Spring had a terrible reputation for poor snow and crowded glaciers, but spring can be the best time of year to ski if you plan your trip well. The blue skies, quieter slopes and, if chosen well, the fresh snow make for a great end of season break.
Most people will head straight for the glaciers and high resorts, and if you need to book early this is always the safest route to a good week on the slopes. Glaciers hold the snow well and are a little colder in the blistering sunshine, but they can be busy during the Easter holidays.
If you are a late booker, or looking for a second trip of the winter to finish off the season there are some great tools out there to give you a good idea of where to head. For example right now Saas Fee, Zermatt and Cervinia are being covered in about 20cm of snow with nearly 30cm more due this week, and yesterday La Plagne received 10cm of fresh snow. If you are in need of a quick look the snow overview page is a great start. It shows where the latest and next snow is falling, offers changing webcams showing off the best conditions and links to a whole host of useful pages.
If you can make the time there are some in-depth tools out there that will help you make an educated choice on where to head. You can check out the snow history of previous seasons, where the latest snow has fallen and where the next dump is due. Though the Iglu team will look after you, it is always worth doing a little research yourself. You may be surprised to discover that St. Anton boasted conditions similar to Val d'Isere last year with snow depths of 146cm in March and 103cm in April, which were also the two highest figures of the season for the resort.
A great place to start is with the snow history section. Here you can check out the details of our most popular resorts, snow records in resorts on a month by month basis or even by country.
You may or may not be surprised to discover in April last season Squaw Valley in California boasted snow depths of 4m and Passo Tonale in Italy was looking at 222cm on their upper slopes, where as Val Thorens - the highest resort in Europe - by comparison was down to snow depths of 142cm.
For the really late bookers using snow forecast page can offer a really valuable resource for where the snow is looking good. As you would expect the snow forecast tool gives a glance of where all the next snowfall is due. You can use the comparison tool at the bottom of the page, or you can go into the resorts and take a full look at snowfall and weather on a daily basis.
The snow reports page offers a break down of the snow depths for the upper and lower slopes in resorts, giving a reasonably accurate representation of the current conditions. There are country specific pages, full of helpful information and the comparison table at the bottom of the pages where you can again search via a variety of options.
With all the data that is now available you can avoid the typically busy resorts and find yourself a real gem. You may discover a favourite of yours is having an off season, or that an unexpected favourite is expecting fresh powder and blue bird skies.
This spring there are some superb late deals out there to be enjoyed and there is still availability during the Easter Holidays, so get yourself online, check out the details of where the snow is and get yourself a real last minute bargain. Given half a chance I'd be off to Saas Fee at the weekend!
