It's going up and down like a yo-yo
Friday April 2, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The temperature that is. One minute it's Spring and the next minute it is Winter. We have had rain, snow, sun, cloud, blue sky, bare slopes and powder this week. Welcome to April. It is though set to stabilise with fresh snow forecast.

It's hard to generalise about the weather out here in The Alps.

Changeable is perhaps the best way to describe it. 

A few days ago we were skiing in knee-deep powder and the next day it was on with the shorts and flip-flops.

The two photos below sent in by our reporter in the French resort of Tignes, Jane Peel, seems to sum up the difference a day can make at this time of year.

Spring in Tignes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

24 hours later

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall the snow is holding up well for the Easter break, especially at the high altitude resorts, and the forecast predicts a drop in temperature and more snow.

"Snow on its way... woo woo!" says Julie Slaughter, a PlanetSKI reader in Chamonix.

But we start our snow report in Scotland, once again this winter, from where the most snow has fallen recenty. 

SCOTLAND: Earlier in the week all 5 ski resorts were shut as yet another storm buffetted the area. The Nevis Range managed to open first and now the others have followed suit.

Winds were gusting at 75mph and all the resorts have had to dig themselves out. Again.

Glenshee has 15cm on the lower slopes and 50cm on the upper ones. At Glencoe it is 20cm and 60cm.

It really has been quite a winter as this PlanetSKI news report shows and this PlanetSKI feature backs up.

Below is a picture we have just been sent from The Lecht. It shows how the fencing has kept the snow in place and how much work there is to do just to dig out the chairlift.

Not bad for April

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See the video below of a drive up to Cairngorm - it's a bit long but you get the idea.

FRANCE: Chamonix continues to have the biggest depth with 4.14m at the top of the resort.

There has been good snowfall across many resorts in recent days.

Both Les Arcs and Avoriaz have received around 70cm of fresh snow and people from Tignes have twittered us here at PlanetSKI about all the snowfall.

"Last Sunday we were skiing in powder that in places was knee deep. Then yesterday morning people were baking in Le Lac in tee-shirts with fears that the temperatures would ruin the recent snow," says PlanetSKI reporter, Jane Peel, who is in Tignes.

"This afternoon it was spot the piste markers as the visibility was zero with some of the heaviest snowfall I have seen;  now at 5.30pm the sun has come out again!!"

Over in Meribel it has been a mixed week too.

 "It has been typical April weather I guess with it changing all the time," says PlanetSKI reporter, Ben Clatworthy, who has been racing and reporting for us from the British Championships.

"Two days have been disrupted by snow and on Thursday we had another 25cm which is good for the holidaymakers, but not so good for us racers."

See his latest story from The Championships here with links to his others.

Meribel in the rain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further south in the French Alps our reporter, Conrad Sutcliff, has been in Alpe d'Huez and Les Deux Alpes this week. On Wednesday he sent us this message:

"All the slopes are open although the runs back to town are pretty threadbare. There has been some fresh snow but it has melted as the temperature shot up to +10c. More snow is needed!"

Grey in Les Deux Alpes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SWITZERLAND: There have been good snowfalls in recent days with 20cm falling in out base resort of Verbier. 

It has been even better over in Saas Fee which has plenty of fresh powder and one forecast we have been sent claims 90cm will fall in the next few days.

In neighbouring Zermatt the resort has had 20cm of fresh snow and there is now a depth of 10cm on the lower slopes and 1.6m on the uppper runs.

 55 out if its 57 lifts are currently open.

Snowing in Verbier on the nursery slopes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been prety good over in Engelberg.

"Engelberg is on a powder streak at the moment with 20 cms saturday night, 10 sunday night, 10 monday night and another 10 last night - so the conditions are amazing at the moment. With the biggest snowpack in Switzerland, 280 cm, Engelberg is looking forward to a great April with sun and powder skiing." Eric Spongberg, who works here, www.skilodgeengelberg.com

 The legendary powder of Engelberg 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photographer - Mattias Hargin

ITALY: Around 20cm has fallen in many resorts. 

Courmayeur has the greatest depth with 2.9m on its upper slopes and Cervinia reports that around 70cm of fresh snow has fallen in the past week.

