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J2Ski Snow Report 17th October 2019
The view from Kitzsteinhorn this morning... A little more snow, and a few more ski areas opening... The Snow Headlines - 17th October - French 19-20 ski season due to start on Saturday at Tignes. - North America's 2019-20 ski season gets underway as several resorts open in Colorado. - Second area opens for the 19-20 season in Finland. - New Zealand area announces season continuing into November. - Kitzbuhel due to open this weekend; first non-glacier resort in the Alps to do so for 19-20. - Sweden's 2019-20 season starts Friday. Momentum continues to build ahead of the main 2019-20 ski season with some significant snowfalls in both the Alps and the Rockies over the past week, and ongoing snow-making at an increasing number of areas. Several more resorts are taking the wraps off snow 'farmed' and stored from last season in order to open early, now it's getting cooler too. We're now up to 16 areas open in Europe with Engelberg, Kaprun and Levi opening last weekend. The number of ski areas open in Europe is due to grow past 20 this weekend as more areas including Tignes, the first in France to open for 2019-20, and Idre Fjall, the first in Sweden, are due to open, along with Kitzbuhel, the first in the Alps without a glacier (thanks to snow farming) to do so. Many of the already-open areas (and indeed those yet to open) have seen heavy snowfall up high over the past 48 hours, with snowfall also reported across the Pyrenees. A sizeable snowfall in Western North America at the end of last week led to two Colorado areas, Arapahoe Basin and Keystone, kicking off the 2019-20 ski season there. South of the equator, just as we thought we were witnessing the end of winter 2019, with the remaining areas open in Australia and South America closing at the weekend, one resort in new Zealand has announced plans to stay open into November – the last month of springtime there. In the Alpine Forecast 
Snow for the USA this week...
EUROPEAN ALPS Austria Austria continues to dominate the northern hemisphere with eight glacier areas open now, with the Kitzsteinhorn the latest to do so last weekend. That's half of the European total, and with most now closed in the southern hemisphere and only two open in North America it's nearly two-fifths of the world total too! Generally, the picture is good with more areas open and the centres that are open increasingly opening more terrain, with fresh snowfall on Tuesday boosting cover. It's not 100% good news yet though as whilst the Stubai has been keen to stress conditions are great and the snow is good they've had to confess there's not enough of it lying around for them to stage their planned big terrain park opening this weekend. Kitzbuhel will be the first non-glacier resort in the Alps to open for 19-20 this weekend. The famous resort has opened several high slopes in mid-October for the past three seasons using 'snow farming'. Kitzbuhel aims to open for 200 days each season through to the following May and its opening weekend is normally a big event attracting thousands of skiers and strong media interest. France The French ski season is set to launch on Saturday, three weeks later than originally planned, with Tignes announcing the opening of the Grande Motte glacier. The resort's management says that although they've had some snow, there's not been a lot so the area open will be limited and only good skiers allowed on, with conditions closely monitored for safety. It's the second year in a row that Tignes, which formerly was open 365 days a year and more recently tried to open for at least a few days in every month of the year, has had to postpone opening and last year access to the slopes was strictly limited when they initially opened. Les 2 Alpes is due to open for 9 days from the 26th, for a pre-season preview week, but that glacier opening has not yet been confirmed. Italy Italy's slopes got a good dump on Tuesday too and many of the country's not-yet-open ski areas happily posted images and video of heavy snowfall turning their upper slopes very wintry indeed. However, so far just the two glacier areas remain open, Passo Stelvio, which is now entering the final fortnight of its unusual six-month mid-spring to mid-autumn annual opening, and Val Senales, which is into the second month of its eight month season. They're due to be joined the weekend after next by Cervinia (One of those