Country Wide Snow Report – New Year’s 2015
FRANCE
Some very heavy snowfall was seen over the weekend across France, transforming the state of most resort’s slopes and making it the first week in which all of our reporting resorts are open.
Most resorts reported in excess of 30cm of fresh snow, with some places seeing much more. By Sunday 28th December, Morzine (50/150cm) was reporting 70cm of new snow, the Chamonix (30/160cm) Valley and Les Arcs (55/78cm) had received 50cm and Courchevel (60/96cm) had seen more than 30cm of fresh snow.
Resorts such as La Grave (30/100cm) have now opened for the first time this season and are reporting good conditions thanks to the new snowfall.
Villard de Lans (40/50cm) was operating 15 lifts on Monday, which is an exceptional change from this time last week when the slopes were mainly grass and no lifts were operating.
Much more terrain has opened across France as a result, just in time for the New Year holidays and off piste there is lots of untracked powder on offer.
Be careful however, as MeteoFrance is warning of high avalanche danger and also with a real lack of a base in places, rocks may be lying just below the surface off piste.The Pyrenees did not miss out either, with Cauterets (110/160cm) reporting 80cm of fresh snow over the weekend. Cold and calm weather heading into the new week will preserve the new snow extremely well both on and off piste.
Summary of forecast snowfall and ski conditions for resorts in France. Fresh snow is forecast at 67 resorts. Powder is reported at 9 resorts and 98 are reporting good piste conditions.
AUSTRIA
Over the Christmas period there was plenty of snow falling across Austria which has seen a big improvement in all of our featured resorts. The early season has definitely hindered base layer preparation but the fresh snow has boosted its development.
Off piste conditions are still quite varied in most of our featured resorts so extra caution is advised. The higher resorts are thriving after recent snowfall over the Christmas period. The Hintertux Glacier (5/210cm) had yet more snow over the weekend with a further 5cm falling on Sunday. Piste conditions are excellent and well groomed at the moment and there are also pockets of fresh powder to be carved through off the piste.
On Monday 29th December there were 17 lifts turning and it was a very cold day with a high altitude temperature of around -21C. It was mostly cloudy on Monday but the snow began to fall in the afternoon, fresh tracks await those out on the slopes tomorrow.The next few days will very much the same but more cloudy earlier on and fresh snow will continue to fall as the day develops. This is great news for Austria and the temperature will remain very cold before rising to around the freezing mark in the middle of the week when the sun is expected to return.
Summary of forecast snowfall and ski conditions for resorts in Austria. Fresh snow is forecast at all featured Austrian resorts with many reporting powder and all are reporting good piste conditions.
SWITZERLAND
The big dump of snow that was badly needed across Switzerland finally came over the weekend and as of Monday 29th December; resorts were still reporting fresh snowfall. The most fell in the west and northwest of the country, with parts of the Portes du Soleil seeing almost a metre of new snow.
Skiing on piste is now mostly very good and there is powder to be found across the country off piste.
Western Switzerland was transformed as a huge winter storm swept in on Saturday 27th December. Resorts such as Champery (75/75cm) andAnzere (50/120cm) that were previously struggling for snow, now are operating and more lifts should open in the coming days Engelberg (58/250cm) was turning 23 out of 24 lifts on Monday thanks to 50cm overnight to go with Saturday and Sunday’s snowfalls.
Lots of powder will be found off piste, but be careful as the Swiss Avalanche Service, SLF, is forecasting Âconsiderable avalanche danger across the country.
The Jungfrau region has been significantly improved by the new snow, with Wengen(25/60cm) operating 14 lifts, Grindelwald (10/90cm) running six lifts and Murren (33/72cm) spinning all but three of their lifts. More terrain will open up this week following the half a metre of snow that fell over the weekend.Some light snow was falling on Monday, but the outlook for the week is for the temperature to remain cold and for the sun to shine. Get out there and enjoy the fantastic conditions!
Summary of forecast snowfall and ski conditions for resorts in Switzerland. Fresh snow is forecast at all featured Swiss resorts and powder is reported as well as good piste conditions.
CANADA (BC)
Western Canada is enjoying excellent conditions with upper and lower depths increasing daily.
Eastern Canada is also improving especially after the Christmas period with fresh snow being reported and a very cold climate thus ensuring the pistes remain in a strong state. Most of Canada was fairly sunny on Monday 29th December, with lighter clouds being reported in Eastern Canada Silver Star (107/139cm) has seen its base depth increase over the weekend with approximately 16cm of fresh snow being recorded. On Monday all 12 lifts were open and it was a very cold day with an average mid-mountain temperature of -17C. Whistler Blackcomb (123/123cm) has prepared a much bigger ski area now and the resort is now opening all 26 lifts.
There was fresh snow over the weekend with around 9cm being reported and it’s currently very cold in British Columbia; weather stations are reporting mid-mountain levels at around -13C. There are now a wide variety of runs available inWhistler Blackcomb, with fresh powder of the piste and the Nintendo Park is open for those who fancy jibbing on some rails or hitting the kickers for some big air.East and western Canada is forecast to remain quite sunny until the middle of the week when thicker clouds are predicted which could bring fresh snow, particularly in northern British Columbia. It should stay quite cold in the east whereas the west should see a slight rise in temperature.
Summary of forecast snowfall and ski conditions for resorts in Canada – BC. Fresh snow is forecast.