 Poster: A snowHead
|
The early season across the Northern Hemisphere remains mixed.
North America has above-average conditions. Europe is below-average. Asia is slightly below-average.
Here is a summary of global snow conditions, from West to East...
************
Canada: Western Canada has excellent coverage. Whistler is 100% open. Snow depths in Blackcomb are roughly twice the longterm average. East Canada is still poor. Mont Tremblant is just 35% operational.
USA: The Western side of the USA is generally superb. Plenty of powpow. Up to 1.2m of new snow fell last week in Denver over just a few days. Alta (Utah) and Breckenridge (Colorado) are nearly 100% running. Conditions in the East are exceptionally weak. The number of trails open at Stowe is 72% below its 5-year average for this time of year.
Scotland: Conditions are far from ideal. More than 90% of all the skilifts across Scotland are closed. Cairngorm is best, with around a fifth of its tows fired up.
Scandinavia: A good pre-season in Norway, Finland and Sweden has largely faded. Many stations are only partially open. Hemsedal in Norway is one exception, with 90% uplift.
Andorra: Modest snowcover. Most resorts running on manmade. Worst start for a few years. Soldeu is roughly 40% open. Snow depths are about 60% below the longterm average.
Spain: Moderate conditions. Sierra Nevada, in the South, is around 40% operational. La Molina, in the North, is running about 40% of its lifts.
Mediterranean: Resorts in Portugal, Corsica and Cyprus are closed. Temps are high. Unlikely to offer much before Jan.
France: Coverage remains reasonable on northerly slopes above 1600m. Southerly runs look grim below 2000m. Snowheads report that pistes are mostly hard and icy. Val Thorens (70% open) and La Plagne (68%) stand out as being above-average. Morzine is below-average, with 29% of its tows operational.
Switzerland: The Swiss Alps look mostly good. Zermatt, in the West, has above-average snow depths. It has more than half the slopes open and pistage right down to resort. St Moritz, in the East, has more than 60% of its uplift available.
Italy: The snow is sticking around over 1800m. Cervinia (2000m) is holding up well. It has 75% of lifts on the go.
Germany: Weak snowcover. Still modest at lower altitudes. Garmisch has just one-fourth of its tows fired up.
Austria: Austria remains below-average. Snowguns are blasting full-bore to maintain coverage. Ischgl, Obergurgl, Obertauern, Hintertux and Soelden seem to have the most available terrain. The big one, St Anton, continues to struggle, with just over one-third of the area available.
Alps: Snow levels remain below-average in most parts, particularly Germany, Austria and France. Many resorts could be going into Jan having had just one major snowfall in 3 months. There is even some low-level talk about an Alpine drought. The Alps pressingly need a big dump in the next few weeks, to revive the season.
CE Europe: Moderate snow across Poland, Czech Rep, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Turkey. Bansko in Bulgaria is just 15% open, partly on artificial snow.
North Africa & Middle East: Few stations, in places such as Lebanon and Morocco, are likely to be open much before Jan.
India: Conditions are healthy. Plenty of freshies in the North. Gulmarg, the number one station, appears to have more than half its uplift running.
China: Coverage seems modest. A handful of bigger stations, such as Yabuli (1400m), have a few lifts operating.
South Korea: Snow has been limited and temps are high. Seoul reportedly had its warmest Christmas Day (13c) in 100 years. High 1, the number three resort, has a small number of tows on the go. A sizeable snowstorm is forecast for nothern parts of South Korea later this week, which should help.
Japan: Conditions are mixed. Some skitowns have plenty of snow, while others have almost none. There have so far been few signs of the multi-meter megadumps from last season that caused buildings to collapse and villages to be cut off from civilization. Asahidake, in the North, has a self-reported 300cm of snow on its peak. At the other end of the scale, Imajo 365 has just 50cm up top.
FORECAST: The 2-week weather forecasts indicate mixed conditions. Sun and a bit of snow across Western North America. A little snow in Eastern USA. Asia looks to be cold and snowy in parts. The Alps will see sun in week one, followed by modest precipitation during the first week of Jan -- this may sometimes fall as rain below roughly 1800m, due to highish temps.
************
Please remember, this summary is a helicopter view. I have almost certainly missed something. Feel free to fill in the gaps.
|
|
|
|
FAQ