glacier, which is one of the high areas that has been reporting some fresh snowfall this week. Conditions have been unsettled across the high Alps, with strong winds and low cloud/fog also part of the mix at times. Four more ski areas remain open, although the Molltal glacier in Austria's Carinthia is approaching their final week next week and has cut open terrain to just one run and a freestyle park whilst concentrating on stockpiling snow elsewhere ready for next autumn. You can also still ski at Les Deux Alpes in France, on the glacier, and at the year-round Hintertux and Zermatt/Cervinia Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. The forecast is fairly settled, with drier and warmer conditions to end the week. Scandinavia With Riksgransen, the last Swedish area that had been open, ending its season at the weekend, seven days after the last Finnish area open ended theirs, we are down to two Norwegian summer glaciers operating, each with a few kilometres of slopes. There's Stryn and the region's highest, Galdhopiggen. Unfortunately, a third, Fonna, continues to face issues with its operations after being rescued from bankruptcy last autumn, and it is unclear when it will open. Galdhopiggen posted cold temperatures and snowfall for much of the past week but it's drier and sunnier now. Stryn has gone the other way from dry to more unsettled into the weekend. North America We were still in double figures for open US ski areas at the start of this week, but the Memorial Day Holiday on Monday finally ended the long 2024-25 seasons of half of those, including California's The Palisades, Oregon's Mt Bachelor, Crystal Mountain in Washington State and Snowbird and Solitude in Utah. Five centres are still going, despite daytime highs now getting into the high teens/low 20s on lower slopes – the remaining slopes still open are up high and still getting down to freezing at night. They are at California's Mammoth Mountain, Timberline in Oregon and Colorado's Arapahoe Basin. The Beartooth Basin summer ski area in Wyoming has also just opened, two days later than planned after it was deemed an extra bit of staff training was required. That's its first operation in two years but the real surprise package is the Arizona Snowbowl planning to re-open this coming weekend for its first-ever June operation on Sunday. The forecast, pretty much everywhere, continues to be for plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures. Southern Hemisphere Australia We're just over a week away from the start of the 2025 season for most Aussie ski areas, targeting the King's birthday long weekend from 7-9 June. Most of the country's resorts will open whether or not there's snow cover, and currently, it's unclear if there'll be much. The past week has seen temperatures low enough overnight for snowmaking, with some very light snow flurries reported, and that's the forecast for the week ahead too. Perisher posted 5cm of snowfall on Tuesday. "It was a wild night in the mountains last night and with it brought natural snow, which has us really excited for the upcoming season," says Madeleine McVie, Perisher's Field Marketing Coordinator. "It's also so good to see our brand new Mt Perisher 6 high-speed six-seater chairlift covered in snow for the first time.". The week ahead looks similar to the past few – mostly dry, sunny and cold overnight. New Zealand As mentioned in our introduction Mount Hutt has abandoned its plan to open this Saturday after warmer weather than they'd like in recent weeks although ironically it's looking colder and snowier there and across the country for the final few days of this week. New Zealand's season will kind of start with Whakapapa on the North Island opening its Happy Valley snow play and beginners area, maintained by all-weather snowmaking machines, this weekend. Mount Hutt now hopes to open from the 7th, if not it's back to the original opening date of the 14th when other ski areas including The Remarkables are also scheduled to open. Argentina Argentinian ski areas saw more snowfalls this week with the world's most southerly resort, Cerro Castor, posting one of the biggest accumulations down near Tierra del Fuego. It's still three weeks until the expected start of the Argentinian ski season, unless anywhere goes early, so its really just a case of hoping for more of the same. The week ahead though looks largely dry, but temperatures should stay low in the mountains. Chile Chile's ski season is expected to start in several areas the weekend after next. The signs are largely promising, if not overwhelmingly good, with Portillo among areas posting 5-20cm accumulations from the latest snowstorms at the start of the week. So most areas now have a good covering, but not a deep one. The week ahead looks mostly sunny but with some overnight lows down towards -10C and daytime highs in the mountains not much above +5C. Lesotho Lesotho's ski season officially runs from June 1st to August 31st so its season may start this Sunday. It has however been a dry and sunny week (and that's the forecast for the coming week too), so not ideal for snowmaking with daytime highs towards +8C - although overnight lows look to be about cold enough to make some snow. Afriski no longer publishes snow reports or publish webcam images so it's hard to know exactly how close to opening a run they are. |
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J2Ski Snow Report - May 22nd 2025
Started by Admin in Snow Forecasts and Snow Reports, discussing Les Deux Alpes and Mammoth Mou... |
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Mount Hutt, New Zealand, ready to open (early) next weekend The northern hemisphere's season continues to wind down whilst in the southern hemisphere excitement continues to build as more pre-season snowfalls, heaviest this week in the Andes, are recorded. The Snow Headlines - May 22nd - First pre-season snowfalls of autumn reported in Australia. - Most of the dozen or so US areas still open will close after Monday's Memorial Day. - Norway's Fonna Glacier summer ski area delays opening due to ownership issues. - Beartooth Basin, only US summer ski area, aiming to open next week for first time in 2 years. - More than 40cm of pre-season snowfall reported in the Andes. Check the latest Snow Forecasts here.
