Les 2 Alpes boasts Europe’s deepest snowpack as season nears end

• Matterhorn Glacier Paradise keeps skiing alive across Cervinia-Zermatt
• Fresh snow incoming for Alpine glaciers as temps plummet
• Norway’s glaciers gear up for season with heavy snowfall forecast
• Fonna’s 2025 season in doubt amid operator uncertainty

ALPS REPORT

There are four glaciers open in the Alps as we move into the final week of May. The most westerly is Les 2 Alpes (0/270cm / 0/108”) in France, which has been aiming to maintain 1,000m of skiable vertical up to the last weekend of the month. It’s also posting the deepest snowpack of any still-open centre in Europe. Then, the cross-border Matterhorn Glacier Paradise (0/100cm / 0/40”), linking Cervinia and Zermatt’s highest terrain, has again seen Cervinia aiming to keep runs on its side of Plateau Rosa skiable.

In Austria, two of the four glaciers that had been open up to last weekend—Kaunertal and Kitzsteinhorn (above Kaprun)—closed their 24-25 seasons at the weekend, leaving the Molltal Glacier (0/150cm / 0/60”) in Carinthia, which is staying open into June, and the Tirol’s Hintertux (0/245cm / 0/98”), which aims to operate year-round, as the two remaining options. The past week has delivered plenty of warm, sunny weather to the high Alps, with just occasional light snow showers on high slopes and the freezing point getting up above 2,500m altitudes.

ALPS FORECAST

Some quite significant snowfall is expected above about 2,000m on the glaciers over the next few days as temperatures drop and a front moves through, with the freezing point dropping below 1,000m overnight. Snow showers will peter out towards the end of the week, with sunny conditions and warmer temperatures returning by the end of the weekend.

SCANDINAVIA REPORT

Finland’s 24-25 season ended at the weekend, with Levi—the last centre that had still been open there after a more than seven-month season—finally calling it to an end on Sunday. Sweden’s season end is coming up next, with the only resort still open there, equally northerly Riksgransen (65/140cm / 26/56”), closing on Sunday, although it currently does plan to do its usual midsummer four-day reopening in a month's time.

It's had plenty of sunshine over the past week—good news for those visiting for midnight sun skiing, which is currently underway for its brief annual three-week run. Temperatures have been climbing, though, especially last week, reaching +10°C in the daytime, although still dropping close to freezing overnight. It was colder with 5-10cm (2-4”) snowfalls to start the week, though.

After this coming weekend, all focus will move onto Norway’s three glacier ski areas, where the season is just getting going. Galdhøpiggen (40/120cm / 16/48”) has been open for several weeks now, and Stryn, already opening weekends for cat skiing, is due to join it this coming weekend. However, Fonna, which had been due to start its season last weekend, has postponed, and after initially rescheduling to a June 10th target opening day, it is currently unclear whether the resort—which often posts the deepest snowpack in the world of that year as it opens in springtime—will open at all in 2025. The issue appears to be with finding an agreement for a new operator after the existing business ran into difficulties.

SCANDINAVIA FORECAST

The sunny weather on Norway’s glaciers over the last few days should end, with temperatures dropping back below freezing—even in the daytime—and snow falling through the latter half of this week. Lows as far as -10°C and 10-20cm (4-8”) daily accumulations are expected at Galdhøpiggen.