It's January, everyone's back at work and it's dark outside. Some say January is the most depressing month of the year but to skiers and snowboarders this is where the fun really begins. The resorts are fully up and running, the busy holiday weeks are over, until mid-Feb anyway, and once again it is snowing pretty much everywhere.
The October snow showed promise, the November snow got us excited and the December snow marked the start of the season proper. With this in mind the slopes for January were already looking in pretty good shape and this week sees another 110cm of BC pow in Whistler, up to 50cm in France and 35cm in both Switzerland and Italy. It's snowing, the January sales have started and there are last minute bargains for as little as £200 per person. It is time to go skiing!
North America is continuing its strong start to the winter with the aforementioned Whistler expecting another huge powder fest of over a metre. Killington is boasting a superb 65cm waving the flag for the East coast resorts and Kimberley is looking forward to around 20cm of piste-able snow.
Not for the first time this winter the resorts of Alpe d'Huez and Les Deux Alpes are leading the way in Europe's snowfall with 50cm and 57cm respectively, not forgetting the infamous La Grave also expecting a good 54cm for its un-pisted slopes. The Three Valleys have to be happy with Val Thorens, Meribel and Courchevel expecting between 30cm and 38cm in the various resorts.
Zermatt can boast a healthy 35cm of fresh snow, with Saas Fee and Verbier not far behind. Most of Switzerland's top resorts are boasting snow from the mid '20s to the mid '30s this week.
Italy is also expecting a nice post-holiday top up in order to get the slopes back to top notch after the busy festive season. Cervinia, Claviere and Sestriere can expect around 30cm of mother nature's finest.
It's definitely a happy new year in my books looking at this week's weather!
The Snowman
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