posting images of heavy snowfall on Tuesday) at about the time Stelvio closes for the season. Switzerland Austria may be way ahead in terms of areas open but Switzerland saw its third area, the Titlis glacier above Engelberg, open last weekend and has several more resorts ready to open over the final weekends of October, with the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz up next, this weekend. Laax should follow the weekend after. Currently, the three open areas have 6-16km of terrain open each, along with terrain parks. High Swiss slopes have seen very heavy snowfall over the past few days really transforming conditions to something quite wintery. Engelberg, which had previously delayed its planned opening from the 5th to 12th October whilst waiting snowfall got off to a good start with 30cm of fresh snow on its glacier falling in 24 hours midweek. Engelberg often ends up with one of the deepest bases in the world by late winter so this is a good start. Scandinavia Finland's largest ski area, Levi, has opened for its nearly eight-month 2019-20 season at the weekend by using snow stored from spring and then spread back out on the slopes this week as temperatures cool. The snow has been laid as a ribbon down Levi's wide main slope, and temperatures, fortunately, dropped below freezing too with a heavy frost, so there wasn't any thawing. Levi joins fellow Lapland ski area Ruka which was the first 'non-glacier' resort in the northern hemisphere to open for the 19-20 ski season a fortnight ago. The Galdhopiggen glacier ski area in Norway is also open this month, the last of its six-month spring-autumn season. Next up is due to be Sweden's first area to open for 2019-20, Idre Fjall, using snow farming once again, this coming weekend. Pyrenees There was more fresh snowfall in the Pyrenees on Tuesday evening and into Wednesday. For parts of the French Pyrenees, this was the first snowfall of the autumn. Nowhere is due to open in the Pyrenees until late November although last year a number of Spanish areas did open early, at the end of October, after an unusually heavy snowfall at the end of that month. Scotland Temperatures have been dipping below freezing overnight in the Scottish Highlands over the past week but that's largely because there have been clear skies and no precipitation. In past years some Scottish areas (notably The Lecht) have opened at the end of October following early snowfalls, and that remains a possibility, although this winter also marks ten years since the last big snow one in the country. Eastern Europe Colder weather has turned mountain tops white again in parts of eastern Europe but so far no areas are believed likely to open until late November or early December. North America Canada There's been more snow on higher slopes in western Canada but it has been rather warm in the east where Mont Saint Sauveur aims to open slopes in Quebec in October. The hoped-for date of the 19th has now slipped back to the 26th, so far. It's looking a little more promising for areas like Norquay and Nakiska over in Alberta which aim to open in the first few days of November, now just a fortnight away, so long as things stay wintery. USA It's been an exciting week in the US with more big autumn snowfalls – first in the northwest of the country down as far as Colorado at the end of last week and then in the Midwest. Several Colorado ski areas had already been snow-making for a week and as a result, as predicted in last week's report, there was a rush to open after the natural snowfall arrived. Keystone made the mistake of announcing on Friday lunchtime that they'd open Saturday. Arapahoe Basin then decided to open at 3.30pm on Friday afternoon in order to claim first in the US, and North America, to open. A third area that looked like it could open too, Loveland, decided not to. It still hasn't named a date but keeps posting pictures and video of nice-looking conditions so the hope is that it will open this weekend. There's speculation too that ski areas on the East Coast may begin opening this weekend although again, currently no confirmation of that. However, there is a separate battle to be the first to open here too with Killington in Vermont and Sunday River in Maine amongst those in the running. Both are known to have been snow-making however temperatures have been hitting double digits above freezing recently. But it is expected to see a brief temperature dip and possibly a little