J2Ski Snow Report - January 2nd 2025
J2Ski Snow Report - January 2nd 2025
Published : 02-Jan-2025 10:44
Good skiing with great views at Kaprun, Austria, this week...
Sunny days after snow for much of Europe this week, with heavy snow in Japan. Snow is now falling in the Alps, with more in the forecast - and also expected for North America.
The Snow Headlines - January 2nd
- Sunshine for much of Western Europe after exceptionally heavy pre-Christmas snowfall.
- Heavy snowfall in Japan takes base depths past the 4-metre mark - world's deepest.
- Flaine posting deepest snow in Europe at 2.7m / 9 feet.
- Thin cover limits open terrain at centres including Cortina, Heavenly, Hemsedal and Livigno.
- Some decent snowfall in the forecast for the Alps this coming weekend.
Snow forecast for European, American and Japanese ski areas.
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World Overview
There was little fresh snowfall in the last few days of 2024 in much of Europe and North America, with the biggest reported accumulations on each side of the Pacific in Japan and western Canada.
Japan is moving ahead in terms of snowfall totals, reaching a 4-metre base depth this week in several of its centres, the most anywhere in the world.
Elsewhere a few regions like Scandinavia, the Rockies and East Coast North America have reported fairly light accumulations at least giving a refresh.
Western Europe has been dry and sunny until the last 24 hours, with most resorts basking in beautiful conditions after the big pre-Christmas snowfalls. It has started snowing this evening (Thursday), quite heavily in parts of the French Alps at least.
A few ski resorts in the southern and eastern Alps (eastern Italy and Switzerland), much like parts of California and Utah, have struggled to open much terrain after missing out on the big dumps of the last fortnight. Snowfall is on the way again now though.
Europe
Austria
It's been a sunny week in Austria with lots of dry, clear days giving great ski conditions with perfect visibility.
The freezing point has been up above 2,000m for much of the week which has meant snow that fell in valleys before Christmas has begun melting away at village level for many Austrian resorts, whilst the upper mountain stays white and valley runs are kept open with groomers and snowmaking.
The Arlberg (St Anton/Lech), Skiwelt (Ellmau, Brixen, Westerndorf, Soll et al) and Saalbach Hinterglemm ski areas are all 75-85% open meaning over 200km (125 miles) of runs available at each.
Clouds have now started rolling in, temperatures are dropping and snow is beginning to fall to end the week.
France
It's been a predominantly sunny week in the French Alps too, although conditions are changing now with temperatures dropping and the first snowfall since Christmas Eve being reported.
More snow is expected to end the week and continue through the weekend.
After the big pre-Xmas snowfalls most of the country's ski areas are between 80-95% open, good news with New Year being one of the busiest weeks of the season.
The Grand Massif region (Samoens, Morillon, Les Carroz, Flaine) is posting France and Europe's deepest snow with 2.7m (9 feet) lying on its higher slopes. With the freezing point in the 1,500-2,500m range there has been some thawing on lower slopes but snowmaking and careful grooming have kept valley runs open at lower areas.
Italy
It's been sunny too in Italy, but then that's been the case for much of the past few months and bases here are thin and largely thanks to snowmaking efforts, particularly in the south and east of the country.
Despite this, most terrain is open, especially at resorts like Kronplatz, Madonna di Campiglio and Val Gardena in the Dolomites, all at 80-99% open.
The past week has seen afternoon temperatures peak at +10C in valleys so the snow has gone off-piste on lower mountain sides but it is now getting cooler with light snowfall expected through the weekend and temperatures remaining below freezing.
Switzerland
Switzerland has had a sunny week as well since Christmas but is also seeing temperatures dropping and clouds rolling in. Light snowfall at first should intensify through the weekend with heavy falls, particularly in the west of the country, expected by the weekend.
The big snowfalls at the start of last week have allowed many areas to open most of their slopes.
The 4 Valleys is up to 75% open with 320km (200 miles) of slopes available, the most in the country.
Some centres in the east, like St Moritz, missed out on the earlier snow and are struggling to open much more than half their slopes with a 30cm base. Crans-Montana saw its base decrease again by almost as much as the metre-plus it added pre-Christmas, but it still has 75% of its slopes open.
Scandinavia
Conditions continue to improve across Scandinavia and a little over half the region's slopes are now open.
The biggest centre, Sweden's Åre is ahead of the average with 70% of its runs open for New Year.
Over in Norway, Trysil is reporting just a 7-inch base and less than half of its runs are skiable, so it remains a fragmented picture.
There are some very low temperatures in the forecast, down into the -20Cs, along with some light snow showers plus sunny spells in the mix for the start of January.
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees have had mostly dry weather with plenty of sunshine this week, similar to the Alps.
Warm temperatures in the afternoons in valleys have impacted low-lying snow cover but upper terrain remains good thanks to big December snowfalls and valley runs have been maintained with snowmaking and grooming efforts pushing snow down the slopes.
Some French centres including St Lary remain close to 100% open, with the biggest areas like Soldeu/Pas de la Casa (Grandvalira) in Andorra and Baqueira Beret in Spain each posting more than 120km (75 miles) of runs available (around 60-70% of their runs).
Scotland
Scottish slopes have turned white again after a very warm Christmas week which saw temperatures get above +10C at high altitude.
The snowpack damage from the warm, wet and windy weather means that centres are starting from scratch rebuilding bases, but things are at least moving in the right direction again.
The four centres with all-weather snowmaking machines have small snow areas available in the meantime. They're at Glenshee, Cairngorm (beginners only), The Lecht and Glencoe.
Nevis Range doesn't have anything open at present as they don't have working all-weather snowmaking.
Eastern Europe
Not much fresh snowfall to report in Eastern Europe but it is turning snowier now, particularly in the Northeast with heavy snowfall expected over the next few days in Czechia, Slovakia and Poland. Here most centres are now 60-80% open.
Bulgaria's Bansko continues to post the region's deepest snow at 1.3 metres and most terrain open – around 90% of its slopes.
North America
Canada
Most of Western Canada is looking great after some more decent 15-30cm (6 to 12 inches) snowfalls this past week with temperatures remaining below freezing around the clock.
Resorts like Big White and Sun Peaks now have every run open and the largest, Whistler Blackcomb, is not far behind, posting 91% of its vast terrain open.
More cold temperatures are in the forecast for the coming week, but there are only light snow showers expected. Ski areas in the east of Canada continue to battle to open and most only have 20-40cm bases after the warm, wet autumn, so despite things getting more consistently colder now, most have only been able to open 30-50% of their slopes still.
USA
It's a mixed picture across the US with the best conditions continuing to be in the north-west corner of the country where there have been more good snowfalls in states including Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming where most centres are fully open and posting base depths of more than six feet (2 metres).
Further south it has been a mostly dry December in California, Colorado and Utah which has impacted some areas more than others. Most are 70-90% open but a few big names like Heavenly and America's biggest Park City have struggled to open much of their terrain.
Heavenly has around half their terrain open, whilst Park City only has 20% open.
The East Coast has had more snowfall but centres there are still catching up after a warm, wet Autumn so most still only have 20-40% of their slopes available, although the biggest, Killington, is at 70%.
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