WORLD SNOW ROUNDUP #296
Issued: 21st June 2023
By Patrick “Snowhunter” Thorne
World Overview
Winter is here by the astronomical measure of the seasons south of the equator with the winter solstice three weeks after we reached winter by the meteorological measure at the start of June. In the Northern Hemisphere of course the reverse is true and over a dozen resorts remain open in Asia, Europe and North America as we enter summertime by both seasonal measures.
Fittingly, it has been snowing in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres simultaneously over the last few days.
It’s been a largely positive week for the developing 2023 ski season in the Southern Hemisphere. Heavy snowfall and cold weather in Australia has dramatically improved conditions there, while in Argentina, which has seen the biggest falls of the winter so far in Patagonia, anywhere south of the equator, the ski season has started getting underway with resorts beginning to open. More ski centres have also opened in Australia, Chile and New Zealand. But, unfortunately, there’s still no sign of a ski season happening at all in 2023 in southern Africa.
In the Northern Hemisphere, things are looking fairly good too. Although the Beartooth Basin summer ski area in the western US has ended its 2023 run after just a few weeks and Snowbird in Utah, which re-opened for weekend skiing last Saturday and Sunday hoping to stay open through Independence Day if the snow held up, decided it wasn’t and last weekend was it. But three other US ski areas remain open and remarkably up to 30cm (a foot) of fresh snowfall was reported across large swathes of the mountains of northwestern North America to start this week. In Europe, we’re at eight ski areas open, the same as last week, still up from a low of five with another glacier opening for summer skiing in France, but one closing in Norway.
Southern Hemisphere
AUSTRALIA REPORT
Things have picked up a good deal for Australian ski areas in the last week with heavy snowfalls on Wednesday-Thursday bringing more than a foot (30cm) of fresh snowfall initially along with cold weather for snow-making. Perisher (15/25cm / 6/10”), the country’s largest ski area and one of a handful that managed to open at least some limited terrain on opening day, June 10th, immediately started running its 8-seater chairlift to access more runs. Mt Hotham (0/33cm / 0/13″) reported on Thursday that the cold weather and 27cm (11″) of fresh snowfall meant that it could make its delayed season opener. The Summit Quad and trainer lifts opened at 1 pm last Friday. Falls Creek (20/21cm / 8/8”) also decided to open on Friday, opening Halley’s Comet Quad Chair, Towers Quad Chair and Mouse Trap Carpet giving skiers and boarders access to the resort’s Main Street, Highway 83, Nastar and Mouse Trap runs. “It was a great first day of skiing and snowboarding for the 2023 season and we are thrilled to see people back on the slopes enjoying the terrain!” said Betony Pitcher, Falls Creek’s Field Marketing Manager. Mt Buller (20/40cm / 8/16”) and Mt Baw Baw, which along with Perisher were among the first three centres in the country to open slopes the weekend before last, all remain open. Thredbo (10/20cm / 4/8”) opened Tuesday and Selwyn Resort is currently preparing to reopen after four years of slope closures following a catastrophic bushfire in January 2020. That’s now scheduled for this Friday.
AUSTRALIA FORECAST
The forecast continues to be promising for Australian ski areas with 10-30cm more snowfall forecast for the coming seven days with Thursday/Friday of this week set for more snowfall build-up.
NEW ZEALAND REPORT
New Zealand’s ski season continues to take shape with more ski areas opening for the 2023 season, joining the first open, Mt Hutt (11/24cm / 4/10). Coronet Peak (15/30cm / 6/12”) opened for the season on Friday and Cardrona on Saturday. In a statement before opening, the latter said that the snow base was not quite as substantial as they would have loved, but there was certainly enough for those first-of-the-season laps. The resort had the learner’s slope and McDougal’s open for skiing and snowboarding along with a small rail setup in the mix. There was a DJ set at the centre’s Noodle Bar to get the season started. The Remarkables also had a limited opening on Saturday with just their Tahi and Rua carpet lifts open initially. Other lift facilities require more snow on main trails before safe access can be achieved, the resort said, postponing their ‘First On Chair’ initiative until they know when the main lifts will open. “Our snow-making team are working hard as temps allow us to harness more snow, enabling more terrain to be opened up in the near future,” a spokesperson said. Alas, the news isn’t all good though with Mt Hutt, which has been posting 8km (5 miles) of slopes open so far, the most terrain open in the country, even if just a fraction of its full capacity, was forced to close at the weekend after heavy rain impacted the snow surface.
NEW ZEALAND FORECAST
Alas, the forecast is not that conducive to an improvement in conditions with plenty of sunshine over the next few days and daytime highs teaching +10C on lower slopes. Up high it will be closer to freezing and the latter half of the weekend and early next week could see colder temperatures and snow, but there’s a danger it’ll be more rain if temps don’t dip enough.
