WORLD SNOW ROUNDUP #210
Issued: 11th October 2023
By Patrick “Snowhunter” Thorne
World Overview
There have been more promising signs from western North America over the past week with ever lower temperatures and ever more snowfall reported on higher slopes. First tracks have been spotted on yet-to-officially open ski slopes in California and Colorado and snow-making has got underway at some of the world’s highest centres, hoping to open later this month if conditions continue to be favourable.
In the Alps, its tension rather than anticipation, starting to rise a little as the warm, sunny and mostly dry conditions continue and glacier ski areas delay opening. The worst news has come from Les 2 Alpes, due to be the first in France to open for 23-24 in just under a fortnight’s time, which has now cancelled that plan due to the lack of snow on its glacier meaning there’ll probably be no French ski areas open until the end of November. Against this bad news though, a sixth glacier resort and the third in Austria’s Tirol region has managed to open for the 23-24 season.
It’s a more promising picture up in Scandinavia with colder, snowier weather reported and the opening of the first resorts for their 23-24 seasons in Finland.
The season has also got underway in Japan, albeit just a single run at a small resort using an all-weather snow-making machine, but the country has seen its first natural snowfalls up high, including at the summit of Mt Fuji, over the past week.
The season is into its final days now in the southern hemisphere with just a handful of ski areas still open in the Andes and New Zealand and all but two of these are expected to end their seasons this weekend. It does keep snowing every now and then though, despite springtime increasingly gaining a hold, with even Australian ski areas, all of which closed last month (most earlier than hoped due to warm weather) seeing fresh snowfall at the end of last week.
Europe
EUROPE INTRO
It’s not been a great week for the Alps, at least not if you want to go skiing or get excited about snow building ahead of the main season. Instead, we’ve again seen mostly sunny weather and reports that September was the warmest on record. The start of the French ski season has also now been officially set back to late November after Les 2 Alpes announced it couldn’t open for a fortnight of glacier skiing at the end of next week as planned. Looking for any positives though, temperatures did drop to freezing on glaciers overnight and although Solden again delayed opening, Kaunertal became the sixth glacier ski area in the Alps to open for its 23-24 season at the weekend. Half of those now open is in Austria’s Tirol. Further north though there are reasons to get excited. Finland’s season started last Friday with two resorts opening thanks to snow-farming (reusing last season’s snow stockpiled through the summer and spread back out to create some ski runs), but it was quickly followed by fresh snowfall across the region with resorts as far south as Norway’s Hemsedal getting a good early snow cover.
AUSTRIA REPORT
We have up to three ski areas open in Austria, which as of next Monday will be the most of any country in the world (for now there are four open in New Zealand). Kaunertal (0/50cm / 0/20″) is the latest to open, as of last Saturday, a week later than planned. It’s the third to open in the Tirol region after year-round Hintertux (0/10cm / 0/4”) and the country’s highest slopes at Pitztal (0/15xm / 0/6″). However, Solden, which had also hoped to open and is due to stage the opening competitions of the 23-24 Alpine Skiing World Cup tour, has delayed again. As with the rest of the Alps, temperatures have been in the 20s in Austrian valleys and although getting to freezing at night on glaciers, daytime highs have still been 5 or 6 degrees above zero Celsius with pretty much wall-to-wall sunshine. Despite this, and posting an incredibly thin base, Hintertux has increased its open terrain this week to 17km (11 miles) and unveiled its autumn terrain park. For the other two, it is just 3km (a couple of miles) of slopes open each.
AUSTRIA FORECAST
There are possible signs of colder weather arriving, potentially bringing snow to high slopes, later this weekend or early next week but it’s difficult to be certain at this point. The next few days look similar to the past few weeks with plenty of sunshine, temperatures in the 20s in Alpine Valleys and reaching +5C on glaciers, freezing overnight.
SWITZERLAND REPORT
It remains Saas Fee (0/160cm / 0/64″) and Zermatt (0/200cm / 0/80″) as the only centres open in Switzerland, both with around 12km (7 miles) of slopes open. As with the rest of the Alps, the past week has seen almost non-stop daytime sunshine with highs around +4 to +6C in the afternoon, freezing overnight, on glaciers. All being well several more Swiss glacier ski areas, Diavolezza near St Moritz and Titlis above Engelberg, should open the weekend after next. Zermatt is heavily focused on staging the first cross-border downhill ski race in about a month’s time, opening the FIS World Cup speed racing season, all being well after races had to be cancelled a year ago. This autumn they have a lot of snow stored for use if needed.
