WORLD SNOW ROUNDUP #91
Issued: 11th June 2019
By Patrick “Snowhunter” Thorne
Our latest roundup of snow conditions around the world. Each section that follows below goes into detail country by country. Clicking the map thumbnail will take you to our dynamic snow forecast map for the latest detail (where you can also overlay live weather & reported conditions). Weather outlooks for Europe and North America can be found at the end of this roundup.
INTRODUCTION:
The 2019 ski season is continuing to gather pace in the Southern Hemisphere as we move towards the middle of June.
Almost all Australian ski areas are open and are reporting the best start to the winter for 17 years so it could hardly be much better. Lesotho’s Afriski area has also opened for its 2019 season.
Ski areas have also begun opening fully in New Zealand with Mt Hutt reporting the deepest base in the Southern Hemisphere so far and the first to hit the metre mark there for 2019.
There’s plenty of snow lying in the Andes too but here the ski season is due to really start rolling from the coming weekend onwards.
North of the Equator there’s not a great deal of change from last week. If anything, there are more places to ski than there were at the end of May. Marginally more areas have opened for spring and summer skiing over the past few weekends than closed at the end of the 8-9 month 18-19 ski season. In fact, this weekend we saw the return of open ski areas to Canada, France and Italy.
Although it is finally getting warmer there continue to be snowstorms on high slopes or at northerly latitudes. This week though the biggest falls have been reported where no ski areas are currently open, including around Banff, in Alberta, Canada and down in the European Pyrenees.
INDEX:
Australia / New Zealand / Argentina / Chile / South Africa / Lesotho / Austria / France / Switzerland / Italy / Andorra / Norway/Sweden / Germany / Bulgaria / Japan / Scotland / USA / Canada / South America Weather Outlook / Southern Hemisphere / Europe Weather Outlook / North America Weather Outlook
AUSTRALIA
Australia fully opened for the 2019 season last weekend; however, the great early-season conditions, with a series of fronts bringing up lots of early heavy snowfalls from the Antarctic, had led three areas to open early for the season anyway. Local reports are claiming this is the best start to an Australian ski season since 2002 and among the opening season stats, Thredbo (71/71cm), which opened on Friday with 85cm of fresh snow, reported its busiest ever opening weekend. So, the message got out. It and Perisher (71/71cm) are posting the deepest bases in the country with Mt Hotham (45/45cm) having the most runs open of any one area with more than 30 runs open already. It is only Charlotte Pass that won’t be open until later this month. Currently, the weather is calmer with sunny days on the slopes meaning there’s great conditions out there.
“The 2019 season has got properly underway in New Zealand at Mt Hutt after the beginner area opened at Whakapapa last weekend. Mt Hutt has lots of fresh snow and is fully open from day one. Cardrona and The Remarkables open tomorrow.”
NEW ZEALAND
After the opening of a Beginner and Snow Fun area at Whakapapa (3/6cm) on the 1st of June more ski resorts have been opening in New Zealand and fully opening with top-to-bottom terrain available. Indeed, Mt Hutt (50/100cm), the first to start operating late last week, reported all lifts and runs open and great conditions after more than 2ft (60cm) of snowfall. The Remarkables (30/60cm) was fully open too when it began its season on Saturday, having had a 15cm snowfall boost last Thursday. About 1700 people were reported on the slopes for the opening day there. Cardrona (15/40cm) was a fourth New Zealand area to open; however, it will be a few more weeks until everywhere is operational for 2019 here. Next up, those ski areas opening next weekend include Coronet Peak.
ARGENTINA
The start of the 2019 season is days away with one of the country’s largest areas, Las Lenas, amongst those planning to start the lifts turning this coming weekend. Others will follow over the following two June weekends. Although there are no official snowfall stats yet, most areas are unofficially reporting 30-50cm snow depths. Cerro Bayo is one of the few to talk about measurements and reports it has a 45cm coverage at mid-mountain ahead of the start of the season. Temperatures are currently sub-zero so the snow should stay in good shape with more falling.