natural snow in the region at the end of this week. Southern Hemisphere The 2019 ski season is now all but over in the southern hemisphere with Perisher in Australia and Catedral in Argentina (the last major areas still open on their respective continents) closing at the end of last weekend. However Cardrona, as well as Turoa and Whakapapa on Mt Ruapehu, in New Zealand, now believed to be the only areas still open south of the equator, will be staying open a little longer. Indeed Whakapapa announced after staying open daily to the last Sunday of this month (29th) they now plan to run a drag lift on fine weather weekends through November – which is the last full month of meteorological spring in the southern hemisphere. Skiing will be free for 2019 and 2020 season pass holders. For Cardrona and Turoa this looks set to be the final week of their seasons. Until next week, thanks for reading! |
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Gressoney itself is small and quiet but it's in the valley between Alagna and Champoluc so has some fabulous skiing all around (and is well connected with modern lifts). I've had a couple of trips to Champoluc and love the whole Monterosa area (basically these three valleys and surrounding peaks); interesting and long pistes, brilliant freeride terrain (mild to wild) and all with Italian prices and hospitality... If you're looking for party central then Gressoney's not for you, but if you're going for the skiing then go! TonyH wrote an excellent write-up a few years ago (sadly now missing the photos) :- TonyH's Champoluc report And our last trip was an Easter blast :- Champoluc at Easter We're very likely to opt for Gressoney for our next trip to the area - if I'm not out-voted by the family whose main criteria will be the excellent pizza to be found in Champoluc... :lol: |
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J2Ski Snow Report 10th October 2019
Preparing the slopes at Engelberg, opening this weekend... Welcome to our first weekly Snow Report of the 2019/2020 ski season - yay! The Snow Headlines - 10th October - October starts snowy in the Alps, with up to 70cm of fresh snow reported in the first 10 days. - First non-glacier ski area opens for 2019-20 season in northern hemisphere. - Engelberg and Kaprun to open for glacier skiing this weekend; Levi too with snow farming. - Scotland sees its first dusting of snow on the tops at Cairngorm. - More ski areas open in the northern hemisphere than the southern for first time in five months. - Southern hemisphere 2019 ski season winding down, only half a dozen still open. - Tignes still awaiting better snow-cover. - US areas may open this weekend thanks to forecast early snowstorm and snow-making. This week is a genuine turning point in the annual ski calendar, the week when more ski areas are again open in the northern hemisphere than the southern. Essentially this means that winter 2019 is all but over south of the equator but that winter 2019-20 is starting to gain a hold on the 'northern' half of the planet. It is certainly feeling ever more 'wintery' in Europe and North America with snow reported to lower elevations and more ski areas opening, including the first that are not reliant on glaciers, but using 'snow farming' instead - reusing snow saved from the previous season and spread back out on the slopes now temperatures are cooler. More than a dozen areas are now open in Europe, with several more set to join them at the weekend and although there's nowhere currently open in North America it's looking promising for ski areas there to start opening soon with cold weather for snow-making and natural snow falling too. In the southern hemisphere, we are down to single figures now for the number of areas open, with most of those that are still, located in New Zealand. It currently looks like after the weekend there will be one lone survivor of winter 2019 south of the equator open next week there too. Currently, just the biggest resorts in the Andes and Australia are still open alongside the New Zealand selection. In the Alpine Forecast It's looking like a mild autumnal weekend coming up for the Alps, followed by a dip in temperatures early next week and possibly some decent snows for the northern Alps around Tuesday. 
Last Orders for New Zealand; most ski areas have now closed for the season, but did someone order snow for the last weekend? And there's snow forecast for some Swiss ski areas next week... 
