Latest snow update

With Christmas fast approaching, where will it be most white on the slopes? Here’s the latest snow report from the Ski Club.

Good on piste skiing continues across Austrian glacier resorts, as well a number of resorts in France. In Switzerland, Engleberg remains a stand out resort at present thanks to its sizeable snow depth, whilst in 4 Vallees, Nendaz is now partially open. A storm cycle is due and snow is expected to fall as we move into Friday. A number of resorts are due to open over the weekend, and with all the new snow in the forecast, this is of course excellent news.

Unfortunately the Scottish ski centres are closed but snow in the forecast will hopefully allow for lifts to spin again in the near future.

Japan, as you might expect, continues to impress with powder conditions on offer, and heavy snow currently falling at Nisseko.

In North America, skiing conditions in Canada are superb in British Columbia and Alberta. More resorts are due to open this weekend, including both Red Mountain and Kicking horse. The weather looks set fair for the next few days for most resorts, bar those in Quebec, where cloudy skies may give way to light snowfall. Snow has started to fall again in the USA, with resorts in Vermont and California likely to benefit. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, remains a good option for a few remaining stashes of powder.

SNOW ALERT
Based on current weather forecasts for the next 9 days, the top three resorts for expected snowfall are:

Argentiere, France- 330cm
La Grave, France -313cm
Chamonix, France -310cm

AUSTRIA
Austria yet again had a big flurry of snowfall on Tuesday and a number of resorts have recorded impressive amounts of fresh snow. Alpbach (45cm/110cm) had 30cm, which is perfect timing as the resort is set to open today (Friday). Zell am See (5cm/89cm) also benefited massively, with 47cm of new snow measured.’¨’¨As we are approaching the festive period a number of resorts will be opening this weekend. This includes all the resorts in the Skiwelt area: Ellmau (15cm/105cm), Scheffau (15/105cm), Soll (15cm/105cm), Westendorf (15/105cm) and Hopfgarten (15cm/105cm). Lifts at Loferer Alm (10cm/100cm) will also be spinning this weekend.’¨
Ischgl (20cm/60cm) and Galtur (35cm/70cm) are both predicting 14cm of fresh snowfall on today, whilst Damuls/Mellau (20cm/90cm) is forecast to receive 19cm.

FRANCE
Temperatures were largely freezing or below, providing an opportunity to get out and ski the groomed trails in the early morning. The number of open resorts is still somewhat limited at present, but in Espace Killy there was some good skiing up on the Grande Motte Glacier at Tignes (46/70cm), and even better views to accompany it. Further south there was 17 lifts open at Les Deux Alpes (6/30cm), whilst nearby its sister resort, Alpe d’Huez (39/50cm), was offering up some nice turns on the Sarenne run leading off Pic Blanc.

Conditions are expected to change, with the current high pressure weather being replaced by clouds and the next storm cycle. Current forecasts expect snow to fall heavily today (Friday), and continue right through the weekend. Around the Mont Blanc region, Argentiere (20/80cm) is currently predicted to receive around 140cm of snow by Monday, with further snow then predicted to fall throughout much of following week. This is great news for a number of French resorts who are opening for the season from December 16.

SWITZERLAND
Our Swiss resorts haven’t had as much snow as some of their neighbours, but there are still some resorts which are providing some great ski conditions early on this winter season. Engelberg (30cm/305cm) already has a snow depth of over 300cm which is fantastic so early on, whilst Davos (23cm/81cm) is also looking good at present. Nendaz (0cm/30cm) partially opened yesterday with the whole resort due to open over the weekend. ‘¨’¨A number resorts are forecasting large snowfalls, notably: Champery (20cm/55cm), Murren (40cm/69cm) and Wengen (15cm/68cm), who are predicted to receive 30cm, 25cm and 29cm respectively.

ITALY
Most of Italian resorts are already open for the season, so there is plenty of skiing available. Clouds are expected to dominate over the weekend. The heavy clouds are predicted to deliver a lot of fresh snow over the weekend, which would be very welcome by those heading out ahead of the busy Festive period.

This fresh snow could be perfectly timed too for Bardonecchia (10/30cm), which will open for weekend skiing this weekend. The neighbouring Milky Way area (30/100cm) will also be open this weekend, with skiing commencing for the season today (Friday). Through next week Sestriere and Sauze d’Oulx will remain open but Claviere and Cesana will be closed for skiing form December 11-15.

