WORLD SNOW ROUNDUP #239
Issued: 11 May 2022
By Patrick “Snowhunter” Thorne
European Roundup
North American Roundup
Asia Roundup
World Overview
Mid-May is traditionally a low point in the year in terms of ski areas open – we’re down to a few dozen centres, fairly evenly divided between Europe and North America with a few in Asia too for the next week or so. Numbers get back into triple figures and expand across six continents in June when the southern hemisphere’s 2022 season kicks off and more summer ski centres open in Europe and North America. For now, though, there are more places in the world open to ski in giant fridges (snowdomes), than outdoors.
It has been a fairly quiet week in both the southern and northern hemispheres as the seasons change with reports of light snowfalls on higher peaks all over, but nothing terribly significant. Some of the biggest falls – in the 20-40cm (8-16”) bracket, came up high in the Pacific Northwest, the Colorado Rockies and down on the Australian island of Tasmania. In Europe there was a little fresh snow to refresh glacier cover first thing in the morning on several days, in the south the snow up high was start of base-building ahead of the season.
Some of the heaviest snowfalls have been over the last seven days and were reported up high in the Rockies, where some areas got more than a foot (30cm) of fresh snowfall. There were also several inches on high slopes in the Alps and there was excitement with just a repeat dusting of snow last week in Australia (and that heavier fall in Tasmania) where snowmaking machines were turned on for the first time ahead of the season start date in a month’s time.
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE INTRO|We’re getting closer to the start of the 2022 ski season in Argentina, Australia, Chile, Lesotho and New Zealand and excitement continues to build. The first lifts are due to start turning in just three weeks’ time and the main areas begin opening in about a month. After the unusually heavy April snowstorms in Argentina led to the season starting early, briefly, in Argentina a week or so back, it was Australia’s turn to get excited with a dusting of snow and the snow cannons turned on as temperatures dipped here. There was a heavier fall in Tasmania.
We may be only three or four weeks now from the start of the season in southern Africa. Tiffindell in South Africa has not operated since 2019 but its closure appeared to be pandemic related and it is unclear if it will re-open this winter now it will hopefully be possible to do so, or at all. Afriski, in Lesotho, usually has a target of opening in the first few days of June, and has already reported some pre-season snowfalls. It is sometimes the first in the southern hemisphere to open for the season.
AUSTRALIA REPORT| We’re less than a month away from the start of Australia’s 2022 ski season and the good news is that it is looking increasingly snowy on the mountains of New South Wales and Victoria. Low temperatures and light snowfall were reported through the past week on high slopes with a system moving north from the Antarctic and then west across the country. Thredbo, Mt Hotham and Mt Baw Baw were among the resorts reporting a covering and Perisher was among the ski areas to turn on their snowmaking arsenals as the snow falls to bolster the initial base. Ben Lomond on Tasmania reported the biggest fall, 20cm/98”, with some snowman building as a result.
AUSTRALIA FORECAST| Warmer weather arriving this week unfortunately with rain rather than snow and that light cover disappearing from most areas. Cooler again in the long term forecast though.
NEW ZEALAND REPORT| New Zealand’s season is just three weeks away with the Happy Valley area at Whakapapa on Mt Ruapehu set to open first at the beginning of June, potentially the first in the southern hemisphere. It’s not a full ski area, mostly ‘snow fun’ activities with all-weather snowmakers, but beginner lessons are offered. It has an all-weather snowmaking system to guarantee cover if the natural stuff is lacking. Full resorts begin operating a week later, again subject to conditions. Last week was fairly warm and sometimes wet in New Zealand but it has turned cooler since the weekend and the feel is more wintery. Probably the main concern for the season ahead is the risk of an eruption at Mt Ruapehu, where some smoke has been seen rising from the volcano. Currently, the worse case is expected to be a two-mile exclusion zone around the crater which would remove access to just one high lift at Whakapapa, according to reports, while other lifts and slopes would stay open so long as it is considered safe. Vulcanologists do not predict a major eruption at this time.
NEW ZEALAND FORECAST|Sunny with temperatures in the range of around freezing to +10C in New Zealand mountains over the coming week. It looks more changeable at the weekend with precipitation forecast but that may be mostly rain. Just a chance of some snowfall up high.
ARGENTINA REPORT|Things have quietened down a little after the great excitement of late April when up to 1.5 metres (five feet) of snowfall was reported two months before the start of the season and Catedral made its historic earliest ever opening for two days only at the end of April. The past week has been cool but mostly dry for much of Argentina and although overnight lows have been touching freezing even at quite low elevations, what showers there have been have mostly been rain. That early snow cover has melted back too. It is still over a month until the start of the season for most resorts here, unless there is another big pre-season fall.
ARGENTINA FORECAST|It is looking quite cold and potentially snowy over the next few days with temperatures in the -5 to +5C range and snow forecast for many areas. Skies clearing towards the end o the week and a sunny weekend with temperatures climbing towards +10C.
