Resorts with the best skiing this week

Conditions continue to improve across the Alps, with further spells of snow over the weekend adding to the ever increasing base depths across the region, according to the Ski Club of Great Britain, which produces weekly snow reports for resorts around the world.

Snow was falling on Monday, with the northern French and western Swiss Alps once again in the firing line for the heaviest snowfall.

Fresh snow has also been falling in the Pyrenees, improving the skiing across the region. The vast majority of lifts were turning, with perhaps the best skiing in the region at the Spanish resort of Baqueria-Beret. Conditions in Eastern Europe continue to improve too and more snow is forecast this week.

For a full, up to date snow report, go to the Ski Club website.

Resorts with the best conditions:

Austria:

The linked resorts of Lech, Zurs and Warth-Schrocken  have seen the heaviest snow in the country so far this winter and with 45 out of 47 lifts open, some excellent skiing conditions were to be found across the area. Nearby St Anton (45/100cm) was also offering great skiing thanks to the recent snowfall and all but one of the local lifts were spinning on Monday. These areas are set to see the heaviest snowfall in the coming days, with in excess of a metre forecast on even the lowest slopes.

France:

Sadly, some of the lower resorts have received some rain and the highest have been hit by high winds; the avalanche risk in France is also very high this week. In the far southern French Alps, there has been little fresh snow, but conditions across the region are expected to improve with more than 150 cms of fresh snow by the end of the week in most places.

Switzerland:

In the southwest, Zermatt and Saas Fee have already seen considerable gains in base depth over the weekend, with further gains, although high winds were impacting on lift operations at the top of the mountain at the start of the week.

The story was very much the same throughout the rest of the country, with heavy snow falling in places, but sadly with rain dropping on the lower slopes and some high winds impacting on lift operations higher up. Conditions are expected to improve dramatically.

Italy

The Aosta Valley looks likely to benefit from the best of the current snowfall, with a huge 80cm set to fall across the resorts of Courmayeur  and La Thuile. Excellent piste conditions are on offer across the region as a result.

The Milky region could see around 20cm of fresh snow across many resorts, this will do much to further improve conditions in the resorts of Sestriere and Sauze d’Oulx (30/40cm) which have endured a difficult start to the season.

Andorra

The most extensive skiing is across the Grandvalira region, where 148km of pistes are open, with the pick of the conditions in the high altitude Pas de la Casa. Arcalis in the Vallnord area continues to boast the deepest base depth in the country.

Norway/Sweden

Geilo, Hemsedal and Lillehammer are all reporting excellent conditions after receiving 8-11cm of fresh snow on Sunday. Trysil has seen the biggest gains of late. In Sweden, excellent conditions are reported in Are and Salen.

USA

Deer Valley  is currently the pick of the resorts in Utah while Aspen in Colorado has enjoyed some fresh snow. In California, Squaw Valley has some of the best conditions in years following over 60cm in the past seven days alone. Mammoth (190/292cm) was also reporting some great skiing on Monday and it now possesses the deepest base in the country following over 4m of snow so far this winter.

Canada

Despite a relatively dry spell of weather, conditions in Alberta remain excellent on piste, with the pick of the conditions probably at Sunshine Village.

British Columbia also remains in a great state.