The snow is falling
Friday January 29, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The snow is now coming down in some parts of Austria and Switzerland with the storm apparently moving into parts of France at the weekend.

A reader is at Geneva airport on Friday afternoon, on his way to Les Trois Vallee, and says it is snowing there now.  Meanwhile in our base resort of Verbier in Swtzerland it is now snowing heavily.  It is very welcome as it has been a bit patchy recently and to say people are excited in Verbier is a bit of an understatement. 

Bring it on!

While a reader in Zermatt also confirms that it is snowing.

PlanetSKI has been in Chamonix and the Portes du Soleil in the past week and, although there was no fresh powder, the snow is in good shape, helped by the cold temperatures.

Fresh snow is set to fall soon in France and it has been snowing in Chamonix so the Freeride World Tour, scheduled for Saturday, has been moved to Sunday.

Kleine Scheidegg, Wengen, on Friday

Saas-Fee, Friday 29th

See the photos of the week on the home page for a selection of pictures from the French and Swiss parts of the Portes du Soleil taken in the past week.

For full details of conditions here's the snow overview with help from our good friends over at www.Skiinfo.co.uk.

FRANCE: The cold temperatures have kept the snow in excellent condition for skiing and snowboarding in many resorts.

There's been little new snow but in the Portes du Soleil the pistes are still in great condition.

"I've skied round most of the resorts in the last few days and the slopes are all covered well," says PlanetSKI reader, Conrad Sutcliffe.

"In Avoriaz the off piste is especially good as the temperature has kept the snow nice and grippy," says our content editor, James Cove who has also been in the area.

Pretty good in the Avoriaz funpark too

Another PlanetSKI reader, Phil Frewer has been on holiday  in the southern French Alps in Serre Chevalier.

"We've had lovely sunny days, no fresh snow in the past few days but there's more than enough for people to enjoy themselves on and the pistes have been pretty empty too with very few queues.  This time of year is a great time to be out skiing."

In nearby Montgenèvre there's 2.2m at the top and 1.6m on the lower slopes. Fresh snow is expected in the area by the weekend.

Chamonix holds the Nissan Freeride World Tour on Saturday and then stages the postponed opening event on the next suitable day afterwards. The Russian event was due to have been staged in the 2014 Olympic venue of Sochi last week but had to be cancelled due to strong winds and heavy snowfall there.

We reported on it here.

Chamonix currently has the deepest snowbase in France with 3.9m on upper slopes.  Flaine has 2.65m, La Clusaz 2.6m and La Grave 2.5m.

The Brevant cable car in Chamonix

AUSTRIA: Snow began to fall again in Austria and Germany in recent days with more new snow forecast for tomorrow and the weekend - especially in the western Vorarlberg, Tirol and Salzburg provinces.

Temperatures have been as low as  -20ºC in some parts.  The deepest snow is on the glaciers of Mölltal, 3.3m, and Kaunertal, 2.1m.

Sölden got the most snow in the country this week with 25cm while Maria Alm/ Hochkönig and Alpbach had 10cm.

ITALY: It has also had a quiet week although low temperatures have brought some snow at low altitude in the North of the country and also in the central Appennine mountains. 

It's snowing there now with Limone and Prato Nevoso in the north west reporting 20-25cm on Wednesday.

PlanetSKI reader, Julian Griffiths, has sent us in the photo below from Alagna where the piste conditions are good but sadly there's no fresh powder off piste. Griffiths runs the ski school, European Snowsport, that has branches in Verbier and Zermatt.

The Presena and Marmolada glaciers both have the most snow with about 3.9m on the upper slopes, Bormio has 3m.

The cold weather has extended as far as Belgium where recent fresh snow fall, combined with the cold temperatures allowed some nordic resorts in the East of the country to re-open their tracks.

Baraque Michel, Mont Spinet and Losheimergraben are offering Nordic Skiing on 10cm of snow.

