Snow Report 18th March, 2010
INTRODUCTION
Spring has sprung once again in Europe. Mild and sunny weather, combined with plenty of existing snow, makes for some classic spring skiing at the moment right across the Alps.
Austria has some superb conditions due to heavy snow that fell at most resorts on Tuesday 16th March. Lech received lots of snow right down to the town and the skiing has been superb all week. It should stay this way for the coming weekend.
The Ski Club reps based in resorts in France all report the same thing, sun! The skiing is great too with the sunshine guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Les Arcs and La Plagne have some of the best conditions.
It’s been a little colder in Switzerland and Italy so the snow isn’t quite as spring-like. The sun is shining over most of the country though so it’s the perfect weather to enjoy the snow. Zermatt’s best snow is on the higher slopes.
The thaw on the east coast of America continues, with temperatures of around 10°C at most resorts. Spring skiing is the name of the game but this is to be expected at this time of year. Try some new tricks in the park as the soft snow is more forgiving.
A metre of snow fell in Whistler between 10th and 17th March, giving plenty of deep powder on the upper half of the mountain. Kicking Horse and Revelstoke also had some decent powder snow, especially on the upper half of the mountains.
AUSTRIA
There is some excellent skiing in Austria at the moment, following lots of heavy snow on Tuesday 16th March at most areas of the country.
Between 40cm and 50cm of fresh snow fell at Kitzbuhel (40/130cm) over the course of Monday and Tuesday, which gave plenty of powder both on and off the pistes. The Ski Club rep in Kitzbuhel said many of the upper slopes still had plenty of untracked powder on Wednesday. Milder temperatures are now making the lower slopes softer, but on the whole conditions are superb.
Equally good conditions can be found at Lech (115/180cm) where loads of snow fell on Tuesday. As Lech is higher than Kitzbuhel the snow is in good condition right down to base level, of approximately 1400m. All the links over to St Anton (70/250cm) and Zurs (115/180cm) are open, giving a massive area of excellent snow.
FRANCE
Great spring skiing can be found at most French resorts at the moment. The sun has been shining all week and the temperature is mild, providing lovely skiing conditions.
Some of the best conditions are up at Tignes (120/188cm) and Val d’Isere (120/188cm). The high altitude means it is colder and so the snow is in great condition. Even lower down where the snow is softer it is still great to ski on. Skiing off piste you may not be able to find much in the way of soft snow but it is there if you know where to look.
The same is true at Les Arcs (90/203cm). The snow is in good condition up high but soft at mid mountain and slushy down at resort level. However this doesn’t mean the skiing is bad, as the soft snow is more forgiving than on the upper slopes. The Ski Club rep in Les Arcs said that they enjoyed a great day in the warm sunshine on Wednesday 17th March, on very well prepared pistes.
SWITZERLAND
There are excellent conditions in the Davos (55/161cm) and Klosters (30/161cm) area at the moment. The Ski Club reps in both resorts report excellent conditions on the upper and lower slopes with powder off piste, thanks to the fresh snow that fell earlier in the week.
It hasn’t snowed for a while in the Pontresina (80/200cm) are but excellent piste preparation means there is some good skiing. As is the case across the Swiss resorts at the moment, the lower slopes are soft or slushy in places and further up they are more hard packed.
Some great powder can still be found on the upper slopes at Flims/Laax (30/200cm) as they received 25cm of fresh snow on Tuesday 16th March. The powder is fairly heavy on the lower slopes because of the warmth but piste skiing down low is still good. For the powder, head up high.
CANADA
More snow has fallen at Whistler (326cm). A further 12cm fell on Wednesday 17th March, meaning they received over a metre of fresh snow since Wednesday 10th March. Nearly 13 metres of snow has fallen so far this season. The best conditions can be found further up the mountain, as is often the case, but great spring snow awaits those who ski the lower slopes too.
Another few centimetres fell at Revelstoke (211cm) on Wednesday. As with Whistler, it is warm low down but head above about 1300m and the snow is in fairly good condition. 32 of their 52 runs were open on Wednesday, 17th March, and most of the closed ones are very low down.
Unfortunately it’s not so good on the east coast where it is very warm, especially the south eastern resort of Blue Mountain (70cm). This means you won’t find any powder but you will find a good covering of slushy snow, which can be just as fun. As it is very soft, it is the perfect snow to practise your manoeuvres in the park.
EUROPEAN WEATHER OUTLOOK
Mild weather is expected in the Alps this weekend but it should get colder again next week. Many resorts are expecting rain up to around 2400m on Sunday but snow above this. 4cm of snow is expected up high at Avoriaz on Sunday night, 21st March. Monday should be slightly colder with light snow at village level before cooling down again on Tuesday.
Similar weather is expected in Austria, where the freezing level should rise up to about 2900m at most places on Saturday. Monday should bring some rain with it before colder weather moves in on Tuesday 23rd with light snow possible.
It should be slightly colder in Switzerland and Italy. The freezing level shouldn’t rise above 2400m at Andermatt in Switzerland and it should snow on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, amounting to around 10cm.
It is mild in Scandinavia at the moment but the temperature is forecast to drop down to as low as -10C next week. Fresh snow is forecast to land at all of our featured Norwegian and Swedish resorts but the end of next week, Friday 26th March.
The colder weather in Scandinavia is expected to make its way over to Scotland too. 6cm of fresh snow is expected at Cairngorm on Tuesday, with the freezing level falling back to around 500m by the end of next week.
NORTH AMERICAN WEATHER OUTLOOK
The very mild weather on the east coast should come to a brief end on Tuesday 23rd March. However, heavy rain is expected on Monday 22nd with temperatures of 8°C. By Tuesday though 21cm of snow should have fallen and a temperature of -5°C should improve things.
It should stay reasonably cold in Colorado and there will be a few snowy days too. 20cm of fresh powder is expected at Keystone on Friday 19th March and it will be cold too, -9°C is the expected high. The weekend should be cold and sunny, with that weather trend continuing into next week as well.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday are expected to be sunny up at Whistler in Canada. Light snow and colder weather is expected from Sunday 21st March, bringing around 30cm of snow with it next week.
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