EUROPEAN ALPS Austria All eight of Austria's autumn-opening glacier ski areas will be open as of the coming weekend, with the Kitzsteinhorn above Kaprun announcing they'll open this Saturday, starting with Schneehasenlift. They join the already open Dachstein, Hintertux, Kaunertal, Molltal, Pitztal, Solden and Stubai glaciers which together add up to more than half of the ski areas in the northern hemisphere that are currently open! Currently most only have a few lifts and a few kilometres of runs, plus usually a terrain park, operating but the available terrain is gradually increasing with Solden, for example, opening three more runs at the weekend. There's been fresh snow across the Austrian Alps over the past week on higher slopes, with Hintertux announcing it had a 20cm accumulation over 24 hours on Wednesday/Thursday last week. The ski day is also getting longer with year-round Hintertux announcing its lifts would switch to winter mode and run to 4pm, switching from summer mode and a 1pm closure, last weekend too. France The French ski season was due to start a fortnight ago on 28th September at Tignes, but for the second year in a row, the decision was made to delay opening as snow cover was not deep enough. It has snowed a couple of times since the decision was made but at time of writing the delay is still in place – although it could now be lifted at any time. The most recent snowfall has been earlier this week with widespread snowfalls reported down to around 1600 metres across the French Alps. More snow on Wednesday led to the overnight closure of the famous Iseran pass above Val d'Isere. The next area due to open in France is Les 2 Alpes for its traditional week-long end October/early November week of festivities and ski testing to welcome the new season and focus on its glacier. Italy Italy has had a choice of two areas open over the past month with Passo Stelvio still open since last May (although this is the final month of its summer season) and Val Senales, one of the earliest of the autumn glacier areas to open, now into the second month of its 19-20 ski season already. Both have fairly small (3-6km) areas open but both have fresh snow and good conditions. Next to open in Italy is expected to be Cervinia in a fortnight. Switzerland There have been just two areas open in Switzerland for most of the past three months, Saas Fee and Zermatt. There should be a third Swiss choice from this weekend with the Titlis glacier above Engelberg confirming on Wednesday that it will open (having delayed a week from the previously planned date last Saturday). There's been fresh snow on Swiss glaciers too, although windy conditions also led to Zermatt closing its lifts earlier in the week. Scandinavia The 19-20 season is starting to get underway in Scandinavia thanks to a combination of glacier skiing and snow farming. Ruka in Finland was the first ski area in the northern hemisphere that doesn't have a glacier to open for the season, last Friday morning at 9.30am. It uses snow farming (storing snow from the previous winter through the summer then spreading it back out on the slopes when the weather gets cooler) to open three runs. A second Finnish ski area, Levi, will use the same method to open some slopes this coming weekend. The first area to open in Sweden, Idre Fjall, plans to do so a week on Friday (18th). Meanwhile, the Galdhopiggen glacier ski area on Northern Europe's highest mountain is also open through October. It operates from spring to the end of autumn each year, although this year it had to close for seven weeks in mid-summer as it was too hot. There have been quite a few snowfalls in recent weeks in the region to and one Norwegian area, Haukelifjell Skisenter, reported the snow now 40cm deep as a result, but thinks it will probably melt again before temperatures stay consistently low, they hope, and it opens next month. Pyrenees There was a first dusting of snow on peaks in the Pyrenees (and as far south as Sierra Nevada on Spain's southern coast) in the past month but no areas are expected to open before the end of next month. Last year however a heavy snowfall in late October did result in areas opening early (including Portugal's Serra de Estrella!) so if the snow does come early for a second year that could potentially happen again. Scotland There was a dusting of snow on Cairngorm last week allowing the most determined, having hiked up, to make a few turns, and temperatures are definitely currently cooling in Scotland but the start of winter 19-20 looks to be some way off. Eastern Europe There have been some 'first snowfalls of the autumn' in northeastern Europe, with the Tatra Mountains in Poland and Slovakia getting a particularly big snowfall in late September, but currently, there are no known plans for any Eastern European areas to open until the latter half of November. North America Canada Things have been increasingly wintery in Canada with some ski areas in BC, including Apex, starting October with an unusually heavy 60cm snowfall and resorts like Panorama firing up the snow guns. However, it's unlikely anywhere (except perhaps a small area in Quebec if conditions stay cold enough for consistent snowmaking) to open until early November. The three Banff areas and Nakiska towards Calgary are usually the first four in the country to open in the first week or two of the month. USA At time of writing there's nowhere currently open in the US but it seems that the start of winter 2019-20 could be just days away as high altitude resorts in Colorado, as well as some like Killington over in the east in Vermont, have been busy snow-making over the past week. A big snowstorm is forecast to hit the west of the country, particularly the Rockies, from Thursday on, expected to bring a good fresh snow cover to the machine-made base. Arapahoe Basin, Keystone and Loveland appear to be three of the strongest contenders to open, although in past years it has been an outsider that has hopped in there first. The snowstorm will be the second big snowfall of the autumn after one just under a fortnight ago at the end of September brought up to two feet of snow to the northwest corner of the country with Montana reporting the biggest accumulations. Southern Hemisphere It's very much the end of winter 2019 in the southern hemisphere with only a small number of ski areas still operating as temperatures climb as spring takes hold south of the equator. Resorts still open until at least this coming Sunday, however, include Perisher, Australia's biggest resort; Catedral near Bariloche in Argentina, South America's largest resort by lift capacity at least; and ski areas on Mt Ruapehu in New Zealand, which together claim to be that country's largest ski resort too. For most, it has been getting warmer over the past week with any precipitation falling as rain but New Zealand has been seeing more snowfalls including a 15cm accumulation last week to freshen up the cover. Perisher also reported some light snowfall on Tuesday morning despite resort-level temperatures heading towards double figures above Celsius. Turoa on Mt Ruapehu on New Zealand's North Island looks like it will be the last area open in the southern hemisphere as of next Monday, with one more week of the season. It reports a base of more than three metres so is looking good. Until next week - thanks for reading! |
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Win Tickets to the 2019 London Ski and Snowboard Festival
Started by User in Ski Deals and Competitions, 1 Reply |
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Yes, it's that time of year again - and we've got 4 pairs of tickets to give away in one of our usual, easy-to-enter competitions.