SWITZERLAND FORECAST
The warm, sunny weather is expected to continue at last until the weekend when temperatures are expected to finally dip and a fresh front could bring snowfall to higher Swiss slopes.
FRANCE REPORT
We were hopefully getting closer to the start of the French 23-24 ski season with Les 2 Alpes hoping to open for glacier skiing for two weeks from the 21st, but it announced last weekend that now won’t happen and its opening date will be December 1st. Much did depend on snow conditions on its glacier though and after a mostly warm few months with just a few snowfalls so far it is no surprise that there’s little or no snow surviving on the glacier. With Les 2 Alpes not now opening this month, the next scheduled openings in the country are about 8 weeks away on the final weekend of November at Tignes, Val Thorens and others. The past week certainly hasn’t helped much and probably made the Les 2 Alpes decision inevitable, unfortunately, with daytime highs of 20C down at resort level, +5C on the glacier, getting down to around freezing overnight.
FRANCE FORECAST
No real respite in sight with the sunny skies and warm temperatures, although perhaps getting a degree or two cooler, more frequently up on glaciers, with overnight lows getting down to -1 or -2C some nights.
ITALY REPORT
Passo Stelvio (0/30cm / 0/12″) has (at the time of writing) managed to stay open despite a week of predominantly dry and sunny weather, again, for its slopes. The good news is it is cooler and overnight freezes harder, so hopefully it will make it through the final three or four weeks of its 2023 season and not have to close for a third period. Skiing is also due to return to Cervinia (0/200cm / 0/80″) this coming weekend and return for good, with the high-altitude resort on the Swiss border saying once lift access to the glacier above Zermatt re-opens, it will continue year-round from this weekend on, with no more breaks in spring and autumn/fall, as had always been the case up to now.
ITALY FORECAST
Alas, there’s no real sign of significant snowfall in the forecast, more sunshine is expected, but temperatures on glaciers are much cooler so at least the thaw should pretty well stop, with daytime highs only a degree or two above freezing, overnight lows around -5C above 3000m.
SCANDINAVIA REPORT
The big news in the region this week has been the opening of Finland’s biggest ski resorts, Levi (10/20cm / 4/8”) and Ruka (20/20cm / 8/8”) at the weekend. Both had stored over 100,000 cubic metres of snow from last winter, stockpiled under cover through the summer, and at least 80,000 cubic metres made it through to form their bases for opening a few kilometres (1.5 miles) of slopes a piece, once it was spread back out over the first week of the month. Lower temperatures, fresh snow-making and natural snowfall mean both centres will aim to open more as soon as they can. In the meantime, there’s a festive mood with new season gear testing and fun park features. In fact, the fresh snow arrived on Saturday, turning the land around the ribbons of snow from ‘autumnal’ to ‘wintery white’ and putting a fresh snow layer on the old snow. Besides these two, the region’s highest slopes on the Galdhopiggen glacier, in Norway, remain open through November and is currently about the only place open in the northern hemisphere with fresh snowfall to ski and ride on about a kilometre of slopes. The snowfall in the region continued down to more Norwegian resorts with Hemsedal among those posting snowy images. Elsewhere in the still wider region, Iceland’s Bláfjöll reported a full snow covering, its first of autumn 2023, last Thursday.
SCANDINAVIA FORECAST
It’s looking good in Northern Scandinavia with temperatures only a degree or two above freezing and staying subzero on higher fells through the remainder of this week. At the same time, there’s snow forecast for several days running up to the weekend with accumulations of up to 20cm (8″) likely.
CANADA REPORT
There have been more snowfalls across most of western Canada, increasingly frequent for areas particularly in Alberta and eastern BC, with resorts like Big White, Lake Louise and Sunshine repeatedly posting snowy images. It’s just a month now until the scheduled start date of the season for Banff’s ski areas, likely to be the first in Canada to open for the 2023-4 season. It’s also worth noting that the East Coast has seen temperatures falling away with some snowfall reported in northern Ontario and Quebec including at the region’s largest resort, Tremblant.
CANADA FORECAST
Plenty of clouds and temperatures in the -4 to +4C range in the Canadian Rockies over the coming week. Some snow showers are expected over the next few days, though nothing too major at this stage.