ARGENTINA REPORT
Argentina’s ski season is now underway with one of the country’s leading resorts, Las Leñas (20/20cm / 8/8”) opening for the season, its 40th. So far there’s only 4km (3 miles) of its slopes open, less than 10% of its terrain, but it’s a start. The country had posted the best pre-season snow depths in the Southern Hemisphere after some big May snowfalls in Patagonia. Cerro Bayo (5/50cm / 2/20”) is also open with one of the deepest snowpacks in the Southern Hemisphere at this early point of the season on its upper slopes. Most of the rest of Argentina’s ski areas including South America’s largest, Cerro Catedral near Bariloche as well as Cerro Castor, the world’s most southerly ski centre down in Tierra del Fuego province, this coming weekend. The start of this week has been largely dry with some sunshine, and temperatures in the range of -5C overnight to +5C in the afternoons.
ARGENTINA FORECAST
It’s due to turn snowy again from midweek with temperatures continuing in the -5 to +55C range. But an average of 5-15cm (2-6″) of snowfall is expected daily through to the weekend.
CHILE REPORT
After some uncertainty as to whether La Parva’s season had really begun last week, with its snow report not appearing to match up with webcam images, more Chillan ski areas have now opened for the 2023 season. Unfortunately, there have not yet been the big snowfalls here that we’ve seen in Patagonia although there have been a few fairly decent pre-season dumps. But on the whole early terrain availability is low and some areas have relied on snow-making to build bases during what has been a cold but mostly dry June to date.
CHILE FORECAST
It should stay cold, with temperatures in the -6C to +3C range over the coming week with quite a lot of snowfall forecast, potentially 10-20cm (4-8″) a day, through most days this coming week. Valle Nevado, Portillo and Corralco are all due to open for the season this weekend.
SOUTHERN AFRICA REPORT
Confusion continues in southern Africa where Afriski in Lesotho has continued to make snow but is not offering any skiing and snowboarding, only sledging and ‘snow fun.’ There remains no sign of South Africa’s Tiffindell re-opening.
SOUTHERN AFRICA FORECAST
Clear skies forecast, temperatures ranging from -5 to +9C.
Europe
EUROPE INTRO
We are back up to six ski areas open in the Alps with Tignes opening for its 2023 summer ski season, which it hopes will last to the end of July. With Les 2 Alpes still in the final weeks of its planned 2023 spring-summer opening and Val d’Isere opening for the season last week, it means that at the weekend France began to equal Norway for the number of centres open at three a piece, with the other three currently open divided between Austria, Italy and Switzerland. That changed by Tuesday though as Norway’s Stryn Glacier announced last week that Monday 19th would be the final day of its 2023 opening, so it has now closed. As we enter summertime, by the astronomical measure, temperatures are certainly warming up in both Scandinavia and the Alps, where most glaciers up to 4,000m are seeing around-the-clock (just) above-freezing temperatures now.
AUSTRIA REPORT
It remains just the year-round Hintertux glacier (0/315cm / 0/126”) open in Austria. It continues to post the deepest base in the Alps, with even re-opening Tignes posting a lower stat on its glacier although it had a 4m+ base when it closed for winter in early May. Hintertux’s 24km (15 miles) of open slopes is also the most of any European ski area right now. But the resorts have seen the same rather warm temperatures as the rest of the Alps.
AUSTRIA FORECAST
It’s a mostly sunny week coming up, as the past week. Up at the tip of the slopes around 3250m, we should still get -1C some nights, but others +3C and daytime highs up to +9C even at the top of the slopes, so, as usual, the next conditions are early in the morning.
SWITZERLAND REPORT
Swiss ski centre Zermatt (0/200cm / 0/80”) remains the only centre open in the country, still reporting good snow conditions despite rising temperatures, even up at its altitude, the highest lift-served slopes in Europe. There are 12km (7 miles) of slopes open. This coming weekend will see slope access re-open from Cervinia on the Italian side and we’re just over a week away from the opening of the completed ‘Alpine Crossing’, with the final in a series of cable cars and gondolas completing the link between the two resort for pedestrians travelling indoors. That’s due to open July 1st, a fortnight before Switzerland’s second summer ski centre, Saas-Fee, opens for its 2023-24 season in mid-July.
SWITZERLAND FORECAST
There’s more sunshine forecast with just the odd rain/sleet/snow shower expected and temperatures ranging from around freezing to +7C on the glacier.
FRANCE REPORT
The summer ski season got underway at Tignes (0/270cm / 0/108”) at the weekend, for a five-week season through to late July. It joins its neighbour Val d’Isere, which opened for a four-week season a week earlier. That snow stat is down about 1.5m (five feet) from what it was at the end of the 22-23 winter season six weeks ago. The two areas report 20km of slopes open, at Val d’Isere more than half of the seven runs accessible are just for pro racers training though. A third French area, Les 2 Alpes (0/120cm / 0/48″) has been open through May and June, although just a small area with boardercross and terrain park, and it is actually now in the final fortnight of its planned 2023 summer opening. It means though that France currently has three ski areas open, as many as the countries of the rest of the Alps combined. Weather-wise there’s been plenty of sunshine but after a cool and snowy spring temperatures are now rising, the freezing point up above ski slope level around 4,000m night and day and plus temps of 1-9 degrees are expected.
