by Patrick Thorne with First Tracks!! Online Media staff reports

Kiltarlity, Scotland, UK – Skiing and riding in the southern hemisphere got a big leg up this week, where Australia in particular has benefited from heavy snow, with around two feet falling at several areas. In the northern hemisphere, there are signs that the new ski season ahead can’t be far off as temperatures across the Alps dropped significantly from two weeks ago with a mix of rain and fresh snow falling on the 11 glacier ski areas that are currently open in the region.nDown under, it’s Australian ski areas that have been reporting the world’s best snow conditions over the past few days with more than 60cm (two feet) falling in 48 hours at one resort, truly epic by Aussie standards and by far the biggest snowfalls of winter so far – which had been mostly cold to date, allowing for lots of snowmaking, but with limited natural stuff.

Perisher in New South Wales, Australia’s largest resort, has also reported the biggest snowfall of 64 centimeters (two feet, two inches) of fresh snow in 48 hours from Sunday though Monday. Prior to the new snowfall, Perisher had achieved a new Australian record in snowmaking, producing over 800,000 cubic meters of snow with depths of up to three meters (10 feet) in some areas. With further snowfalls of up to 20 centimeters forecast later this week by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the resort’s greater natural snow reliability, Perisher can now provide skiers and snowboarders access to almost 1245 hectares of snow covered terrain.

“The four resort areas of Perisher, Blue Cow, Guthega and Smiggin Holes will be interconnected this weekend,” said Gary Grant, General Manager.
Perisher is planning additional investment in snowmaking to increase coverage to 110 hectares. The resort plans to have all trails linking its four ski areas covered throughout the winter season.

Other Australian resorts have reported healthy snowfall too, if not on quite the same scale. Mt Buller reports 24cms (nine inches) of snow and Mt Hotham has had 51cm (21 inches) of fresh snow over the past week. Natural snowdepth now averages 66cm, with more than 98cm in snowmaking areas. Seven lifts are in operation at Hotham with more lifts currently being assessed for opening in time for the weekend.

In New Zealand there’s been mixed weather but some fresh snow and conditions overall are good. Mt. Hutt picked up five centimeters (two inches) of new snow on Monday and now has a 155cm (5.1-foot) base. At Coronet Peak there’s a 90cm (three foot) base but there hasn’t been any new snow for over a week. The ski area staged an FIS standard international race this morning that was dominated by the Canadian squad which is currently training there and took the top four places. Racers from teams including the U.S., Great Britain, Spain and Korea also took part.

Over at Mt. Ruapehu, Turoa was closed today due to strong winds, but snow is expected over the next few days, the base depth is 135cm (4.5 feet). The lower mountain at sister resort Whakapapa was open, however. It has a 90cm base and is also expecting fresh snow this weekend.

In South America conditions remain good, but cold, at Catedral in Argentina, the continent’s biggest resort in terms of uplift capacity. Here there’s 1.6 meters (over five feet) of snow lying on upper slopes but it has been cold, below -15ºC at times. It’s not quite as cold or quite as deep at another Argentinian resort, Chapelco, which has a 1.3m base and temperatures around -9ºC. The country’s other big resort, Las Lenas in the south, has 40cm (16 inches) at the base and 1.1m (3.7 feet) at the top of the lifts.

In Chile virtually all lifts and runs are operational at Valle Nevado which reports another five centimeters of fresh snow, taking its season tally to 3.6m (12 feet), although the compacted base at present is rather less than that, if healthy enough at 70cm (2.3 feet). Chapa Verde reports an 80cm (2.6 feet) base and Portillo to the north is still not quite at the top of its game with an 80cm natural snow depth. Low temperatures have prevailed but the resort has had precious little of the off piste powder for which it’s most famous, although it has picked up 30cm (a foot) of new snow in the past week.

Over in Africa it has warmed up a little at Afriski in Lesotho and the snow guns are no longer able to operate after their long spate of snowmaking for most of the winter. However, the accumulated base isn’t thawing too quickly and the snow surface is good in the morning after an overnight freeze, though it gets a bit sticky after lunchtime – much like on an alpine glacier. There’s still a 600m main slope, 200m beginner slope and a terrain park open to enjoy with best snow depth of 70cm (2.3 feet) on the main run.

In the northern hemisphere, in Austria only the upper slopes on the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier are open with the snow cover still thin and temperature at 3ºC, with sleet and snow expected over the next few days. The Dachstein glacier has limited skiing and describes its 60cm base as “wet.” On the Molltal glacier it’s not been great either, with runs closed on Tuesday as rain fell, but this should turn to snow when temperatures drop below the current 4ºC on the glacier and the 9.5km of summer runs should re-open and much of the 1.5m (five foot) base should remain intact. Hintertux, too, has seen a mixture of fresh snow (5cm) and rain. Its base depth stands at 125cm (just over four feet) with nearly 700m of vertical still skiable at the year-round snow sports resort.

In France, Tignes and Les 2 Alpes are still open with conditions similar similar to those in Austria, if with a little less precipitation. Snow depths are 60-100cm (two to 3.3 feet). It’s expected to cool down on Thursday to -5ºC on the glacier with precipitation forecast that will hopefully fall as snow for the last few weeks of the summer ski season.

In Italy Val Senales received five centimeters of fresh snow last week and has a one-meter base and 8km of piste open. It’s a similar picture at Passo Stelvio and Cervinia, the other two Italian areas currently open.

The other two open Alpine glaciers are in Switzerland at neighboring Saas Fee and Zermatt. Saas Fee has some of the best conditions in Europe right now with temperatures on the glacier around freezing, eight centimeters of fresh snow last Friday, four runs, the glacier half pipe and the terrain park open and a 126cm (over four-foot) base.

No other outdoor ski areas are currently open in Europe, and in the U.S. only Timberline on Mt. Hood in Oregon continues to offer snow sports, so for the best conditions you’ll need to head south of the equator.