Snow News Updated, 11th March, 2010
INTRODUCTION
Winter has been very much in charge this week in Europe with temperatures below -20°C in many places.
Fresh snow fell on Thursday in Austria but wasn’t much more than a dusting in most places. Obergurgl has some fantastic skiing available and the snow is generally very powdery.
The Italian Milky Way resorts of Sauze d’Oulx and Sestriere have excellent conditions too, thanks to heavy snowfall earlier this week. Plenty of powder can be found off piste if you know where to look.
Zermatt in Switzerland received 15cm of fresh snow on Wednesday, greatly improving their skiing. All the steep terrain is now a lot better thanks to the new snow.
Both Andorra and Bulgaria received lots of snow earlier this week. Bansko now has much better skiing and some of the grass patches on the lower slopes are now completely covered. Cold weather is forecast to stay in both Andorra and Bulgaria so it should stay good.
Spring has sprung on the east coast of America. Mild and sunny weather is bad for the snow but with plenty of existing snow it should remain for a while. It is definitely the time for some t-shirt skiing.
Winter has returned to Canada, where it was unseasonably dry and mild since New Year. 25cm of fresh snow fell at Banff on Monday which vastly improved all three ski areas. Whistler is also forecast nearly a metre and a half of fresh snow next week.
AUSTRIA
There is some good skiing in Austria at the moment, due to the cold weather and decent snowfall this month.
It’s been snowing at Obergurgl (48/156cm) this week. The Ski Club rep in the resort says there is plenty of great snow to ski on. Most recently, they received 5cm of fresh snow on Thursday 11th March. The pistes were already in excellent but this fresh snow has helped to make them even better. Powder can be found off piste if you know where to look but areas closer to the runs are a little tracked out.
Although it didn’t snow on Thursday at Hintertux (20/275cm) there is fantastic skiing available in the area. It’s been very cold recently, down to -25°C at the summit of the mountain, so although some of the very highest pistes are quite hard there is plenty of softer snow further down.
FRANCE
A light dusting of snow fell at La Clusaz (20/270cm) on Wednesday 10th March. The resort has an impressive upper snow depth of nearly three metres so there is plenty of snow to ski off-piste. Even lower down the runs have a good covering of snow on them. All but one of their lifts was open on Thursday 11th March and with quiet slopes it is the perfect time to be skiing the area at the moment.
Les Deux Alpes (80/190cm) received a good dump of snow on Monday 8th March. 15cm of fresh powder on that day made for some excellent skiing both on and off piste on Tuesday 9th and some of this powder was still untracked on Thursday. Cold weather means that the snow is very well preserved and should remain this way for the weekend, so for anyone heading out there soon they don’t need to worry about the snow conditions.
On the other side of the country at Cauterets (30/270cm) there is good skiing as well. Snow fell earlier this week so the pistes are all in great condition, especially higher up. It snowed lightly on Thursday morning, 11th March, providing a dusting of fresh snow for visitors.
SWITZERLAND
15cm of fresh snow fell at Zermatt (22/132cm) on Wednesday 10th March. This greatly improved the skiing both on and off piste and the Ski Club rep in Zermatt at the moment said the snow is in amazing condition. Some of the best snow can be found in the more sheltered areas as it was fairly windy on Wednesday, but on the whole Zermatt has some great skiing at the moment.
It was snowing at Adelboden (15/140cm) on Thursday 11th March. Around 10cm fell over the course of the day and with a sunny weekend ahead the prospects are great. Cold weather is helping to maintain the snow as well so it is in good condition right down to the bottom.
Some of the best skiing at Saas Fee (85/228cm) at the moment is on the lower half of the mountain. Higher winds up at the top mean the snow is fairly hard packed but lower down it is much softer. As with everywhere at the moment the cold weather means the snow is good even down at the lowest levels.
CANADA
Many places in western Canada received lots of fresh snow earlier this week, which was very much needed by some resorts. The Rockies especially have had a very dry past few months which meant a lot of very hard-packed snow.
The most fresh snow fell at Banff (100/154cm), where 25cm landed on Monday night. The Ski Club rep in Banff at the moment said the powder had totally transformed the Sunshine Village area and given the pistes a very welcome boost. Powder can be found off piste but many areas nearer the runs will get tracked out quickly. More snow is forecast for the weekend.
Unfortunately it has got a lot warmer on the east coast, particularly at Blue Mountain (100cm). The temperature at the summit of the mountain is 8°C which is melting the snow. They still have a metre of snow on the slopes but with heavy rain forecast this is likely to be reduced by the next week. You can still ski from top to bottom but the snow is very slushy.
EUROPEAN WEATHER OUTLOOK
Wintry weather is forecast until at least Friday 19th March in Austria. Even lower resorts like Ellmau are expecting around 25cm of snow to fall by then and the temperature should remain generally low. The snow should fall lightly for the whole time.
France is expected to be a lot drier than Austria, with many sunny days in between a few days of light snow. Alpe d’Huez isn’t expecting any snow for the weekend or next week but the temperature should remain below freezing for the whole time.
Switzerland and Italy are expecting a mixture of sunny and snowy days. The snowy days aren’t likely to produce any more than 5cm of snow at a time however so powder days are unlikely.
A whopping 78cm of fresh snow is expected up at Oppdal in Norway. The snow should fall combined with some pretty cold weather meaning it should be decent quality powder. The heaviest of the snow should be Thursday and Friday the 12th and 13th March, totalling around 30cm over these two days.
NORTH AMERICAN WEATHER OUTLOOK
It should be a quiet seven days weather-wise in America. Most places are expecting a lot of sunshine rather than snow which will give some lovely spring skiing. If fresh snow is what you are after then head for Timberline in Oregon where nearly 40cm is expected by Saturday 13th March. Mild weather is then expected at Timberline on Monday.
Jackson Hole in Wyoming is expecting some mild and sunny weather too. A few centimetres of snow is forecast next week but on the whole it should remain sunny and mild. The warmest of the weather will be on Tuesday when the freezing level could rise to the summit.
It should also stay mild on the east coast, unfortunately bringing rain with it to Mount Snow. Saturday and Sunday is when the rain is forecast for which isn’t good news for weekend skiers but at least there is some snow to ski on.
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