by Patrick Thorne with First Tracks!! Online Media staff reports
Kiltarlity, Scotland, UK – Most of the world’s northern hemisphere ski areas have now closed for the winter, but many resorts still open in Western North America and the Alps have continued to report low temperatures and heavy snowfall over the past week. As a result, dozens of ski areas expect to remain open well into May.n
North America
In the U.S. it’s still snowing in California, with Sierra and Mammoth each reporting another a foot and a half (45cm) in the past few days. Mammoth says it’ll keep skiing to the 4th of July. After receiving seven feet (210cm) of fresh snow in seven days, Squaw Valley USA is once again offering the longest ski season in Lake Tahoe region with plans to stay open until at least May 9th.
Resorts in Colorado, Utah and Oregon have also reported fresh snow, although some have now closed. Utah’s Alta and Snowbird picked up another 14 inches on Tuesday, propelling Alta’s season snowfall to 510 inches and exceeding the resort’s annual average after a lackluster first half of the season. Alta will close after this Sunday in full operation with a 141-inch base before reopening for a three-day bonus weekend Apr. 23-25 with $49 lift tickets. Park City Mountain Resort, Brighton, Solitude and Snowbasin in Utah will likewise remain open through this Sunday, while Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort has tentative plans to continue operations through Memorial Day.
In Colorado, Aspen Mountain and Wolf Creek are currently closed midweek but opening on weekends through the remainder of the month. Elsewhere in the state, Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Echo Mountain, Loveland, Purgatory, Silverton, Vail and Winter Park still have ski days on their calendars.
To the north in Canada, Whistler Blackcomb is now declaring 2009-10 its second snowiest ski season ever, with over 14.3m (47 feet) of snow fallen. Almost all of the ski area is currently open with the chance to ski the Olympic downhill runs. Whistler Blackcomb is open for skiing and riding through to May 24 – Whistler Mountain through April 25 and Blackcomb Mountain to May 24.
Unseasonably warm weather and copious quantities of rain have forced an early cancellation to spring skiing in much of the eastern U.S. In Vermont, Killington hopes to keep things going until May 2, eclipsed by one day by Jay Peak on May 3. Sugarbush has yet to set a final date. Wildcat is the only ski area in New Hampshire still open, gunning for Apr. 19, the same date as nearby Sunday River in Maine. Further north in the state, Sugarloaf hopes to make it another week to Apr. 25. In eastern Canada, Val d’Irène and Mont Miller, Quebec, plan to offer skiing and riding through this weekend, and Mont-Sainte-Anne the next. Mont-Saint-Sauveur plans to be the final holdout in Quebec, shooting for May 2.
Western Europe
Back in Europe, 35 more ski resorts are scheduled to close this weekend in France, but others will be open for two or three weeks more. Bonneval sur Arc will close on the 1st of May, Val d’Isère on the 2nd and Chamonix Mont-Blanc, where the upper slope snow depth is currently the deepest in France at 3.8m (12.6 feet), is open another week to May 9th along with Tignes, Val Thorens and La Grave la Meije.
There will still be 50 ski resorts in France open by the time next Monday arrives. The snow remains very good for the season and it is staying below freezing in many resorts. It snowed yesterday in the Alps, where up to 40cm (16 inches) of new snow was reported in the southern resorts of Devoluy /La Joue du Loup, which has France’s second greatest snow depth at 3.3m (11 feet). It has received 60cm (two feet) in total in the past week, the most in the country. The avalanche risk, however, is reported to be quite high.
Although most Italian ski resorts closed this past weekend, there has been fresh snow reported for many of those that have remained open. In the Monterosa ski region, resorts including Champoluc and Gressoney received up to 35cm (14 inches) of new snow this week. Some lifts will continue to operate there to early May.
In the Aosta Valley, Pila will close this weekend on Sunday with an event called “Desarpa bianca”, a giant slalom race to celebrate the end of season.
In Lombardia, Santa Caterina and Madesimo will also close on Sunday with almost two meters/seven feet of snow on the ground, thanks to heavy snowfall this winter. Bormio and Livigno will keep their lifts open until the 2nd of May. Livigno is currently offering free skiing to those booking an accommodation package with participating hotels and apartments, while Bormio has some of the deepest snow in Italy with a three-meter base. Bormio has been open since October, so it will celebrate a seven month season this winter.
In Trentino, the official closing of Madonna di Campiglio is on the 20th of April, with special ski pass prices as only the 50% of the slopes are currently open. In Alto Adige, the Val Senales glacier will allow lifts to remain open through the 2nd of May.
There has been some fresh snow this morning in Austria at Sölden and Zauchensee (10cm/four inches each). These ski resorts have also reported the country’s biggest snowfalls of the last seven days (20cm/eight inches). Sölden consequently has one of the deepest snow accumulations in Austria with 252cm (8.4 feet).
The Mölltaler Gletscher had 15cm (six inches) of new snow in a week and Ischgl reported 10cm (four inches), having a total snow depth of 90cm (three feet) on upper slopes now. Many Austrian ski resorts still have more than a meter of snow lying on their slopes and 10 of them have a snow depth of at least two meters, including St. Anton and Bad Gastein.
In Switzerland, where the avalanche danger had been high at the beginning of spring, it has now lowered to a level of 1 (low) in most areas. Saas Fee had the most new snow in the past week with 32cm (13 inches). Of the 22 lifts they have there, 20 are still open. The total snow depth in the ski resort adds up to 294cm (10 feet). Zermatt also got some fresh snow last week (10cm/four inches) and has about one and a half meters (five feet) on its slopes. The deepest snow depth in the country is still claimed by the ski resort Andermatt-Gotthard with 350cm (12 feet).
In Germany, Oberstdorf and the Zugspitze have the most snow left on the ground. The upper slopes of the latter are reported to have a snow depth of 295cm (10 feet). Some fresh snow just fell there today.
In Andorra the season is coming to a close with a few final snowfalls. Ski areas there will close for the winter this weekend.
In Spain only Astun, Candanchu, Masella and Sierra Nevada remain open. Sierra Nevada is still offering the best conditions for the next few weeks until May 2nd as well as cheap ski passes, four meters of spring snow and 84 kilometres of pistes.
The ski season is also now largely over in Eastern Europe. Borovets in Bulgaria will be one of the last ski areas in the region to close tomorrow.
Northern Europe
In Northern Europe, Scotland saw very warm weather over the weekend with temperatures reaching 18ºC in the cities. This had had an effect on the snow base at the country’s five ski areas and Glenshee has decided to close for the season, while Glencoe, The Lecht and Nevis Range are all still open with patchy cover on lower slopes. Cairngorm still has nearly three meters of snow on upper slopes and is sticking to its plan to stay open daily for the rest of the month and on weekends only through May.
It has been warmer in Scandinavia as well, but more snow is forecast and most of the leading resorts, including Are in Sweden, will be open into May.
In Finland, Ruka, which endeavors to keep at least one run open to June, is currently nearly 100% operational with a 62cm (2.1-foot) base.