Europe Weekly Roundup #261

Finland Gears Up for Ski Season Kickoff with Recycled Snow

• Alpine glaciers and high-altitude slopes across Europe are receiving fresh snow, with eight centers already open and more expected this weekend.
• Finnish resorts Levi and Ruka are set to begin their season with recycled snow, while Norway’s Galdhøpiggen summer ski center remains open.
• Temperatures are dropping, with significant snowfall expected at high altitudes, signaling the start of the 2024-25 ski season across Europe.

World Overview

Springtime is tightening its grip on southern hemisphere ski slopes, and most centers have now closed for their 2024 seasons or will do so this coming weekend. In the northern hemisphere, all eyes are on the temperature gauges in the mountains to see when it will be consistently cold enough for snowmaking systems to start up. There are also continued snow flurries on high peaks in Asia, Europe, and North America, although so far it's only Europe where any resorts are open. There are currently nine centers to choose from across four countries, but the weekend will see us reach double figures, with a fifth nation, Finland, kicking off its 2024-25 season. Elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, India’s famous ski resort of Gulmarg reported its first autumn snowfall on high slopes this week. The southern hemisphere’s ski season appears to be winding down fast, with a swathe of centers in South America and New Zealand ending their seasons last weekend, and most of the rest set to join them this Sunday. However, a handful plan to continue into next week, and some even later into October. It’s also really the start of the ski touring season in the Andes and Southern Alps, with South American mountains posting great conditions this year. The ski season appears to be almost over in Australia, with the last centers still open, Mt. Mawson and Perisher, closing last week. It joins Lesotho in having ended its season, the second of the five southern hemisphere ski nations to do so, although Lesotho has had unseasonal heavy snowfall in the last week, a month after its season ended.

Northern Hemisphere

It’s feeling increasingly wintry on Alpine peaks and in northern Europe, with snow also reported on mountaintops at much lower altitudes than the Alps, such as in Scotland and Scandinavia. Although there has not yet been a repeat of the big mid-September snowfalls that saw several centers start their seasons early, glaciers continue to get fresh coverings, and more centers keep opening. We’re now up to eight centers in the Alps having already started their 2024-25 seasons, half of them in Austria. There’s also a re-opened summer ski center in Norway. The coming weekend will see another Alpine glacier open, and the first centers in Finland will start their 2024-25 seasons, so we’ll have double figures again for European (and northern hemisphere) centers open.

Europe

The Alps Report

Europe's ski season is slowly getting underway, with glacier areas opening and enjoying more high-altitude snow showers. However, warm spells have seen snow levels drop from their September highs after the heavy snowfall in the middle of last month. It’s a mixed picture, though, with other areas posting increased snow depths. There are now eight centers open in Austria, Italy, and Switzerland, with more due to open this coming weekend. We are now up to four centers open in Austria – half the total for the entire northern hemisphere at present. Austrian centers are already competing with one another to offer the most early-season glacier terrain as well as terrain parks and attractions like new-season gear testing. There have been more snowfalls on glaciers and high slopes across the Alps over the past week. In Austria, the Pitztal glacier (30/50cm / 12/20”), with Austria’s highest slopes, was the latest to open, joining early openers Sölden (0/86cm / 0/34”) and the Stubai (0/25cm / 0/10”) glaciers, as well as the re-opening Hintertux (0/45cm / 0/18”). Hintertux begins a planned 219-day (over seven months long) ski season. The Kaunertal glacier is set to be the fifth to open this coming weekend, with the Kitzsteinhorn and Molltal glaciers set to join later this month. Elsewhere, two glaciers are open in Italy: Passo Stelvio (0/100cm / 0/40”) and Val Senales (10/10cm / 4/4”), although the link between Cervinia and Zermatt’s glacier remains closed until October 26th. If you're on the Swiss side of the border, though, you can ski at Zermatt or neighboring Saas-Fee (0/100cm / 0/40”). What’s open at most is very limited at this point in the season, with only Sölden and Zermatt reporting over 10km (6 miles) of runs open, and Hintertux the most, with 22km (14 miles) of slopes.

The Alps Forecast

Temperatures continue to cool, and snow continues to fall on high slopes, with Thursday this week potentially bringing 20-40cm (8-16”) of snowfall as the freezing point drops as low as 1,000m overnight. Sunny skies are expected for most areas from Friday on, with temperatures ranging from -10°C to +9°C.

Scandinavia Report

Excitement is building in Finland, where the 2024-25 season is due to get underway in a few days at both Levi and Ruka. Both resorts have opening weekend festivities, including new-season gear testing opportunities. They use snow recycled from the 2023-24 season and stockpiled under cover through the summer to build the bases of about 2km of downhill slopes each, along with cross-country terrain. Last winter, the new snow arrived only a few days after opening, so the white ribbons of snow didn't stay surrounded by brown hillsides for long. There were some snow flurries at the start of the week, and temperatures have been colder, getting as low as -6°C overnight, although they still climb to +8°C in the afternoons. The past few days have seen more sunny conditions. Meanwhile, the Galdhøpiggen (10/100cm / 4/40”) summer ski center in Norway remains reopened, with about 5km (3 miles) of slopes open. It has been reporting fairly wintry weather, with temperatures a few degrees either side of freezing and fresh snowfall already. In fact, many Scandinavian ski centers have now had snow coverings on their highest slopes, with leading resort Hemsedal posting images of its white summit last week.

Scandinavia Forecast

It’s a mostly dry and sunny forecast for the rest of the week, with daytime highs in the +6 to +8°C range and overnight lows down to around -4°C.