The PlanetSKI snow report
Wednesday August 11, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

It's got a bit colder in The Alps, South America has had a top up but the success story of the moment is Australia and now New Zealand too. However a group of skiers in Mt Hutt was hit by an avalanche on Monday. We have details, pictures and videos from around the world.

In the Australian resort of Perisher 64cm of fresh snow has fallen in the last week. 

The resorts in Australia were covered after the snow cannons came to the rescue with some extensive investment in snow making.

But we all know there is nothing that beats the real stuff.

"It's been a top weekend at Perisher with sunshine, blue skies and great snow all adding up to excellent skiing and boarding. We now have our fingers crossed for some fresh snow this week, with isolated snow falls forecast for Tuesday," says a statement from the resort.

Enjoying the powder in Perisher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sadly though a 55-year old man died in the resort of Perisher when he skied into a tree.  He was on holiday with his family.

More details are reported in the local press.

And below was the scene at Mt Hutt, New Zealand on Monday morning.

It's going to be a powder day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day though was a testing one for the resort with an avalanche sweeping away a group of skiers.  No-one was hurt.

There were several other incidents too for the resort to deal with. See this report in The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper for further details.

It follows a number of deaths in the resort already this winter as we have reported.

In the European Alps its been snowing at altitude as the recent warm temperatures dropped, though it melted pretty quickly.

Obergurgl last Friday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week though we start our snow report in the southern hemisphere; where the best snow has fallen.

AUSTRALIA: It's the Australian ski areas that have been reporting the world's best snow conditions over the past week.

Many resorts have had their biggest snowfalls of winter so far - which had been mostly cold to date, allowing for lots of snowmaking, but with limited natural stuff until now.

Perisher in New South Wales, has had the best of it but prior to the new snowfall needed to produce over 800,000 cubic metres of snow to create a decent base.

In the last few days a further 20cm has fallen.

"The four resort areas of Perisher, Blue Cow, Guthega and Smiggin Holes will be interconnected this weekend," said Gary Grant, General Manager.  

See the snow report video below from Perisher filmed on Wednesday 11th August. There's some fresh snow.

Other Australian resorts have reported healthy snowfall too, if not on quite the same scale.

Mt Buller reports 24cms of snow and Mt Hotham has had 51cm  of fresh snow over the past week or so.

7 lifts are in operation at Hotham with more lifts currently being assessed for opening.

Thredbo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW ZEALAND:  Further south there's been a huge dump too with the biggest snow  storm of the season at Mt Hutt.

As bitterly cold weather grips the South Island, skiers and snowboarders at Mt Hutt are delighted with more than a  metre of fresh snow falling.

It has brought the resorts base to 2.3 metres. 

Ski Area Manager Dave Wilson said the amount of snow was "incredible". He was speaking on Monday 9th August.

"The ski area is just blanketed, and it all came within 36 hours. After a morning of digging out the base building and chairlifts Mt Hutt is set up for awesome skiing and riding," Wilson said.

Digging out at Mt Hutt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been a smilar picture at some of the other resorts in New Zeland. Coronet Peaks received 45cm and The Remarkables 33cm.

We will bring you further details and pictures here on PlanetSKI shortly.

It's a far cry from last week when more snow was needed.

The weather played havoc with the World Hei Challenge, but parts of it did manage to take place and even though the events were altered it seems to have been a great event as we reported here on PlanetSKI.

Nearby Whakapapa had a 90cm base and also had some of the fresh snow.

The weekend storm at The Remarkables

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARGENTINA: In South America conditions remain good, but cold, at Cerro Catedral in Argentina, the continent's biggest resort in terms of the number of lifts.

There's 1.6 metres of snow lying on upper slopes but it has been cold. -15C at times.

One of our readers, Alex Leaf, is heading out there soon and will be blogging for us and sending us some snow information so keep an eye open for that.

 

View from the top of Cerro Catedrale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not quite as cold at Chapelco, which has a 1.3m base and is still petty cold at around -9C.

The country's other big resort, Las Lenas in the south, has 40cm  at the base and 1.1m  at the top of the lifts.

CHILE: In Chile virtually all lifts and runs are operational at Valle Nevado which reports another 5cm of fresh snow.

It takes its season tally to 3.6m, although the compacted base at present is rather less than that at 70cm.

Chapa Verde reports an 80cm  base and Portillo to the north is still not quite at the top of its game with an 80cm natural snow depth, low temperatures but not much of the off piste powder for which it's most famous.

However there has been 30cm of new snow in the past week.

So, what about Europe?

Well if you are out in The Alps at the moment then the best bet might be to forget about skiing and snowboarding and do something else. There's plenty on offer.

A few of the other British ski web sites are reporting fresh snow above 3,000m and heralding it as great news.

Well maybe, but the people we have out in The Alps all say it was barely worth talking about and has vanished or been washed away.

There's still much to do though in the mountains as these recent photos from Chamonix show.

Looking good

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saddling up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking a stroll

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AUSTRIA: Only the upper slopes on the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier are open with the snow cover still thin.

The Dachstein glacier has limited skiing and describes its 60cm base as 'wet.' 

On the Molltal glacier it's not been great either, with runs closed last week as rain fell.

 

However it turned to snow in the end and many of its summer runs opened up.

Hintertux too has seen a mixture of fresh snow and rain.

It's base depth stands at 1.25m with nearly 700m of vertical still skiable at the year-round snow sports resort.

FRANCE: Tignes and Les 2 Alpes are still open with similar conditions to Austria, if a little less precipitation.

Snow depths are 60-100cm.

 

 

ITALY: Val Senales had a dusting of 5cm of fresh snow last week and has a 1m base with 8km of piste open.

It's a similar picture at Passo Stelvio and Cervinia, the other two Italian areas currently open.

 

 

SWITZERLAND: The only other glacier resorts open are in Switzerland at Saas Fee and Zermatt.

Saas Fee has some of the best conditions in Europe right now with temperatures on the glacier around freezing.

There was 8cm of fresh snow last week. 4 runs, the glacier half pipe and the terrain park are open on a 1.26m base.

We've seen a little bit of snow in our base resort of Verbier.

PlanetSKI reporter, Guy Ordway, has sent us this picture.

Look hard and you can see the snow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"It's been a bit cloudy and wet and once the cloud drifted away you can see a bit of snow - well if you look hard and squint," he tells us.

Ordway works for The Performance Ski School in the resort.

Otherwise in Europe if you want to ski or snowboard then you'll need to head indoors.

PlanetSKI has been following the progress of a group of trainee ski instructors as they complete their Level 1 training at the Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead.

If you are interested in how to become a ski instructor or to find out about skiing indoors then it is well worth a read.

USA: Only Timberline on Mt Hood in Oregon continues to offer snow sports.

There is though skiing in Africa.

Just.

It has warmed up a little at Afriski in Lesotho and the snow guns are no longer able to operate after their long spate of snowmaking for most of the winter.

However the accumulated base isn't thawing too quickly and the snow surface is good in the morning after an overnight freeze, though it gets a bit sticky after lunchtime - much like an alpine glacier.

There's still a 600m main slope, 200m beginner slope and a terrain park open to enjoy with best snow depth 70cm on the main run.

With thanks to our friends over at skiinfo for some of the reporting.

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