Half term week in Europe means busier slopes are to be expected but there are great snow conditions to be enjoyed. Resorts ranging from La Plagne in the west to Obertauern in the east of the Alps offer excellent snow.
In Italy and Switzerland there’s also great snow. The most recent of the snow fell in Switzerland and in most resorts you can find patches of powder. Verbier had busy slopes on Sunday but if you know where to look there is some excellent skiing on quiet pistes.
Between 10cm and 15cm of fresh snow fell at Nevis Range in Scotland on Sunday night meaning Monday had great conditions on the upper areas. Elsewhere in Scotland the pistes are generally hard packed but the resorts still offer some great skiing.
Breckenridge in Colorado received 30cm of fresh snow on Saturday 13th February. This gave the resort one of the best powder days of the season so far.
Conditions in Whistler are excellent for recreational skiers, with loads of snow falling on the upper half of the mountain over the weekend. Plenty of powder can be found and the most recent snowfall was 18cm on Sunday. Unfortunately these conditions are less than ideal for the downhill races. Fortunately, however, colder and drier weather is expected later this week.
AUSTRIA
Half term week has begun in Austria and the snow conditions are excellent. Fresh snow last week and cold weather means the snow is generally in superb condition.
FRANCE
Most of the French resorts received fresh snow at the end of last week. Once the weekend came the sun started shining and revealed the excellent snow conditions on offer.
SWITZERLAND
As with everywhere else in Europe at the moment, there is lots of good skiing in Switzerland. Most resorts received fresh snow at the end of last week and the temperature has remained low over the weekend.
ITALY
There is plenty of good skiing available in Italy at the moment, on both sides of the country.
ANDORRA
Half term week in Andorra looks to be fairly good. It snowed quite at lot at all four featured Andorran ski resorts and current cold weather is preserving the snow.
NORWAY & SWEDEN
Oppdal (50/60cm) continues to offer the best snow conditions in Norway at the moment. They received decent amounts of fresh snow all of last week which vastly improved snow conditions both on and off piste. Snow has been falling in Sweden too with 5cm of fresh snow at Åre (66/83cm) on Monday 15th February which refreshed conditions both on and off piste. The best of the skiing is on piste as the base depth isn’t deep enough for hazard free off-piste skiing.
GERMANY
There are some impressive snow depths in Germany now after a very snowy couple of weeks. Despite the low altitude, 940m, Feldberg (140/160cm) has a around a metre and a half of snow down in the town. This is very impressive for the resort and is nearly three times that of what they’d normally expect at this time of year.
BULGARIA
Fresh snow has been fallen at Borovets (80/135cm) and Pamporovo (150/200cm) since the end of last week and the riding conditions on Monday were superb as a result of the new snow. The huge base depth measurement increase at Pamporovo is not solely due to the new snow though.
SCOTLAND
Fresh snow is reported at Nevis Range (10/50cm) in the west of Scotland. 10-15cm of new snow fell on Sunday night on the upper areas, providing good riding on the higher areas on Monday morning, 15th February. Wet snow was reported on the lower slopes so stay high for the best riding.
USA
A big snowstorm over Colorado is dropping a good amount of fresh snow on many of the resorts. Up to 30cm of fresh snow has fallen in some areas and more is expected at the beginning of this week.
CANADA
With the Winter Olympics taking place in Whistler (307cm) at the moment, everybody is wondering what the snow is like. Above 1300m there is plenty of powder and some fantastic skiing. It was a snowy opening weekend; 40cm fell since Saturday morning. Down low it mostly fell as rain and this means there is some slush around but head up high and there is lots of deep powder.
Information provided courtesy of the Ski Cub of Great Britain.
For more detailed snow reports and forecasts for countries and resorts visit the Ski Club of Great Britain Snow Overview.