Sestriere has had 15cm of fresh snow, though it has warmed up and Sauze d'Oulx has 1m on its mid-altitide slopes and 1.4 on the upper runs.

It is though fairly warm.

Another PlanetSKi reader, Simon Leach, is out on holiday in the Milky Way with his family.

"What a day today was; one of those ones I dream of.  We woke up to thick cloud and poor visibility but once we were up the mountain the sun broke through and we had 30cm of fresh powder snow on the pistes. The runs were relatively empty and it was heaven. I didn't want the day to end. Oh well, off for a beer or two I guess tonight in celebration of a truly epic day!"

Holding up in Sestriere despite warmer temperatures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AUSTRIA: It has had less snow than the other alpine countries though more is set to fall over the next few days and the temperature will drop too.

The snow that did fall was accompanied by high winds. 

The high resort of Obergurgle, that is popular at this time of year, has 37cm on its lower slopes and 1.45m on the upper runs. 

Mayrhofen which hosts the legendary, Snow bombing Festival next week, has no snow at resort level at the moment though there is 85cm on its upper slopes and the good news is that more snow is forecast during next week.

Over in Eastern Europe it has not been a great winter and the war temperatures are continuing to affect the skiing.  It is warm and sunny, with rain forecast in many of the ski areas for next week.  There could though be some new snow on the higher slopes.

Bansko has 10cm on its resort runs ands 1.5 up top.

ANDORRA: It has been warm over in the Pyrenees though the resorts in Andorra are holding out OK.

There has been no fresh snow and there were blue skies earlier in the week.

Soldeu still has 70cm on its lowere slopes and 1.2m up high. 

The slopes are reported to be fairly crowded for the final part of the winter season.

April in Andorra

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The picture below comes from the Pal web cam earlier this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPAIN: In the Pyrenees the resorts of Baqueira Beret and Formigal report good end of season conditions.

Baqueira has a freexing level at 1,250m and reports 85cm on the lower slopes and 1.55m on the upper runs. 

Some light snow is forecast for the weekend which will be welcome.

Formigal has 80cm on the lower slopes and 220cm on the higher ones.  The on piste conditons are reported to be good.

Further south Sierra Nevada  has a massive base of 5m, though it is warm and conditions are reported to be Spring-like.

SWEDEN: The resort of Are claims that 1cm of snow fell 2 days ago! 

It still has an average base of 30cm. 

Let's hope the 1cm helped out.

NORWAY: There has been around 15cm of new snow in many of the more popular ski areas.

Geilo has 1m, Voss 1.25m and Hemsedal reports 90cm on the lower slopes and 1.25m on the upper ones.

 

USA: Over in North America winter continues. 

Aspen has just announced it is staying open for a further 2 weekends due to all the snow, as we have reported here.

Squaw Valley has had 60cm of fresh snow in the past few days with a base of over 3m and nealry 4m at the top.

Heavenly has done almost as well with 46cm of new snow.  It has 1.9m on the lower slopes and 2.7 on the upper ones.

Looking for a great way to get fresh tracks without having to deal with early morning lift lines?

Have a look at the video of the backcountry in Utah.

CANADA:  On the west coast it has got colder and Kicking horse reports that 30cm of new snow has fallen. It has a base of 1.98m.

In the east it has warmed up and is set to et even warmer.

Tremblant still has 40cm on its lower slopes with 80 on the upper runs, though the waring up will reduce those levels.

It's still snowing hard at Whistler Blackcomb with a fresh 60cm within 48 hours. 

While Cypress Mountain near Vancouver has a mid-mountain base of 4m.

You may remember that they had to fly the snow in by helicopter for the Olympics in February as there was so little of the white stuff.

Now it is a different story.

“We struggled so badly during The Games and now winter’s coming on in full force,” Cypress Mountain media relations and snow school director, Kent Rideout, is reported to have said to local media this week.

“We’ve had a blast of 65 centimetres in three days. It’s snowing heavily now and is expected to snow during the weekend."

Whistler boasts the third snowiest season on record with 1,346cm.

It has been quite a winter in the Canadian resort - remember the early season snowfall?

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