FRANCE FORECAST
Plenty more sunshine in the forecast and temperatures continue in the freezing to +9C range. Some light showers are expected which may be snow on the highest slopes but are equally likely to fall as sleet or rain on glaciers.
ITALY REPORT
Passo Stelvio (20/110cm / 8/44”) remains the only ski area open in Italy at present with 8km (5 miles) of runs open, around 90% of the full terrain. Cervinia is due to open its lifts to access the terrain on the Klein Matterhorn above Zermatt from this weekend. It has been largely sunny over the last week with temperatures in the freezing to +9C range.
ITALY FORECAST
The sunshine is set to continue with the chance of rain/sleet/snow on Friday. Overnight lows drop back below freezing at the weekend but daytime highs get to upper single figures Celcius still.
SCANDINAVIA REPORT
Two changes to the regular spring and summer lineup in Scandinavia this week. Firstly, Stryn decided to call it a day on its 2023 summer ski season last weekend, eventually closing at the end of Monday. But in more positive news, Riksgransen in Sweden’s Arctic circle plans to re-open for a few days and nights this week offering summer skiing and boarding for midsummer, including riding under the midnight sun with the 24-hour daylight up there at this time of year. Meanwhile, Folgefonn (150/360cm / 60/144”) remains fully open and reports good conditions with plenty of sunshine this last week. It continues to look pretty good at the Galdhøpiggen summer ski centre (140/400 cm / 56/160”). Still posting Europe’s deepest base and aiming to be fully open through to late autumn.
SCANDINAVIA FORECAST
There’s a more changeable weather forecast with fronts due to bring some heavy rain at times. Still warm as well so it may have an impact on operations and snowpack.
USA REPORT
The main news this week has been snowfall just before (astronomical) summertime on ski slopes across northwestern North America. Timberline ski area, in Oregon, one of the three left open for skiing and boarding, was forced to close its slopes Sunday and Monday by low clouds and snow. It got a few inches but further north in Alberta, Canada, Marmot Basin up near Jasper reported a foot (30cm) of snowfall, noting it was 4 months to the start of the 23-24 season there.
So, currently, only Mammoth Mountain (72/132” / 180/330cm) and The Palisades (0/132” / 180/330cm), in California, and Timberline (50/160cm / 20/65”), in Oregon, remain open to all skiers and boarders in North America, all three currently expecting to stay open into July although now depths are currently falling fast.
Two US centres have closed for the season in the last week, one of them hadn’t actually been open a week ago, but has re-opened and closed again all in the last seven days. To explain, Snowbird ski area in Utah, re-opened for skiing and snowboarding last Saturday and Sunday, 17 -18 June. When the resort ended its 22-23 season on the final Monday of May, it had hoped its re-openings from mid-June would continue through to a 4th of July Independence Day celebration weekend. However, despite receiving more than 800 inches (20.3 metres) of snowfall last winter, and the snowfall in the region over the last few days, Snowbird decided that current temperatures mean that the snow is melting away too quickly. “We hoped to make it to July 4, but Mother Nature had other plans,” a resort spokesperson confirmed. Snowbird operated their tram to access the remaining snow slopes and the Little Cloud Express for skiing and riding from 9 am – 1 pm at the weekend with only expert terrain available, and no beginner or intermediate terrain open. Part of the reason for the brief hiatus between winter season closure day last month and last weekend’s re-opening was for scheduled tram maintenance and to install the resort’s brand-new tram rooftop balconies. This meant that skiers and boarders were able to travel up to the snow on the outside of the cabins in the open air, a North American first.
The Beartooth Basin summer ski area in Wyoming to the north also closed due to snowmelt after a less than three-week ski season earlier this week. Having opened in late May, the season, the first for two years, lasted less than three weeks, similar to the last time it did open.
There are also three snow areas open, or about to re-open, in North America at present that are only accessible to those paying to take part in private training camps. Copper Mountain, in Colorado, offers a snow park for those booked into its Woodward camps and the Blackcomb Glacier is home to several private camps but there’s no public access
Mont Saint Sauveur, in Quebec, has announced it will re-open for a five-day camp over the last few days of June and first few days of July, the only place to enjoy lift-accessed snow in Eastern North America at this time of year.
USA FORECAST
After the cold and snowy weather of the last few days temperatures are set to rise over the next few days with plenty of sunshine, although overnight lows on high slopes still getting down below freezing, slowing the thaw a little. More unsettled conditions from the end of the week through the weekend.
Asia
JAPAN REPORT
Japan’s Gassan (30/100 / 12/40”) summer ski area continues to offer what’s believed to be the only lift-accessed terrain in Asia at this point of the year. Having opened with the snow lying 5 metres deep in April, that snowpack is now beginning to thaw away, particularly noticeable on lower runs. The result is that only the upper 4km (2.5 miles) of slopes from the full 10km (7 miles) of slopes remain open and two of the three lifts are operational.
JAPAN FORECAST
A mix of sunny spells and rain showers, temperatures in the +10 to +20C range.
