The PlanetSKI snow report
Saturday July 3, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

Glacier resorts have opened in Switzerland, Italy and Austria but warm temperatures have meant conditions are pretty soft and sticky according to our reporters out in The Alps.

We have already reported recently from Zermatt where the snow at the top of the Kleine Matterhorn ski area is in great shape.

Summer in the Swiss Alps

See the report here with some great photos and the short video below shows what it looks like.



SWITZERLAND: Elsewhere in the country Saas Fee has just opened for summer skiing and snowboarding.

It has a 3m base up on the glacier and many people were out enjoying the slopes at the weekend.

Later this month it hosts the Saas-Fee ride and we will bring you a preview piece on that shortly.

The lifts in Zermatt open at 7.00am with skiing and snowboarding through to lunchtime. "The pistes are empty and the conditions are excellent," says Sean Langmuir who is race training in the resort at the moment with some clients.

  Langmuir is a ski coach and director of The Alpine Training Centre.

FRANCE: Les 2 Alpes held The Kumi Yama contest at the weekend It's a Japanese themed slopestyle and superpipe contest from July 2nd to 4th which will feature X Games and Winter Olympic champions. 

The other French glacier ski areas at Tignes and Val d'Isere remain open too.

ITALY: Cervinia has opened for summer skiing with a 2m base, but the Presena glacier above Passo Tonale has closed.

There are currently 3 Italian ski areas open at the moment.

The other 2 are Passo Stelvio and Val Senales.

The You Tube video below from Val Senales sums up the first Summercamp week.  It started off with rain, 40cm of fresh snow and ended with sunshine.

AUSTRIA: It has four ski areas open, more than any other northern hemisphere country. The Molltal glacier has re-opened and has 9km of runs open, served by three lifts with 2.5m of snow.

On the Kitzsteinhorn glacier above Kaprun the snow is 1m deep at the top of the glacier but only 5cm is left at the Alpincentre which you can currently ski down to, but perhaps not for much longer.

The Dachstein Glacier has 1.8m of snow on the glacier and two lifts, two runs and a terrain park open. 

The Tux glacier, which is open virtually year round, has one of the biggest ski areas open at present with 20km of runs served by nine lifts and a 550m vertical.

NORWAY: It's colder and the snow is in better shape in Norway where three glacier areas remain open. 

Folgefonn has a 2m base, Galdhøpiggen 4m and Stryn 4.5 metres - the deepest any open ski area is currently reporting anywhere.

Southern Hemisphere:

In the Southern Hemisphere there has been some fresh snow in Australia and low temperatures have allowed the resorts to do a lot of snowmaking. 

AUSTRALIA: Mt Buller is typical of all the leading Australian ski areas in that temperatures there reached a low of -6.3ºC one night last week and -2ºC during the day.

These are spot on conditions to blast some quality man made snow around the clock across the whole resort. 

Four lifts are operating there with a coverage of 46cm in all open areas.

But with forecast snow showers throughout this week and heavy snowmaking underway since Saturday morning, they are anticipating more intermediate terrain will be open later this week.

And its been cold in Perisher too - as well as working the snow cannons hard over the last few days, 21 lifts are running over this weekend. The season is young and conditions are promising - check out Perisher's daily snow report for more details. 

NEW ZEALAND: In New Zealand almost all ski areas are now open and there's been more fresh snow.

Whakapapa on Mt Ruapehu reports 22cm of new snow and an average base depth of 60cm. 

Most other ski areas have a similar amount of snow with Mt Hutt having some of the deepest snow with 125cm.

The 2010 winter season is officially underway in Lake Wanaka with all four fields now open for business and reporting excellent snow conditions. 

Snow Farm, New Zealand's only Nordic ski area was the first to open in early June then at Treble Cone's opening last week, skiers and boarders enjoyed outstanding conditions with all lifts operating.

Skiers in The Saddle were treated to great powder with fresh tracks well into the morning.

The ideal weather conditions and excellent snow base produced plenty of smiles at Cardrona Alpine Resort's opening.

A new 40m tunnel, providing a unique access route across the ski area proved popular with skiers and boarders.

Cardrona now boasts the largest number of chair lifts in the South Island with the installation of the Valley View Quad, opening up even more terrain.

The roll-out of Lake Wanaka's ski areas continued as the freestyle action got underway at Snow Park NZ last weekend.

New for the terrain park is a learner tow rope and designated area for beginners as well as a new transport service to take passengers to and from the mountain every day with extra frequency for night riding sessions Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights. This season Snow Park NZ will launch its 22ft halpipe and quarter pipe as well as many new rails and boxes.

Lake Wanaka's resorts will again take centre stage for many national and international events this winter.

The FIS Snowboard and Freestyle Junior World Championships (19-31 August), Burton New Zealand Open (10-14 August) and The World Heli Challenge (30 July-9 August) will attract world class athletes and provide stunning action for spectators.

USA: In North America Mammoth Mountain's long season is finally ending with the last day of their nine month season on Monday July 5^th following Independence Day weekend. 

The Californian resort is currently offering its guests the chance to ski or board, play a round on the local nine hole golf course and do some mountain biking all in one day for $99.

At Timberline in Oregon lifts and runs are open, including the Otto Lang terrain park, but the resort's half pipe is currently closed for construction.

Summer time at Mt. Hood is for skiing, says the U.S. Women's Development Team, who spent eight days in June 2010 running giant slalom drills on the high mountain snow in Oregon.

CANADA: North of the border Whistler's Blackcomb glacier remains open with its many summercamps. 

Whistler's Momentum Ski Camps will stage "Momentum Splashdown," an event for professional skiers and campers, on Tuesday, July 6 from 4-6pm.

Olympic gold medallist Alex Bilodeau will judge the aerial offerings of some of the North America's best skiers at the water ramps located adjacent to Blackcomb Mountain's Base II area. 

Down in South America there has been quite a lot of fresh snow in both Chile and Argentina enabling more resorts to open. 

CHILE:  Portillo opened last weekend, a week later than planned, and has about two feet of snow.

Valle Nevado reports it has had more than 2 metres of snow so far this season and currently has 50cm lying on the slopes.

The connection to La Parva is open, but not the one to El Colorado.

ARGENTINA: The country's largest ski resort Cerro Catedral is also now partially open although reports only 50cm of snow on upper slopes and nothing at the base, with only limited terrain open as a result. 

Las Lenas is looking a little better with 40cm at the base and 85cm on upper slopes, but temperatures have been peaking at a too-warm +12ºC.

SOUTH AFRICA: There's been no new natural snowfall on Southern Africa's ski slopes but Afriski in lesotho has been able to keep snowmaking as temperatures fluctuastes between highs of +4ºC in the daytime and a low of -5ºC at night.

  It has about 65cm of snow lying on its 400m long main run, and the beginner run is also open.

This report was compiled with the help of our friends over at skiinfo.

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