In today’s report we catch up on conditions across Europe, North America and Asia as we head into the Christmas Holiday period across the ski world.
Marco Odermatt tops the podium at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup Giant Slalom at Alta Badia, Italy
And where’s the snow going to land this week? We’ve scoured the internet to give you the best recommendations.
Merry Christmas from all of us here at Welove2ski and we hope your Christmases are white.
Now on with the snow!
In the Alps it was a mix of sunshine and perfect piste conditions before a storm system rolled through last Saturday morning.
Once the wind dies down and the avalanche conditions stabilise it’s going to be Happy Holidays all round for Christmas week.
Val D’Isere Snow Report, France
Ken Smith from Progression Ski reports sunshine and perfect piste conditions in Val D’Isere before the weekend storm rolled through.
Click here to book lessons with Ken and his team
Hundfjall Snow Report, Sweden
Franks reports very well groomed pistes under sunny skies in Hundfjall, Sweden
San Isidro Snow Report, Spain
Ejder 3200 Snow Report, Turkiye
Night riding at Ejder 3200
Grand Targhee Snow Report, Wyoming, USA
Luke got the goods at Grand Targhee, Wyoming last week.
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The snow tap has stayed on across Japan with big accumulations in both the Hakuba Valley and the Northern island of Hokkaido.
Hakuba Valley, Honshu, Japan
Rusutsu Snow Report, Hokkaido, Japan
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The largest connected ski area in the world – Les Trois Vallees / The Three Valleys in the Tarentaise, France – retains its Number 1 spot in the World for open terrain with 274km of piste on offer (70/156 lifts; 274/600km piste; 100-150cm base).
Verbier / 4 Vallees (65/68 lifts; 270/412km piste; 30-75cm base); Les Portes du Soleil, France (87/165 lifts; 261/580km piste; 0-50cm base); Zermatt-Matterhorn, Switzerland/Italy (41/51 lifts; 206/322km piste; 15-150cm base); and Ischgl, Austria (38/46 lifts; 199/239km piste; 20-50cm base) round out the Top 5.
The Alps
Austria holds second place in the world with the total number of ski areas open at 174 – with 25 ski areas offering 50km or more of pisted terrain.
France now has 26 ski areas offering 50km or more of pisted terrain from a total of 77 ski areas open for daily operations.
Val Gardena, Italy (78/79 lifts; 178/181km piste; 50-50cm base) has the most terrain available in Italy, from a total of 73 ski areas open.
Switzerland now has 75 resorts open for daily operations with Anzere in the Valais 100% open (13/13 lifts; 58/58km piste; 0-80cm base).
Skigebiet-Winklmoosalm (11/14 lifts; 35/42km piste; 10-75cm base) has the most terrain available in Germany which now has 34 resorts open for daily operations.
All three of Andorra’s ski areas – Pal/Arinsal, Grandvalira, and Ordino Arcalis – are open for the Winter with Pal/Arinsal (29/31 lifts; 55/63km piste; 40-80cm base) offering 87% of its pisted terrain.
