Snow around the world
Monday August 10, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

Conditions in the Southern Hemisphere are fantastic.

Its snowing in Australia and there’s so much snow in New Zealand that avalanches are a real hazard. 

With the help of skiinfo.com  we bring you a round up of snowy conditions around the world at the beginning of August. 

Les 2 Alpes in France and Saas Fee in Switzerland have been lucky with fresh snow, and conditions are improving in South Africa.

The little know Corsican resort of VergioThe snow report is a little late as PlanetSKI has been exploring the mountain ranges of Corsica where there has most categorically been NO snow and where some of the mountain temperatures at 1,400m reached a blistering hot 38ºC. That was at 6 o'clock in the evening too.

However in other parts of Alpine Europe the week started off cloudy and ended in brilliant sunshine.  Even at altitudes of 3,000m temperatures were above zero by late morning.

Saas Fee in Switzerland reported 4cm of fresh snow on its glacier on 4th August. 4 runs are open including the snowpark and halfpipe, on a 1.8m snowbase. Zermatt remains open all year, currently, with dozens of slopes and a 1.1m snow depth.

Austria:  continues to have the largest ski area open with a choice of 4 glaciers including Kitzsteinhorn (above Kaprun), Dachstein near Schladming, Tux in the Ziller Valley and Molltal near Mallnitz and Flattach.    Kitzsteinhorn staged its 'Snow Climb' mountain bike race last weekend with 19.6m of snow waiting for the bikers.  Tux shares similar similar snow depths with 23km of skiable piste.

Italy:  3 areas are open - Cervinia, sharing its summer skiing with Zermatt, Passo Stelvio and Val Senales.  Each with a snow depth of between 1 and 2m.

Summer view from top of TignesFrance:  2 glacier ski areas remain open for summer skiing. Les 2 Alpes and Tignes will close at the end of the month.  Tignes will then reopen from mid-September.   It currently reports glacier snow depths of 180cm.  Les 2 Alpes has a 30cm snow depth but reported a 5cm snowfall on 2 August.

Norway:  the Stryn glacier is closed.  2 glacier ski areas are open - Folgefonn and Galdhoppigen. Folgerfonn has the greater snow depth with 3m accumulated. Both centres aim to stay open to the start of the winter ski season in November by which time the first of Scandinavia's larger resorts should be opening for their long winter season.

USA:  Across the Atlantic only Timberline ski area is open, located on Mt Hood in Oregon, USA. There's nearly 1.1m of snow lying and the weather is very warm at around 21.11ºC  2 chairlifts serving the freestyle terrain and superpipe are open morning and early afternoon.

In the Southern Hemisphere conditions are improving at Tiffindell in South Africa. Snow depths are up to 75cm and 1.2km of slopes are open - the most so far this season.  Temperatures are hovering just below zero. In neighbouring Lesotho, Afri-ski is open with 1km slope but temperatures are higher.

Conditions in South America are mixed.  Chile: Valle Nevado reports 2.6m of snow so far this season with 70cm of fresh snow.  At Portillo more than 4m of snow has fallen since the start of the season and snow depths are up to 1.8m. There's been no snow in the past 24 hours but Portillo reports a further 11cm of new snow last week.

Winter view from bottom of Cerro CatedralArgentina: continues to have a rather average season with little fresh snow and 50cm of snow at the continent's largest ski centre, Cerro Catedral.  Las Lenas has a more impressive 125cm of snow and expects heavy snow later this week.

AUSTRALASIA: New Zealand has had a bumper snowfall.  Great news for recreational skiers but the risk of avalanche has increased dramatically.  Sadly there have been several avalanche deaths amongst those heading off piste, we reported one here last week on PlanetSKI  .

At Mt Ruapehu, Turoa is reporting 10cm of snow in the last 24 hours, increasing the snow depth beyond a fabulous 2.1m.  Whakapapa has had even more snow with an 18cm overnight fresh top up.  Conditions are fantastic.  And it has 18.5m of snow lying on its upper slopes.  

Coronet Peak is experiencing its BEST snow conditions for years.  Great news as its about to become the hub of international race training in the Southern Hemisphere in the lead up to the 2010 Winter Olympics.  

Coronet Peak has been the main Southern Hemisphere training centre for the US Alpine Ski Team for several years.  There is excitement in the  air as teams are arriving.  Richard Murphy, Head of Race and Events at Coronet Peak, said training camps such as those provided by Coronet Peak are crucial for these teams.

But there’s bad news for the US team - 2 US snowboarders have been busted for drugs. The pair was arrested in New Zealand by police carrying out random drug tests. It’s believed one is an Olympic medalist.

They are scheduled to appear in court on 10th August - see the full story here on PlanetSKI.

The US women's team will include Linsey Vonn, 2009 Overall Alpine Ski Champion and 2009 Double World Champion from Val d'Isere. She will be accompanied by Olympic Gold Medalist Julia Mancuso from Torino.

The US men's team will be led by Ted Ligety, combined Olympic Gold Medalist in Torino and Double Overall Giant Slalom World Champion.

Coronet Peak also expects the Swedish, Swiss and Canadian Alpine Ski Teams with all eyes focused firmly on gold in Vancouver and Whistler.

Australia:  Conditiions continue to be good.  Most ski areas reported a few centimetres of fresh snow last week, with an 8cm top up for Perisher.  Mt Buller has had a 3cm top up with 17 lifts open for great skiing.

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