Where's the snow?
Monday December 21, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

It is -20c in many places and with the wind chill taken into consideration it is even lower in places. 

It's seriously cold out here in the Alps and while skiing in Verbier yesterday we had to stop every 30 minutes or so to go inside and warm up as it was -18c at the top of the resort.

Over in Piztal in Austria PlanetSKI reporter, Ben Clatworthy, says it is -38c up on the glacier once the wind chill is taken into account and as he is on a racing course there is a lot of standing around too.

See this video on what people here are wearing to keep warm. 

One has even got an all in one baby grow, complete with safety flap, in case mother nature calls.

Most of the resorts in the Alps open this weekend which is the first major holiday period of the season.  See this related story PlanetSKI on how things look this Christmas.

Here is our snow overview on December 18^th compiled with some help from our friends over at www.skiinfo.com

France: La Clusaz currently reports the deepest snow in the country with 140cm while La Plagne and Alpe d'Huez all have at least 1 metre, with Tignes and Val d'Isere doing well too though one of our readers in Val says the snow cover is pretty thin.

In Chamonix all the ski areas open on Saturday 19^th. "The snow canons are working full on and the snow depths are 60cm at 2000m and 154cm at 2800m," Claire Burnett, from the resort's tourist office, has told us.

Switzerland: Parts are doing much better and have received up to 55cm of snow in the past week. 

Laax, which is reporting the second deepest snow base in the country at present with 168 cm, had half a metre. Disentis got the 55cm.  Arosa and Kanderstag added 30cm each.

Xmas in ZermattZermatt has had some fresh snowand pretty much all the runs are open, though the slopes are reported to be hard packed. It is also extremely cold and one of our reporters in town told us today that it was -27c up at the top of the Kleine Matterhorn glacier.

"In town there is a definite Christmas feel about the place with twinkling lights and snow down to resort level," says Julian Griffiths from one of the resort's Ski Schools, European Snowsport. 

"Bookings for us are doing well over the festive period and here in Zermatt it's a pretty good place to be at the moment."

Still rocky off pistePlanetSKI is based in Verbier and the on piste skiing is good though with the crowds coming in at the weekend it is rather crowded.

Some of the itinerary runs Tortin, Mont Fort and Gentienne have finally opened after poor snow cover in recent weeks.

Check out the short video below of PlanetSKI reader, Neil Wardman, out enjoying some on piste skiing in Verbier at the moment.

Austria: The country has had some new snow with lower temperatures helping to bring the freezing point further down the slopes.

The glacier resorts still have the greatest snow depths with Molltal leading the way with a 230cm base. Kaunrtal is not far behind with 1.9m.

Most Austrian resorts that are not yet open will open this weekend but more snow is definitely needed in some parts of Austria.

"We've had fresh snow but a little less than expected, at the moment there's 35cm on upper slopes." said Anna-Christina Moser from Alpbach.  "Snow conditions are good now not only because of the latest snowfalls but particularly because of the cold temperatures, allowing our 85 snow guns to produce snow 24 hours a day."

St Anton and Ischgl have both had a little bit of fresh snow this week.

Snow cannons are once again saving the day in many parts of the Alps.

Italy: It continues to report some of the healthiest snowfalls in Europe, with another 70cm in Val Gardena in the Dolomites, and 60cm for Limone Piemonte in the west of the country.

This week the snow started to cover central Italy, Lazio e Abruzzo, and for next two days the forecast are for snowfall down to altitudes around 400-500m in these areas.

Arabba Marmolada  has the greatest snow depth in the country, and in Europe at present with 312 cm, the Presena Glacier above Passo Tonale has 300cm and Bormio 190cm.

The Ski Mountaineering World Cup will be staged this weekend (18 -20 December) in Pila and the Aosta Valley. The race makes ski mountaineering manageable in small stages and participation is limited to athletes with ski mountaineering licences from official bodies in Italy or any other country.

Eastern Europe:  Bansko in Bulgaria had its annual celebrity opening last weekend with its biggest swathe of former ski stars yet in attendance including Permin Zurbriggen, Mark Girardelli, Paul Accola and Patrick Ortlieb.   It reported 50cm of much needed snow arriving just in time for opening day.

Bulgaria's other leading resort, Borovets, has received fresh snow too and aims to open shortly.

Germany:  In many parts of the country it's snowing again and weather forecasters are predicting more over the next few days with temperatures below zero in most areas.

The Central German Uplands currently have up to 25cm of snow.

Snow making systems in Winterberg have delivered 20cm of snow. In the Schwarzwald, where the snow is falling, there is 20cm of snow on the Feldberg at the moment.

Cannons save the day across EuropeSweden: Resorts here have been reporting falls of 15-30cm and again snow making has been taking place.

Norway: In Norway Voss had 15cm of new snow.

Andorra:  Snow depths are shallow after the good snowfalls of early November but once again the snow cannons are in full swing.  There's about 25 cm on piste in Pas de la Casa and Soldeu.

"Significant snow is predicted from Sunday in resorts in Andorra and having been in Andorra's Vallnord this week I can confirm there is some reasonable skiing, but wrap up as it is very cold. Dropping to below -10C at the mountain top," says PlanetSKI reader, Xavier Adam.

"It is  below par for this time of year, but not awful by any stretch. Judging by the number of cars heading up to the Pyrenees with ski racks this afternoon, it looks like it is going to get quite busy too. Don't expect too much off piste, but there is some adequate, if limited powder skiing."

The snow cannons were going at full tilt earlier in the week, but some snow this morning and a good base, meant they were inactive today.  2-3cm fell earlier on this morning, from 1800 metres upwards.

However it is set to warm up a bit at the beginning of next week and there should be some precipitation. Good for the high runs but it may fall as rain and wash away what little there is on the low runs.

Spain: Cold weather has arrived and last Monday it snowed in Madrid and snow is expected again over parts of Spain this weekend.

At the moment Baqueira Beret, with a 30-60cm base has the largest area of terrain open with73km of runs. Astun, has the most snow with an 85cm base on its upper slopes. 

Many of the other resorts have similar bases to Baqueira, but more limited terrain.  Outside the Pyrenees in Spain only Sierra Nevada with 20-40cm and 10km of runs available is open for skiers.

Scotland: Back in the UK Cairngorm remains open with a dusting of fresh snow. 

There is more snow forecast for Scotland over the next few days which could be good news for its neighbouring Eastern Highlands ski areas of Glenshee and The Lecht which have not been able to open so far this winter.

Canada: Whistler's good season continues with a further 10cm to top up its already record breaking amounts of early season snow.

It went 10 days without any fresh snow but the temperatures remained very cold, around -10c, so it preserved the conditions.  Too often in Whistler the resort gets great snow and then rain washed much of it away.  That said it is due to warm up in the next few days and it could be rain fron 1500m down.

The picture has further improved on the East Coast too, especially in Quebec with resorts like Mont st Anne and Stoneham reporting up to 50cm of fresh snow

USA: The biggest snowfalls of the past seven days have been in the Western US.

Resorts in California have reported an average of 30cm per day for the past week.  Squaw Valley says it received more than1.9m in seven days, and expects more at the weekend. 

The snow was greatly needed to boost base levels, which are now up around 1.5m  and represented nearly a fifth of the usual annual snowfall at the resort.

NEWS UPDATE, SATURDAY 8AM:  Our prayers have been answered - it is chucking it down here inVerbier, Switerland and it is happening across many other parts of the Alps.  We'll be hearing from our reporters round the mountains and taking the TV camera out today so check back later this afternoon to see what it is like. 

If only it always happened like this once we wished for a bit of snow!

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