More Snow In The Alps And Substantial Falls In The US At Last

The heavy snowfall in the Alps won’t let up it seems and several big name resorts including Chamonix and St Anton have added a metre or more of fresh snow in the past 7 days.
The good news is that Western North America is gaining lost ground on its slow start – in terms of snowfall – to 2011-12 with heavy snowfall in parts of California at last, the biggest accumulations up to 1.8m (six feet) at Lake Tahoe. Elsewhere the snow is in excellent condition in Western Canada as it has been all winter.
The news is not entirely good. Although most of the Alps have had good snowfalls the headline grabbing figures are mostly at northern, high altitude resorts and some lower regions could do with more. There’s been little fresh snow in the Pyrenees this month although snow depths from earlier falls and snowmaking are still in place.
There has been more heavy snow over the past few days in Austria. All roads in to Lech Zuers were closed when another 30cm+ of snow fell but the main streets opened again later the same day. In the last seven days St Anton in Arlberg reported 125cm of new snow while SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser – Brixental had 120cm and Solden 86 cm. There were 45 powderalarms for 20cm (8 nches) or more new snow in Austria on Tuesday. There’s now over five metres of snow in St Anton at Arlberg, which has the deepest snow depth in the country, and in Europe, followed by neighbouring Lech Zuers. The Zugspitzplatt has 400cm. It’s likely to remain snowy and cold over the next few days with high avalanche risk at many resorts.
There’s been fresh heavy snowfall in France over the past week, particularly last weekend in the Northern Alps when a metre of snow fell on resorts including Arêches Beaufort (a ski resort known for its off-piste) and Les Houches (which will host the Alpine World Cup Skiing men from 3rd to 5th February). Snow depths in the slopes in the Chamonix valley now vary between 2m at the base and 4m60 up top. More generally, the snowfall figures were between 50 and 70cm in the Savoie and Haute-Savoie and around 20/30 cm in the department of Isere. The other mountain areas were not so lucky with 20cm at Pelvoux and Superdevoluy (in the Southern Alps), 15cm at Gerardmer and Lac Blanc (the Vosges), and 5 small cm at Chalmazel (Massif Central) and Formigueres (Pyrenees). There’s no change, therefore, the Northern Alps reinforced their "supremacy" and remains the snowiest in France (460 cm in Chamonix, La Rosiere 385 cm, 350 cm in Alpe d'Huez). Although not all benefited from the recent snowfall, the ski resorts of Hautes-Alpes, however, offer very good conditions (150cm at Les Orres and Montgenevre, Serre Chevalier 145 cm). Some light snow is expected in the next few days but no more heavy falls for a while.
Italian ski areas have been further building their base depths over the past seven days with Courmayeur adding 40cm and Cervinia 50cm of new snow while Livigno has a foot (30cm).
The small ski area of San Domenico di Varzo currently has the country’s deepest snow with 320cm followed by the Presena Glacier above Passo Tonale in the Dolomites with 2.7m (nine feet) and Cervinia with 2.6m (just under nine feet!).
Switzerland has been seeing lots of fresh snow in the past few days – once again, building on already big base depths. Yesterday there were a dozen Swiss powder alarms with resorts reporting at least 20cm of new snow in 34 hours; yesterday there have been more with falls of up to 50cm including 30cm for Gstaad and Grindelwald. The best Swiss snow depth can be found in Engelberg with 460cm, Laax has 400cm and Saas Fee 360cm (12 feet). In the last seven days there’s been 138cm at Crans Montana, 130cm at Laax and 115cm in Lötschental.
Snow bases remain reasonable to good at most areas in the Pyrenees but there has not been much fresh snow in January so a top up would be useful. Resorts in Andorra and Spain report 60-150cm bases. In France there’s 130cm in Piau Engaly, Peyragudes 90cm and 70cm in Saint Lary but conditions remain satisfactory even if a snowfall of about 20 to 30 cm would be welcome at bottom of ski areas where the snow is still sometimes limited.
Most resorts in Scandinavia are in good shape with good snow cover. Røldal in Norway is claiming the deepest snow in the region with 340cm (11.3 feet) while Voss has 290cm (nearly 10 feet).
Conditions are looking much better in Scotland than a week ago following a week of snowfall at most areas. However the situation remains changeable as it has all winter with freeze-thaw patterns and the seemingly endless arrival of strong o gale force winds every few days.