The Telegraph Ski and Snowboard Festival returns to Battersea Park, London in just 2 weeks time and will be open from Thursday 24th to Sunday 27th October 2019. 
You can find out more here, but remember to come back here to enter the ticket competition! Each of 4 winners will get 1 Pair of tickets. Competition will close at midnight next Friday (18th October) and winners will be notified immediately and need to confirm their attendance within 24 hours please - so we can pass the tickets on to another recipient if you can't make it after all. To enter, use this link and follow the instructions :- Enter the London Ski and Snowboard Festival Ticket Competition! |
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So will the Snow Domes give you a discount if you skin up the slopes... ? |
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I don't think you'll go wrong with either TBH. I've met quite a few people who've done courses with both, and heard many good things. I know both have large numbers of loyal, repeat customers; which speaks volumes. I did a couple of Snoworks courses last December - All Terrain and Off Piste Safety - and would highly recommend either (the All Terrain sounds like it's what you're looking for). You can find a fair bit of info in a number of posts I made at the time; Snoworks All-Mountain Ski Courses - are they for me?. I'm hoping to be going back for another week this winter. Dobby, of this parish, was on one of their courses later in the winter and maybe he can chime in too? Phil Smith (Snoworks) is very active on Facebook and easy to get in touch with if you've got questions. I've not done any courses with Warren Smith (yet!) but think he (and his Academy) take a more structured, technical approach in general. They have got a series of one-day courses in the UK (Manchester and Hemel) over the next few weeks so if you're near to either of those that might be a chance to try them out? There are also a number of free video tutorials on their website to give you a feel for their approach. Warren is almost invariably at the London Ski Show / Festival and always happy to talk. Hope that's helpful for starters... but let us know what you decide and how you get on. |
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J2Ski Snow Report 1st October 2019
First snows for Big White, BC, Canada, this week... This is the last of this summer's monthly snow reports... which can only mean one thing; winter's coming! The first J2Ski Weekly Snow Report of the new season will be posted next Thursday! So get your Snow Mail preferences up to date, and please do forward this to every skier you know! The Snow Headlines - 1st October - More than a dozen glacier areas already open in the Alps. - Fresh snowfalls in the Alps in September. - Austria leads with more than half the northern hemisphere's open ski areas. - Over 4 Feet (1.2m) of snow in Montana to end September in 'unprecedented' storm. - Tignes delays autumn opening. - First non-glacier ski areas opening for the season in October thanks to snow farming. - Southern hemisphere's 2019 season into final weeks. Excitement has been building over the past few weeks in ski areas across the Northern Hemisphere. The first snowfalls (and in some cases the second and third snowfalls too) have arrived in north and western North America as well as in the Alps, Dolomites, Pyrenees, Eastern Europe's Tatra Mountains and even down at Europe's most southerly major ski area, Sierra Nevada in Spain. A dozen glacier ski areas are open in the Alps and Scandinavia with as many again set to join them in the next few weeks, including, probably, the first in the US and the first non-glacier openings in Europe, thanks to snow farming - re-using snow stockpiled through the summer from last season. There is nowhere open in North America just yet, and no fixed dates, but there will be a battle to be first over the next few weeks with at least a dozen areas hoping to take the title. A huge 'winter' storm in the northwest of the country to end September, bringing up to four feet (1.2 metres) of snow and snowmaking cannons firing up on higher slopes in states like Colorado, has helped raise anticipation levels. The 2019 ski season is all but over in the Andes, Australia and New Zealand with around 80% of the ski areas south of the equator now closed for the winter. Most of the dozen or so that have stayed open in to the start of October (springtime there) will call time on their seasons after the first, or at the latest the second Sunday of this month. However, it was still snowing in New Zealand in the final days of September. In the Alpine Forecast The next couple of days will be relatively mild before temperatures take a distinct dip to be noticeably below (seasonal) averages by the end of the week. And, yes, there'll be snow; with some decent falls expected to mid-mountain by next weekend across a wide area of the Alps. Not a bad start to October! 