CHILE
Like Argentina, the ski season in Chile has not really got started yet but the first Chilean ski areas are due to start opening there this weekend, with a great number set to join on the 22nd and more still on the 29th June. Here too there’s been some good pre-season snowfalls.
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa’s Tiffindell ski area begins its 2019 season later this week. The area had a fresh snow covering last week and has snow-making systems in full operation whenever temperatures drop low enough.
LESOTHO
The ski season got underway at Afriski, in Lesotho, last Friday thanks to the area’s snow-making arsenal. Currently, about a 400-metre main run is open in the sunshine.
AUSTRIA
AUSTRIA With the Stubai glacier closing at the end of the ski day on Monday we’ve entered a brief period when only one area is open in Austria for snow-sports: the year-round Hintertux glacier (35/490cm) that, by default, also now has the deepest base in the Alps. It won’t be on its own for long though with the Molltal and Kitzsteinhorn glaciers due to re-open for skiing later this month.
FRANCE
After five weeks without a ski area open, lifts are turning for skiers and boarders again in France with the Pisaillas glacier, at Val d’Isère, opening for a five-week summer ski season at the weekend. The ski area here relies on the Col de Iseran opening and now the Cascade, Marmottes and Montets lifts are providing daily access between 7am and midday. There were perfect blue sky conditions on the fresh snow for opening weekend but it has turned more unsettled this week.
SWITZERLAND
(0/250cm) is the only ski area open in Switzerland at present, operating lifts right up to 3,899m. The glacier ski area here is one of the biggest and the lift-served summer vertical is bigger than most in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s currently sub-zero up on the Klein Matterhorn with snow falling and more is in the forecast.
ITALY
After nearly two weeks of postponements from its expected opening date due to heavy snowfall and high avalanche danger, Italy’s Passo Stelvio (150/350cm) has re-opened for its summer and autumn ski season which should last through to the start of November, if the snow holds up. Currently, it’s looking good after that cold and snowy May and all lifts and runs are fully open.Passo Stelvio was supposed to have re-opened last week to provide a return of snow-sports to Italy. However, it has had to postpone doing so due to heavy snowfall making the process of getting the site up and running again, after its seven-month closure, more time-consuming. There has also been an avalanche danger on the pass road which has needed to be mitigated. But now the centre is ready to open this coming Friday, 7 June. It should then stay open through to the start of November.
ANDORRA
There are currently no ski areas open in Andorra or the wider Pyrenees; winter sports will resume here next autumn. There has, however, been snowfall with social media images posted of mountains turning white again in the Pyrenees on Tuesday morning.
NORWAY/SWEDEN
The three summer ski areas in Norway remain open after issues with heavy snowfall and strong winds causing some operational difficulties a week or so back. Most recently the weather has been sunny with temperatures in the 5-10 degrees Celsius bracket. Over the border in Sweden, Riksgransen has confirmed plans to re-open in just over a week’s time for summer snow-sports over the mid-summer period, including its famous skiing and boarding under the midnight sun.
GERMANY
There are currently no ski areas open in Germany, other than the country’s half-dozen indoor snow centres. Outdoor winter sports will resume here next autumn.
BULGARIA
There are currently believed to be no ski areas open in Bulgaria or anywhere in Eastern Europe. Winter sports will resume in the region in the autumn.
JAPAN
Temperatures have dropped at Japan’s sole summer ski area, Gassan (300/300cm), in recent days from near to 20C to around 10C. The area has also had periods of thick fog and strong winds and the operators have reported cracks appearing in the snow surface and foliage coming through in places. Therefore, the skiing is more challenging in various ways than a week ago. The base depth has dropped another 40cm, but that’s less of a decline than the previous week. The centre is closed Tuesday to Thursday this week for lift maintenance but will re-open on Friday.
