Where Can You Ski or Snowboard in August 2018?
August is one of the hottest months in the year in the Northern Hemisphere so it’s no surprise that we’re down to just nine ski areas open this month for lift-served skiing and boarding in Europe and North America.
These include three resorts open year-round, four summer-ski destinations and two that have already begun their 9-11 month long 2018-19 ski seasons.
Europe
A year ago a number of glacier ski areas in the Alps had to shut down temporarily as the intense summer heat melted snow cover from their glaciers. This August that doesn’t look to quite be the case in the Alps as it hasn’t been quite so hot up high (there’s even been a few quick snow storms reported in the past month above 3000m), and the heavy snowfalls last January have helped build bases too to counter the heat.
There has been an issue in Scandinavia however where the weather has been exceptionally hot. So Galdhoppigen – normally open to early November – announced it was having to close at the end of July and a second of Norway’s three summer ski areas, Stryn, has also ended its season. So only Fonna is still open for the start of August with a 2m base.
In the Alps the options open through August include the Hintertux and Molltal glaciers in Austria, Italy’s Passo Stelvio and recently re-opened Saas Fee as well as Zermatt in Switzerland (above). In France Les 2 Alpes is open to September 1st but Tignes (above) is closing earlier than usual, this Sunday, August 5th.
Saas Fee has the deepest base in the world at present at 3 metres (10 feet).
North America
With Whistler Blackcomb ending its summer ski season last month (pictured above) there’s no lift-served skiing in Canada until the autumn. However the Timberline Lodge snowfield on Mt Hood in Oregon does report all runs opens as well as its terrain park. The only other option is a terrain park at high altitude Copper Mountain in Colorado.
Southern Hemisphere
Andes
The 2018 ski season is in full swing in South America. There have been some big snowfalls at times through June and July but so far it is not really a particularly epic season with bases ranging between 40 and 190cm – most though a metre or less. That said most of the continent’s ski areas are fully open with all lifts spinning and all, or nearly all, groomed trails open too. Portillo recently announced its famous Lake run had opened for the season. Valle Nevado, which currently has a 100cm base, is pictured above.
New Zealand
New Zealand’s ski areas are now fully open for the season (Temple Basin was one of the last to do so in the final weeks of July) and last month saw lots of snowfall, with some resorts reporting 50cm+ fresh snow in seven days in the last weeks of last month. As a result some of New Zealand’s ski areas have the deepest bases in the southern hemisphere this winter so far, approaching 2 metres at resorts like Turoa. Most of the country’s areas have good cover though, at least a metre deep, with, again, all lifts running and most trails open.
Australia
Australian ski areas too are having a good ski season with several media agencies in the country claiming it continues to be one of the coldest summers so far this century. A number of the country’s leading resorts have now passed the standard Australian healthy snow depth marker of a metre with Perisher (pictured above) and Thredbo up to 1.2m. There have been regular snow top ups and generally cold weather through July.
Southern Africa
August is the last month in the three month ski season for the ski areas of Afriski in Lesotho and Tiffindell in South Africa. Both reported several natural snow storms to top up their snowmaking last month and both currently have most of the terrain open for the final four weeks off the southern African ski season.