Some decent snowfall expected tomorrow!.
EUROPEAN ALPS Austria As usual for this time of year, Austria is dominating the list of currently open areas for early autumn with seven glaciers already offering snow sports (although the Dachstein currently only cross country skiing) – that's more than half of all the areas open. There were some good snowfalls in mid-September with some areas getting up to 50cm of snowfall, and the snowline dropping as low as 1500 metres, but not a lot else the rest of the month, just a few 5-10cm accumulations. Snow depths are quite marginal with nowhere reporting more than a 59cm snow depth at the start of October and most areas with less than 5km of runs open at this early stage, although year-round Hintertux does have 20km of runs open they say. The other centres open are Kaunertal, Molltal, Pitztal, The Stubai and Solden – which will stage the first Alpine skiing World cup races of 2019-20 at the end of this month. The Kitzsteinhorn plans to open early October. Most of these areas will be staging 'Oktoberfest' style 'Ski Openings' over the next few weeks with several unveiling their new terrain park setups for 19-20 too. Kitzbuhel is scheduled to open later this month thanks to saving snow from last season and spreading it back out on a few high slopes in late October. This is usually quite a media circus event and kicks off a 200++ day season there through to the start of May. The longest in the Alps for a non-glacier resort. France Tignes, unfortunately, decided it had to postpone its planned open in the last Saturday of September, for the second year in a row, due to inadequate snow cover. So we're now waiting for a good dump there so it can open. Ironically the day after the announcement there was the first good snowfall of the autumn there, but not enough to allow opening. Les 2 Alpes is aiming to open its glacier slopes for its annual autumn snow festival over 9 days at the end of the month, from the final weekend of October to the first of November inclusive. However, it remains to be seen whether there'll be enough snow on the glacier, which was forced to close three weeks earlier than planned for summer skiing in August after the snow thawed away, and not a lot of snow has fallen there since. The event has had to be cancelled several times in recent years for the not-enough-snow-on-the-glacier reason and this year resort managers are hyping up the non-ski mountain sports aspect of the festival and are stressing it will go ahead even if the ski slopes can't open. Italy There are two ski areas currently open in Italy, both with about 5km of runs skiable. Passo Stelvio has been open since May and this is its last month of its unusual summer-only season. Val Senales opened last month. Both benefited from a big mid-September snowfall, with Stelvio reporting 55cm of snow which really improved its diminished cover after the summer heat. A third Italian area, the slopes above Cervinia, are due to open from the final weekend of this month. Switzerland Two Swiss areas that have been open all summer, Saas Fee and Zermatt (open year-round), will continue operations through October, with some fresh snow on their bases over the past few weeks. Both have around 15km of slopes open plus terrain parks. At least three more Swiss areas should open through the month though with Engelberg aiming for the 12th (having postponed from the initially intended 5th), the Diavolezza Glacier, one of the three St Moritz ski areas, the 19th and Laax the 26th. Scandinavia There have been some significant September snowfalls reported in Norway, Sweden and Finland over the latter half of last month but as we enter October only one ski area is open, the Galdhopiggen glacier ski area on Northern Europe's highest peak in Norway. This is open from spring to late autumn each year but had to close unexpectedly from late July to early September as it was too warm. However, a 40cm snowfall at the start of last month allowed it to re-open and thankfully it has had more snowfall since. The only other area expected to open in the region in October will be Ruka, up in Lapland, which stores huge piles of snow from the previous winter in a snow-farming operation and then spreads it back out on the slopes in early Autumn. This year's opening date, with three white slopes operating against the autumnal landscape, will be Friday, 4th October, starting a seven-month