CHILE REPORT|It has been largely clear and dry weather in the Chilean Andesover the past seven days with the freezing point up at 4-5000 metres for much of that time, so the April snow accumulation has been thawing away down at resort level, although higher mountain tops are staying white. There’s still a month to go until most Chilean ski areas begin opening, although early snowfalls before the main season starts have led to some opening early for the season in the past.
CHILE FORECAST|There’s mostly dry weather forecast for the coming week in the Chilean Andes although temperatures should remain promisingly cold for the coming week, ranging between four or five degrees below freezing to four or five above.
EUROPE INTRO| Almost all ski areas that cannot offer glacier skiing on high altitude slopes or are located on Europe’s more northerly populated fringes in Scandinavia have now closed for winter 21-22.
The main exceptions outside the Alps and Scandinavia are Slovakia’s Tatranská Lomnica (0/70cm / 0/28”) which was still open at the time of writing and believes it may be able to squeeze a final week of snow sports out on its diminishing snowpack. Slovenia’s Kanin (0/120cm / 0/48”), which is also still operating, in its case is opening at weekends. A second Slovakian area, Jasna, also opened last weekend and at time of writing it is not yet clear if it will aim to reopen this coming weekend too.
Otherwise, we are down to about a dozen glacier areas open in the Alps now with the last French area open closing at the weekend and the last Italian one still operating due to follow suit this Friday. So most of those still operating are in Austria and Switzerland. Many saw some fresh snowfall up to the weekend, although for many it has turned very hot, dry and sunny since the weekend.
The numbers still open in Scandinavia are in the low single figures with Riksgransen, up in the Arctic circle, in the final fortnight of its spring skiing season. This now includes under the midnight sun skiing as 24-hour daylight has returned. But two Norwegian glacier summer ski areas are due to join it this coming weekend.
ALPS REPORT|After dozens of ski areas ended their seasons on the first weekend of the month, a handful more including Solden in the Austrian Tirol, Tignes and Val Thorens in France and the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz in the Swiss Engadin all ended their seasons on Sunday.
It was actually quite a snowy final week for resorts like Val Thorens, which reported up to 40cm (16”) of snowfall in its final week overall. But there was rain and hail at lower elevations and even at 2,500m temperatures reached +20C on the slopes by the early afternoon.
All the closures mean that until Les 2 Alpes opens for summer skiing at the end of the month there are currently no ski lifts operating in France (unless you count the Amneville indoor centre or those used to access ski touring). Temperatures hit +10C at the weekend even at altitude so that’s not too big a surprise.
Italy is down to one area open too, the Presena Glacier (20/250cm/8/100”) up above Passo Tonale and Ponte di Legno in Trentino, which is also in the final days of its season, due to end its season and then have its glacier slopes covered to protect them from the summer heat from Monday. This means Italy too will then have no lift-served skiing open until Passo Stelvio re-opens for its 2022 operation, also at the end of this month.
Austria and Switzerland though have more than half a dozen areas still open between them. The two year-round centres of Hintertux (20/305cm / 8/122”) in the Tirol as well as Switzerland’s Zermatt (0/140cm / 0/56”) remain open. Then the Kaunertal, Kitzsteinhorn (0/270cm / 0/108”) and Stubai (0/260cm / 0/104”) glaciers in Austria are open through to June, as are the glacier slopes above Crans Montana (0/70cm / 0/28”). The other option, for just over a week more, is the Titlis glacier above Engelberg (0/260cm / 0/104”).
A fifth Austrian glacier, Molltal, ended its 11.5 month run of operations (bar pandemic closures) last weekend but says it aims to re-open for summer skiing and that start of its 22-23 season, hopefully uninterrupted this time, will be on June 16th.
ALPS FORECAST|The weather is set to get warmer and warmer through the week with highs in valleys getting well into the 20s and we’ll be seeing strong plus figures high on the mountains too. Very sunny weather with not much cloud forecast.
SCANDINAVIA REPORT|Finland’s ski season drew to a close last weekend with Levi and Ruka, the last two ski areas open, calling it a day on their eight-month-long 21-22 seasons, the longest in Europe for non-glacier resorts. Saying that, Levi has announced plans to “build a glacier” this summer by trying to keep stockpiled snow through the summer using snow farming techniques. But making something more permanent rather than spreading it out on the slopes in the autumn. So that will be a new work in progress over the coming months. With Finland’s skiing over and the start of summer skiing in Norway delayed to this weekend due to a parts issue, it’s really just Riksgransen (120/230cm / 48/92”) open this week. It’s coming towards the end of the season there but we are now into the fortnight when it offers skiing and boarding under the midnight sun each year as 24-hour daylight returns at its northerly latitude 200km north of the Arctic Circle. In Norway there’s currently (and unusually!) nowhere reported open. The Fonna glacier had expected to open for summer skiing back at the start of the month but it has had to delay to the coming weekend due to a lift-parts-supply-delay issue. A second Norwegian summer ski area, Galdhopiggen, is also due to start its season this weekend.
