WORLD SNOW ROUNDUP #289
Issued: 3rd May 2023
By Patrick “Snowhunter” Thorne
World Overview
It’s May and the Northern Hemisphere’s ski season is nearing the point when it transitions from ‘winding down’ into ‘summer ski’ mode. This year more areas are open later into May than usual thanks mostly to the huge winter snow build up in western North America leading to a few dozen resorts there staying open.
In Europe, we’re mostly down to glacier areas in the Alps and some of the more snowsure areas in Scandinavia are still open, along with the first summer ski areas opening for their 2023 runs. In the Alps, the past week saw still more snowfall on the highest slopes, great news for glacier areas open into May and amazingly able to offer powder days. Tignes and Val d’Isere started the month with 20-30cm (8-12”) of fresh snowfall above 2,000m on Monday morning. It’s very different to a year ago when we had very warm temperatures and a rapid thaw of snow cover on glaciers.
North America has also seen yet more snowfall in the west with ski areas in Colorado and Utah particularly benefitting from up to a foot (30cm) of fresh snowfall for higher slopes in the final days of April last week. It took one still-open Utah area, Solitude, through the 800” (20m+) season to date snowfall total mark while Alta hit 900” (23m+) a few days after it had ended its 22-23 season.
The start of May means we’re only a month away from the start of the 2023 ski season at the first areas opening in the Southern Hemisphere. Ski areas in the South American Andes and New Zealand have both reported pre-season snowfall on high peaks in the last week to help build anticipation levels. Up to 15cm (6”) was reported in the Andes on May 1st.
Europe
EUROPE INTRO
Spring 2023 is turning into one of the coolest and snowiest, up above 2,000-2,500m at least, in the Alps for quite a few years, and the snow has kept falling. In some cases, bases have still been building to the deepest they’ve been all year to date on some glaciers. That’s unusual as the deepest point is normally reached in the first half of March before diminishing snowfall and the spring thaw combine to reduce things. That’s not to say we have record snow depths, winter snowfalls were well below average and temperatures above average, it’s just that things have improved, rather than gotten really bad as last year, on higher slopes at least. Most non-glacier ski areas in Europe did close after last weekend though and we’re down now to a few dozen still open. The season is over in Scotland, The Pyrenees and the Balkans, almost everywhere except alpine glaciers and Scandinavia in fact.
AUSTRIA REPORT
Austria’s famously snowy resorts including Ischgl, Obergurgl and Obertauern all ended their five-month-plus ski seasons on Monday, having made it to May. There are though half a dozen glacier ski areas staying open later into the month. Among these, Pitztal (35/195cm / 14/78”), with Austria’s highest lifts, and Solden (0/314cm / 0/126”), which has been posting the country’s deepest base all year and has been open for around 8 months, close after this coming weekend. But then the Stubai (20/270cm / 8/108”) has extended its season for another fortnight to the 21st and the Kaunertal (220/240cm / 88/96”), Kitzsteinhorn (0/255cm / 0/102”)and Mölltal (0/140cm / 0/56”) glaciers will go another week beyond that to the final Sunday of the month. The Hintertux glacier (0/285cm / 0/114”), meanwhile, aims to open year-round. Last year it was the only centre that managed to do that (after Austria ended its final ski areas pandemic closure).
AUSTRIA FORECAST
The snow showers have eased up high and the rest of this week looks drier. Temperatures on glaciers are expected to reach highs of +3C with overnight lows down to -8C or below.
