WORLD SNOW ROUNDUP #290
Issued: 10th May 2023
By Patrick “Snowhunter” Thorne
World Overview
With more ski areas ending their 22-23 seasons last weekend, we’re down to double figures for the number of areas currently open worldwide for the first time since early November, over six months ago. There are about 60 centres still open, divided fairly evenly on each side of the Atlantic.
After a fairly snowy start to May, there have been clearer skies and some sunshine in the Alps, where glacier ski areas remain open in Austria, France and Switzerland. Further north, it’s a mix of glacier areas in Norway and spring ski capital Riksgransen in Sweden, now approaching 24-hour daylight, that are the remaining choices.
North America, where a similar number of ski areas have been open to Europe over the last week, has seen more weather extremes including some record snow accumulations in the southeast in states like West Virginia, snowfall in the Midwest leading to at least one ski area briefly re-opening for some May skiing, and a roller coaster of cold and snowfall then record warm May temperatures in the west.
The start of the Southern Hemisphere’s 2023 ski season is now less than a month away and there has been growing excitement in the Andes and Australia thanks to some good pre-season snowfalls over the last week. Ski areas across Australia posted 5-15cm (2-6”) snow totals and there were similar accumulations posted on high slopes in Argentina and Chile.
Europe
EUROPE INTRO
The ski season is now over in most European countries except for Austria, France and Switzerland in the Alps and Norway and Sweden in Scandinavia. The last centre still open in Italy for the 22-23 season, Cervinia, closed on Sunday, as did the resorts that had been still open in Finland. The only ski area outside these five countries known to be open is Slovenia’s Kanin which is currently re-opening about 6km (3.5 miles) of its highest slopes for weekend spring skiing. Spring weather in the mountains continues to be cool at altitude and the snow showers have continued on glaciers, where it is remaining below freezing. So far, at least, it’s a better picture than a year ago when the freezing point had already reached 4,000m in April. Against that, with the exception of a few summer ski resorts like Tignes, the winter snow accumulation, though reasonable, is not lying terribly deep. Although it is currently still being topped up with fresh May snowfalls up high.
AUSTRIA REPORT
The Pitztal and Solden glaciers were the latest Austrian centres to close, last Sunday, after both clocking up 7-month ski seasons. But Austria still has five centres open, the most of any country in Europe. The Hintertux Glacier (0/285 cm), which was the only ski area in the world that managed to stay open through the Northern Hemisphere’s hot summer of 2022, now has the country’s deepest snowpack alongside Solden, which had over 3m (10 feet) lying. With it’s 31km (20 miles) of slopes still open it also has the most in the country. The Stubai Glacier (0/270 cm / 0/108”) has the second deepest snowpack and over 23km (15 miles) of slopes still open, through to the 21st. The three other glacier areas still operating plan to remain open to the final Sunday of the month. They’re the Kitzsteinhorn (0/250cm / 0/100”), near Kaprun in Salzburgerland, with 17km (11 miles) of slopes still open, the Kaunertal Glacier (220/240cm / 88/96”) with 24km (15 miles) of slopes open in May and finally Carinthia’s Moelltal Glacier (0/140cm / 0/56”) with 21 km (13 miles) of runs available still. Thankfully, the weather has remained generally cold above 2500m, with snow showers continuing between sunny spells.
AUSTRIA FORECAST
The cold and snowy weather that has been a familiar feature through springtime looks set to carry on through this week. Temperatures -2 to -10C on glaciers with 5-30cm (2-12”) snowfalls possible almost daily and not much sunshine expected.
SWITZERLAND REPORT
We are down to two ski areas open in Switzerland after Adelboden, the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz, Engelberg, and Glacier 3000 near Gstaad all closed for the season at the end of the ski day last Sunday. We’re into the final week of an extended ski season at Crans Montana (0/200cm / 0/80″) where there’s now just 3km (2 miles) of runs left up at the glacier. Therefore, next week, there’ll only be Zermatt (0/160cm / 0/64″) still open and they’ll be hoping that this year they’ll make it through the summer. Its snow depth is actually up 10cm (4″) on its glacier from the recent snow but still isn’t that great if the late spring/summer heat matches 2022 after another winter of below-average snowfall. But fingers should be kept crossed for Europe’s highest lift-accessed runs. The ski area has, in any case, switched to summer mode with the Cervinia link also closing at the weekend and has dropped the 17km (11 miles) of runs open.
SWITZERLAND FORECAST
A cold week ahead with temperatures down to freezing overnight as low as 1500m and getting to double digits below freezing day and night up above 3,000m. More snow showers are forecast on glaciers.
