After a mild start to 2013, winter is back in charge of the Alps, with fresh snow and low temperatures across the board.  The heaviest snowfall has been in the eastern Alps, especially the Dolomites, which often missed out in recent weeks.  Elsewhere the snow has generally been light, but it has fallen to low levels and all in all conditions are excellent.

Read our full weather report below, courtesy of weathertoski.co.uk, which has daily updates on its website.

Austria

Conditions are excellent right across Austria with low temperatures and fresh snow in most resorts.  High altitude Obertauern (180/220cm) is as good as anywhere with 15cm of new snow and further flurries in the forecast.  Lower down, all 52 lifts are open in Kitzbühel (40/135cm) where temperatures are well below 0°C and the snow is powdery at all levels.

France

Conditions are superb in virtually all French resorts right now, not least La Clusaz (85/300cm) which has fresh snow and one of the deepest upper snow packs in the Alps.  Not surprisingly, Europe’s highest resort, Val Thorens (150/250cm) is also in top shape, as are resorts further south such as Risoul (60/145cm).

Italy

After missing out on the heaviest of the early season snow, the eastern Italian resorts are back in business – especially the Dolomites, with lots of powder reported in Cortina (40/130cm).  Further west, Sauze d’Oulx (60/120cm) hasn’t seen any significant snow for a while, but on piste at least conditions are still excellent helped by the low temperatures.

Switzerland

Snow conditions remain very good across most of Switzerland where the weather remains cold with occasional snow flurries.  Andermatt (85/380cm) has the deepest upper snow pack in the Alps right now, but even low resorts such as Villars (50/170cm) are in near perfect shape.  Only parts of the south-east are slightly below par with regards to snow depths, but on-piste conditions in Lenzerheide (52/80cm) are still excellent thanks to the continuing cold.

Rest of Europe

Heavy snowfalls have transformed conditions in the Pyrenees this week with deep powder reported in Soldeu (85/140cm) and more snow on the way.  No new snow to report in Norway where Hemsedal (65/85cm) reports excellent pistes, but very low temperatures (-14°C on Tuesday).  Over in Bulgaria, all major resorts also report good skiing, the deepest cover in Pamporovo (80/180cm).

USA

Snow depths are still below par in many Colorado resorts, including Vail (61cm) where powder days have been few and far between this winter, but on-piste (at least) conditions are still good. F urther west, snow depths are much more impressive in Snowbird (160cm mid-mountain) but Mammoth still leads the way with a whopping 488cm up top.  Little or no snow and lots of sunshine is expected across the western US in the next few days.

Canada

After a very snowy start to the New Year, the weather has settled down now in Whistler where conditions are excellent at all levels and the mid-mountain base is 189cm deep.  Further inland, it has also brightened up in Revelstoke (182cm mid-mountain) and, after a very cold spell of weather, temperatures are on the up again.