Fresh Powder And 1300m of Skiable Vertical in the Alps
Fresh Powder And 1300m of Skiable Vertical in the Alps
Published : 23-May-2016 02:51
With Cervinia and Engelberg closing for the season at the weekend and no ski areas open at all in France you can now count the number of ski areas open in Europe on the fingers of two hands, but whether the lifts are running or not winter is continuing in the mountains and May has proven a much snowier month than December was in the Alps.
However 1,300m of lift served vertical on a deep base with a foot of fresh powder is still available in the Alps to skiers and boarders looking for a late spring snowsports fix.
The year-round Hintertux glacier in the Austrian Tirol (Pictured above in the past few days) is having one of its best spring skiing seasons in memory and, along with other glacier areas in the Alps, is expecting another foot of snow in the next 24 hours.
It currently has a 3.3m (11 foot) base at the top of its slopes and is able to have 1,300 vertical metres of lift serviced terrain open from its lower mid-station below the glacier at 1950m right up to the top of the mountain at 3250m. In its daily snow report today it describes snow conditions as "powder."
Other still open ski centres include Zermatt, which reports a 2.5m base, fresh snow falling and powder conditions too, as does the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz. In Austria the Kitzsteinhorn glacier is also open with a 3m base. In Scandinavia Riksgransen in Sweden's arctic circle is open and offering skiing under the midnight sun and Norway's Folgefonn glacier is open too.
Italy's Passo Stelvio and Norway's Stryn glacier are scheduled to open next weekend although Austria's Kaunertal and Stubai glaciers, which are currently still open, are scheduled to close for the season then too.
The southern hemisphere's 2016 ski season is due to start next week in southern Africa with Tiffendell in South Africa and Afriski in Lesotho scheduled to open on the 1st and 2nd of June respectively, followed by resorts in Australia a week later than the first areas in New Zealand and south America. Most have reported good pre-season snowfalls.
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