The cold weather in the Alps has loosened its grip. It is now much warmer which signals the arrival of fresh snow in many places this weekend. The sun was shining across the Alps on Thursday 4th February and the snow is in excellent condition right from France to Austria.
Soldeu in Andorra offers plenty of excellent skiing at the moment. The Ski Club rep in resort says fresh snow earlier in the week made the pistes excellent and there is some powder off piste.
It’s been snowing again in Scotland but also fairly windy. Large snowdrifts covered the funicular track at Cairngorm on Thursday and they spent half a day digging it out.
Over in America the best of the snow is in the west, although it has improved in the east. Stowe, on the east coast, received around 40cm of fresh snow earlier in the week making for some awesome powder turns.
Olympic preparations at Whistler are well underway. This week is the calm before the storm and the slopes are very quiet despite 90% of the terrain remaining open. The Ski Club rep there at the moment says there is plenty of great skiing on offer and now is an excellent time to be skiing there.
AUSTRIA
Austria had some awesome skiing on offer this week, due to lots of fresh snow that fell earlier in the week. The past two weeks have been very cold and also snowy.
FRANCE
The recent cold and snowy weather has provided the French Alps with some great skiing conditions.
SWITZERLAND
The cold weather of the last two weeks in Switzerland has gone. Much milder air has replaced it which has made skiing much more comfortable and helped the hard pistes soften a little.
ITALY
Recent high winds in Cervinia (65/150cm) forced the resort to close their link over to Zermatt in Switzerland on several occasions. The Ski Club rep in Cervinia told us that the wind had blown away most of the fresh snow off piste but some slopes had deep windblown powder on. The wind has made more rocks become exposed so take care if you are skiing off piste.
ANDORRA
Parts of the Pyrenees received loads of fresh snow this week but unfortunately Andorra wasn’t as lucky. They still have some excellent skiing on offer however, due to snow last weekend. Saturday 30th January was the last time it snowed.
NORWAY & SWEDEN
Some parts of Norway received fresh snow on Thursday 4th February. Geilo (60/105cm) saw 4cm land on its slopes over the course of the day. This has helped to freshen up their snow which had become quite hard due to the cold. 15cm of fresh snow fell at Åre (70cm) in Sweden on Wednesday night which is one of their biggest snowfalls of the season so far. This has made the pistes feel like off piste with a fresh powder covering and there should be excellent skiing all over the mountain. Off piste is still varied because of the lower depths but there are many great areas, which will have been made even better by the fresh snow.
GERMANY
The large snowstorm in Germany this week dropped up to 60cm of fresh snow on their ski resorts. Resorts like Feldberg (130/150cm) offer excellent skiing at the moment. Although it isn’t big by alpine standards, all the fresh snow makes it a great alternative place to head for. Feldberg has 28 lifts and 22 of these were running on Thursday. This is likely to increase over the weekend as more people head there to enjoy the snow.
BULGARIA
It’s been snowing in Bulgaria this week, particularly at Bansko (140/165cm) where their base depth has risen considerably since Monday. All lifts bar one are running and with sunny skies the prospect is good for the weekend. There is some powder to be found off piste but this could be quite windblown high up. It is advisable to head to the trees for the best powder.
SCOTLAND
A dusting of new snow overnight and high winds at Cairngorm (40/150cm) buried the funicular track on Thursday morning. They spent the morning digging it out and it opened around midday. The wind has meant that the pistes are quite hard, particularly up high, but patches of heavy powder can be found where the fresh snow has blown into.
USA
One of America’s highest resorts, Arapahoe Basin (74cm), received a dusting of fresh snow Tuesday 2nd February. Despite what is a fairly low snow depth, there is plenty of skiing available. Five of seven lifts are open. The two not running are closed during the week due to lack of demand, rather than poor snow. The base of Arapahoe Basin is at 3250m so it can get very cold, on Thursday it was -13°C.
CANADA
7cm of fresh snow fell at Revelstoke (196cm) on Tuesday. This may not sound like much but there is already plenty of untracked powder lying on the mountain, especially in the trees. All four of Revelstoke’s lifts are running, as is their cat skiing operation. Stick to the upper mountain for the best snow.
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.