World Overview Snow sports are winding down in the northern hemisphere, with most US and European ski areas closing by Memorial Day, leaving around 20 ski centres open globally. Meanwhile, excitement is building in the southern hemisphere with early-season snowfalls, including over 40cm in the Andes and the first snows of autumn in Australia. There are just over 10 centres open in North America; all in USA as the last three Canadian centres ended their 24-25 seasons on Monday. With more glaciers in the Alps also ending their seasons, and the last centre in Finland closing, there are even fewer ski areas still open in Europe. So, with one area open in Japan, the worldwide total is about 20, with around half the still-open US areas planning their last day for 24-25 on the Memorial Day holiday on Monday. The last area open in Sweden, Riksgransen, is also approaching its final weekend (if we exclude its planned brief midsummer re-opening in June). Next weekend though, the first resorts are set to open for the 2025 southern hemisphere season, with New Zealand's Mount Hutt currently in pole position, targeting Saturday 31st May, a fortnight ahead of its previously planned date thanks to big snowfalls in the first half of this month (and more snow this week). Australian centres posted a few centimetres of snowfall last weekend along with low enough temperatures for snowmaking, greatly raising anticipation ahead of the planned June 9th season start there. Ski areas in the Andes have posted the largest snowfalls, up to 41cm in 24 hours, of the last seven days. Among generally 'springlike conditions', there's also been fresh snowfall reported in the Rockies, high glacier slopes in the Alps and northerly latitude ski areas in Scandinavia over the last seven days. Europe Alps With the Kaunertal and Kitzsteinhorn glaciers closing last weekend, we are down to four ski areas still open in the Alps. Austria has the Hintertux and Molltal glaciers, there's the Cervinia-Zermatt high-altitude cross-border area below the Matterhorn and Les 2 Alpes is the only centre still open in France. That's now set to be the situation for the next few weeks with no centres expected to close or summer ski areas open now until June. Hintertux and Zermatt/Cervinia have the most terrain still open, both around 30km. There's been a lot of sunshine over the past week, with the freezing point up at 2,000-3,000m. However, some snow showers have been reported up high, mostly 5-10cm accumulations giving the slopes a nice refresh. Italy's Passo Stelvio has announced it plans to start its 2025 season on 31st May. Scandinavia It's all change in Scandinavia this week. The last ski centre still open in Finland, Levi, ended its long season on Sunday and the last open in Sweden, northerly Riksgransen, plans to end theirs this coming Sunday - after seeing temperatures drop and snowfall returns this week. So that leaves Norway, where the Galdhopiggen glacier has opened, the region's highest area and the Stryn glacier which has been running weekend cat skiing but plans to start its lifts up this coming weekend. The country's third area, Fonna, which often posts the biggest snow depths in the world each year, sadly hasn't opened yet due to management issues. They're hoping things will be going by June. It's been around freezing, and down to -5C, with snow showers at Galdhopiggen and it's expected to stay cold but with sunshine returning through the weekend. North America Canada's ski season ended earlier this week with Whistler's Blackcomb, Sunshine near Banff and Summet-Saint-Sauveur in Quebec all having their final ski days of 24-25, with fresh snow and sunshine. So, it's just US ski areas open now, about a dozen of them for the upcoming Memorial Day Holiday long weekend, but just a handful continuing for the final few days of May after next Monday. Conditions are of course very 'springlike' with some seeing daytime highs up in the high teens but at areas still open, on their upper slopes where skiing continues, it's still just about getting down to freezing overnight most nights. The Rockies are also continuing to see fresh snow showers. Opening this weekend for their final few days of the season are The Palisades in California, Mount Bachelor in Oregon, Snowbird and Solitude in Utah and Crystal Mountain in Washington State. Opening into June (and after Tuesday next week, though some only at weekends) are the Arizona Snowbowl, Mammoth Mountain in California, Colorado's Arapahoe Basin and Timberline in Oregon. In addition the Beartooth Basin summer ski area is currently planning to open for its 2025 season from this weekend, it's first operations for two years, all being well. Southern Hemisphere Australia It's been a pretty good week for Australia's ski areas which are aiming to start their 2025 seasons in a fortnight. Temperatures have been dropping below freezing overnight to enable snowmaking systems to fire up and there's been some light snowfall. "We had 50 snow guns firing overnight and there's a couple of good snowmaking nights coming up," said Michael Fearnside, Perisher's Operations Director. "It's good to see a change in the weather – it's starting to look and feel like winter now and we will make and stockpile snow at every opportunity." New Zealand There was fresh snowfall in New Zealand to start the week with accumulations of up to 15cm (6") reported, but it has been largely dry, sunny and warmer since. That's the forecast into the weekend too, but things should turn more unsettled from Sunday with rain, sleet and snow showers expected to start next week. Mount Hutt aims to open on the final Saturday of the month, a fortnight earlier than originally planned and its earliest opening for a decade, thanks to big snowfalls in the first half of May. Argentina Argentina has seen more snowfall this week with Cerro Castor in the far south posting a 15cm accumulation and there were typically 5-10cm falls further north. Argentinian ski areas are expected to open from the latter half of next month so there's still some way to go until the first (probably Bariloche's Catedral) starts its 2025 season. There have not yet been the big snowfalls leading to the early openings we saw last May. It's been dry over the past few days and that will continue for most areas through the weekend. However, it's looking more unsettled with snowfall due to return from early next week. Chile It's been a promising week in the Chilean Andes with snow showers reported moving up from the south since the weekend. Southerly centres Nevados de Chillan and Antillanca posted the most initially with rain further north but by Tuesday Portillo was posting a 41cm accumulation. As with Argentina, Chilean ski centres were opening early at this point last season after some huge snowfalls, things are looking fairly promising but it currently looks unlikely anywhere will open before the scheduled dates from mid-June. Lesotho A midweek front did see temperatures drop dramatically, as low as -10C in fact, for Lesotho's Afriski, where the 2025 season is expected to start. It has been seeing predominantly sunny weather, as usual, with temperatures in the +8 to -4C range, and that's set to continue through the weekend. |
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