It’s our final weekly snow report of 2015-16 with an update on Where to Ski or Board This Week Ending April 30, 2016? We’re pleased to say we’re going out on a high with fresh snow on both sides of the Atlantic, and in the northern and southern hemispheres, and plenty of it! We’ll also be keeping you informed of snow conditions through the summer with monthly ‘Where to Ski and Board This Month’ advice on what’s open and how the snow is looking, and of course posting news stories when there’s fresh snow anywhere, anytime in newsworthy quantities! In short – we never stop watching snow conditions 365 a days a year…
As I said it has been a a snowy week this past week and if forecasts are correct next week looks snowy again too. There’s been up to 70cm of fresh snow in both the Alps and the Rockies and even significant pre-season snow reported down in the Andes of South America.
Only a few hundred ski areas are currently open with most having closed and perhaps half of those still open ending their season after this Sunday – but over 100 areas in Scandinavia, a few dozen high or northerly areas in North America and a similar number of high altitude or glacier areas in the Alps, as well as Europe’s most southerly resort at Sierra Nevada in Spain, will stay open to the start of May, and some in to June or even July.
Austria
It has been a very snowy week in Austria on the ski slopes still open with reports of up to 50cm in 24 hours at Hintertux (above) and 60cm in 48 hours at the Stubai. Glacier snow depths are around the 3m mark with much more forecast in the week ahead. St Anton is pictured below on Monday.
France
France got fresh snow too and it has more centres open in to late April than most countries. Chamonix (Video below) and la Clusaz both reported two feet (60cm) of fresh snow in the past week and Avoriaz and La Clusaz (again) reported 25cm in 24 hours on Sunday/Monday). It’s looking good for the final weekend/weeks at still open centres.
Italy
There has been lots of fresh snow at the few areas still open in western Italy. Up to 70cm of fresh snow was reported with Livigno (above) among those performing well. Cervinia is also looking good. A few areas in the Dolomites including Cortina are still open, but there was no fresh snow reported there.
Switzerland
Swiss slopes got up to two feet of fresh snow this week too. There are now only a dozen or so of the big resorts open however. Zermatt (pictured) is open year round and says it will have at least 150km of slop[es open until May 1st.
Pyrenees
Sierra Nevada in southern Spain is one of the few resorts in the country still open – and will be to May 1st. It has a 2m base and got 10cm of fresh snow on Wednesday, 72 hours before its due to stage its annual ‘ski or board in your swimsuit’ day. Other Spanish resorts in the Pyrenees have closed, as have areas in Andorra, but a few in France including Cauterets are still operating.
Scotland
Nevis Range has joined The Lecht and Glenshee and closed for the season but Glencoe (pictured above) says it will stay open until May 1st and Cairngorm hasn’t announced a closing date yet. There’s been some fresh snow and more is expected this weekend.
Eastern Europe
Most ski areas in Eastern Europe have ended their ski seasons but Jasna in the Slovak Republic (above) is holding out for another weekend.
Canada
There are only a few areas still open in Canada – the three Banff ski areas plus Marmot Basin in Alberta, and whistler in BC, which has the deepest base at over 2m and was the only centre to announced fresh snow this week – 12cm of it. Most areas are open in to May.
USA
The Western US has had its best season for five years and that’s reflected in ski areas announcing they’ll be open until at least the end of May, possibly in to June or maybe even later. There’s more than 4m of snow lying at Mammoth in California as we enter May and it, along with Squaw Valley will be open through May.