SCOTLAND
There are currently no ski areas open in Scotland other than the Snow Factor indoor snow centre and the country’s dry slopes. Glencoe (and sometimes other centres) have re-opened for midsummers day in the latter half of June some years but that looks unlikely in 2019 with Glencoe running a contest to see who can guess when the last patch of snow remaining will thaw away this year. Winter sports will resume in the region in the autumn.
USA
There’s still a remarkably large number of ski areas open in the US for this time of the season but Breckenridge has finally called it a day on their 7 month ski season. They closed on Sunday clocking up more than 200 days and reported its second biggest seasonal snowfall total this century. It was still offering top-to-bottom skiing through to the final run.
America’s summer ski area at Beartooth Basin, in Montana, hopes to open later today after a series of delays this season caused by multiple issues including late snowfalls limiting access and, more recently, waiting for parts for a key lift. The season is due to last into July.
Back in Colorado, Arapahoe Basin (145/145cm) is staying open for another few weekends (Friday to Sunday) and reports still much more winter-like snow conditions than is the norm for this time of year. Aspen Skiing Co has also decided to open for a fourth successive weekend. This will probably be the last one with two additional days of skiing and riding as part of summer operations over the Food & Wine Classic this coming weekend, June 15 – 16. Skiers and riders will be able to enjoy around 100 acres on a 30-inch (75cm) base depth. Elsewhere in the US, Squaw Valley (23/381cm) and Mammoth Mountain (147/305cm) remain open in Colorado and Snowbird (246/246cm), Utah, is open at weekends. Timberline Lodge (237/237cm), in Oregon, along with Mammoth, are the only US areas still open on a daily basis.
CANADA
Less than two weeks after it was the last major ski resort to close in the country Whistler Blackcomb has re-opened for five weeks of summer skiing and boarding on their Blackcomb glacier. The Blackcomb gondola runs daily from 10am – 5pm and current temperatures have been a nice -3°C up at the peak. Over in the east, a snow-park maintained by Mont Saint Sauveur, in Quebec, continues to open each weekend with a meticulously maintained stretch of surviving snow. This past weekend they gave visitors the chance to ski/slide in swimsuits at the area’s waterpark creating maximum novelty. They are re-opening for the summer.
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
In Australia, the past few days have seen warmer temperatures, up to the high single digits centigrade after a cold fortnight. It should be getting cooler again from the middle of this week with temperatures back to around zero and more snowfall; currently looking lighter this time though. There could be 5-10cm of snowfall over the latter half of this week with more forecast by the end of the weekend. In New Zealand it’s a similar picture with temperatures tantalisingly just above zero at most areas over the next few days. This is a little too warm for snow-making and natural snowfall at most centres. The picture is changing though with a return to sub-zero temperatures towards the end of the week and 5-15cm snowfalls over next weekend. In Southern Africa, it is staying cold, between around -1 and +5C, over the coming week. There’s no snowfall in the forecast but snow-making systems should be able to operate at times. In the Andes of South America temperatures look set to remain at sub-zero levels, on the ski slopes, for the rest of this week. Forecasts are mixed with most ski areas likely to see another 10-20cm of snow over the next week but some may get as much as 50-70cm or more.
EUROPEAN WEATHER OUTLOOK
With May now behind us it is finally looking warmer in the Alps with temperatures climbing above freezing all this week, even up at 3000m. It will be more like 10-20C down in the valleys. It will be a mostly dry week but longer-term forecasts indicate the chance of a temperature drop and some fresh snow on the glaciers again next weekend. Up in Scandinavia where the summer ski areas were closed by blizzards at the end of last week the cold and unsettled weather looks set to continue with temperatures hovering around zero for the coming week and more snow showers are in the forecast.
NORTH AMERICAN WEATHER OUTLOOK
After one of the coldest and snowiest months on record, June has begun much warmer in the US. There’s even the chance of rain for ski slopes in California later this week. Considering the time of the year this is fairly inevitable.