USA REPORT
The pre-season start news from the western US continues to be promising with repeat snowfalls, in some cases, including Alta in Utah, with snowfall down to resort level. The fresh snow has allowed some skiers to record the first tracks of 23-24 before resorts open and lifts operate. They include Mammoth Mountain, where tracks were spotted on a thin covering of snowfall lying on top of a large patch of snow from last winter, and Colorado’s Silverton Mountain where ski patrollers took to deeper looking fresh snow up high. There’s no confirmed first opening in October announced yet but among the candidates, Arapahoe Basin and Loveland, in Colorado, both reported overnight lows down to the mid-20s F and that they had started snow-making with the aim of building bases for the first runs of the season, hopefully later this month. Further east, ski areas in the midwest are often the first to announce they have a run or a terrain park open thanks to snow-making. Wisconsin’s Trollhaugen did organise an October rail jam at the weekend with a bit of snow but that probably doesn’t count. For now then it remains the Big Snow indoor centre in New Jersey that’s the only lift-accessed snow skiing currently available in North America. Temperatures have dipped in the east with a dusting on high spots further south at ski areas like Whiteface in New York state.
USA FORECAST
Mostly sunny weather in the west for the next day or two but colder conditions and a new front should bring more snowfall later to the Rockies in the week.
Southern Hemisphere
All ski areas in Australia and southern Africa are now closed for the 2023 season. However, Australian ski centres were excited to see their slopes turn white again briefly on Thursday last week as warm, spring temperatures suddenly disappeared and Falls Creek hit -5C overnight while Perisher posted a 5cm (2”) accumulation. “Today’s snow is a reminder of all the fun we had this season at Hotham and we can’t wait to welcome guests back next year,” said Emily Smith, Hotham’s field marketing manager on the 5th.
NEW ZEALAND REPORT
New Zealand has the most ski areas still open for 2023 in the southern hemisphere, four resorts. Although two of these, Cardrona (33/45cm / 13/28″) and Mt. Hutt (76/134 cm / 30/53″) are due to end their seasons this coming Sunday. For now, though Mt Hutt is posting the most terrain open of any ski area in the world with about 95% of its 40km (25 miles) of runs believed still open. It’s typical spring weather with plenty of sunshine although the odd shower moving through. Temperatures still dipping well below freezing overnight, climbing up to +7 or _8C in the afternoons. Mt. Ruapehu’s Whakapapa (22/121 cm / 9/48″) and Tūroa (30/225 cm / 12/90”), the latter posting the world’s deepest base for an open area, are both expected to keep operating for another week after this weekend, making them the last areas open in the southern hemisphere. The Remarkables was the latest ski area to close for the season on Monday, going out with a denim day and pond skim and setting a new world record for the amount of denim-clad skiers and boarders on the slopes.
NEW ZEALAND FORECAST
Mostly dry and sunny for the next few days with temperatures climbing to 5-7 degrees in the afternoons for slushy afternoons on still open slopes. Still getting subzero overnight though and there are signs of a major snowfall this coming weekend.
ARGENTINA REPORT
Most of Argentina’s ski areas have now closed and those still operating plan to end their seasons this coming weekend. Temperatures have been rising, reaching double figures above freezing even on high slopes by the afternoon, and despite some fresh snow flurries reported, base depths are definitely starting to drop. Centres still open include the southern hemisphere’s biggest, Cerro Catedral (5/95cm / 2/38”) near Bariloche which last week dropped from having about half of its terrain still open to only a quarter, about 30km (19 miles) of runs. It’s currently offering free snowsports to locals as an October end-of-season treat.
ARGENTINA FORECAST
A mostly sunny week ahead, temperatures still getting a degree or two below freezing up high overnight, but increasingly warm on the lower mountain and during the daytime so definitely the end of the 2023 season.
CHILE REPORT
A mostly sunny week in Chile as we move further into spring with just two areas still operating. With 35km (22 miles) of runs open, Valle Nevado (40/100cm / 16/40”) has one of the biggest amounts of terrain open in the world at present. Antillanca (20/50cm / 8/20”) is currently closed midweek but says it plans to reopen for a final weekend next Saturday if the current sunny, warm weather doesn’t do too much damage to the surviving snowpack.
CHILE FORECAST
The sunny weather is expected to continue for the final days of the season. Overnight lows still getting below freezing, and daytime highs getting into the teens at the resort level.
Asia
JAPAN REPORT
Last Thursday saw the first snowfall of autumn/fall for Mt Fuji in Japan and the Shirakayama UNESCO World Heritage site, rather than ski hills, posted images of snow covering buildings there. Since then many Japanese ski areas have posted “first snow” images with Myoko noting theirs was several weeks earlier than 2022, which hopefully, is a good sign. The Yeti ski area below Fuji also started making snow with its all-weather system planning to open a run at the weekend, the first to open for skiing in the country once again, as it has been for over 25 years now.
JAPAN FORECAST
Plenty of sunshine in the forecast for the week ahead with temperatures in the +5 to +10C range. There’ll be some rain showers but it’s not looking very wintery yet.
