After a week of non-stop snow across the Alps, the occasional bit of inconvenience and a high avalanche alert, the snow is slowing down across the Alps and sunshine is forecast, making for a week of bluebird days, incredible snow conditions and, once the mountains have settled, some fabulous off-piste opportunities.
The weekend saw some pretty heavy snowfall across France with many resorts reporting between 60-70cm of snow on Friday alone and more falling on Saturday and even Sunday. Chamonix made for a snowy weekend with over 70cm falling, and both La Plagne and Courchevel boasted 60cm of snowfall. Val d'Isere and Tignes gained another half metre of fresh powder, as did Val Thorens, while Meribel, Serre Chevalier and Alpe d'Huez were closer to the 20cm mark.
Thanks to all this incredible snow, snow depths are already better than the whole of last season in many resorts, the Three Valleys is benefitting from 270cm of snow on its slopes, the Espace Killy has around 220cm and La Plagne is boasting a whopping 350cm of snow. Les Arcs is also incredibly high with 320cm of snow, La Rosiere also boasts 320cm and Argentiere has an incredible 4m of snow!
Switzerland has been benefitting from similar levels of snowfall, with around half a metre falling in most resorts over the weekend, though Crans Montana boasted a massive 1m of snow in a day on Friday! Again, after a couple of weeks of fairly solid snow the snow depths are pretty impressive for the time of year. Crans Montana and Engelberg are boasting a huge 380cm of snow on their slopes, Saas Fee 370cm, Murren is up at 359cm and both Verbier and Flims Laax have 305cm of snow.
Austria is set for a couple more days of light snow before the bluebird days kick in. There is around 10cm falling in most resorts, from Alpbach to Zell am See, though much more snow fell over the weekend with up to half a metre falling across the country. Solden (60cm), Soll (50cm) and Ischgl (50cm) boasted the biggest dumps. Again, considering the time of year, the snow depths are looking pretty good. Kaprun is already up to 270cm of snow, Lech and Zurs have had around 260cm, whereas the micro-climate of St. Anton has bought the resort nearly 4m of snow — 395cm! The high resorts of Ischgl and Solden are over the 2m mark, while many of the popular resorts, such as Soll, Saalbach and Kitzbühel have a respectful 150cm or so of snow.
Italy is also having a bumper season, and like Austria has a couple more days of light snow before a few days of sunshine. The weekend saw 10-30cm of snow falling across most resorts, while a light 1cm or 2cm of snow is due this week, though some resorts, such as Cervinia, are boasting sunshine for the next 5 days. The story on the slopes is again a positive one. Cervinia's snow depth is 290cm, Passo Tonale is at 270cm, Gressoney is around the 2m mark and the Aosta valley is boasting around 170cm.
With a week of mostly sunshine the resort will now be working on turning all of this snow into a huge base. I wouldn't be surprised to see the snow cannons also in use to make the most of the cold conditions and relatively quiet slopes. The back country terrain will most probably be a little unstable until the snow has settled into a proper base, or the Security des Pistes has blasted away the wind lips, cornices and dangerous placements of snow. Maybe it's worth sticking to the side-county until the mountains have calmed a little.
If you are heading out to the Alps in the next couple of weeks you should enjoy some of the best conditions in a decade. Let's just hope Mother Nature continues to find the perfect balance of snow and sunshine for the next 4 months!
The Snowman
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