SWITZERLAND REPORT
Andermatt’s remaining area that had still been open, their Gemsstock freeride mountain, as well as Samnaun over on the Austrian border, were among the remaining Swiss areas ending their seasons on Monday. Several Swiss areas remain open until the end of the coming weekend, however, including Adelboden (140/220cm), the Diavolezza glacier (30/75cm / 12/30”) in the Engadin Valley, the Titlis glacier at Engelberg (0/220cm / 0/88”), actually reporting its best snow depth of the season after big April accumulations, Glacier 3000 (15/270cm / 6/108”) near Les Diablerets and Gstaad, as well as Grindelwald (0/57cm / 0/23”). Adelboden (140/220cm / 56/88”) and Toggenburg (0/70cm / 0/28”) are currently closed but plan to reopen for a final weekend this coming Friday. Crans Montana (20/200cm / 8/80”) plans an extra week to Sunday 14th. These have all continued to report low temperatures above 2,000m and some light snowfalls up high over the past week. Zermatt (0/150cm / 0/60”), aiming to keep its “Glacier Paradise” open year-round, reports great conditions up there.
SWITZERLAND FORECAST
Mostly sunny weather forecast for the remainder of the week with some light cloud cover. Temperatures on glaciers between -8 and +3C.
FRANCE REPORT
Several of France’s larger ski areas that kept open to the final weekend of April, including Chamonix, have now ended their 22-23 ski seasons. But three centres are still open for one final weekend of the winter and a fourth has re-opened already after being closed for the final week of April. Tignes (124/428cm / 40/171”) briefly and finally, lost its crown for having the deepest base in Europe up on its Grande Motte glacier when Les Arcs went up to a 430cm base measurement just before it closed as Tignes dropped from its high of 462cm to 428cm. However, it’s now back in the top slot. Its neighbour, Val d’Isere (120/240cm / 48/96”), remains open too, as does the possibility to ski between the two areas. There’s also been a foot (30cm) of fresh snowfall for the final week of the season. Val Thorens (0/220cm / 0/88”), the last part of the 3 Valleys that’s still open, is the other option for one more weekend. What’s new this May is that Les 2 Alpes, which ended its season on April 23rd, decided to re-open for glacier skiing through May, from this coming Tuesday, May 2nd, and hopefully June. They’ve essentially moved their glacier season, on Europe’s largest skiable glacier, forward by a couple of months to take into account “changing weather patterns”. That said, in the French Alps, as with the rest of Europe, it has been a much colder and snowier spring than last year and temperatures have so far remained mostly below freezing above 2,000m and there’s been more fresh snowfall on the highest slopes.
FRANCE FORECAST
Largely sunny weather in the French Alps now after the weeks of snow showers. Temperatures up on glaciers in the -5 to +2C range.
ITALY REPORT
Five of the six Italian ski areas that stayed open into May, closed on Monday, leaving just Cervinia still open, but they are due to close this coming weekend. That means that from Monday there’ll be no ski areas open in Italy until Passo Stelvio opens on the last day of the month, then Cervinia re-opens for summer skiing in June. It’s been a similar story here to the rest of the Alps with plenty of precipitation up high, falling as snow at times. Livigno was one of the big beneficiaries posting over half a metre (20″) of fresh snowfall in total on its high slopes, before its closing day. Cortina was the last centre still open in the Dolomites.
ITALY FORECAST
Ever warmer in valleys now but still dropping to -7C overnight at 3000m, although the numbers are getting up to +5C even at these altitudes now by the afternoons. Mostly sunshine in the forecast for the rest of the week.
SCANDINAVIA FORECAST
Temperatures are still quite variable ranging between -10 and +10 Celcius at present. There’s a lot of sunny weather to enjoy the long daylight hours at these latitudes now. But light snow showers remain a possibility almost everywhere.
EASTERN EUROPE REPORT
Almost all ski areas in Eastern Europe are believed to have now closed for the 22-23 with the final area still open in Slovakia, Jasna, closing on May 1st. However, Slovenia’s altitude ski area at Kanin on the Italian border is re-opening at present from Friday-to-Sunday for long weekends. There are about 6km of slopes open here and there’s been a mixture of rain, snow and sun over the last week.
EASTERN EUROPE FORECAST
It looks like sunshine will be more dominant over the next few days, but temperatures still dipping below freezing overnight. Daytime highs are around +8C at Kanin.
