Kiltarlity, Scotland, UK – There remain only 10 areas open for skiing and snowboarding in the Northern Hemisphere but the past week has seen an autumnal chill on European glaciers in the Alps, which have received up to 21cm of fresh summer snowfall.
The trend over the next few days in the Alps, however, is for warmer weather with possible double figures Celsius on the glaciers again, which are not good for snow cover.
You can currently choose between ski slopes in Austria (2), France (2), Italy (3), Switzerland (2) and the U.S. (1) for your downhill snowsports.
In Austria the most snowfall in the past week has been reported by not-currently-open Soelden with 21cm, but the Molltal glacier in Carinthia has reported 10cm of fresh snow. The Dachstein glacier has had a centimeter of snow but is only open for cross country skiing. The other currently open downhill choice is the Hintertux glacier with its 85cm of base.
We’re now into the last few weeks of summer skiing in France with Les 2 Alpes boasting the deepest snow depth at 125cm. Tignes has less with only 30cm but currently plans to stay open later into September. It will re-open at the end of that month and then will be the only French area open for several months until others come online in mid-November.
In Switzerland, the two choices remain Saas Fee (69cm) or neighboring Zermatt (92cm), with Europe’s highest slopes and a 365-day ski season.
Italy’s Cervinia (125cm) will offer summer skiing linked to Zermatt’s for a few more weeks. With four meters, Passo Stelvio continues to claim the deepest snow base in the world and Val Senales is also open but with thin cover at 30cm.
Across the Atlantic only Timberline in Oregon is open in North America with more than a meter of snow on the ground. Timberline is boasting one of the deepest snow bases in many years after the epic winter 2011-12 in the Pacific Northwest.
In the Southern Hemisphere the “feast or famine” theme of the New Zealand 2011 ski season continues in “feast” mode with more heavy snow like the 60cm at Turoa on Monday. The downside of this week’s storm, however, is traffic chaos with blocked roads and airport delays and cancellations.
In Australia conditions continue to fluctuate above and below freezing with a mixed bag of weather. The strong start to the ski season there, however, and the fresh snowfalls at the beginning of August mean that most resorts are still fully open with bases typically one to 1.5 meters deep.
In South America conditions have continued to improve with Chile’s Portillo and Cerro Catedral in Argentina reporting the best upper snow depths of 1.5 and two meters, respectively. Most other South American resorts are now open as normal with at least 50-100cm bases.
Finally, in southern Africa temperatures are well below freezing in Lesotho where the good winter of 2011-12 continues. Afriski has received 10cm of fresh snow to refresh base depths of 50cm and the main kilometer-long run is wide open, along with the terrain park and beginner slope.
Author Patrick Thorne is the Content Editor for Skiinfo UK, located online at www.skiinfo.co.uk