(The road to Norway’s Fonna glacier ski area)
It’s InTheSnow’s monthly snow report and advice on where’s open for skiing and boarding in high summer!
It may be touching 35C in Blighty and passing 40C at some cities but that’s no excuse not to go skiing! Most of the ski areas in the southern hemisphere have opened for their 2015 season in the past month, and if you don’t fancy the long haul there are a dozen or so glaciers to explore in Europe – about a third more than this time last month.
The Alps
It has been very hot in Europe with some Alpine cities reaching 40C and some altitude ski resorts 25C or more. It’s not that bad on the glaciers but still most are seeing above zero temperatures, sometimes double figures by afternoon, so it’s best to get up there early and enjoy the snow under clear blue skies before it gets too sticky.
France has gone from having no ski areas open at the start of June to three to choose from in July – more than any other country in the region.
Les 2 Alpes
Les 2 Alpes (pictured above), Tignes and Val d’Isere are all open, although the latter will close on the second Sunday of the month whilst the other two are open in to August, bit with terrain parks and around 20km of glacier slopes.
In Switzerland only Zermatt (pictured above) is open for snowsports at present, but it will be joined by Saas Fee, later in the month, with the two neighbours offering a joint summer ski ticket.
Cervinia in Italy, another of Zermatt’s neighbours, re-opened its glacier sowsports area on the last weekend of June so cross border summer skiing is also now possible. It joins the other Italian summer ski option, Passo Stelvio.
Finally Austria – and it’s the low point for the number of glacier areas open there, when often the country has more choice than any other. Year round Hintertux is of course open, again with about 20km of runs, with the Molltal glacier with three runs to try the only other option.
Norway
Norways’s three glacier areas of Fonna, Galdhoppigen and Stryn are reporting 2015 as a banner summer ski. June saw up to 3m of fresh snow falling at the start of the month with lifts and access roads buried – since then it’s been blue skies and perfect conditions.
North America
There are two areas open for skiing and boarding in North America at present – both offering a fairly regulated structure of lanes for ‘camps’ underway on their slopes, plus a terrain park. In Canada the glacier skiing and boarding at Whistler Blackcomb (above) opened a few weeks ago and continues to the last weekend of July, in the USA it’s Timberline ski area on t Hood in Oregon which is open almost year round.
South America
South America has sadly not had a great start to its 2015 ski season, which should have kicked off around the 21st of June. Warm temperatures and little or no natural snowfall so far have ut pay to that at most resorts, although some further south like Chile’s Corralco (pictured above)are having a more normal winter. Others (such as La Parva below) just have a few runs open with machine made snow and one of the best known areas, Portillo in Chile, has delayed opening in to July hoping things will improve soon.
Australia and New Zealand
Australian areas were among the first in the southern hemisphere to open, on the first weekend of June, and had a great start with fresh snow and low temperatures for snowmaking, Mt Baw Baw said it was the best start to the season they could remember. Since then it’s been a bit mixed but temps for the start of July are low again and machine made snow is being pumped out full blast. Falls Creek pictured above.
New Zealand’s areas started opening slightly later and spread their openings through last month, with a few still top open. It’s mostly been good to excellent conditions on the centre’s slopes, particularly for South Island resorts, although along with lots of fresh snow there have been a few stormbound days. Treble Cone is pictured above.
Africa
2015 has also been a memorable season so far at Southern Africa’s two resorts – Afriski in Lesotho (above) and Tiffindell in South Africa (below). Both have had plenty of fresh natural snow – something of a rarity, several times through the past month.
