Winter is back
Monday December 7, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

It's been snowing heavily in Europe.

It's December and winter has arrived ‘again’ in Europe.  Skiers and snowboarders are excited and the ski industry somewhat relieved. We have PlanetSKI reporters around the mountains and all are reporting a collective sigh of relief.

As well as our reporters we also have information from our friends over at www.skiinfo.com.

One of our reporter has just arrived in Val d'Isere and reports that many of the resorts he saw on the way from Geneva airport all have snow at resort level - Les Arcs, La Plagne, La Rossiere and others.

Saturday morning view from coach on way to Val d'Isere

This week the Alps, Dolomites and the Pyrenees have had heavy snowfalls, and the mountains are looking pretty good.  Numerous resorts are opening this weekend to take advantage of the great snow conditions - but where’s there’s fresh snow take heed and observe avalanche warnings.

Already we have a report of the first avalanche death of the winter.

Also many rocks are barley covered so conditions can look deceptively good off piste, but beware danger lurks underneath.

Off pIste in The Alps this week

Here’s our snow overview conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. 

We are changing the format of these pages, so check it out as often as you can, as we plan to update it with fresh photographs and information on a regular basis.  On Saturday mornign we heard that the temperature is set to warm on in the next day or so with the freezing level in France going up to 2,500m.

A team from PlanetSKI is in France at the moment and we intend to take full advantage of the conditions and will bring you a further report over the weekend.

Temperatures are dropping and Bansko in Bulgaria is reporting several days of sub-zero temperatures and snow is falling.

Italy:   It’s a similar picture in Italy.  Its been snowing hard in the Aosta Valley.  Bormio has the deepest base in the country at 1.9m, much of it fell this week, and Cervinia reported 45cm.  Other resorts reporting very big falls include Madesimo with 90cm and Alagna, Livigno and Monterosa resorts reporting at least 50cm.

Monterosa delayed its opening last weekend but should be well placed to open this weekend.

For many Italian resorts the skiing season officially starts this weekend including Monterosa Ski, Dolomitri Superski, Limone and Courmayeur. 

Resorts on the Milky Way pass like Sestriere, Sauze d’Oulx and Adamello also plan to open along with additional lifts at Passo Tonale and Pontedilegno.  The fresh snow is very welcome and well timed for Italy’s religious holiday weekend many ski resorts will enjoy a long ski weekend to December 8th.

  France:  It’s good news in France. We have a reporter in Tignes today who tells us that conditions are absolutely fantastic .

Goldring; urges care"The snow is in good condition with light powder off piste, though you have to be very careful of the rocks that are covered, but not buried, in many places.  The skiing is good but must be undertaken with caution," says Rupert Goldring, a BASI Trainer and coach with Mountain Masters Ski School.

Val d’Isere, Val Thorens, Tignes and Les Deux Alpes are all open with great conditions. Val Thorens reports a 40cm top up and boasts a deep snow base of over 1m lying and Les Deux Alpes 60cm.

Meribel, Alpe d’Huez, the Grands Montets at Chamonix, Montgenèvre, Les Arcs, possibly Courchevel 1850, Le Grand Bornand and La Clusaz all open this weekend.

Espace Killy in the first week of December

Check out the video below - a quick round up of conditions in Espace Killy from our content editor, James Cove, and a few pictures of people out enjoying themselves.

Austria:    Austria had great snow late October to early November, but in common with the rest of the Alps, the mid November warm spell brought on an unwelcome thaw. 

But things are now looking good.

The Mölltal glacier got a 60cm top up and now has a 220cm snowbase.  Many other areas received between 20cm - 50cm including Axamer - Lizum at Innsbruck, Sölden 52cm and Obergurgl-Hochgurgl.   Lech Zürs confirmed lifts will open on Friday 4th. Currently they have up to 55cm of snow on their slopes. Hochzillertal also opens on the 4th. 

Silvretta Montafon (Nova and Hochjoch) now has 70cm of snow just in time for Saturday’s opening.   “There’s been heavy snowfall down to 800 metres and we hope to begin operating the Zamang Bahn (the ski lift for Hochjoch) and Versettla Bahn (for Nova) on December 5th.” said Frank Peters of Silvretta Montafon Mountain Railways.   Conditions in Ischgl and Kitzbühel are fine at higher altitude but more snow is needed on lower slopes. 

Switzerland:  Switzerland hit the jackpot this week from the November 30th stormy weather.

