Ski S. Africa

Skiing in South Africa has a mixed and fairly colourful history with enthusiasts chasing what snow fell whenever it did in the higher parts of the country for decades before the first attempt at a commercial ski centre, Tiffindell, located at the highest point on the Cape, was created in 1993.

This used snow making techniques perfected by its owners from New England in the US but the centre also sometimes receives substantial snowfalls and guests have been snowed in in the past. Unfortunately the centre ran in to financial difficulties around 15 years after opening while planning an expansion including a gondola access lift and at time of writing was up for sale.

Whether it will reborn or follow the fate of earlier ski area attempts such as Tena Head in 1972 and Qwa Qwa in 1977 remains to be seen.

In the meantime South Africans can still ski in Lesotho or on a number of artificial surface skis slopes in their own nation.


South Africa also has an unlikely roll in the development of snowmaking. An Israeli corporation that builds cooling systems was employed by a gold mining company near Johannesburg to create a cooling machine for one of its mines to minimise the intense heat underground. An unexpected by-product if the cooling process turned out to be pour fresh pure snow which piled out of the machine in to the 30+C heat of the South African desert. The company, which had no ski area connections previously, patented its ‘Snow-maker’ as the first machine capable of making snow without additives in plus temperatures and sold its first machines to Pitztal in Austria and Zermatt in Switzerland.
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S. Africa: latest snow conditions round-up

Summary of forecast snowfall and ski conditions for resorts in S. Africa. Fresh snow is forecast at 0 resorts. Powder is reported at 0 resorts and 0 are reporting good piste conditions.

All resorts

Ski resorts of S. Africa, alphabetically

Resort
snow depth
top and bottom

on-piste

off-piste

Last Snow

Next 9 Days
0–3 | 3–6 | 6–9
snow (cm)
Next 5 days weather forecast.
Freezing level (m)
Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

(1836m — 2229m)

2.0 cm
on 24 Sep
part cloud cloud clear clear part cloud
Mid station 2032 m
4450m 4550m 4650m 3900m 2600m

(2368m — 3282m)

5 cm
on 31 Oct
part cloud cloud rain showers heavy rain mod rain
Mid station 2825 m
5000m 4700m 4400m 4500m 4200m

(2719m — 3000m)

snow report today

opens in 81 days 1.0 cm
on 28 Oct
cloud part cloud light rain rain showers thunderstorm
Mid station 2860 m
4900m 4800m 4650m 4650m 4200m