Eastern Europe
Regular snowfall and temperatures cold enough for artificial snow making has allowed the following resorts to offer limited piste skiing, the exception being Bansko, Bulgaria which has 66km of pisted terrain open :
Bosnia and Herzegovina : Bjelasnica, Jahorina
Bulgaria : Bansko, Borovets, Pamporovo, Vitosha
Czechia : Cerna hora–Janske Lazne, Certova hora–Harrachov, Horni Domky–Lysa Hora, Jested–Liberec, Keilberg, Lipno, Paseky nad Jizerou, Pec pod Snezkou, Spicak, Spindleruv Mlyn, Zadov–Kobyla
Georgia : Bakuriani, Goderdzi, Gudauri, Hatsvali, Tetnuldi
Liechtenstein : Malbun
Poland : Bialka Tatrzanska, Jaworzyna Krynicka, Szczyrk Mountain Resort, Szymoszkowa, Zieleniec
Portugal : Serra da Estrela
Romania : Arena Platos, Harghita Bai, Madarasi Hargita, Poiana Brasov, Roata–Cavnic
Serbia : Kopaonik
Slovakia : Bachledova/​Jezersko/​Frankova, Donovaly, Jasna, Rohace–Spalena, Strbske Pleso, Telgart
Slovenia : Golte, Kanin–Sella Nevea/​Bovec, Kope, Kranjska Gora, Krvavec, Maribor, Rogla, Vogel
Scotland : Cairngorm Mountain, Glencoe, The Lecht
Spain : Baqueira/​Beret, Candanchu, Cerler, Formigal, Fuentes de Invierno, La Molina/​Masella–Alp2500, San Isidro, Sierra Nevada
Turkiye : Ejder 3200, Erciyes
The Nordic Countries
Regular natural snowfall and temperatures suitable for artificial snow making has enabled Finland’s Levi, Pyha, Ruka, Saariselka and Yllas, and Sweden’s Are, Dundret Lapland, Hemavan, Idre Fjall, Kabdalis, Klvosjo, Salen and Tarnaby to offer good but limited skiing.
Are, Sweden leads the way with 36km of pisted terain available.
Norway is now up to 17 resorts open for limited piste skiing with Trysil offering the most terrain (16/32 lifts; 25/78km piste; 15-15cm base).
North America
Canada
Alberta has all of its seven resorts open for daily operations (Banff Sunshine, Canada Olympic Park, Castle Mountain, Lake Louise, Marmot Basin, Mt Norquay, and Nakiska) with Castle Mountain leading the way (5/6 lifts; 85/94km piste; 5-80cm base).
Whistler Blackcomb leads the British Columbia resorts for available terrain (23/27 lifts; 162/200km piste; 0-130cm base) with more terrain opening at the 16 other open resorts by the day.
Thanks to recent snowfall and much colder temperatures on the East Coast Ontario’s Blue Mountain has opened for the Winter. Quebec has all five of its resorts open for the season (Le Massif, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Sommet Saint-Sauveur, Stoneham, and Tremblant).
USA
The USA rises to first in the world for open resorts (178) ahead of Austria (174), France (77), Switzerland (75) and Italy (73).
Aspen Snowmass, USA (13/20 lifts; 191/237km piste; 45-90cm base) has the most pisted terrain on offer.
ALASKA : Alyeska, Eaglecrest
ARIZONA : Arizona Snowbowl, Sunrise Park
CALIFORNIA : Diamond Peak, Heavenly, Kirkwood, Mammoth, Northstar, Palisades Tahoe, Sierra at Tahoe, Snow Summit
COLORADO : Arapahoe Basin, Aspen, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Copper Mtn, Eldora, Keystone, Loveland, Monarch, Powderhorn, Purgatory, Snowmass, Steamboat, Telluride, Vail, Winter Park, Wolf Creek
IDAHO: Lookout Pass, Schweitzer, Sun Valley, Tamarack
MAINE : Sugarloaf, Sunday River
MONTANA : Big Sky, Bridger Bowl, Discovery, Whitefish
OREGON : Mt Bachelor, Mt Hood, Timberline, Wilamette Pass
NEVADA : Diamond Peak, Lee Canyon, Mt Rose
NEW HAMPSHIRE : Attitash, Bretton Woods, Cannon Mountain, Loon, Waterville Valley, Wildcat Mountain
NEW MEXICO : Angel Fire, Pajarito, Taos
NEW YORK : Belleayre, Holiday Valley, Hunter Mountain, Windham, Whiteface-Lake Placid
UTAH : Alta, Beaver, Brian Head, Brighton, Deer Valley, Park City, Powder Mountain, Snowbasin, Snowbird, Solitude, Sundance
VERMONT : Bolton Valley, Jay Peak, Killington, Mad River Glen, Mount Snow, Okemo, Smugglers’ Notch, Stowe, Stratton, Sugarbush
WEST VIRGINIA : Canaan Valley, Snowshoe Mountain
WYOMING : Grand Targhee, Jackson Hole
WASHINGTON : Crystal Mountain, Mount Baker, Stevens Pass
Asia
Japan
The Hakuba Valley Resorts along with Myoko, Naeba, Nozawa Onsen, Shigakogen and Zao are the six Japanese ski areas on the main island of Honshu open for Winter operations.
