It has been a mostly dry week in the Alps with sunny skies and low temperatures. This means that the big November snowfalls have been preserved and most resorts have been able to further build bases with snowmaking.
It also means most groomed runs are in great shape, but that off piste there’s no fresh snow. There’s not a lot in the forecast either, perhaps just the start of a return to snowy weather in the East. That’s not to say there’s not been any snow anywhere in Europe, Are in Sweden has had a foot of snow.
Across the Atlantic, where it was by contrast a warm and dry November, its’s the complete opposite with heavy snowfall, particularly in the West but with lots in the East too.
Austria
Most of Austria’s ski centres are now open most with 30-60cm of snow lying on their pistes, and over a metre up on the glaciers. There’s forecasts for up to a foot of snow here over the coming week, the first of the big for Alpine nations to get fresh cover. Serfaus is pictured above.
France
This is a big opening weekend in the French Alps with most of the country’s ski areas that are not yet open scheduled to do so. In addition the links between the different valleys in the 3 Valleys are scheduled to open. Snow cover is similar here – good on the pistes, very good up top for this early in the season but few resorts with much cover down at village level. That said as France is home to a good number of high altitude resorts some do have as much as 80cm lying even at resort level at 1800m. Here’s the Val d’Isere snoiw report from our friends at Esprit Ski.
Italy
Italy too has had a dry, largely cold and sunny week and it looks set to be the same again for the coming week. On piste conditions are generally good-to-excellent, off piste fairly non-existent. Snow depths in the northwest of the country at Monterosa atre actually among the best in the world at present at over 2m up top but it’s much more reliant on snowmaking over to the east in the Dolomites with cover nearer 10-30cm. Dolomiti Superski pictured above.
Switzerland
It’s the same again in Switzerland with some good snow depths on upper slopes (over a metre at Andermatt and Saas Fee) but no fresh snow and little or no cover down at resort level. Unfortunately there’s no snow in the forecast for the week ahead. Prepping for opening at Crans Montana this week pictured above.
Pyrenees
Most of the ski centres in the Pyrenees have opened now and as in the Alps it’s a case of fairly good early-season cover on the pistes, but no fresh snow in the past few weeks so nothing off piste for freeriders. Snowmaking systems have been working at capacity to top up cover however. Conditions continue to look great further south at Sierra Nevada (pictured) on the Med coast too.
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe’s ski areas are typically among the last to open each season, over the next three weekends including this. Most are going to have a pretty good start to their seasons thanks to significant snowfall a week ago which saw up to 60cm fall across the region. Bansko opened last weekend and this videpo is from BanskoBlog.
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is the one part of Europe that has seen some snow, if not so much as the previous week. Are in Sweden clocked up 30cm of fresh at the start of the week and there’s been a few inches on snow up in Lapland too. Almost all o the region’s resorts are now open and conditions are good for this early in the season with 30-60cm of snow cover. Pictured is Hemsedal in Norway where it’s now possible to ski up to 10pm in the evening at weekends.
Scotland
The warm spell across Britain in the middle of last week was the second major thaw on Scottish mountains and with little fresh snow despite a deep freeze in between it means there’s little left of any autumn snow build up, sadly and a major snowstorm is needed (or a succession of minor ones) before slopes can re-open. The picture above shows Cairngorm BEFORE it got really warm.
Canada
Another snowy week in Canada with the last of the country’s major resorts opening for the season this week. Unusually there’s been good snowfalls on both West and East sides of the country with Mont ste Anne reporting opening conditions were ‘historic’ as they are so good, reportedly, allowing steeper terrain not usually open until Christmas to open now.
USA
There’s been a lot of snow across the US too, with some huge snowfalls in the northwest, where more than a metre of snow fell in the last seven days at some areas. The East too has been having big snowfalls too leading to perfect early-December powder conditions. The good news is the snow is set to continue falling here. Jay Peak is pictured top and Stowe above – both in Vermont.