FRANCE REPORT
The last three ski areas still open in France for the 22-23 season, Tignes, Val d’Isere and Val Thorens, all ended their seasons on Sunday. So we would normally have a period of a month or so now with nowhere open in France, other than the indoor snow hall at Amneville in the northeast. However, 2023 is different with Les 2 Alpes (0/150cm / 0/60”) deciding to move its summer skiing and boarding forward by a month or so. It re-opened for glacier skiing and boarding last week and plans to stay open through May and June. So far they’re keeping it low key and there are reported to only be about 3km (2 miles) of slopes open, but it’s something. The weather up on the glacier is also reported to have continued cold with sunny periods but also snow showers.
FRANCE FORECAST
A cool latter half of the week with more snow showers forecast and temperatures remaining sub-zero around the clock on the glacier, getting up to +15C at resort level in the afternoons.
ITALY REPORT
The last ski area still open for the 22-23 in Italy, Cervinia, ended its opening last Sunday so there is currently nowhere open for snowsports in the country. However, Passo Stelvio is due to open for its five-month glacier ski season on the last weekend of the month, with Cervinia due to reopen for summer skiing in mid-June.
ITALY FORECAST
With about three weeks to the start of the season conditions look really good for mid-May in Stelvio with temperatures around freezing down to -10C across the area and a week of quite decent snowfall forecast ahead. Perhaps not quite such good news for the crews tasked with clearing the pass road and the cyclists wanting to then ride it at the end of the month.
SCANDINAVIA FORECAST
A mix of sunny spells, clouds and occasional showers on still-open Scandi slopes this coming week. Temperatures are generally in the 0-+10C range, meaning showers are more likely to be rain than snow, and some thawing too.
NORTH AMERICA INTRO
Western North American ski areas continue to ride the wave of the huge snowfalls this past winter and spring and although half a dozen more ski areas closed at the weekend, others continue to extend their seasons with more than 20 still operating across a dozen US states and Canadian provinces. The spring thaw of the massive snowpack, still double the seasonal average, has set in but that doesn’t mean it has stopped snowing with west coast resorts posting up to a foot (240cm) more snowfall this week and even parts of the Midwest have posted record may snowfalls (with all ski areas now closed there). It’s been cooler than it had been of late in the east too but only two areas remain open there now, one in Canada, the other in the US.
ROCKIES REPORT
Colorado continues to have the most areas open of any one US state even with Copper Mountain and Loveland ending their seasons last Sunday, May 7th. Purgatory and Winter Park (8/56” / 20/166cm) will close this coming weekend though, on Sunday, May 14th, leaving only two areas open. This will probably be Breckenridge (8/57” / 20/144cm), which plans to continue “as long as possible into May,” and was still open at the time of writing, and Arapahoe Basin (32/58” / 65/170cm), which is aiming to keep going into June as usual. By then it will be approaching an 8-month ski season, one of the world’s longest. In Utah, to the north, Brian Head closed last weekend but Brighton is staying open weekends through May, as may Snowbird (38/132” / 95/330cm), which switches from daily to weekend open as of next week. Solitude (50/132” / 125/330cm) is the third Utah choice, open for at least the next two weekends and currently enjoying its longest and snowiest ever season. It’s been a mixture of weather in the Rockies with some snow showers up high in the last seven days, but periods of warm weather and fast thawing too. Loveland was actually closed for several days last week by lightning storms making the slopes unsafe to be on. The changes have left the snowpack unstable and sadly there was another avalanche fatality in the backcountry last week.
ROCKIES FORECAST
After a sunny few days, colder weather with light snowfall on high slopes in the Rockies is forecast for the remainder of the week.
USA WEST REPORT
With Heavenly closing last weekend we are down to four ski areas still open in California and Nevada, with one of these, Kirkwood (80/156” / 200/390cm), planning to end its season after this coming Sunday, May 14. But Lee Canyon, which had expected last weekend to be it’s final one of the season, has decided to reopen next weekend too. In California, The Palisades Tahoe (38/198” / 95/495cm) and Mammoth Mountain (185/249” / 462/622cm), both posting the deepest bases in the world still, plan to keep open through to at least July. It has kept snowing, in between sunny spells, in California with The Palisades reporting 11” (27cm) of fresh snowfall in the last seven days. Mammoth reported 7-9 inches of snow overnight bringing their already-record-setting snowfall total to 712 inches at the Main Lodge and over 900 inches at the top of its runs.