SWITZERLAND: Elm reported the most new snow of the past week, with 30cm.

Disentis, Davos and Saas-Fee got 12-15cm each. 

Andermatt has the biggest snow depth with 210cm. 

Saas-Fee and St Moritz have only a few centimetres less.

Busy in the Swiss resort of Champery

ANDORRA: There's been little new snow in the past week in the Pyrenees mountains. 

Base depths in Andorra remain relatively good with 60-130cm at most areas providing perfectly adequate cover on all but the steepest slopes.

SPAIN:  A new terrain park has also opened at Cerler in Spain, claiming to be the largest in the country with 18 elements and is 2.5km long.

Although there has been little new snow this week, cold weather has helped Spanish ski resorts to maintain and improve conditions on the slopes and Cerler has some of the deepest snow in the country with 175cm on upper slopes.

Typically resorts have 30-105cm at the base of their runs and 150-210cm on upper slopes. 

Sierra Nevada this week

However, Sierra Nevada in the south reports the greatest snow depth of three metres at the top and Formigal has the most terrain open with 136km, 80 miles, of runs. 

More snow is expected.

In Eastern Europe there have been some snow showers, particularly in the Czech and Slovak Republic, but it remains a moderate, if improving, first-half of the season in Bulgaria where cover remains rather thin at Borovets and Pamporovo, although better in Bansko.

SWEDEN: Scandinavia has not had much snow in the past week, with regional leader Äre reporting 7cm of new snow on Monday and Nalovardo has most with 11cm. 

The weather looks set to change in the next 24 hours with snow almost everywhere (It's already falling) and up to 30cm of new stuff expected in the next few days in the mountains.

NORWAY: Kvitfjell has one of the biggest snowfalls of the past week, with 33cm accumulated and more set to fall elsewhere.

SCOTLAND: Conditions are excellent at Cairngorm, which continues its superb season with up to 1.8m on upper slopes and 60cm on the lower runs.

The area has been closed for prolonged period over the past three weeks as heavy snow blocked roads and buried lifts and restaurants, as we reported here. 

It is now fully open with great conditions. 

Digging out Cairngorm

The two other eastern Scottish ski areas at Glenshee and The Lecht don't have as much snow but do have enough to be in great shape. On the West Coast the other two Scottish areas of Glencoe and Nevis range are open but with less snow.

USA: Thousands of southern Californians who flocked to Mountain High resort in the San Gabriel Mountains, which has received 1.5m of snow in recent storms,  were turned away by police due to dangerous road conditions and diminishing fuel and food supplies.

Truck convoys were organised to deliver food, supplies and fuel to the area on Monday, with roads re-opening that evening.  However more snow is forecast, if only on a smaller scale.

It's a similar story at other western resorts, Jackson Hole has reported more than 36cm of new snow, Snowbird in Utah, 2m in seven days, though sadly a person was killed in an avalanche in Little Cotton Wood Canyon and in a Alta  ski patroller was buried but fortunately survived.

CANADA: There's been yet more snow at Whistler, with the Olympics now just over a fortnight away.  Its season-to-date snowfall is now nearly 10 metres and bodes well for many events.  The same can not be said of Cypress Mountain where there is more mud than snow, however it is set to get colder so fingers crossed.

Elsewhere in British Columbia, monumental snowfalsl over the last week have created perfect conditions at Mount Washington Alpine Resort.  With a mid-mountain snow base of 3.2m and 3.9m at the top, the resort is once again the home of Canada's deepest snowpack. 

The news couldn't be any better for the first wave of Olympic athletes who arrive this week to train at the Island mountain.

"We received over a metre and a half of snow in the last six days," says resort spokesperson Brent Curtain. 

JAPAN: Niseko looks set for record-breaking January snow levels.

"Consistent snow falls for the last two weeks of December and another metre to celebrate the New Year here in Niseko have made for some epic skiing conditions with waist deep powder for everyone'" says a statement from the resort.

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