NORTH AMERICA INTRO
The season is definitely switching to spring mode now in North America with a few dozen ski areas still open, mostly resorts that have extended their seasons’ thanks to the historic snowpack on the western side of the continent. Alongside these are the half-dozen or so areas that usually stay open to May or beyond anyway, plus a handful of centres soldiering on on the East Coast despite mother nature throwing rain and warm temperatures at them. The season is over in the Midwest.
As to the weather, the great thaw is underway leading to widespread flooding concerns, but it is also still snowing at times on high slopes with ski areas in Colorado and Utah reporting a foot of snowfall ahead of last weekend. There is though, high avalanche danger in many still-open areas leading to terrain closures in Alberta and road closures in Utah to start May.
ROCKIES REPORT
Colorado was the focus of fresh snow news in the US over the past week with a major storm system bringing up to a foot (30cm) of late-season snowfall to high slopes, rain to lower elevations, all driven in on gales too. More ski centres in the country have ended their seasons but several higher centres, the one that saw the fresh snowfall rather than rain, have remained open into May including Arapahoe Basin (26/68” / 65/170cm), Breckenridge (16/70” / 40/175cm), Copper (12/56”/ 30/140cm), Loveland (22/58” / 55/145cm) and Winter Park (14/76” / 35/191cm) where skiing and boarding is now restricted to the slopes of Mary Jane.
In Utah, several feet more snowfall has seen the numbers keep going up. Two days after it closed for the season Alta hit the mythical 900 inches of snowfall total (over 23 metres) for the season while Solitude (60/154″ / 150/386cm), open until late May and already well passed both its longest ever season to date and most ever snowfall in a season, reached 800 inches (20.3 metres) fallen in 22-23. America’s largest ski area, Park City, ended its extended season on Sunday, however. Snowbird (45/151” / 122/378cm), open through May, has also had fresh snowfall and the resort access road through Little Cottonwood Canyon has again been closed this week due to high avalanche danger. Up on the Wyoming/Montana border, the Beartooth Basin summer ski area (formerly known as Red Lodge) has announced its plans to open for its 2023 towards the end of this month.
ROCKIES FORECAST
Temperatures ranging from the mid-20s to the high-50s Fahrenheit over the next few days, with mostly sunny weather with light rain and snow showers possible.
USA WEST REPORT
Ski centres in California saw a little more fresh snowfall in the last week, but also some very warm temperatures leading to fast thaw. Most centres are now closed here but with the deepest snowpacks in the world still, a good many have stayed open beyond their usual season-end date. Bases are slowly thawing in California areas which have extended their seasons to stay open into May, including Heavenly (56/159″ / 140/398cm), now in its last week of 22-23, as well as Kirkwood (78/168” / 195/419cm), which currently says it is staying open at least to mid-May. Bases are gradually dropping too at California’s Mammoth Mountain (219/279” / 546/698cm), which has had the deepest in the world all winter, and at Palisades Tahoe (50/210” / 125/525cm), but both are still on course to stay open at least into July as planned. Palisades is now in ‘spring opening mode’ meaning its two different bases are open on different days of the week, both at weekends.
Further north there are resorts still operating in Washington state and Oregon too. Mt Bachelor (34/95” / 85/238cm) reports that despite still rather wintery conditions it has switched to spring operating hours with lifts running between 8:30 am and 1:30 pm daily and six lifts operating: Cloudchaser, Sunrise, Summit, Skyliner, Pine Marten and Northwest. Timberline (100/196″ / 250/491cm) will be pleased with their winter snowpack build-up as they endeavour to keep their Palmer Snowfield, used for very early morning race team training as well as later morning recreational skiing and boarding, open through to the summer. Also, in Oregon, Willamette Pass announced it is extending its ski season into mid-May with two long-weekend coming up, thanks to Oregon’s best snowpack since 2008. It had previously planned to close at the end of April. The resort will be open not only this coming Saturday and Sunday, when 70-degree temperatures are forecast, but also the weekends of May 6-7 and 13-14. Spring promotions include continued free skiing for those 12 and under. In Washington State, Crystal Mountain (32/100″ / 80/250cm) says it is staying open at least until May 21st. However, the last major area still open in Alaska, Alyeska, is closed at the weekend.
