Snow News, 3rd December, 2009
Introduction
Lots more resorts in Europe are poised to open this weekend, helped by the recent snowstorm.
Switzerland received huge amounts of snow earlier this week. This allowed Arosa to make a surprise opening after having previously postponed their opening to this coming weekend. Around a metre of fresh snow fell there, providing excellent skiing.
Meribel and Courchevel in France open this coming weekend. The neighbouring resort of Val Thorens is already open so the opening of Meribel and Courchevel will create a great place to ski this weekend. All three resorts have excellent snow conditions, particularly on the upper slopes, so there should be some fun skiing on offer.
St Anton in Austria opened on Thursday, after having postponed its original opening date last weekend. Lech and Zurs are expected to follow, opening their ski area this Friday 4th December. Other resorts scheduled to open include those in the Ski Welt region. The area doesn’t have a lot of snow but there is enough to ski on up high.
Over in the States it is extremely cold and should stay that way over the weekend. Many resorts are open across the country and they offer some great skiing. A storm is heading for Colorado this weekend too, so it could be about to vastly improve there.
Revelstoke, Kicking Horse and Fernie in Canada are all opening for the winter season this weekend. It has been a very snowy month in Canada so skiing at all resorts is excellent. These three should be no exception.
Austria
Lots of snow fell in Austria at the beginning of the week, particularly in the west. Ischgl (10/70cm) received around 20cm of fresh snow on the upper slopes on Tuesday. The conditions were a bit icy and hard before this but the fresh snow transformed the skiing making it a lot better. 26 lifts are running in Ischgl’s Silvretta ski area so there is plenty of skiing available.
This snow also fell at St Anton (10/50cm). Following this snowfall, they managed to open some of their lifts and slopes on Thursday 3rd December. Three lifts were opened on Thursday but more are expected to open on Friday 4th. The snowfall on Tuesday means the open pistes are in good condition so enjoy the first days of their season if you are there.
Many more resorts plan to open on Friday 4th and December 5th. These resorts include Fiss/Serfaus, Soll, Ellmau, Westendorf and Lech/Zurs.
This coming weekend should see the opening of many more French resorts. Notably Meribel (20/45cm) and Courchevel (25/45cm) in the Three Valleys are opening this Saturday. Val Thorens (45/85cm) is already open and offers great skiing, so a link over into Meribel and Courchevel will expand the area hugely. The region received lots of snow at the beginning of the week and with cold temperatures the snow cannons have also been running.
Another resort planning to open this weekend is Alpe d’Huez (12/70cm). As with the Three Valleys, snow fell at the beginning of the week which means the pistes should be in good condition for when they open on Saturday. Snow cover on the lower slopes is a little thin, especially off piste, so it will be best to stick to the top where most of the snow is.
Over in the Espace Killy ski area, Val d’Isere (40/80cm) and Tignes (30/80cm) offer some great skiing. There is good snow cover everywhere but the higher you go the better. It is still advised to stick to the pistes as it isn’t deep enough to cover the off-piste hazards just yet. 37 lifts are open in the whole Espace Killy area and the link between Val d’Isere and Tignes is also open, providing easy ski access between the two.
Many Swiss resorts benefited from lots of snow that fell on Monday and Tuesday earlier this week.
The base depths at Saas Fee (75/153cm) more than doubled since Thursday last week, so as you might expect there is some great skiing available up there now. Some lifts took a while to open due to the avalanche control work but there are now six lifts open at the resort, offering good skiing on the fresh snow. Pockets of powder can still be found off piste too, but the base isn’t yet deep enough for great skiing everywhere away from the prepared slopes.
Arosa (40/70cm) recently opened. The resort was scheduled to open last weekend but was forced to postpone this due to a lack of snow. Then the snowstorm came and dumped over a metre of snow on the resort, allowing them to open on Wednesday. They have opened seven lifts in the area and the pistes are all in excellent condition.
Mürren (70/100cm), Grindelwald (50/109cm) and Wengen (55/80cm) are all scheduled to open this weekend. Snow cover on the slopes is generally excellent so they should be able to open a good amount of terrain on Saturday.
It is still uncertain as to which resorts on the east coast will be able to make an opening this weekend. Stowe (40/76cm) was planning to open on Friday 4th December but have now moved that to Saturday 5th, conditions permitting. Unfortunately rain on Thursday could have affected their plans so it remains to be seen whether or not they will be able to open.