St Moritz and the Engadin Valley had more than 1.3m of snow since Sunday.  Most other Swiss resorts have had some great snow including Sedrun with 1m within 24hours.   Engleberg almost ground to a halt on Monday with over 90cm of snow.  Roads were closed and all lifts remained closed on Tuesday due to high avalanche risk.  Great conditions in the Valais region and Verbier where people are finally enjoying good conditions once again.

There is snow all the way down to the valley floor in La Chable.

Cairngorm; The White Lady c/o Winter HighlandScotland:   The ski season began in Scotland on Saturday when Cairngorm Mountain opened runs at the top of the ski slopes, attracting about 600 hardy souls who enjoyed the first turns of winter despite 45mph winds and a much stronger wind chill factor.

Conditions are cold in the UK and the forecast for parts of Scotland on Wednesday 3rd December is snow.

And this is what it looks like on Cairngorm Mountain on 3rd December 2009.

Although the focus of recent snow reports has been on mainland Europe, conditions remain good in most Northern Scandinavian ski areas.

Sweden:    There´s been some fresh snow in Sweden too where Lindvallen reports 15 cm and Tandådalen 7cm of new cover. The cold weather over large parts of the country makes ideal conditions for snowmaking. Further up north the resort of Kittelfjall has opened with a snow depth of 46cm. Dundret, 100km north of the polar circle, has opened too with a snow depth of 35 cm.

Norway:    Resorts in Norway reported up to 50cm of new snow last week.  This  weekend 38 ski resorts will be open including the big ones of Trysil, Geilo, Hafjell, Kvitfjell, Skeikampen and Hemsedal.  Hemsedal has the most snow in Norwaywith a 94cm base.  There are also many opportunities for people who want to go cross country skiing, with 13 ski resorts open offering more than 30km of groomed tracks.

Spain:   48 hours of heavy snowfall over the Pyrenees leaves Formigal in excellent condition to open this weekend.  It reports over 160cm of snow on its higher slopes, around 1m on lower pistes and even more is predicted to fall by the end of the week.

There’s 40-70cm of powder at Baqueira, 20-125cm at Cerler, Panticosa has 70-130cm and Sierra Nevada 10-30 cm. All the main ski resorts will open on Friday for Spain’s 4 day religious holiday (through to December 8th).

Coll de la Botella at Pal 3rd December

Pas de la Casa

Andorra:   Its been snowing in Andorra too. 

The Andoran resorts opened mid-November but met with the same mild weather and lost its snow cover.

Resorts plan to reopen on 5th December. 

Conditions now look good for Arcalis, Pas de La Casa and at Pal/Arinsal.

Canada:  Toronto in Eastern Canada has had one of the driest November's in 70 years without a single snowflake  However, the weather has changed and some snow has arrived.  

Mont Ste Anne in Quebec expects to open after several postponements this weekend with at least four runs available.  It reported 12cm of snow at the weekend.  Mont Sutton received 43cm of snow at the summit over the weekend.

But in the West however, its a completely different story.  Whistler’s November snowfall total officially passed 5.6m by the end of the month, with a 1.92m base, by far the biggest ever for this early in the season and indeed the biggest ever monthly snowfall for the resort.

The good snow news isn’t just restricted to the 2010 Winter Olympic host however, most of Canada's Western resorts have great snow cover, and several more resorts opened early at the weekend, or announced they’d be opening earlier than planned in coming weeks including Fernie and Kicking Horse. 

The video shows amazing conditions in Fernie on 2nd December.

Last week the racing world’s attention was on Alberta with Lake Louise hosting the FIS World Cup Races. The men’s races took place last weekend with a fantastic run won by Swiss Didier Cuche. See the PlanetSKI report on the race here. Now it's the turn of the women and the women race happens this weekend on 4th, 5th and 6th December. See a report on Vonn's performance last week

All the lifts are open at The Lake Louise Ski Area and Sunshine Village, with more available at Mt. Norquay.  “This is the best snow we’ve seen in 30 years, allowing the backside of Lake Louise and Goat’s Eye at Sunshine Village to be open already, offering tons of terrain, fresh tracks and a lot of powder,” said a spokesperson.

USA:   Resorts in West America have had a prolonged warm spell which stopped all New England’s ski areas opening in time for Thanksgiving weekend. 

Thankfully the weather has finally changed, temperatures have dropped and many resorts are reporting some snowfalls. Sugarloaf in Maine and Whiteface in New York State are among those planning to open at the weekend. Vail’s snow cover is very disappointing at the moment. Conditions seem to be good in Breckenridge and Mount Baker.

Its also been snowing in Alaska, and Dallas has had some unusual snowstorms.

Still looks good in Whistler

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