The season ends
Friday April 16, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The snow across The Alps is melting.  But what remains is pretty good and there are only a handfull of people out enjoying it.

So for those of us out here in The Alps it is a pretty fine time with largely empty pistes.

It is of course icy first thing and it gets slushy by early afternoon but, if you time things well, there are some great conditions.

Over in Whistler, Canada, PlanetSKI reporter Sarah Vizard says the snow is still superb. 

There's a fuller report at the bottom of this article, but here are a couple of pictures taken this week in Whistler.

For a video round up of conditions from our content editor, James Cove, see below.

He is in the Swiss Alps.

There's further details below of the snow conditions with the help of our friends over at skiinfo.com.

SWITZERLAND:  St Moritz reported a 15cm snowfall in the past week. Laax received a further 60cm taking its snow depth to 2.20m. 

Glacier skiing continues with great snow depths in Switzerland - Engelberg’s glacier skiing reports 3m snow depth, Saas Fee 2.80m depth.

Klosters received a further 3cm on 13th April.

See this related PlanetSKI story on glacier resorts in Switzerland and elsewhere.

It's been hugely changeable out in the Swiss Alps with spring like conditions one minute;

and heavy snowfall the next;

The videos were shot this week by PlanetSKI reporter, Krystyna Chauncey, in the 4 Valleys.

FRANCE:   Some French resorts still remain open. Le Grand Bonand got a 6cm top up on 13th April as did La Clusaz 4cm, Val Thorens 3cm and 1cm for Alpe d’Huez .

Not alot but we guess it all helps.

On Chamonix’s  upper slopes of Mont Blanc snow depths are 3.8m.  Chamonix closes on  May 9th along with Tignes, Val Thorens and La Grave.

Bonneval sur Arc closes on 1st May, Val d’Isere on 2nd May.

Fabulous snow conditions in Chamonix are highlighted by Chamonix mountain guides and ski instructors in the You Tube video below. 

Shot and edited by Seb Montaz on 13th April 2010.

Over in Meribel having a swim seems to be the best thing to do this week.

Apres ski in Meribel

ITALY:   Most Italian resorts closed last weekend but the fresh snow that fell last week rejuventated conditions for the few remaining open.

The Monterosa ski area, including Gressonay and Champoluc, received around 35cm of fresh snow. 

In Aosta, Pilla closes on 18th April, Lombardia’s Santa Caterina and Madesoimo also closes on 18th April. Both still have snow depth of 7m apparently.

Bormio and Livigno will keep going until 2nd May.  Livigno is offering free lift passes to guests booking 4 to 7 nights accommodation in an apartment.  The PR promotion continues to May 2nd.

Alto Adige is open until May 2nd thanks good conditions on its Val Senales glacier.

AUSTRIA:  The glaciers look good in Austria. Sölden got 20cm of fresh snow on Monday 12th April and a further 10cm on 14th and so good skiing continues. 

Lech Zürs am Arlberg had 35cm of snow in the past week.

The Mölltal glacier has a 3.90m snow depth.

SCOTLAND:  And skiing continues in Scotland despite the warmer temperatures, as the video below shows.

Cairngorm Mountain - another cracking day on April 11, 2010.

Very little wind, very sunny and warm.

The warm temperaures have had an effect on the snow base at the country’s five ski areas and Glenshee has decided to close for the season.

Glencoe, The Lecht and Nevis Range are all still open with patchy cover on lower slopes.

Cairngorm still has nearly three metres of snow on upper slopes and is sticking to its plan to stay open for the rest of the month and at weekends through May.

SPAIN:  In Spain only Astun, Candanchu, Masella and Sierra Nevada remain open.

Sierra Nevada is still offering the best conditions for the next few weeks until May 2nd.

As well as cheap ski passes it has 4m of spring snow on the upper slopes and 84 kilometres of pistes.

 SWEDEN:   In Scandinavia it has been warmer but more snow is forecast.  Most of the leading resorts, including Åre in Sweden, will be open until May.

FINLAND:    In Finland, Ruka is almost completely operational with a 62cm base.  It hopes to keep at least one run open until June.

USA:  Amazing snowfalls this week in North West America especially California and Utah. 

Brighton in Utah for example had 22m in 7 days, Snowbird, Alta and Solitude reported more than 2m.

Squaw Valley received 2.10m of fresh snow in 7 days and remains open to at least May 9th.  To date Squaw Valley has received over 11.6m (annual average 11.43m).

With such good snow many resorts are planning to extend their season. 

Grand Targhee in Wyoming extended its season by a week to Sunday 18th April, but it got 1.6m of fresh powder last week, and a further 35cm on 12th April - so maybe it should extend it further!

Just for the sake of it, and because Glen Plake is our hero, here's a You Tube at Heavenly Mountain Resort of Glen Plake, his wife Kimberly and friends tearing up his signature run "The Gunbarrel".

Glen claimed it was "some of the best conditions I've seen in a long time on the face!" - 6th April 2010.

And if you want to see why Glen Plake is one of our heroes take a look at this PlanetSKI interview with him that was shot in Tignes at the Freeride World Tour.

Quite a man.

Snowbird, Utah -  A break between storms on March 6th 2010 provided sunshine and bluebird skies to enoy the new snow.

CANADA:  2009/2010 skiing season as Whistler Blackcomb is now on record as the 2nd snowiest season. 

Total snowfalls reached 14.32m, with a snow base of 3.78m. 

Whistler Blackcomb is extending its season: Whistler Mountain to April 25th and Blackcomb Mountain to May 24th.

This You Tube video shows great conditions and great powder clips from April 8th.

Our reporter, Sarah Vizard, is in Whistler.

"There has been more than half a metre of fresh snow while we've been here and fresh powder every morning. Heaven!  Some of the best snow I've ever skied on, ridiculous for April. And not too hot either, only slightly slushy right at the bottom and just beautiful through all the trees. While we were here they hit the second snowiest year on record so we couldn't have picked a better year."

Second snowiest winter on record

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