ANDORRA
Good skiing can be enjoyed in both the Grandvalira and Vallnord ski domains at the end of this week, with good cover on the groomed runs. There have not been any significant fresh dumps of snow in the last few days, but with a top up last weekend and sunny skies yesterday, it was a good day to be riding in Andorra.

SCANDANAVIA
Fresh snow was in the forecast for our Norwegian resorts. Hemsedal (64cm) received 8cm on Wednesday. Voss (45/130cm), which is temporarily closed at present has reason to be positive, with 17cm forecast to fall yesterday.

In Sweden, Are (52cm) received 2cm of new snow and a total of 26cm in the last 72 hours. However, only 2/41 were open on Thursday, and skiing remains fairly limited at present. In Salen (10/45cm) the date of the last snowfall was November 29, but the area is offering more skiing than Are, with 21/88 lifts spinning and 20 pistes groomed for skiing.

Temperatures in Finland are very cold at present, and both Ylas (50cm) and Levi (50cm) were reading around -14C on Thursday. Conditions are perhaps best at Levi at the moment, where the snow coverage looked very good under the lights for night skiing

GERMANY
Some great skiing can already be enjoyed at Garmisch Partenkirchen (0/180cm), up on the Zugspitze glacier skiing area, as well as at the resorts of Feldberg (30/85cm) and Spitzingsee (40/80cm).

Rossfeld, the area we report on at Berchtesgaden (10/30cm), is only open for weekend skiing currently but the resort does plan to have skiing available on Friday 8th December too.

Lenggries (20/80cm) will open for the season on Friday 8th December, with all the valley runs open. Reit im Winkl (26/110cm) will also pen on Friday.

Oberstdorf (0/120cm) will open the day after on Saturday 9th December.

EASTERN EUROPE
Spindleruv Mlyn (30cm/50cm) has opened for the season with one lift in operation. This was due to a huge snowfall of over 40cm in the last few days.~Kranjska Gora (40cm/60cm) is providing some great skiing, with more snow on the forecast from Friday 8th December onwards. In Bulgaria, none of our featured resorts are yet to open for the season, but the upper slopes at Bansko (5/30cm) were looking in decent nick, with good snow coverage across the slopes.

SCOTLAND
Essentially, the news earlier this week wasn’t great; none of our Scottish ski centres were open for skiing. However, there was reason to be positive as snow was forecast for all 5 ski centres. Accumulations could be as much as 11cm at Cairngorm (5/20cm) on Thursday, and that coupled with the snow from their new ‘snow factory’ could once again allow for skiing to get underway.

USA
Snow started to fall again in the USA on Thursday, where conditions in Vermont are likely to improve during the course of the day. At Jackson Hole (66/142cm), Wyoming, it was a lovely sunny day, with temperatures remaining cold at around -4C, and some powder stashes can still be found after the latest snowfall on December 4. In California, light clouds were dotting the sky at resorts such as Mammoth (51/152cm) and Squaw Valley (0/76cm), with the current band of high pressure likely to remain into next week. Resorts in Colorado such as Winter Park (48cm) could receive some fresh snow during the course of the day, before a return to clear skies tomorrow.

CANADA
Clear skies continued in Canada on Thursday. Conditions across both British Columbia and Alberta are exceptional, with the Banff resorts in particular offering record breaking amounts of terrain to ski for the time of year. Lake Louise (83/129cm) has been able to operate all their lifts earlier than any previous season. If you are looking for BC skiing, Big White (108cm) is currently your best bet, with 10 lifts running and excellent snow conditions thanks to low temperatures since last weekend.

The exception to this is in Quebec, where both Mont St Anne (50cm) and Tremblant (60cm) saw overcast skies with the possibility of light snowfall. The former was forced to close earlier this week due to rain but has been able to reopen with some fresh snow.
This weekend is expected to bring more resort openings, including Red Mountain (86cm) and Kicking Horse (126cm), both of which have enough snow on the ground to provide excellent opening weekends.

JAPAN
Conditions is Japan continued to impress on Thursday. At Hakuba (130/165cm) there has been 21 cm of fresh in the last 24 hours. Clear skies were order of the day, with more lifts and pistes expected to open over the weekend. Nisseko (85/210cm) was experiencing heavy snowfall on Thursday, which is expected to continue right into next week.