Fresh powder in The Alps
Sunday May 9, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

Mother Nature hasn't quite got the message.

It might well be May, for many people skiing and snowboarding is just a distant memory and thoughts have turned to summer.

However for those out in The Alps though winter has made a brief return.

"It was snowing pretty much all last week and there is now over 30cm of powder up on the Grande Motte glacier here in Tignes," one of our PlanetSKI reporters has been told.

Earlier in the month we had a reporter in the resort and she said conditions were amazing. 

See Jane Peel's story here.

Peel in the powder

Up in Scotland some think Cairngorm may still be open into June and it had a bit of fresh snow last weekend.

Meanwhile, it is now snowing over in The Pyrenees, but all the ski resorts are now shut in France, Andorra and Spain. 

We have emailed a couple of our readers who are out ski touring and hope to hear back from them soon with some pictures.

We'll let you know.

In the meantime here is a photo taken from the Chamonix Valley - Spring down below, colder higher up.

Looks like it might be good up top in Chamonix...

.......and it is

The resort closed last weekend.

For all the details across the world here's our round-up with the help of our friends over at www.skiinfo.com

It was first posted in Friday 7th May.

FRANCE: Chamonix is still open with 3.5m of snow, while Orelle and Val Thorens at the top of the Trois Vallees has 1.45m and Tignes, that has been open for eight month since last September, has 1.4m.

PlanetSKI reader Daniel Elkan who runs the web site, Snowcarbon, was in Chamonix last week.

"The weather was sunny for the few days we were there, and quite warm in the village T-shirt weather for sure."

However up in Argentiere there was still some good snow with people out on their skis and snowboards.

Spring in Chamonix

All French ski areas close on Sunday 9th but three, Val d'Isere, Tignes and Les 2 Alpes, will re-open for a couple of months in the latter half of June for summer skiing and boarding.

SWITZERLAND: In Switzerland the temperatures are well below freezing up high and it's snowing heavily at still open Engelberg, where the snow is forecast to continue at least until the weekend. 

Saas Fee is also receiving new snow and has reported 20cm this week but no lifts are operating.

Zermatt remains open and the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz has a 1000m+ vertical to enjoy still, with 1m of snow at the top and 20cm at the bottom.

Still snow on the Matterhorn

ITALY: Three ski resorts are still open in Italy. 

Cervinia and Gressoney are open until this Sunday, 9th May, while the Presena glacier above Passo Tonale is open to the 26th of June. 

It currently has a 4m snow base so looks in good shape for the next few months.

Monte Rosa where Gressoney is located saw 20cm (8 inches) of new snow in the past week.

Monte Rosa

AUSTRIA: It's cold too in Austria where several glacier ski areas remain open and are receiving fresh snow showers.

The Kaunertal glacier has highs of zero and has six lifts operating, it's open all month and currently has up to 1.34m of snow on upper slopes. 

It's a similar picture at Austria's highest ski area, Pitztal, at 3440m, although it will end its long season which began last September in mid-May on the 16^th.

There are nine lifts and 1.2m of snow on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier above Kaprun, which will stage its annual ski and gold tournament next week. 

The Molltal glacier is alo open although it closes on Monday until the summer ski season begins in late June.  Currently 30km of runs are open though and the snow i up to 3.6m  deep still.

A fifth Austrian option is the Stubai glacier near Innsbruck with 18 pistes open and 1.8m of snow lying.

You can also still ski on the Tux glacier in the Ziller valley.

SCOTLAND: A fresh spell of cool weather has brought new snow to Scotland for the mayday holiday period. See this related story on the conditions.

CairnGorm Mountain above Aviemore is the only Scottish ski centre still open for snow sports.

It has had 141,000 skier visits to date. That's more than double the 65,000 skier visits in 2009 and helps it to recover from worst season on record in 2007.

So far the centre has been open 133 days open since the end of November 2009.

Several hundred skiers enjoyed the fresh powder as Cairngorm entered its seventh calendar month of continuous operation in one of its busiest and most successful seasons in memory.

CairnGorm Mountain will keep its winter sports facilities open for weekends in May if demand remained high - at least 300 skiers a day are needed.  It may even open into June.

Bumper winter in Scotland

Skiing is still possible on runs including the White Lady, M1, Coire Cas and the nursery slope area at the top of the Mountain in the Ptarmigan Bowl.

See this PlanetSKI video from the resort on our trip there at the beginning of last March

SPAIN: The ski season ended at the weekend in Spain, with Europe's most southerly resort, Sierra Nevada, wrapping up it winter despite still having several metres of snow lying on upper slopes.

There are also no ski areas reported open in Andorra or in  Eastern Europe.

In Scandinavia several top resorts are still open. Finland's Ruka has 14 runs open served by five lifts.

SWEDEN: Up in the Swedish Arctic, Riksgransen is nearing 24 hour daylight ahead.

That means midnight-sun-ski-season beginning in the next few weeks.

One of our PlanetSKI reporters will be there and will be telling us what it is like so keep an eye open for that.

NORWAY: Folgenfonn ski centre opened on 1^st May and immediately reported the deepest snow pretty well anywhere with 4m lying and 15cm of fresh snow for opening day. 

It will be joined by a second Norwegian summer ski glacier area, Galdhoppigen, on May 13.

In North America more ski areas closed at the weekend including Loveland in Colorado and Mountain High in California.

In the US however Squaw Valley in California is open for one more weekend, with lift tickets down to 45 dollars on the final day of the season - this Sunday. 

Snowbird in Utah plans to stay open at least through May and back in California, Mammoth is aiming to keep the slopes open until the 4^th of July.

In Colorado Arapahoe Basin is still open and in Oregon Mt Bachelor has had 20cm of new snow since the weekend.

There's still more than 3m of snow at village level and even more on the mountain. Another Oregon resort, Timberline, which normally remains open through spring and summer, is also looking good.

CANADA: In Canada only Sunshine near Banff in Alberta and Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia remain open.

NEW ZEALAND: South of the equator in New Zealand a cold front at the weekend reminded the country's North Island skiers and riders that the southern hemisphere's winter is just around the corner.

Mt Ruapehu looked postcard perfect with a fresh layer of gleaming white snow.

It's a start in New Zealand

In Australia's mountains the warm, summery, weather has hibernated too, as it should in autumn.

There's a distinctive nip in the air and the prospect of snow at Falls Creek ski resort has emerged in tandem with a forecasted first big cold front of season. 

There's only 40 days to go until the official opening date of another winter season at the resort in the province of Victoria. 

In southern Africa, Afriski in Lesotho has announced its 2010 season will begin on May 25^th.

Not long to go

Now if you have managed to make it all the way to the end of this snow overview and are keen on picking up a bargain for next season just look at the banner link below to see what early booking deals Crystal has for winter 2010/11.

They are not bad at all.

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