(Picture from Squaw Valley, credit Hank de Vre)
There have been spectacular snowfalls in the Alps, Dolomites, Rockies and Pyrenees over the past 72 hours.
In many places the snow is still falling and reported to be at ‘historic’ levels.
In Southern Austria and the Dolomites up to 1.5m (five feet) of snow has fallen in what is reported to be the biggest single snow storm since 1917.
In Colorado up to 90cm (three feet) of powder has fallen giving spectacular snow conditions.
Elsewhere there have been falls of a foot (30cm) of snow in 24 hour periods at many resorts in the Alps, Rockies and Pyrenees, as well as Scotland and Scandinavia – there seems to be heavy snowfall at most leading ski areas in the northern hemisphere.
All the snow looks great for the remainder of the season, and once the skies clear and lifts are dug out and pistes made safew there’s great skiing and boarding.
However the volume of snow in many areas has sent the avalanche danger level off piste “off the scale,” and access roads have been blocked and lifts buried – leading problems getting on to the slopes in the short term.
At one point in Tirol the provincial government is reported to have advised people not to travel if they could avoid it and to stay indoors.
