by Patrick Thorne with First Tracks!! Online Media staff reports
Kiltarlity, Scotland, UK – Cities and airports in the UK, France, Italy and other Northern European countries are struggling to cope with the unusually cold weather and resulting low-level snow and ice that have closed roads, railways and airports. Once skiers and boarders can get to the slopes, however, they’ll find some of the best ever early season snow conditions yet waiting for them, not only in Europe but in parts of western North America as well.nHeavy snowfall in the UK and double digit temperatures Celsius below freezing have been affecting the north of the country for the past five days, with schools closed and most ski areas in Scotland open. Today, however, the cold weather spread to the south of the country, resulting in traffic chaos including the complete closure of London’s Gatwick airport, one of the world’s busiest hubs.
Across the Channel a large part of France is struggling with the cold and snow with 15 French departments centered around the Auvergne and the Rhône-Alpes region placed on orange alert. The cities of Chambéry or Annecy now have 45cm of snow on the ground, and 25cm in larger Lyon. The French railway SNCF has announced that a fifth of TGV services between Paris and provinces to the south-east axis will be canceled on Thursday.
But once access reopens, this is all good news for skiers and ski resorts, 20 of which are already open in France, with another 30 due to open this weekend including many of the big name centers. Snowfalls of up to 70cm in the past 24 hours have been reported, and 70 resorts have reported more than 20cm of snow in the past 24 hours. Les Gets will open its Mont Chéry cable car, Pointe chairlift and Chéry Nord chairlift for the season this Saturday, with daily lift tickets reduced this weekend to €15 for adults and €10 for children.
Snow continues to deepen across the western U.S. and Canada after one of the snowiest Novembers in memory, with resorts in Utah, California and Wyoming already exceeding the 100-inch snowfall mark for the season to date. Vail Mountain will open its popular Blue Sky Basin terrain this week, and Breckridge will open Peak 7 terrain on Friday, giving skiers and riders over 1,500 acres of terrain to choose from across the Colorado resort this weekend. The La Niña storm cycle is allowing resorts around the Pacific Northwest to come online this week, including today at Stevens Pass in Washington.
In the East, temperatures following this week’s deluge of rain are now allowing snowmaking to resume in earnest. Hunter Mountain in New York’s Catskill Mountains plans to finally get ski season underway this Sunday. After weather-related delays, Snowshoe Mountain will launch the West Virginia ski and snowboard season Dec. 10. The Pocahontas County resort saw early snowflakes fall on Oct. 5, but has received less than an inch of total snowfall since that time. A mild November forced the resort to delay its planned Opening Day more than two weeks after the originally scheduled debut on Nov. 24.
North of the border, Le Massif de Charlevoix will open for the season this Saturday with six trails open in the Camp-Boule Express Sector on a base that exceeds one meter.
In western Canada conditions are similar to that in the western U.S. In British Columbia, Whistler Blackcomb reported another foot of new snow yesterday, and not only is Mount Washington on Vancouver Island opening a week earlier than originally scheduled this Friday, the mountain can also lay claim to Canada’s deepest snow pack before opening day.
“We already had a substantial base of snow when we made the decision to open last week,” explains Mount Washington Alpine Resort Business Operations Director Don Sharpe. “Since then, we’ve seen another meter of snow fall on the mountain. The conditions will be unbelievable this Friday.”
Mount Washington’s current mid-mountain snow base measured 160 centimeters as of Tuesday afternoon, putting it at the top of the snow heap in Canada. The resort received a whopping 88 centimeters of new snow between Monday and Tuesday mornings.
“We’re definitely seeing the positive effects of a La Niña influenced weather pattern so far this winter and we’re not even open yet,” remarks mountain spokesperson Brent Curtain.