J2Ski Snow Report - July 25th 2024
J2Ski Snow Report - July 25th 2024
Published : 25-Jul-2024 05:35
Yeah, this was Hotham Alpine Resort, Australia, earlier this week...
Great snow in Australia giving great skiing, with the best conditions in the southern hemisphere still in Argentina and Chile.
The Snow Headlines - July 25th
- Over half a metre of snowfall for Australian resorts.
- Tignes, last glacier open for skiing in France for summer 2024, ending its brief season.
- Largest ski area open on the planet - in Chile - reaches 120km/75 miles.
- Norway's Fonna glacier announces 2024 summer ski season end this Sunday.
- Australia's largest resort overtakes New Zealand's for most terrain open.
- Number of ski areas open in northern hemisphere drops to just 7.
Useful snow forecast for Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Chile!
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World Overview
Australia's great week is the big news of the last seven days, with successive snowfalls, heaviest at the weekend, finally getting the season there properly underway with resorts able to get past the 50% mark for open terrain and some great powder conditions to boot.
Not such exciting news for New Zealand as yet but here most of the bigger areas had 60-100% of their slopes open already.
In South America, almost everywhere is fully open, after the huge autumn snowfalls there, but there's been little fresh snowfall in July. Not a big problem so far though with still the world's deepest snow and largest skiable areas currently open in Argentina and Chile.
North of the equator we're down to the smallest number of outdoor centres open this year so far with just 7 remaining in five countries, set to drop to six from Monday.
France no longer has an open area with Tignes last to close at the weekend.
Snow packs are diminishing too with the warm summer temperatures but those now open hope to stay open through August if they can. Most are in Europe with just one remaining open in North America.
Southern Hemisphere
Australia
Australia has had a bonzer week for snowfall with many areas posting nearly a metre in total from multiple storms, the heaviest by far at the weekend when some areas got half a metre in 36 hours.
It was the biggest fall of the season to date, almost as much in fact as the rest of the season so far, allowing some excellent powder skiing this week once the storm cleared through.
The main result has been centres able to open much more terrain, with the most dramatic change at Mount Buller which went from less than 5% of its terrain and just a few lifts open, to opening half-a-dozen lifts through this week.
Other resorts like Thredbo are now 75% open (this time last week the largest percentage open was 45%) and the largest area Perisher has jumped to more than 90% open with nearly 60km (37 miles) of slopes open now, the most in the country and overtaking the most open at any resort in New Zealand for the first time in 2024.
Falls Creek is also 90% open with its base just a few centimetres off the one-metre mark.
New Zealand
A fairly quiet week in New Zealand with ski areas there trying to hang on to the terrain they've managed to open; and in the best cases open more. The problem is that there hasn't been a whole lot of snowfall, just a few flurries, and rain was reported for a time on North Island ski slopes.
Cardrona and Mount Hutt have the most runs open, each at 70-80% of their terrain, but Whakapapa on Mount Ruapehu, still looking for a new owner, continues to struggle with just a fraction of its terrain open so far.
It's been a mostly dry week weather-wise, with temperatures in the -5 to +5C range on the whole, and there's currently not much change in the forecast unfortunately either.
Argentina
In contrast to Australia, Argentina has had a fairly quiet week with just light snow showers and plenty of sunshine, much the same as it has been all July after the very snowy May and June there.
Most areas remain 75-100% open thanks to all that pre-season snowfall, with Catedral posting the largest area open in the world on a single pass – about 100km of slopes - available.
Another Argentinian resort, Chapelco, is reporting the world's deepest accumulated snowpack at 3.3m (11 feet) up top.
Chile
It's been another predominantly sunny week in the Chilean Andes, a familiar pattern through July with most of the fresh snow that has fallen at more southerly centres like Nevados de Chillan.
The snow that fell in May and June, leading most of the country's ski areas to open early, is still there so conditions remain excellent, with most centres fully open.
Portillo is 100% open and has the deepest base in the country at about 2 metres. The linked Tres Valles area of Valle Nevado – La Parva and El Colorado equates to the largest area open anywhere on the planet at present with about 120km (75 miles) of slopes from the three centres combined, although you'll need separate passes to ski it all.
Southern Africa
Lesotho's Afriski continues to maintain its full mile-long main run as well as a nursery slope area and small terrain park. The normal sunny weather has dominated but overnight lows have been dropping well below freezing enabling snowmaking top-ups as required.
South Africa's Tiffindell remains closed and is reported to be up for sale.
Europe
Tignes ended its 2024 summer ski season at the weekend, the last of the three summer ski areas still operating there to close this year, meaning there's no lift-served skiing in the French Alps now until late Autumn.
That leaves four ski areas left open in the Alps, with Austria's Hintertux reporting the largest open area, with about 20km of slopes.
Switzerland's Saas Fee and Zermatt have a few kilometres less and you can also ski at Passo Stelvio in Italy (Zermatt's glacier is also accessible from Cervinia in Italy).
Summer temperatures have been climbing and we have seen base depths drop quite substantially on glaciers, but it is still lying several metres thick on most so we don't appear to be in imminent danger of any temporary slope closures.
As always the best conditions are to be found in the 3-5 hours after dawn. In Scandinavia the Fonna glacier area says it will end its 2024 season on Sunday, at least for the skiing public (race teams can still train there after the weekend), which leaves only Scandinavia's highest slopes at Galdhopiggen open.
North America
It's been a mostly sunny week, again, in the Western US with temperatures getting into the 80s Fahrenheit in the valleys below the still snow-covered slopes of Oregon where North America's last operating ski centre for winter 23-24 still reports a few miles of slopes open on the Palmer snowfield that lies above Timberline on Mt Hood. It's cooler up high though still reaching the 60sF in the afternoons so best conditions are from 5 am to 11 am when you'll find race teams training alongside you.
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