J2Ski Snow Report - February 21st 2013
J2Ski Snow Report - February 21st 2013
Published : 21-Feb-2013 10:00
Week Ending February 23rd, 2013* Free to re-publish in whole or part so long as clearly credited to www.J2ski.com with the following hyperlink kept in place -
http://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast/
This week saw a welcome return of snow to Austria (not that it had been absent long), with a respite for France and easing snowfalls for The Pyrenees.
Cool and clear weather is prevailing at the moment, although temperatures will rise a little over the next few days. Many areas should see light snow toward the end of the weekend, with the possibility for heavy falls in Austria and the Eastern Alps as we move into next week.
The forecast models are very undecided about what happens next so we're going to cop out and predict that temperatures will be either above or below average by next week...
What is pretty sure, however, is that the current impressive snow depths are likely to keep the skiing good well into March.
This Week's Headlines
- Niseko heads for snowiest in world total, with 80cm new snow this week and a 5m base.
- Colorado snowiest in US, at last.
- Sunshine and stillness in Scotland.
- Nearly 6m (20ft) of snow in the Pyrenees, the world's deepest snowbase.
- Engelberg hits 5m base depth - first in the Alps.
Europe
Austria
The snow is starting to fall again in Austria after a fairly dry week which saw just limited flurries at most areas – not a problem though with temperatures low and bases deep throughout much of the country.
Fresh snow has been reported in the Arlberg in the past 24 hours (20cm for Lech on Wednesday) and more is expected in the coming days as the country's skies turn snowier. St Wolfgang has also reported 20cm and Waidring 25cm. The Pitztal glacier, which incorporates Austria's highest lift and is open to mid-May, still has the deepest snow at 3.4m, but Lech isn't too far behind on 305cm (10.2 feet) But most Austrian resorts have healthy bases of 1.5-2.5m and are expecting more snow in the next few days.
France
There's been little fresh snow in France over the past week but cold weather and a few centimetres of fresh stuff at many resorts, if not big dumps, has made ski conditions excellent, particularly on piste. Base depths remain very good too. The biggest reported falls were at Meribel (15cm/6 inches) and Val Thorens and Tignes (10cm/4 inches each). Along with being home to the resort with the deepest snow base in the world at present (see Pyrenees entry), French ski areas in the Alps have massive bases that will easily see them through to the end of the season. Among the biggest are Chatel (3m), La Clusaz (3.5m) and Flaine (4.2m).
Italy
Very little fresh snow for Italy in the past week, the biggest reported fall 12cm (5 inches) at Cervinia, where the upper slope depth is just above 2m. However like much of Europe, low temperatures, sunny days and a good accumulated base depth at most ski areas meant that on the pistes the skiing has been excellent and for those not obsessed with powder, probably much more enjoyable than if it was dumping down. Most areas have bases of 1.5 to 2.5m although Passo Tonale has passed the 3m (10 foot) mark. There's a fairly even cover across the country at ski slope level at least with Cortina in the Dolomites to the East on 1.7m and Courmayeur on the Western border in the Alps on 1.8m – or both around six foot in layman's terms!
Switzerland
Swiss resorts have seen some of the biggest snowfall accumulations ion the Alps of the past week, enabling Engelberg to be the first resort north of the Pyrenees to hit a 5m upper slope snow depth level. Several top resorts reported at least 25cm/10 inches of new snow including Davos, Grindelwald, Murren, Saas Fee and Wengen while St Moritz and Zermatt each added around 50cm/20 inches to their tallies. Base depths remain good to excellent across the country. Besides Engelberg's epic volumes; Gstaad is on 4.4m, Andermatt on 4.2m and several others have 3m/10ft plus bases including Laax and Crans Montana.
Pyrenees
The huge snowfall in the Pyrenees has slowed at last after a month of heavy snow deposited more than 12m (40 feet) of snow across most resorts in the region. Only 30cm of new snow has fallen this week. Cauterets on the French side has the deepest snow in the world at present at 5.8m (over 19 feet), while depths in Andorra are typically 2.5-3m, the best for a decade.
In Spain, Baqueira Beret reports almost all of the chairlifts and pistes of the resort are open. The Tuc de la Llança 1 and 2 and the Argulles chairlifts will be open on Monday. These were the only ones pending to open due to the more than 4 meters of snowfall in the Bonaigua area.
Following the spectacular job on behalf of the resort to dig out the pillars and to mark the runs the chairs will be operating. The Aranese resort has optimum snow levels between 240 and 450 cm of powder snow and, as of Wednesday, all of its pistes are open which means that the 120 km of Baqueira's groomed runs are accessible.
Eastern Europe
There's been some fresh snow in Eastern Europe where base depths are looking good! This is particularly the case in Bulgaria where ski areas reported another 10cm of snow in the past few days and bases as deep as 2.4m (8 feet) at Bansko. The bases are a little thinner elsewhere (1.2m at Kranjska Gora in Slovenia, 70cm at Poiana Brasov in Romania …but all runs are open and all lifts turning.
Scandinavia
There's been little change in conditions across Scandinavia where typically base depths are 60-120cm (2-4 feet), the snow in good condition thanks to low temperatures of course, and nearly all runs are open and lists operating at every area. There has not been a lot of fresh snow – the biggest falls of 10cm reported at Yllas in Lapland (Finland) and as much as 20cm at Lillehammer and Voss in Norway. The latter is the exception for base depths with around double that of any other major area in the region at 2.2m (7.3 feet).
Scotland
After a bad week last week in Scotland with more avalanche deaths in the mountains (though not the ski areas), taking this winter's tally to nine, a reminder that these are serious mountains and a chairlift accident at the Lecht requiring six people needing hospital treatment, five of them children, conditions on Scottish ski slopes this week could hardly be better. The snow is no longer fresh but the sun has shone, the wind has stayed away and thousands of half term holiday makers have descended. Most areas are running at capacity, with all possible slopes and runs open with top to bottom skiing.
North America
Canada
No big snowfalls in the past week across Canada, although most resorts, East and West, have added 1cmk or so of new snow over the seven days to at least keep cover fresh. However the stand-out resort has been Banff-Lake Louise with over a foot (36cm) of new snow and reported powder conditions at all three ski areas there. Whistler has only had a few centimetres of new snow recently but a return of the big dump is expected imminently! Most areas have a 1-2m base depth but Big White, Fernie and Red in BC are past that.
USA
Three months in to the ski season, and with only six weeks to go for some US resorts, Colorado has regained its position as the snowiest state in the USA with its resorts posting the biggest accumulations of light powder in the past week. Breckenridge, Vail and Steamboat all reported the biggest accumulations – around 40cm each, but most other Colorado resorts had 10-20cm to keep the slopes in good shape.
Elsewhere in the states snowfall has been sporadic with Jackson Hole in Wyoming, Big Sky in Montana and Alyeska in Alaska among the better performers with 20-30cm of new snow each, but there have been no especially huge falls anywhere. On the East coast base depths remain around the metre mark with another 5cm of fresh snow at Stowe (1.2m base).
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