The latest snow reports and conditions in resorts across France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Canada and the USA.
(updated every Monday and Thursday afternoon) | Summary |
|
| Unlike the UK, there wasn’t a huge amount of fresh snowfall across the European resorts over the weekend or on Monday 6th January. Instead, the majority of resorts in Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland were blessed with fantastic blue skies, creating fantastic visibility; a refreshing change to recent times where low cloud cover and snowfalls created white-outs in many locations.
A handful of French Pyrenean resorts bucked this trend on Monday however, such as Font Romeu where 45cm of new snow was reported. This is fantastic news for these resorts who until now have received relatively low levels of snowfall this season.
If you think it has been cold in the UK, this weekend was one of chilliest so far for our featured European resorts. For instance, in Flaine the Ski Club Leader reported a temperature of -25C. However, with the sun shining, temperatures are steadily increasing and the piste quality is being very well preserved by these temperatures.
Sunny skies dominate in America and Canada but the snow is great in most areas. Temperatures are perfect to keep the snow in good condition without being too hard. The Ski Club Leaders at Sun Peaks, Fernie and Banff all say skiing is great at the moment. |
 Austria |
| |
| On Monday 6th February, the majority of our featured Austrian resorts were enjoying a clear, bluebird day. This pleasant dry spell follows the notable fresh snowfall that was received last Thursday 2nd February. As a result, some piste depths have been slightly reduced, like in the Arlberg region at Lech and Zurs where the depths have gone from 180/395cm on Friday 3rd February to 155/360cm on Monday 6th. However, thanks to the very cold temperatures, piste conditions remain excellent although it is now more difficult to find untracked powder off-piste. The bitterly cold temperatures continue to remain throughout the country and high altitude resorts such as Pitztal (166/354cm) reported a temperature of -20C on Monday. |
 France |
|
| Our featured French resorts in the Alps enjoyed another pleasantly clear day on Monday 6th February. Over the weekend Ski Club Leaders reported bitterly cold temperatures. On Monday the temperature has risen slightly making it somewhat more bearable, with resorts such as Flaine (90/345cm) shifting from a freezing -25C to an almost pleasant -15C. The great news is these cold temperatures have helped to preserve the quality of the pistes, making conditions largely excellent across the country.
It was sunny too in Vars (100/180cm) on Monday which was great for spectators to enjoy the last day of the ThirtyTwo European Tour at the resort. Les Deux Alpes (90/300cm) also enjoyed sunny skies on Monday, however the winds have picked up since the weekend so the number of open lifts was reduced to 40.
The great news is that a handful of French Pyrenean resorts received healthy amounts of fresh snowfall on Monday. Bareges/La Mongie (140/200cm) enjoyed a 40cm dump of the white stuff. Even better, Font Romeu (60/95cm) received 45cm in time for the lifts opening on Monday, meaning a fantastic powder day on Monday at these locations. |
 Italy |
|
| As with the majority of other European locations, it was a fine and sunny day on Monday 6th January for most of our featured Italian resorts. At opposite sides of Italy, Courmayeur (75/180cm) and Selva Gardena (50/60cm) typified these excellent conditions on Monday and both of these resorts had all of their lifts running.
A light 10cm dusting of snow occurred on Saturday 4th February at Arabba (42/58cm) and Cavalese (95/100cm). Like neighboring resorts, Monday brought beautiful clear skies and cold temperatures which created fantastic riding conditions in unrivalled visibility. |
 Switzerland |
|
| Our featured Swiss resorts were largely blessed with beautiful blue skies on Monday 6th February, making visibility fantastic. This was a nice change to recent weeks were low lying cloud and snowfall limited visibility.
A small number of Swiss resorts received a dusting of new snow over the weekend including Saas Fee (80/343cm). Here, the Ski Club Leader reported excellent slope conditions as a result of the temperatures being -24C on Sunday 5th February. However, the sunshine made skiing pleasant on Monday when temperatures increased to around -15C. Also, all 21 lifts were operating so skiers and boarders could easily access a huge amount of this fantastic terrain. |
| Canada |
|
| There was no new snow in Canada over the weekend but reasonably mild conditions, by their standards, mean the snow is great to ski on.
There were sunny skies at Sun Peaks (119/152cm) over the weekend. The Ski Club Leader said the mountain was in great shape on Saturday with some hidden powder stashes still available. All the runs are in fine condition thanks to the grooming efforts of the resort combined with the good weather.
It’s a similar story at Banff (143/172cm). The whole area is open and offers excellent skiing. There’s plenty of snow across all three areas and with temperatures of around -3C the snow is nice and soft, making it fun to ski. |
| USA |
|
| There’s great skiing on offer in America at the moment. Fresh snow fell in Colorado over the weekend with up to 20cm in some areas.
The Ski Club Leader at Vail (84cm) spoke of great skiing over the weekend with all runs in excellent condition. There are some harder packed parts lower down and on busier slopes but, aside from that, the skiing is great.
It has gone cold again in Alaska, where Alyeska (152/320cm) is. They’ve got plenty of snow thanks to around 80cm falling late last week. They’ve already received nearly 14 metres of snow so far this season. |
| European Weather Outlook |
|
| Cloudy skies bringing light snow flurries are expected to loiter over some Austrian resorts on Tuesday 7th February. Wednesday 8th should be a relatively clear day and Thursday 9th should be when some light snow falls. Hintertux, for instance, could receive 6cm on Thursday which will freshen up the pistes nicely.
French and Italian resorts are expecting to be mostly sunny with some cloud until Thursday. Light snowfall could occur across Italy, where resorts like Passo Tonale may receive 5cm. However, French resorts are expecting an even lighter dusting than this. Switzerland should also be mostly sunny and cloudy until Friday 10th February when snow flurries may form, lightly dusting the slopes. |
| North American Weather Outlook |
|
| Dry and sunny weather is expected in Canada for most of the week ahead. There could be a few light flurries of snow in some places but nothing significant. It should be a fairly sunny week in Whistler with the possibility of snow on Thursday afternoon.
It’s a similar story in America where a sunny week is expected before some areas are due to receive snow over the weekend. 10cm could fall at many resorts in Colorado next weekend but this is uncertain at the moment. |