On Hokkaido we’re up to 10 resorts open (Furano, Niseko United, Kamui, Kiroro, Kurodake, Rusutsu, Sahoro, Sapporo Kokusai, Sapporo Teine, and Tomamu) with heavy snowfall opening more and more terrain by the day.
Audi FIS Ski World Cup Alta Badia
Marco Odermatt has proven his dominance on the Gran Risa course claiming his fifth Men’s Giant Slalom victory at Alta Badia, Italy.
This victory, his 41st in the World Cup, makes Odermatt the most successful Swiss male skier of all time!
Alta Badia, Italy
All 2,360m of the Madison 8 lift – the longest eight-person chairlift in the world – was unveiled this past weekend at Big Sky, Montana, USA
Yesterday, we made history with the grand opening of Madison 8, the longest eight-place chairlift in the world.
Thank you to our world class teams for making this feat possible and to our amazing guests for celebrating with us yesterday and this season!
🎥 SkyLab Media House
Posted by Big Sky Resort on Saturday, December 21, 2024
A major storm system hit most of the Alps and parts of Eastern Europe over the weekend bringing heavy snowfall and high winds.
This will continue today with another 10-30cm forecast on top of the 20-40cm which has fallen. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day should see sunny skies and a big drop in wind speed.
Lech, Austria (25-35cm); Avoriaz, France (30-35cm); Roccaraso, Italy (75-85cm); and Poiana Brasov, Romania (35-45cm) will be on Santa’s ‘nice’ list.
The Nordic Countries will see continued low temperatures with clear skies and sunshine.
The Alberta and British Columbia resorts of Canada will see cloudy skies and cold temperatures with 5-10cm forecast.
Further west, Whistler Blackcomb is forecast to receive 25-35cm above mid-mountain and light rain at village level.
Temperatures have dropped on the East Coast with Tremblant and Sommet Saint-Sauveur expecting 5-10cm through Thursday.
Most of the western US resorts will see continued low temperatures, sunshine and light snow flurries with a chance of a storm passing through on Wednesday bringing 10-20cm of new snow.
The West Coast resorts of California, Oregon and Washington are forecast to receive 25-35cm of new snow through Thursday with significantly more at Timberline & Mt Hood, Oregon (50-60cm); and Crystal Mountain, Washington (45-50cm).
On the East Coast, temperatures have dropped serving up great piste conditions across the region.
The resorts on Japan’s main island of Honshu will see continued snowfall through Thursday with 30-45cm forecast. Gala Yuzawa is forecast to receive 60-65cm.
The Hokkaido resorts will see constant snow to see out 2024 with 35-40cm forecast.
Where to find a detailed snow report
There are so many great resources available on the internet for up to the minute information on snow conditions, lift status, and available terrain that this season we’re directing you to the best places to find that info and plan where to head for the best skiing.
Want to quickly know which ski resorts are open? Then head to skiresort.info. Narrow down your search by country and resort for more detailed information.
For in resort reports get the lowdown from the Ski Club of Great Britain’s reps skiclub.co.uk/snow-and-weather/
For worldwide snow forecasting start with Cardiff-based snow-forecast.com. With a massive database of resorts and free 6-day forecasts just type in where you’re going for the lowdown. Sign up for longer range forecasts and historical data.
Wepowder does what it says on the tin. Free, extensive 6-day forecasting for Europe, with a paid subscription for 14-day forecasts and Powder Alerts.
On Instagram our go to sites are Powderhounds and new ‘kid’ on the block instagram.com/imlukesnow/.
On YouTube get detailed weather analysis from https://www.youtube.com/@WeatherWatcher14
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