Further north three ski areas are currently open in Oregon, Timberline (80/144” / 220/360cm), aiming to keep open into August and possibly even early September, Mt Bachelor (34/92” / 85/230cm) and Willamette Pass. You can also still ski at Crystal Mountain (10/250cm / 4/100”), in Washington state, at weekends.
USA WEST FORECAST
Mostly sunny weather for the week ahead with temperatures raging from the high 40s to low 60s, so no new snow and the big thaw continues.
MIDWEST REPORT
Record early May snowfall (up to 18”/45cm) was reported in parts of Michigan and Wisconsin last week, with the Upper Peninsular region one of the big beneficiaries. Andes Tower Hills Ski Area briefly re-opened this month, in part to celebrate the new snow but also so they could set a Midwest record, they think, for being open eight consecutive months, having started their 22-23 season back last October. Temperatures in the region had been below average since mid-April.
MIDWEST FORECAST
Warmer and drier for the week ahead in the Midwest.
USA EAST REPORT
Jay Peak and Sugarbush called it a day on their 22-23 seasons last weekend after struggling on with white ribbons of snow, leaving just Killington (0/35cm / 0/14”), in Vermont, striving to continue through to later this month, possibly even early June, with the snow piled high on its shady Superstar trail. It has been helped with cold weather to start May in the wider region. West Virginia, for example, set an all-time snowfall May record of 16” (40cm).
USA EAST FORECAST
Mostly sunny weather with temperatures reaching the 60s and 70s. So it remains to be seen how long Killington’s snow can last.
CANADA REPORT
Lake Louise closed on Sunday leaving three ski areas open in Canada. On the Pacific coast, Whistler’s Blackcomb Mountain in BC is open in “spring mode”, which means less terrain midweek and more at the weekend. Further inland, Banff’s Sunshine ski area is, as usual, the last area still open in Alberta. Finally, across in Quebec, Summit St Sauveur, re-opens at weekends, with a kilometre or so of slopes holding out against the warming temperatures. All three ski areas plan to close the Sunday or Monday after next, 22nd May. There’s been some new snow in the west and temperatures remain fairly cool, but there have been more avalanches and ski centres, those already closed and still open, are warning the high avalanche danger that has been a major issue all winter remains high. At Sunshine, various areas are being marked “Avalanche Closed”. The resort explains, “these areas are avalanche closed as they become unsupportive to the weight of a skier/snowboarder and become a concern for wet avalanches. The opening and closing of these runs are dependent on the strength of overnight refreeze, daytime freezing level, solar radiation, and precipitation. In the morning, the snow may be supportive and the avalanche risk will be low and the terrain will be open. Once the overnight refreeze breaks down the terrain may become unsupportive and have an elevated risk. You may find yourself riding a zone in the morning and a couple of laps later it will be Avalanche Closed because of this,” the resort explains, requesting skiers, “…obey all posted signage to have a safe and slushy spring ski season!”
CANADA FORECAST
A few more cooler, sunny days are forecast. But then warm, sunny weather for the latter half of this week will speed the thaw for the final weeks and days of the season.
Asia
JAPAN REPORT
Most of Japan’s ski areas that had still been open ended their seasons, as is traditional at the end of the country’s ‘Golden Week’ at the start of May when four holiday days fall together. Nozawa Onsen reported its base was down to 50cm (20”) on the runs it still had open for its final day, having peaked at 300cm (120”) in mid-winter. The resort noted the 22-23 season as “not the best and not the worst either” for snowfall. It was a similar story this past season across Japan. Shiga Kogen (0/50cm / 0/20”) is reported to have broken ranks and kept a 1km long run open for one more week, expecting to close this coming Sunday. That will leave Gassan (80/200cm / 32/80”) the only ski area open in Japan and hoping to remain so through to July, it reports all 10km (6 miles) of slopes available.
JAPAN FORECAST
A temperature range of -5C to +8C is forecast for Gassan with a mixture of rain, snow and sunny spells.
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
The countdown to the start of the 2023 ski season is underway with less than a month to go now until the first centres are expected to open.
Australia has had a good week of pre-season low temperatures and snowfall, with several centres also firing up their snow-making systems. They include the Selwyn ski centre, re-opening for the first time in three years after rebuilding following a catastrophic bushfire at the start of 2020. Perisher, the largest resort in the country, posted 15cm (6″) of snowfall in the latter half of last week and most other areas also had good snowfall. A second wave of snowfall with similar quantities again arrived at the weekend. The Australian ski season is expected to start on the second Saturday of June in most areas, the beginning of a three-day holiday weekend in celebration of King Charles III’s birthday.
Snowfall was again reported in the Andes too with ski areas in Chile and Argentina seeing snowfall down to low elevations.