season through to next May. More Finnish ski areas; Levi and Iso Syote are due to open later in the month. The Rest of Europe Nowhere else is expected to open in October although some areas that can open quickly and have staff on hand might do so if there's a heavy snowstorm. Last year an area in the Pyrenees opened after a huge late-October snowstorm and going back further The Lecht ski area in Scotland has previously opened for Halloween. North America October sees the annual battle to be first to open for the new ski season at ski resorts in the US. Exactly when the first will open is often determined by snow-making operations once temperatures dip low enough for the snow cannons to work; occasionally there's a big early autumn dump of natural snow too and that's been the case this year with a big snowfall in the northwest of the continent, albeit 'heavy wet' snow, to end September. This year there's the added dimension of the battle between the two giant lift-pass groups; Vail Resorts with the 'Epic Pass', and the Alterra group with their Ikon Pass, to offer the longest season as well as the most resorts. Vail has let it be known that they're aiming for an early October opening at Keystone in Colorado, one of the twin highest resorts in the world. Arapahoe Basin, another high Colorado area which has often been first to open, is now part of the Ikon pass and also in the mix. Last year a third Colorado area, Wolf Creek beat both and a fourth, Loveland is also a contender. Several ski areas in New England could also get there, including Killington, Vermont, should they get good snow-making weather. It, Wildcat in New Hampshire and Sunday River in Maine are often also October openers. There are other possibilities in California and the permanent snowfield above Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood in Oregon which only ended its 2018-19 season at the end of October usually re-opens in October too. It's all down to the weather, and particularly the temperature, really, but it's quite likely there'll be around ten areas open in the US by the end of the month, although if it's a warm October there could be none! There are not usually any areas open in Canada until the start of November when areas like Norquay, Nakiska and Sunshine usually open in the first few days of the month. Very occasionally if it's a particularly snowy Autumn, some of these do open a few days earlier at the very end of October. Southern Hemisphere Australia Ski areas in Australia reported multiple heavy snowfalls right through the winter and in some cases building bases of more than two metres, so in most places a good winter here. Perisher will stay open to mid-October, and having opened a fortnight early at the end of June, it's declaring this their longest season 'in memory'. New Zealand In New Zealand, the snow arrived late after a warm start to winter but the country ended up with the deepest bases in the southern hemisphere hitting three metres (ten feet) at some areas, albeit with a lot of stormy weather too. Mt Ruapehu's Turoa and Whakapapa ski areas are usually the last to close in the country (and the entire southern hemisphere) by the latter half of October and 2019 looks like it will be the same again with some of the deepest snow south of the equator there at the start of this month – more than 2.6 metres up top and fresh snow falling still at the end of September (they reported 50cm in the final week of last month). Chile All the main ski areas have now closed for the 2019 season in Chile, reported to be one of the worst ever for natural snowfall at most. However Nevados de Chillan in the south, the last to close on the final Sunday of September, reported a better than average winter for snow in the south of the country. Argentina In common with Chile most ski areas in Argentina are now closed but Catedral, the continent's largest ski area in terms of uplift, says it will be open to Sunday, October 13th. And if you got this far... thanks for reading; here comes winter! |
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Snow Reports by e-mail - New Ski Resorts
Started by User in Snow Forecasts and Snow Reports, 85 Replies |
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Nearest to Verchaix is Morillon I guess; which is available - just go to your Profile to adjust your snow mail selections. HTH. |
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