www.Skiinfo.co.uk is reporting a week of fresh snowfalls all over Europe allowing many resorts to open their doors.
With Kitzbuhel, Austria’s earliest ever opening this past weekend, following Planai the week before that, as well as seven glaciers areas to choose from, Austria continues to offer the biggest choice of skiing in the Alps. The heavy snowfall there last week has set up some great conditions with most areas reporting a three- to five-foot base. The glacial areas are Dachstein, Hintertux, Molltal, Kitzsteinhorn (Kaprun), Pitztal, Solden, Stubai, Tux).
In Switzerland, the latest ski area to open is Glacier 3000 above les Diablerets near Gstaad. The area joins the Engelberg, Saas Fee and Zermatt glaciers, which are all already open.
Exciting news from Italy, too, as Bormio has announced it will open this weekend and the country has reported some of the best new snow this week. Bormio will run a cable car and a high-speed chair serving 12.5 miles of slopes between 7,500 and 9,000 feet in altitude. It joins Cervinia, which will now be open daily after this weekend, and still-open summer ski areas Passo Stelvio and Val Senales.
In France, les 2 Alpes is open this week for its new festival week, but will close again on Monday for four weeks until opening for the winter on November 28. Tignes, the other French resort that has now been open for six weeks this season, is currently suffering from a snow shortage and needs more.
In the Pyrenees, there are no areas open yet but the first heavy snowfalls have been reported. Formigal in Spain has reported the first snow of the season on their slopes. The dusting at Spain’s largest resort is a good sign for the coming season and forecasters are predicting a further few inches tonight. The Pyrenees received some of the best snow in decades at many resorts last winter, and it all began in Autumn last year, so the region is hoping for a repeat of winter 08-09.
There are more than a dozen ski areas currently open in Northern Europe. Sweden currently has five ski areas: Funäsdalen, Kåbdalis, Tänndalen, Tärnaby and Hemavan. Tänndalen is the only area that is open daily.
In Norway, skiers have six different ski resorts to choose from for the upcoming weekend: Gaustablikk and Bjorli opened on October 17, and Gålå has announced their season starts this weekend. A ski season that starts in mid October is early, even in cold Norway, and this means that the first winter ski resort opened before the last summer ski resort closed (Galdhøpiggen Summer ski resort closed on October 25). Kvitfjell, Trysil, Hafjell, Geilo, Kongsberg and Uvdal all aim to open on November 7.
Back home, the good news continues. The Rockies are being hit with a big storm that might bring more than two feet to higher elevations.
From SAM Magazine–October 28