On the west Coast Glencoe is largely open and Nevis range has more than 500m of skiable vertical but strong winds and warming temperatures are making snow on the upper mountain softer and wetter and runs on the lower mountain are likely to be thin and narrow. For beginners and novices the Alpha lift is running to Tower 2 for the artificial slope and patches of snow on the trainer tow. Back Corrie has been off piste and not patrolled. On the east most runs at The Lecht are complete. Cairngorm can not quite yet offer top-to-bottom skiing but the route from the Top Station to the mid station is now complete again and offering great snow sports. The bottom zig is still a bit sketchy, with the best route for lower abilities being from the mid zig to the Gunbarrel. Glenshee has a 300m vertical and recent snow has improved the runs with good skiing/boarding to be had on those that are open. Cairnwell and the Butcharts Tows are complete with fresh snow on a hard packed base. Other runs are thin in places.
Western Canada continues to report great conditions and there seems to be no end to the snowfall with Kicking horse in BC reporting another foot (30cm) today already. Fellow BC resort Revelstoke has now achieved a 209cm (7 foot) base with 40cm of snowfall over the weekend and a total of 68cm in the last seven days. The resort says it`s still snowing heavily down to the base with a big snowfall in the forecast for tonight plus more snow on the way this weekend
After a weird two month snow droughtin the USA, the first real storms of winter have already left a big impression on California's Mammoth Mountain and Lake Tahoe ski areas.
Snow started flying on Friday and as of 8am Monday morning, Mammoth had picked up four feet / 1.3m of snow and more is expected over the next couple of days. In Lake Tahoe, Heavenly Mountain Resort has received two to three feet / 1m of snow since last week and is expecting additional snow over the next few days, and in Northstar California at the top of the summit four feet / 1.3m of snow has fallen in the last week. Other resorts around Tahoe also reported big accumulations with Squaw Valley and Alpine meadows claiming up to 1.8m (six feet) fell.
At over 10,000 feet / 3,000m, Heavenly is Lake Tahoe's highest resort and they are currently operating 24 of 30 lifts, accessing 30 trails and more than 19 miles of terrain, and anticipate being able to open more terrain soon. In Northstar, they have 15 lifts open and 57 trails open. In both resorts, the natural snow has added nicely to the existing machine-made coverage, making for excellent conditions. The much needed powder will allow Mammoth to open all lifts and terrain by the end of this week.

Snowfall Returns To USA After A Calm Week In The Alps

After the huge snowfalls of the first 10 days of January conditions have been much calmer in the Alps over the past week. The USA, where key states have been needing snow, have seen the first substantial falls for over a month in Colorado, Utah and new England though.
Heavy snow, possibly disruptive in places is expected in the next few days however with Western North America and France/Switzerland expected to get the biggest falls – potentially huge 1m+ accumulations – although most other areas will see fresh snow too.
Big falls have already been reported in the past 72 hours with parts of Hokkaido in Japan, already known as one of the snowiest places on earth, managing to clock up their greatest ever 48 hour accumulations and Western Canada – which has had a great snowy season so far anyway, seeing more big falls of up to 75cm in 24 hours. Some resorts there have now received around 6m/20 feet of snow so far this winter.
Conditions have calmed down in Austria after the huge snowfalls in the first week of January led to road closures and cut off resorts by road and rail. During the last week some resorts got up to 40cm fresh snow however keeping slopes in good shape. Obertauern and Zauchensee report 40cm for the last seven day while Fieberbrunn, Zillertal and St Johann in Tirol got 20cm each. Thanks to all the early January snow there are still huge snow depths in Austrian ski resorts. The deepest can be found in St Anton at Arlberg with 440cm (nearly 15 feet). Zugspitzplatt Ehrwald has 370cm and Lech Zurs at Arlberg has 350cm. There are ten other resorts with a snow depth over three meters (ten feet). Other Austrian news is that the Fun Park in Solden has opened for this season but the off piste avalanche risk is high at several resorts, including Mayrhofen (degree 4 of 5). Towards the end of the week it will be getting warmer in Austria and the snowline will rise to above 1000m. Fresh snowfalls are expected for Saturday afternoon.