SCANDINAVIA FORECAST| Similar weather forecast for the coming week, mostly above freezing temperatures, even overnight, with daytime highs of +5 to +15 even at high elevations. Some areas may see rain at the end of the week but then that’s more likely to be snowfall where the few open Arctic Circle/glacier areas are. Riksgransen is unlikely to see temperatures getting much above freezing and may see some snowfall most days.
NORTH AMERICA INTRO| As we move later into May there are about a dozen ski areas open in North America still, most in the west although Killington, in Vermont, remains open at weekends in the east as well. A number are only open at weekends at this stage in the season. It was joined last weekend by fellow Vermont area Jay Peak which announced it may yet open next weekend if possible, despite very warm weather forecast for the next few days.
In California Mammoth (32/67” / 81/168cm) and (at weekends) the Palisades (4/99” / 10/248cm) remain open and in Colorado Arapahoe Basin (16/65” / 40/163cm), Breckenridge (8/66” / 20/165cm) and Winter Park (16/64” / 40/160cm) are still going strong. Further north the lifts are still turning at Snowbird (20/100” / 50/250cm) in Utah and in the Northwest the continent’s deepest snow is lying at Mt Bachelor (20/90” / 49/226cm) and Timberline (166/196” / 414/490cm), in Oregon, as well as Crystal Mountain (65/102” / 162/256cm) in Washington State. Up in Alaska, Alyeska (12/183” / 30/457cm) is open for at least one more weekend.
Timberline has the deepest snowpack anywhere except Japan and still has four months of summer operations ahead of it.
There was more snowfall reported last week at high elevations in the west. Up to a foot (30cm) of snowfall was reported in the Rockies in the middle of last week, with some of the heaviest in Colorado and Winter Park and Loveland named as major beneficiaries. For the latter, the snow arrived just in time for its closing weekend. Winter Park doesn’t seem to have named a closing date for their Mary Jane slopes but does say “if there is snow, we will be skiing and riding!”. And as it’s lying over five-feet deep up top, there could be a while yet, especially with the cold temps and top-ups.
Final kudos to Lutsen Mountains, in Minnesota in the US Midwest, which opened for one final day of the season last Saturday with one chairlift serving roughly 10 runs. It was the last day of lift-served skiing for the resort on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior where more than 100 inches (2.5 metres) of natural snow has fallen this winter in addition to the manufactured stuff. 30 inches (75cm) was still lying on Saturday.
North of the border Sunshine (40/210cm / 16/84”) near Banff and Whistler Blackcomb (0/207cm / 0/83”) are among the last areas still open in the country as usual, with just over a week of their six-month-long 21-22 seasons still to run. Lake Louise closed at the weekend. This year Sunshine and Whistler are joined by Vancouver’s local Grouse Mountain ski area (298/428cm / 119/171”) thanks to it receiving very heavy snowfall, which has left it with Canada’s deepest snowpack. Unless it extends its season again it’s due to close this Sunday 15th May though. Again, the past week has seen more snowfall at high elevations and inland in Western Canada.
Sommet St Sauveur, in Quebec, also announced it would open last weekend and that it will do so again this coming weekend.
NORTH AMERICA FORECAST|It will be warmer and generally drier in the west over the coming week. Temperatures will still be dropping below freezing overnight in the mountains but may get up into the 50s during the daytime. There’s a lot of sunshine forecast, although up in Canada this may be interspersed with snow showers in the Canadian Rockies. It’ll be much cooler further north too with daytime highs of +10C at resort level, +4C up on the higher slopes. Over in the east things have got warm and sunny in the past few days and it looks like we’ll be in the high 60s, 70s and possibly even touching the low 80s in the next few days, none of which is good for snow conditions of course. But Jay Peak, Killington and Mont St Sauveur all say they hope to re-open this weekend if they can.
JAPAN INTRO|Many well-known ski areas in Japan stay open later in the year than many of their counterparts in Europe and North America. This is in part to tie in with the cherry blossom celebrations and a national holiday period that continues into May. But the dozens of resorts that stay open to May do then close down around the first weekend of the month. So that just happened with the season-ending on Sunday or Monday at the start of this week at still open areas like Niseko, Hakuba, Nozawa Onsen and many others. So that is about it except for the country’s famous summer ski area, Gassan (0/820cm / 0/328″) which builds up a huge snow depth through winter and then opens for an April to July ski season. 2022 has so far progressed as normal here, and the centre is currently seeing temperatures in the range of 5-15 degrees Celsius and its usual mix of sun, rain and fog.
JAPAN FORECAST|More sunshine forecast and temperatures continuing in the high single to low double-digits Celsius. Expect the thaw to continue, the snowline to rise and skiing to continue to be best earlier in the day and higher on the slopes at Gassan.
