The PlanetSKI Snow Report

Tuesday 20th January

In the Alps the storms have passed and it is mainly sunny with some variable cloud cover.

Regular PlanetSKI reader, Rob Stewart, is in the French Alps.

“I am just arriving in the French Alps and it’s a gloriously sunny day and the snow line looks decent,” said Rob.

Snow is set to fall in parts of the south-western Alps on Thursday and Friday.

The area saw snow at the end of last week.

“Not surprisingly, the best snow conditions in the Alps right now are in the far south-west, including the likes of Isola 2000, the Queyras region, Limone Piemonte, Prato Nevoso and Prali,” said Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk.

“Elsewhere in the Alps, there is also plenty of good piste skiing on offer despite snow depths generally remaining below average.

“They are considerably below average across large parts of Switzerland, Austria and the central and eastern Italian Alps.”

There remains ‘considerable’ avalanche danger in some places and there have been multiple avalanches in the past ten days as we have reported elsewhere on PlanetSKI.

• Another avalanche death in the Alps
• Eight skiers die in three separate avalanches in Austria

Here’s the current avalanche risk in Switzerland:

We reported lower down this snow report from Glenshee in Scotland.

It was a bit grim at the weekend.

Recent mild weather has reduced the snow cover in the Scottish ski areas, but snow is forecast to return later this week thanks to a cold and moist south-easterly airflow.

Glenshee could see around 50cm by Saturday.

Over in Canada temperatures remain cold but there is no snow in the forecast for the resorts around Banff.

“Some fresh snow would be nice to see after the record-breaking start to winter in this part of the Canadian Rockies,” said PlanetSKI editor, James Cove, who is in Canada for a couple of months.

“However, the temperatures remain cold at around -8c so there is no melt/freeze that creates icy conditions.

“Rather there is grippy and chalky snow that remains fabulous to ski on and there are very few bare patches in the resorts of Sunshine Village and Lake Louise where I am mainly skiing.”

Here’s the snow in Delirium Dive in Sunshine.

 

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• PlanetSKI hits the steeps of Sunshine Village

Next week James is off on a road trip to Revelstoke, Kicking Horse and Marmot Basin so look out for his snow reports from those resorts.

Revelstoke and Kicking Horse have done particularly well so far this winter.

Do check back…

Monday 19th January

We begin today’s update with a video report from PlanetSKI reporter, Felix Milns, who is in St Lary in the French Pyrenees.

More heavy snow has been falling in the area.

 

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In Canada it has been wall-to-wall blue sky for the past few days.

It has certainly brought the weekend crowds out.

In Lake Louise in Canada the temperatures have warmed up and it’s even possible to have lunch & drinks on the terrace.

Rare for this time of year in Canada.

Sunday 18th January

Today we hear from the Alps, The French Pyrenees and Scotland.

We start today’s report with an update on conditions in the Alps where there has been fresh snow in the south-western area of the mountain range.

The storm is expected to continue into Monday and some areas could see up to 40cm.

Over the border in the Spanish Pyrenees is our chief reporter, Jane Peel, who gave us a full update on Saturday from Baqueira Beret.

 

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She has been in Baqueira Beret for the Freedride World Tour.

• PlanetSKI is slopeside for the Freeride World Tour in Spain

She has just posted a resort review of the Spanish resort.

• Baqueira Beret – The Secret is Out

It’s a fabulous ski area with its international recognition growing.

PlanetSKI reporter Julia Clarke is in Glenshee in Scotland where there are, er, somewhat mixed conditions.

“It’s now all change at Glenshee after the Friday forecast of overnight snow turned out to be sleet.

“It changed to rain by morning, and Tom Dearg didn’t open up as hoped, but it wasn’t all bad news.

“The temperatures remained just above freezing and while the rain definitely opened up some big bald spots at the bottom early on, conditions at the top were just a bit soft and actually more skiable than yesterday when we had sun and colder temperatures.

“It all made for some fun turns on Saturday if you had a good shell and the right attitude.

“There were over a thousand skiers out having a good time in the Scottish conditions.

“By the end of the day though, grass was making an unwelcome appearance and getting on the rope tow at Claybokie for ski patrol training required something akin to pond skimming – but it was a good way to test if my ski boots are waterproof.

 

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“The precipitation had let up by late afternoon and we were just dealing with fog and the occasional breeze.

“Sunday looks to be foggy again, but the temperatures are predicted to drop a little and we might see a built more of the white stuff by lunch time.”

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