For the second consecutive week, French ski resorts are enjoying sunny days and temperatures become colder. This lull has allowed stations to overcome the chaotic situation encountered earlier this year (caused by heavy snow). Everything is now back to normal and the ski conditions are still outstanding on the northern Alps (over three metres/10 feet of snow at the top of Chamonix’s slopes), excellent in the Southern Alps (150cm/five feet in Montgenevre and Les Orres), very good over the Pyrenees (150cm/five feet in Piau Engaly), satisfying in the Jura (60cm/two feet Jura Mountains), but just average in the Massif Central (10 to 60cm) and the Vosges (30 to 60cm depending on the stations). The last significant snowfall occurred more than 10 days ago now but the lull could be only short-lived as the forecast is for a return to snowy weather from Wednesday night with new snowfall continuing through the weekend. All mountain areas should benefit these snowfall (and this is a good news) but the biggest falls are, once again, expected for the northern Alps. The forecasts need to be finalised but could again exceed a metre of new snow in some ski resorts (La Clusaz, Avoriaz ...). "Let it be said, the snow is back in France!" says Skiinfo France’s Stéphane Giraud.
In common with the rest of Europe, there’s been little or no new snowfall in Italy in the past week. However base depths are very healthy. In most areas after the previous large accumulations. The deepest, just, is at Cervinia in the Aosta Valley to the West of the country with 2.8m (over nine feet), with Arabba in the Dolomites on the Eastern side only 2cm (less than an inch) behind at 278cm.
The past few days have been sunny in Switzerland. Skiers and boarders benefitted from the big falls a week ago. Snow depths are excellent and skiers are enjoying the good conditions at the moment. On Thursday and Friday new snowfall is expected, especially in the northern Alps. The best snow depth can be found in Lungern-Schönbüel with 450 cm, followed by Engelberg with 385cm and Gstaad Glacier 3000 with 380 cm. However despite the great snow condition the ice is too thin at St Moritz where the 28th Polo World Cup on Snow 2012 on the resort’s famous frozen lake cannot go ahead for the first time in the tournament’s 28-year history.
Conditions remain good across most of the Pyrenees although there’s been little fresh snowfall in the past week. Baqueira – Beret in Spain has the deepest snow base at up to 160cm, followed by Piau Engaly on the French side with 150cm. Vallnord in Andorra in the centre is in third place with 140cm and Cauterets, back in France, has a 130cm base.
It’s snowy in Scandinavia with Strandafjellet in Norway receiving some of the biggest snowfalls in the world over the past 7 days with 80cm. Most of the regions larger resorts are now sitting on healthy base depths with Roldal on top with 290cm (nearly 10 feet).
Western Canada’s excellent season continues and has even moved up a gear with Fernie in British Columbia reporting 75cm (30 inches) of new snow in the past 24 hours on an already healthy base. It’s a similar story across the province: "After an incredible snowfall over the past weekend with close to 50cm of snow falling in 48hrs, Revelstoke Mountain Resort boasts amazing snow conditions nearing a 200cm base and 550cm of snowfall to date", said a resort statement. A heavy snow cycle is forecast to return this weekend with great skiing temperatures throughout the week. Recent snowfalls have developed the lower mountain, with runs below Mid-Mountain Lodge officially opening at Revelstopke for the first time yesterday. Skiers and snowboarders can now enjoy the Most Vertical in North America with 5620’ vertical feet of skiing fun!
Western US is bracing for a dramatic change to its lacklustre winter 2011-12 with big snowfalls and temperatures up to 20 degrees below average as new fronts move in to the region, severe weather warnings are in place. If this all happens as predicted it should, once the extreme weather has moved on, transform the ski areas in California that have been suffering since early December from warm weather and little or no natural snow. Conditions have already picked up in the major ski states of Utah and particularly Colorado which issued powder alarms for over 8 inches (20cm) of fresh snow and in some cases as much as a foot (30cm) in 24 hours over Monday/Tuesday this week. Beneficiaries included Vail and Beaver Creek. The snow has been good all season in some parts of the US and Alaska, Washington State and Wyoming in the North West of the country have also been reporting more heavy snow as they have for most of the winter. Eaglecrest in Alaska has the country’s deepest snow at 376cm (12.5 feet) while Mt Baker in Washington State, the famed snowiest-resort-in-the-world is not far behind with 368cm. Conditions have picked up a great deal in recent weeks on the East Coast too, although snowfall there at the end of last week has now eased, many resorts, particularly in Vermont, benefitted from several feet of snow.