J2Ski Snow Report - October 23rd 2014
J2Ski Snow Report - October 23rd 2014
Published : 23-Oct-2014 07:29
J2Ski Snow Report - October 23rd 201423rd October, 2014
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Alpbach, 23rd October 2014, courtesy Tyrol
Snow Report Summary
The past 48 hours have seen the first major snows of the European Winter arrive, with some snowy scenes on many of the webcams we watch.
This Week's Headlines
- Heavy snow in the Alps.
- First non-glacier resorts open this week in Europe and North America.
- FIS 2014-15 World Cup kicks off in Solden this weekend.
- Last resorts still open for 2014 season in southern hemisphere.
The 2014-15 ski season is about to start! Or, has already started! Well, it depends on where you are and your point of view. As well as the year-round glaciers, the first non-glacier ski areas opened this week and there's been heavy snow in the Alps.
With the numbers of resorts opening continuing to grow it seems the right time to switch back to our weekly digest. Happy (and hopefully) snowy days are here again.
In fact at present about 20 areas are open around the world, almost half of them in Austria, but with more opening every week.
The 2014 ski season in the southern hemisphere is still going too, at one area at least.
The Alps
Austria
Seven of Austria's eight glacier ski areas are open and currently benefitting from heavy snowfall – up to a metre of new snow is expected to have accumulated on their upper slopes by the weekend. So far (as of Thursday 23rd October) up to 70cm has been reported (at Solden) and it is still snowing hard with cam images looking more like a January blizzard than early autumn. There are in fact as many ski areas currently open in Austria as in the rest of the Alps put together. Hintertux has the biggest area open – some 24km of piste and 770m of vertical, but this weekend's focus is on Solden which is hosting World Cup races (assuming all the new snow does not cause problems). Other open slopes are to be found on the Stubai, Kitzsteinhorn (50cm of fresh snow reported as of 23rd October), Molltal, Kaunertal and Pitztal glaciers.
France
Tignes has been open for three weeks and remains the only area open in France. It has a 30cm base on the Grand Motte glacier but that may double by the weekend with low temperatures and heavy snow. It will be joined for nine days only by Les 2 Alpes which will be open for the coming week with its annual major festival of snowsports with gear testing and un in the park. Snow depth is currently over a metre.
Italy
In Italy Cervinia is open at weekends only. It has benefitted from fresh snow this week and there's a metre of snow on the glacier. Daily opening from next weekend on 1st November. Val Senales has been open daily since mid-September, it too has reported fresh snow this week and temperatures in double digits below freezing already. The base there is 55cm. All six lifts and runs are reported to be open at Passo Stelvio too which has a base of 70cm at the base to 3m at the summit.
Switzerland
It's snowing in Switzerland too and Verbier expects to have received perhaps a metre of snow by the weekend. Whether it will open early as a result (as it has in past years) is not yet known. But more Swiss areas are opening to join year-round Zermatt and its neighbour Saas Fee (open since July). The Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz is the latest to open and has a 125cm base at present. Engelberg is due to open this Saturday (25th October) having delayed doing so for several weekends when it had hoped to open. Glacier 3000 between Gstaad and Les Diablerets is also scheduled to open for the season on Saturday.
Scandinavia
Scandinavia's ski season has got started at Ruka in Finnish Lapland, the main slope opened there last weekend, allowing the area to claim to be the first non-glacier resort in Europe (and the northern hemisphere) to open for 2014-15, beating the first area in North America by a few hours. So far only two runs are open, thanks to snowmaking although there has also been natural snowfall too.
North America
Canada
Nowhere is open in Canada at present but the season is due to kick off in just over a week on the 31st of October in Banff. There have been promising pre-season snowfalls in the region since mid-September and more fresh snow recorded in the last few days so it's currently looking promising for an on-schedule opening for Halloween.
USA
Arapahoe Basin in Colorado was able to claim the title of first ski are to open in North America a week ago when they opened a couple of trails thanks in part to snowmaking, and part to natural snowfall. It's one of the 20 highest ski areas in the world. Nearby Loveland has been snowmaking too and expects to open soon but has not named the day. In fact another ski area, Timberline on Mt Hood, is open almost year round and has been open since earlier in October thanks to a permanent snowfield.
Southern Hemisphere
The 2014 ski season is over for most of the southern hemisphere but in New Zealand, which had a slow start to winter 2014, a late snowy surge has meant Turoa is planning to stay open in to 'Snowvember.' It currently has a 1.6m base and plans to stay open to November 9th. Its fellow Mt Ruapehu resort Whakapapa is still open too but this is its final weekend of 2014 coming up.
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