USA WEST FORECAST
Remaining fairly cool in the north of the region with light to moderate rain, sleet and snow showers forecast for the next few days. Warmer and sunnier towards the weekend.
MIDWEST REPORT
There has been a little more snowfall in a few parts of the Midwest but the season has ended with all centres believed to be closed for the season now with skiers and boarders witching to summer activities.
MIDWEST FORECAST
Cool and cloudy with rain, sleet and snow showers for the next few days, with some of the coldest May temperatures on record likely over the next few days in some areas. Getting sunnier and warmer towards the weekend.
USA EAST REPORT
With daytime highs getting into the high 60s and even 70s in the eastern US and most people thinking of biking and golf, the season is all but over here. However, a few centres are soldiering on for at least one more weekend with, in most cases, just a few white ribbons visible on green mountainsides. Maine’s Sugarloaf closed on Sunday, but Vermont’s Jay Peak Resort announced May 6th-7th is a go this coming weekend with the Jet Triple lift running with skiing/riding on Jet and maybe Haynes, too. Sugarbush reopened last weekend and may reopen next while Killington (0/18” / 0/45cm) usually stays open the longest and is still going at the time of writing.
USA EAST FORECAST
Spring weather variations continue with rain and possibly occasional sleet/snow showers interspersed with sunny spells and temperatures are still just about getting below freezing overnight. But warm in the daytime.
CANADA WEST REPORT
Most of western Canada’s ski areas have now ended their 22-23 seasons with Banff’s local ski hill Norquay and Marmot Basin, up at Jasper, among the latest to call it a day, last weekend. But three areas remain open with Lake Louise (135/175cm / 44/70”) due to end its six-month ski season this weekend but still has most of its slopes open in its final week. From next week we’ll have two centres left open, another Banff ski area, Sunshine (55/179cm / 22/72”) and North America’s biggest, Whistler Blackcomb (0/256cm / 0/103”), where spring skiing is currently taking place on Blackcomb mountain. It has remained fairly cool with some lighter snowfalls reported around Banff this last week. The avalanche danger is very high and sunshine has been closing parts of its terrain in recent days due to the risk.
CANADA WEST FORECAST
There’s plenty of sunshine in the forecast with temperatures climbing up to the high teens in the daytime. So, it is fast thaw time for most resorts although overnight lows will still be getting close to freezing.
CANADA EAST REPORT
Almost all ski areas in east Canada have closed for 22-23 now with rising temperatures and a fast thaw. But Summit-St-Saveur (10/60cm/ 4/24”) keeps going, or at least one of its runs, trail 70, still does, with the lifts turned back on at weekends. It looks like the plan is to stay open through the month with a May 20 date in the diary, “May Madness”, which will see the run floodlit for night skiing and boarding.
CANADA EAST FORECAST
Temperatures are mostly in the range of freezing to +10C for the week ahead with a mix of rain and possibly sleet and snow showers.
Asia
JAPAN REPORT
The last weekend of the 22-23 ski season is coming up for the dozen or so big-name Japanese ski areas that are still open. As with other ski regions of the Northern Hemisphere, there have been mixed conditions in recent days and weeks with highs up into the low teens but also cold weather and heavy wet snowfalls down to low elevations at times, typical spring conditions really. Niseko (0/200cm / 0/80″) reports about 8km (5 miles) of higher terrain open for its final weekend. The Gassan (80/200cm / 32/80″) summer ski area will remain open through May and hopefully to July. Although it is currently reporting an early season base much lower than it usually is a few weeks into its spring-summer ski season, which began three weeks ago. But it has also been cold and had fresh snowfall this week.
JAPAN FORECAST
The mixture of sunshine and showers, mostly rain but possibly snow up high at times, is set to continue. Overnight lows up high still getting down to -4C but there’s equal potential for up to +20C in valleys in the afternoons.
