Latest Snow Report
Snow conditions in the Alps remain mixed. Of the main Alpine countries, the best conditions overall are in France, where there is decent snow cover at most levels (both in the northern and the southern French Alps) and no really obvious weakness, even if snow depths remain modest at lower altitudes.
Many western Italian ski resorts are also in pretty good shape, including Cervinia, La Thuile, Sestriere and especially in the far south-west (Limone Piemonte, Prato Nevoso) where they have loads of snow – as we have been banging on about all season! Further east, snow levels are much less impressive though, with currently very little natural snow in the Dolomites, although (as we always like to make clear) resorts here can still offer a lot of good piste skiing thanks to their world-class snow-making.
Snow cover in Switzerland is also below par: extremely so in the south-east (e.g. Engadin), but a little bit closer to normal (but still considerably below) in the west (e.g. Verbier). So, more snow would be very welcome across all Swiss resorts to freshen up the generally hard-packed pistes.
It’s a similar story in Austria, where there is plenty of good piste skiing around albeit with mostly hard-packed pistes, especially in some central and southern areas (e.g. the Osttirol) where there has been very little snow all season.
Fresh snow is on its way to most parts of the Alps, but for now it’s still a bit hit and miss in terms of where the heaviest falls will be, currently looking most likely to be the southern and western Alps.
The weather will remain unsettled with the prospect of some heavier and more widespread snowfalls, but the set-up remains complicated and details are hard to pin down at this stage.
The Pyrenees deserve a special mention again, as they are enjoying their best season in many years!
Across the pond, Colorado ski resorts continue to struggle though...
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