J2Ski Snow Report - November 13th 2014
J2Ski Snow Report - November 13th 2014
Published : 13-Nov-2014 04:06
J2Ski Snow Report - November 13th 2014Re-publication :- our Snow Report Summary, being the text up to "The Alps", is free to re-publish, but must be clearly credited to www.J2ski.com with text including "J2Ski Snow Report" linked to this page - thank you.
Snow Report Summary
This Week's Headlines
- Andermatt, Crans Montana and Davos aim to open this weekend.
- Up to a foot of fresh snow in Colorado.
- Kvitfjell first area to Open in Norway.
- World Cup racing in Finland this weekend.
- Five areas open in Alberta, Canada from this weekend.
- 2014 season ends in southern hemisphere.
The heavy snow in the Alps a week ago did not quite live up to the cataclysmic volumes some forecasters predicted, but none-the-less many of the already-open glaciers received a 30-60cm boost to their bases and big queues were reported as locals tried to get some early 2014-15 season powder on the glaciers.
Some got more than a metre on top of similar accumulations a fortnight previously. The snow hasn't stopped either at many areas with resorts reporting smaller but still significant accumulations in recent days.
Elsewhere there's been fresh snow in many areas across North America too, with resorts in Western Canada and the US reporting significant fresh snowfall too. A foot of fresh snow has been reported in Colorado high spots over the past 72 hours
In the forecast
More snow, across a wide area, is expected in The Alps and Pyrenees this coming weekend, although temperatures remain on the mild side at present. There are strong hints in the forecast of cooling temperatures toward the end of November, with regular snow (at altitude at least) in many ski areas.
The Alps
Austria
Obergurgl becomes the first non-glacier resort to open in Austria today (Thursday 13th November).
Virtually the full area will be open thanks to all the fresh snow received over the past three weeks (the base is reported at 10-60cm), as will its neighbour Solden's ski area, extending now beyond the core glacier runs too. Austria's seven other glacier ski areas are all in full operation too.
Molltal reports the deepest snow depth at 2.4m – with 40cm of fresh snow this week. Elsewhere the Stubai, Pitztal, Kitzsteinhorn, and Hintertux glaciers have 1m to 1.8m bases while the Dachstein and Kaunertal have 40cm and 70cm bases respectively. Obertauern expects to open next week, making Austria the first country in Europe to get in to double figures for open areas in 2015.
France
Tignes remains the only ski area open in France for one more week. It's scheduled to be joined in a week's time by Val Thorens opening for its near six month season on the 22nd November. Tignes has reported a foot (30cm) of fresh snow in the last seven days but its base on the glacier is still only reported to be 40cm.
Italy
Italy's Solda ski area opened last week thanks to all the fresh snow, the first non-glacier area in the Alps to do so. It joins Cervinia (which reported 40cm of new snow on Thursday 13th November – although that may be due to a delay since the last measurement rather than all in the last 24 hours), Val Senales and the Presena Glacier which are all boasting snow depths around the 2m mark on upper slopes (for Solda its nearer 75cm). One of the country's spring and summer ski areas, Passo Stelvio, has closed however.
Switzerland
Zermatt, Europe's highest ski area, announced 10cm of fresh snow had fallen on Wednesday freshening up the slopes only a few days after the latest big falls allowed the famous resort to extend its open terrain beyond its glacier. Its neighbour Saas Fee has done likewise extending its open terrain down the mountain. Other open glacier areas in good shape include Glacier 3000 above Les Diablerets and the Diavolezza glacier in the Swiss Engadin close to St Moritz. Engelberg's glacier ski area is also scheduled to re-open this weekend after a 10 day 'maintenance closure' and Verbier's skiing on Mont Fort is open at weekends only for another fortnight until the official opening date. Andermatt, Crans Montana and Davos aim to open this weekend.
Scandinavia
It's a big weekend coming up in Finland as Levi is scheduled to host the first World Cup ski racing. It and Ruka remain the two areas open in Lapland, with a handful of key runs on offer from each.
Meanwhile in Norway Kvitfjell, one of the Lillehammer ski area resorts, is the first in the country to open. It reports a 30cm base with plenty of fresh snow falling.
North America
Canada
Whistler posted pictures and video this week showing a pro boarder and skier enjoying deep powder on its slopes, more than two weeks before its scheduled opening date in a fortnight's time. The images were captured on Monday 10th November.
But it's ski areas in Alberta that have been leading the way in terms of opening their slopes to the general public. Mt Norquay and Lake Louise were first to open in the country a week ago, they're due to be joined by the this Banff ski area, Sunshine, as well as Marmot Basin to the north and Calgary's local ski area, Nakiska this weekend. That will mean five Albertan ski areas are open and there's been fresh snow at many of them.
USA
Fresh snow has been reported in most mountainous areas of the USA in the past week.
Colorado has the most areas open for any one state and Arapahoe Basin, which was the first to open nearly a month ago now, has been reporting 10cm snowfalls for each of the past three days and overall up to a foot of new snow has been reported in the Colorado Rockies this week so far. Loveland, Keystone and Copper are all open too. In California two areas are open at lake Tahoe – Boreal and Mt Rose and there's also Timberline in Oregon.
Among the latest areas to open over on the East Coast are Sugarloaf in Maine last weekend, joining Sunday River and Attitash which has taken the title of 'first to open in New Hampshire for 14-15' Killington in Vermont is another New England option. There's also been snow in the MidWest where wild mountain remains open in Minnesota and two areas are also open in North Carolina.
Southern Hemisphere
The last ski area still open for 2014 south of the equator, Turoa on Mt Ruapehu in New Zealand, has closed for the season after its last day on Sunday 9th November. This was despite pleas from its fans to stay open longer after heavy snowfall last week. It closes with a 1.6m snow depth.
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