The latest snow reports and conditions in resorts across France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Canada and the USA.
(updated every Monday and Thursday afternoon) | Summary |
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| Even though we are in the latter half of April, the wintery conditions of fresh snow and cold temperatures have remained over Europe this week and this weather shows little sign of slowing down. This has created wonderful powdery mountains where skiers and snowboarders have been enjoying the fresh powder.
The Ski Club Leader in Zermatt commented that the pistes are in near perfect condition in the mornings after a healthy dusting of snow coated them overnight. Unfortunately visibility has been limited at times, creating challenging skiing conditions, but this has by no means reduced the enjoyment visitors are currently having on the mountain.
There are currently two ski areas open in Scotland thanks to recent snowy weather. Cairngorm in the east and Glencoe in the west both offer lift accessed, skiable terrain this week.
Fresh snow has also fallen at Banff and Whistler in Canada. Whistler’s conditions are quite spring-like but the snow at Banff is more winter-like.
This is the final weekend of skiing and boarding at Breckenridge and Winter Park in Colorado, USA. After this weekend skiing will be limited to only a handful of resorts in the America. |
 Austria |
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| Over half of our featured Austrian resorts have now closed for the season. However the resorts that are still open are having a fantastic time thanks to the recent snowfall.
For Thursday 19th April, a healthy coating of new snow fell had fallen overnight for a few lucky resorts. Such places included Kaunertal (61/271cm) with 14cm, Neustift (40/420cm) who got 10cm, Pitztal (172/372cm) had 7cm fall and St Anton (75/330cm) received 5cm. To improve the riding further, the sun came out on Thursday burning away many of the clouds and providing a pleasant day with good visibility. |
 France |
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| Wintery conditions have remained the dominant theme this week across the French resorts, bringing lovely powdery conditions for numerous resorts and surprising many given the time of the season. Skiers and boarders had a fantastic time tearing up the fresh snow. However, the new snowfall has meant that at times visibility was rather limited creating challenging skiing.
Many resorts enjoyed fresh riding conditions on Thursday 19th April with around 10cm of new snow cover. Such places included La Plagne (120/290cm) and Chamonix (0/360cm). Les Deux Alpes (30/280cm) did better with 15cm and the winner was Le Grand Bornand (45/125cm) which was blessed with 20cm. |
 Italy |
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| Despite very good conditions for this time of year, only six of our featured Italian resorts are open for skiing and boarding on Thursday 19th April. On this day, these open resorts experienced changeable conditions throughout the day. Snow was falling at Cervinia (55/300cm) creating superb fresh conditions for the second half of April, although visibility was poor. La Thuile (20/160cm) also welcomed about 10cm on Thursday. In other resorts such as Passo Tonale (20/370cm) the skies appeared to be clearing, creating a pleasant riding environment. |
 Switzerland |
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| There is some fantastic skiing still on offer in Switzerland thanks to fresh snowfall this week. As a result, piste depths are very respectable for this time of year.
Wednesday 18th April was a great day for fresh snow. For example, Andermatt (105/450cm) was blessed with 40cm. A handful of areas also received new snowfall on Thursday 19th April, such as Samnaun (40/250cm) were visitors enjoyed the 15cm of new snow when the lifts opened on that day.
It is expected that the clouds will continue to hover over the country bringing further snowfall over the weekend and into next weekend, although a handful of locations may experience rainfall due to the mild temperatures. |
| Canada |
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| Whistler (321cm) received another 7cm of fresh snow on Wednesday 18th April. Some parts of the mountain received quite good build-ups of snow and visitors to the resorts this week have spoken of fantastic skiing for this late in the season.
The record breaking season for snowfall at Jasper (177cm) continues with a dusting of snow on Wednesday. To date, the Marmot Basin area has received 617cm of snow which is the greatest amount of snow they’ve ever received in a winter season, from when their records started. |
| USA |
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| 5cm of fresh snow fell in the Colorado resorts of Loveland (127cm) and Arapahoe Basin (99cm). There’s a hard base of snow but the layer of fresh on top provides great skiing. Loveland is scheduled to remain open until 5th June and has one of the longest ski seasons of any resort in the world.
It was also snowing in the north west of America. 15cm fell at Timberline (490cm) in Oregon and although the snow is a little heavy, given the time of year, there’s plenty of it left. |
| European Weather Outlook |
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| The wintery conditions are showing no sign of slowing down across European resorts. The remaining open Austrian resorts are expecting further snowfall. Obergurgl for example may be blessed with 22cm of fresh snow on Monday 23rd April. This could be the same theme for Italy with Passo Tonale expected to receive a fantastic 29cm on the Monday.
French and Italian resorts will be similar too, although a handful of French resorts could enjoy some sunshine on Sunday 22nd April, before more snow is scheduled to return. |
| North American Weather Outlook |
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| A late season snow storm is expected to hit Whistler in Canada over the weekend and early next week. It will bring milder temperatures though so the snow is only expected on the higher slopes. Lower slopes will see heavy rain but expect powder up high.
In America, Colorado is expecting very mild weather over the weekend and into next week with temperatures more summery than spring-like. Breckenridge remains open for the weekend but then closes on Sunday night, 22nd April. Loveland and Arapahoe Basin are both open until at least the end of May or early June. |