Snow across the world
Saturday February 27, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The heavy snowfalls in Scotland seems to be the main story of conditions around the world. It has made it to TV news bulletins in the UK and the front pages of many general news web sites.

We have been following it closely on PlanetSKI, so for an in depth look at conditions, see here.

It has also snowed alot in France with the southern Alps getting the most.

71cm fell in Serre Chevalier and 85cm in Puy St Vincent.

Check out the powder in the video below from The Development Centre ski school in Espace Killy, France.

In our base resort of Verbier we have had near blizzard conditions.

Verbier

Here's our overview with the help of our friends at www.skiinfo.com. We start in Scotland.

Scotland: Scotland's remarkable ski season continues with more heavy snow this week, underling that for Cairngorm Mountain at least, this is probably the best winter for three decades.

Many of the Scottish resorts have been closed though and huge efforts are being made to dig them out. 

Hopefully they will have managed by next weekend as Cairngorm plans to celebrate by setting a world record for the most people skiing in kilts with 500 kilted skiers and boarders descending.

There's two

Another stunning morning on Cairngorm - footage with views from Ptarmigan Ridge.  Not bad, eh?

France: The southern French alps have done the best.

Olivier Saez chief operator of Puy Saint Vincent said, "The snow conditions are very good as we have had regular snowfalls since the end of December. The snow depth is 230cm on the upper slopes and 165cm on lower slopes. The 85 cm of fresh snow in the past week feel at a regular rate so were able to maintain the slopes without operating difficulties." 

The avalanche danger off piste is high though with a level of 4 on a scale of 5.

Chamonix Mont-Blanc currently has the deepest snow in France with 405cm. Other resorts including Alpe d'Huez and Flaine have more than 2.5m.

Our reporter in Tignes and Val d'Isere, Giles Lewis, from The Development Centre Ski School says the new snow has helped a good season continue.

"Val d'Isere has had a series of small snowfalls over the past month or so and these have kept both the pistes and the off piste runs in really good condition. The temperatures have mainly been cold which has helped to keep it all really nice right through the UK half term holidays. This week after some early sun the snow has started to fall again and with the warmer temperatures this again help the pistes to remain fresh. The pistes are pretty busy on the main runs but there are always quiet places and quiet times even on the busiest slopes. All is looking good for the rest of the season."

Tignes

Switzerland: In Switzerland, Engadin - St. Moritz has accumulated 40cm of new snow over the past seven days and now reports 2m of snow on top of the mountain.

Saas Fee and Klosters both also reported snowfalls of 23cm in seven days, Andermatt and Engelberg received 20cm.

We have had some fresh snow in Verbier too but the avalanche risk is high.

"After a rather spring-like feel to the last few weeks we've suddenly been plunged into winter. OK it's not been super cold but it's been chucking it down. There was a foot or so of fresh (if windblown) snow on the piste and it was dumping most of the day. When the clouds broke it revealed a rather good looking Verbier," says ou reporter Guy Ordway from the Performance Ski and Snowboard school.

"Avalanche risk will be through the roof over the next few days as the winds been getting to work and with the massive temperature increase last week there are all sorts of layers depending on where you go, and the new snow is pretty heavy on top of all that."

In nearby Leukerbad a PlanetSKI reader, Tim Whiteman, is on holiday with his wife and 2 children.

"It's been a pretty mixed week weatherwise with a bit of everything, including around 10-15cm of fresh snow which was great," he says.  "The pistes have been full but certainly not overcrowded this week which has been the holiday time for many Swiss schools."

Leukerbad is a gem of a resort and a favourite of ours with its thermal baths.

Leukerbad

Austria: Many resorts in Austria have received respectable amounts of new snow in the past week days.

Sölden got 33cm, Axamer - Lizum above Innsbruck as well as Nassfeld and the Stubai valley had 30cm each.

Similar snowfalls took place in Montafon and Kleinwalsertal. Many more resorts like Ischgl, Söll or the glaciers of Pitztal and Hintertux received at least 10-15cm of powder.

A dozen Austrian resorts including Sölden and St. Anton now have snow depths of around 2m or more on upper slopes. The Mölltal glacier stays on top of the list with up to 3.5m.

Italy: Italy has also seen some fresh snowfalls in the past week with Courmayeur, La Thuile and Val Gardena getting 20cm.

Limone Piemonte has received the most snow in Italy over the past 7 days with 1.1m and but Aprica and Arabba have both had a metre too.  Arabba also has the country's second deepest snow depth with 3.8m on the Marmolada glacier.

The most is on the Presena glacier above Passo Tonale with 420cm.  Bormio has 3m of snow on upper slopes - the most of an Italian resort without a glacier.

In Germany the ski resorts of Oberstdorf received the most fresh snow with 20-25cm.

Lots of other resorts in the central uplands as well as in the Alps reported at least some new snow.

In Eastern Europe it has been warmer in the past week with little new snow reported anywhere. Conditions are reported to be holding up at most major centres, but colder weather and fresh snow is needed.

Andorra: It's been warmer and there's no new snow but conditions are still reported to be reasonably good thanks to the snow base of more than a metre.

On the French side of the Pyrenees Cauterets has the deepest snow with 2.9m.

Spain: Sierra Nevada continues to have the greatest snow depth in Spain with 5m on their upper slopes and is now opening a total of 101 kilometres of pistes.

 But also all the ski resorts in the Pyrenees have reached snow depths close or over 2m.

Weather conditions have dramatically increased the avalanche risk in all Spanish ski resorts making off piste skiing especially dangerous. Top Spanish ski resorts have reported powder snow. Formigal has up to 240cm of snow and 136 km open, with Boi Taull on 3m.

Up in Scandinavia the last week has brought some serious amounts of snow in the southern parts of Sweden.

Sweden: Snowfalls up to 60cm have been reported in some places. This has caused serious problems on roads and for the railways.

The Swedish weather service have reported snowfall records for several cities and regions in the south of Sweden, some of which hadn't been broken for over 30 years. 

For example the small ski resort of Mullsjö has a snow depth of 92cm.

However most ski areas in Sweden are located further north where it hasn't been snowing that much. In the north the small village of Gielas has had the coldest temperature of the winter with - 40.8C.

Norway: There's been some good snowfalls in Norway too, the coastal resort of Voss had 25cm of new snow on Wednesday.

USA: Resorts across the US have been reporting superb levels of snow.

Killington reported 28cm of new snow and neighbouring Vermont resort Mount Snow, 32 cm.  It's also been snowing in New York and Washington DC again, as we have reported in this separate story.

On the other side of the country Homewood in California received 20cm of fresh powder yesterday while nearby Alpine Meadows had 33cm, taking its base depth to 338cm.

Colorado's resorts have also been receiving a lot of fresh snow. None more so than Silverton Mountain with 1.2m during a weekend storm.

Canada: With the Winter Olympics drawing to a close Mt Washington in British Columbia has the deepest snow on the continent with 4.9m.

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