Snow Report, August 15

It’s been another good week for snow in the Southern Hemisphere: not quite as dramatic as last week (check our August 9 snow report for news of Las Lenas’ one-metre dump if you missed it).

But still…

There’s been 20cm of fresh snow in the Andes

This was Valle Nevado, near Santiago, Chile on Tuesday. There’s been great skiing Portillo too. Check out Jesse James Hoffman’s pictures for an eyeful of sunshine and powder.

New Zealand has had lots of little top-ups

Pictured, above, is Treble Cone earlier today today. It’s been windy and cold in the South Island resorts, but many of those around Wanaka and Queenstown have picked up around 15cm of snow, thanks to a couple of dustings on Tuesday and Wednesday. Snow depths are respectable – but it’s a long time since the epic dump of late June. They could do with more than 5 or 10cm to really freshen things up.

And today was a powder day in Australia

“The best day of the season so far…hands down” was the verdict of the video blogger in Perisher, New South Wales today. There was 23cm of new snow (which fell on 20cm of snow deposited Monday) , and it was cold, light and soft – if a little wind-blown. It’s going to warm up again over the weekend – but the forecast is promising a cold front, and further dumps next week. After a poor start to the season, the Snowy Mountains of Oz have clearly hit a purple patch.

Meanwhile, in the Alps…

This is “hot-jumping” in Tignes. Shouldn’t that be cold-jumping? The sun’s out there this morning and the daytime high should hit 19C, even at 2100m. But all the same, that lake clearly isn’t toasty…

Meanwhile, pictured below is the view this morning on the way up to the Hintertux Glacier – which is open for skiing, and still has up to 135cm of snow on its pistes. Elsewhere on the glacier, the ice is showing through now, which is no surprise, as it’s August. But still, thanks to the weird and snowy weather at the start of summer, the cover is much better than it was this time last year.

	France: the Pisaillas glacier above Val d’Isere has now closed for skiing, but there are still turns to be had above Tignes and Les Deux Alpes. Summer is really starting to get hold of the snow now, thinning the cover, but according to Les Deux Alpes’ snow report, the white stuff on its glacier is still 130cm deep – conditions are pretty good given it’s now early August.
	Switzerland: You can still ski on the glacier above Zermatt, and links over to Cervinia are open too. At last, Saas Fee’s glacier is now open for summer skiing, too.
	Austria: you can currently ski on the Hintertux and the Molltal glaciers. The Kitzsteinhorn glacier closed to skiers on July 21 and expects to reopen in mid to late September. After some heavy rain at altitude last week, the cover in Austria has thinned considerably – although the Hintertux still claims 135cm of snow on its pistes in places.
	Italy: access to high-altitude skiing above Cervinia is now possible – mostly on the Swiss side of the border above Zermatt.
	Andorra: Andorra’s ski resorts are now closed for the summer.
	Western USA: all the mainstream ski resorts are now closed, but you can still make turns at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood in Oregon.
	Western Canada:  The glacier above Whistler has now closed for summer skiing.