Warm temperatures and lack of snowfall have delayed the season in eastern North America, but the season is underway in many other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, from Whistler to Zermatt.

In eastern Canada, where Toronto recently declared last month the driest November in 70 years without a snowflake, conditions have improved greatly, too. Mont-Ste.-Anne, Quebec, expects to open this weekend after several postponements with at least four runs available. It reported 5 inches of snow last weekend. Mont Sutton received 17 inches of snow at the summit over last weekend.

Moving to western Canada, it is a different story. Whistler’s November snowfall total officially passed 18 feet by month’s end, with a 6.5 foot base, by far the biggest ever for this early in the season and the biggest ever November snowfall for the resort.  Mount Washington and Mt Cain, both on  on Vancouver Island, have more snow than Whistler.

Most of western Canada’s resorts have great snow cover, and several resorts opened early, or announced they’d be opening earlier than planned, including Marmot, Lake Louise, Sunshine, Fernie, Revelstoke, Big White Silver Star and Kicking Horse.

South of the border in the western U.S., temperatures are low enough for snowmaking, but precipitation has been rather limited and, outside of the Pacific Northwest, bases remain modest. In Washington and Oregon, many areas are open, with bases from two to seven feet (hello, Mt. Baker).
In the eastern half of the United States, a prolonged warm spell that stopped virtually all East coast ski areas from opening for Thanksgiving weekend has finally ended, and many resorts are reporting some snowfall and temperatures cool enough for the region’s mammoth snowmaking arsenal to fire up. Sugarloaf in Maine, Mount Snow and Stratton in Vermont and Whiteface and Belleayre in New York are among those planning to open this weekend.
Moving across the pond, www.Skiinfo.co.uk has issued hundreds of powder alarms in the past 72 hours as resorts across the Alps, Dolomites and Pyrenees report big and on-going snowfalls. Hundreds of resorts are now planning to open this coming weekend across the Continent with superb conditions, although freeriders are warned to beware of high avalanche risk off-piste in many locations.

Switzerland was among the big winners. Engelberg was virtually closed down by snow at the start of the week as a massive storm hit central Switzerland with over three feet of fresh snow. St. Moritz and the Engadin Valley received 4.4 feet. Most other Swiss resorts have done well, too. Sedrun, for example, received three feet of new snow on Nov. 30.

Austria had great snow in late October and early November, but suffered a warm spell along with the rest of the Alps through the middle of last month. But it, too, has also been receiving plenty of fresh snow. The Mölltaler glacier got two feet of powder and now has a 7.3-foot base. Many other areas received between 8 to 20 inches, including Axamer -Lizum, Sölden and Obergurgl-Hochgurgl. Most of these resorts are planning on opening this coming weekend.

In France, more resorts are opening after good snowfalls across the country’s ski areas. Lans en Vercors, Val Thorens and Collet d’Allevard have already opened and many more plan to open this weekend, including Meribel, Alpe d’Huez, the Grands Montets at Chamonix, Montgenèvre, Les Arcs and probably Courchevel 1850, Le Grand Bornand and La Clusaz.

It’s a similar picture in Italy. Bormio has the deepest base in the country at 6.6 feet, much of which fell in the past week. Other resorts reporting big snows include Madesimo with three feet and Alagna, Cervinia, Livigno and Monterosa resorts reporting at least 20 inches of new snow each. Many ski resorts will officially starts the season this coming weekend.

Forty-eight hours of heavy snowfall over the Pyrenees has left Formigal more than ready to open this weekend. Spain’s largest resort has over 5 feet of snow on the higher slopes, around three feet on the lower slopes, and more is predicted to fall over the next few days. There’s also fresh powder at Baqueira, Cerler, Panticosa and Sierra Nevada. All the main ski resorts will open on Friday for a four-day holiday.

Conditions remain good at most Scandinavian ski areas to the north. Resorts in Norway reported up to 20 inches of new snow in the past week, and this weekend there will be 38 ski resorts openl.

The ski season began in Scotland last weekend when Cairngorm Mountain opened runs.