Sunrise over a snowy Hintertux this morning...
Autumn snows, a mild few days and a plunge to cold on the cards... and that's just Europe! And an awesome competition...
Top 100 Snowiest Ski Areas Worldwide
This Week's Snow Headlines
- More ski areas open in the Alps and Rockies.
- Up to 60cm of fresh snow reported in the Alps in higher slopes.
- Fresh snow in Scandinavia.
- KItzbuhel to open Hahnenkamm ski area this week using snow stockpiled from last winter.
- 2017 ski season ends in the southern hemisphere.
- Snow to low altitude (in places) in the Alps raises excitement ahead of main season.
- Cervinia and Laax due to open for the season on Saturday.
It was a snowy weekend in the Alps to the delight of not only the already-open ski areas but many of the rest who have been proclaiming early snow cover "just a month" or "only 50 days" ahead of planned opening dates.
Reported snowfall of up to 60cm has helped higher slopes look good for the coming winter after the onslaught of the summer sun. Bases on glaciers and other high runs are getting back towards the metre mark after five good snowfalls since early September, having dropped to zero in some places in August.
There was also fresh snowfall again in parts of Western North America as well as in Scandinavia, generally raising the excitement levels!
The number of ski areas open worldwide remains in the low 20s with Loveland in Colorado and the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz in Switzerland the latest new resorts to open for 2017-18 at the weekend. Laax in Switzerland aims to join them this weekend and then the focus will switch to North America where resorts in Colorado, California and Alberta are all targeting start-of-November openings.
The ski season in the southern hemisphere officially ended on Sunday with the conclusion of the skiing and boarding for 2017 at Mt Ruapehu in New Zealand, the last ski area still open for winter 2017. One area, Cardrona, remains open for national team training however, just not to the general public.
In the Forecast
It's currently warm for a few days in the Alps, after the weekend snow, but it's not going to last! It will be cold again by the end of the weekend, and temperatures will fall by around 15C over the next week before settling around, or a little below, the seasonal average as we move into November.
And, yes, there's some snow in the forecast too; nothing huge at this stage but useful snowfall is currently forecast to medium altitudes, for the eastern Alps, over the next 10 days.
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Always check local conditions and resort opening times directly before travelling!
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NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
Austria
It's been a great few days in the Austrian Alps after up to two feet of snowfall over the weekend. The year-round Hintertux glacier posted the biggest (60cm) snowfall but Solden was not for behind with 53cm (21 inches). Bases there are continuing to grow at a healthy rate thanks to that snow. The Kitzsteinhorn has the deepest snow base of the nine ski areas open in Austria at 1.3m (just over four feet) at present. Eight of the nine centres are glaciers but Kitzbuhel, which opened its highest slopes the weekend before last using snow stockpiled from last winter, says it will open a second area, using the same technique, in its world famous Hahnenkamm sector, in the next few days.
Belgium
It's the first time we've ever included Belgium in the weekly round-up but an honorary mention as the first new indoor ski area in Europe is due to open here on Friday 27th October. The Aspen Ski Centre near Antwerp was, like the last indoor ski area to open (The Ski Centre at Hemel Hempstead), a popular long standing club dry slope before the decision to replace it with an indoor snow complex was made. It's got a 250 metre long indoor slope and a 15 metre high roof for 'safe' big air in the terrain park.
France
Tignes reported 15cm (6ins) of fresh snow over the weekend but its base is still not great at 5-30cm. Les 2 Alpes decided not to open for snow-sports as it had planned to this week, due to limited snow cover on the glacier there. There are five runs open at Tignes and the sun is shining again.
Italy
Cervinia, which has been open the past two weekends will open permanently for the 2017-18 season from Saturday, but Passo Stelvio, open since last spring, will see its unusual six month season come to an end. Passo Stelvio boasts the deeper base at 50-150cm; the only other Italian area currently open, Val Senales, has a more marginal 0-30cm of snow and three runs open.
Switzerland
With Laax scheduled to open on Saturday and the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz in the East of the country opening last weekend, there'll be five Swiss glacier ski areas to choose from as of this weekend, all being well, placing it second in the world to Austria for the number of resorts open. Engelberg reported the best of the weekend snowfall with 40cm of fresh snow and now has a 70cm base. Saas Fee and Zermatt each reported 20cm of new snow. Zermatt has 10 runs open and 14km of slopes to enjoy, Saas Fee 18km of terrain and six runs.
Scandinavia
There's been fresh snow (up to 30cm reported) and low temperatures across Scandinavia so a lot of resorts have turned on their snowmaking systems ahead of season starts planned for early November. Geilo in Norway and Ruka are already open using snow they had stockpiled from last winter and both are now snowmaking to build the base on top of that old snow. The Galdhoppigen glacier in Norway, which has been posting the deepest base in the northern hemisphere all summer, currently at 4 metres, is due to end its season this weekend.
North America
It's getting close to opening day for about a dozen ski areas in Colorado, California and up in Alberta, Canada and things are currently looking fairly promising.
So far however it's Arapahoe Basin and Loveland in Colorado, two of the world's highest ski areas, that have opened, both saying they have one run open and a 46cm/18 inch base, mostly of machine made snow.
Southern Hemisphere
The 2017 ski season is now over in the southern hemisphere although Cardrona ski area is still open for national team training, but not to the general skiing public.