It has been snowing in Colorado recently. Between 2cm and 8cm fell on most resorts in the state on Wednesday and lots more is forecast this weekend. Vail (46cm) received 3cm of fresh snow on Wednesday which will have freshened up the pistes. Six lifts are running at the resort but this is expected to increase from this weekend. A snowstorm is heading for Colorado over the weekend so anyone lucky enough to be heading there could be in for a treat. It will be very cold however, around -20°C at the summit during the day, so wrap up warm.
Resorts in Utah are still awaiting more snow. Most are open but a lot of their snow cover is manmade, even at Alta (51cm) and Snowbird (61cm), which are usually famed for their huge amounts of powder. As with Colorado, expect some very cold weather over the weekend and into next week.
Kicking Horse (50/150cm) and Fernie (102cm) are both planning to open daily this weekend, Saturday 5th December. Fernie opened for last weekend due to the excellent pre-season snowfall but remains closed during the week. Pre-season skiing at both resorts was awesome so it should be a great opening weekend.
It is very cold in many Canadian resorts however, especially those inland in the west of the country. The temperature at the base of Sun Peaks (94/115cm) was -18°C on Wednesday so wrap up warm when skiing. Nine of 11 lifts are running at Sun Peaks and a vast majority of their terrain is open. There is excellent skiing on offer for this early in the season.
The Rockies resort of Banff (78/112cm) received some good snowfall over the week. There is great snow cover at Sunshine Village and at Lake Louise there was over 20cm of snow this week. Most of the terrain is now open and Delirium Dive at Sunshine Village could also open this weekend. Cold weather is on the way so make sure to wrap up very warm if you are heading out there.
Weather in Europe this weekend and next will tend to vary as time goes on. The French Alps are expecting snow on and off in the next five days with temperatures varying from mild to cold. Avoriaz in the Portes du Soleil ski area should see 18cm of new snow fall on the higher slopes by Tuesday. Unfortunately a warm spell of weather on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday could bring rain to anywhere below about 2000m. The freezing level will rise to nearly 3000m on Monday.
The same weather can be expected in Austria. It shouldn’t be quite as warm as further west, but it could bring rain to the lower resorts on Monday and Tuesday. St Anton, Lech and Zurs should receive around 20cm of snow by Tuesday. Lech and Zurs should both open over the weekend so the fresh snow will make for some great early season skiing. Sunday and Monday will bring light rain to resort level but above 1600m it should fall as snow.
21cm of snow was expected for Bardonecchia in Italy on Thursday, followed by 6cm on Friday. The resort opens on Saturday, along with most of the Milky Way ski area, so the fresh snow should give a great weekends skiing.
Scandinavia is the best place to go in Europe for fresh snow at the moment. Hemsedal in Norway should see around 20cm of snow fall by Tuesday and low temperatures mean the snow should be great powder. Expect near constant light snow for the next five days and a temperature of -7°C at the summit.
North American Weather Outlook
Another winter storm is heading for Colorado this weekend. It is currently very cold there at the moment and this snowstorm should make it even colder. Temperatures of -29°C at night can be expected. All resorts should see around 25cm of powder fall over the weekend and the very low temperatures mean it should be fantastic powder.
Up in Oregon, where Timberline is situated, it should be sunny but extremely cold. No new snow is expected but it should be sunny until next week. The cold weather will keep the snow in great condition.
Over on the east coast the weather outlook is a mixed bag. Heavy rain on Thursday and temperatures of 13°C could impact the chances of the resorts opening, which is long overdue now. Thankfully this mild spell of weather isn’t expected to last past Friday when colder weather should take over. This cold weather could allow them to run the snow cannons on the upper slopes so it might not be such a bad weekend afterall.
The cold weather in America is coming down from the north, so you can expect it to be equally as cold this weekend in Canada. Jasper in Alberta could see temperatures as low as -35°C and a windchill nearer -50°C. This is likely to affect lift operations for the resort if it does get that cold. It should also snow lightly, which combined with the cold weather will keep their pistes in excellent condition. Eastern Canada should receive a massive snow boost at the end of this week. Mont Sainte Anne, which plans to open on Saturday, could receive around 20cm of fresh snow. Then the weather there will turn colder.
Brought to you by The Ski Club of Great Britain
