Snow Report, August 29

Well, well, well – look what we have here…

FRESH SNOW IN THE ALPS.

The video was shot on Tuesday on the glacier above Zermatt – where the Warren Smith Ski Academy is running its summer ski technique clinics. We’re talking about some of the highest pistes in the Alpes here – well above the 3000m mark. But all the same, now that thoughts are turning to winter…isn’t it great to see the white stuff back?

The snow came during a short spell of cool, wet weather in the Alps, which also dropped 15cm of snow on the Stubai glacier in Austria at the beginning of the week. In the short term, we’re due a return to the warm and sunny weather which has characterised most of August. But there are signs of change around September 5, when a lump of cold air is due in from Iceland.

It could be that autumn is about to pay us an early visit. Fingers crossed we’ll have more of the white stuff to show you in next week’s Snow Report.

And what of the southern hemisphere?

Well, first of all, congratulations to James Woods – who won silver on Sunday in the FIS Freestyle World Cup Ski Slopestyle at the Winter Games NZ. It’s a fantastic start to the season for him – and has of course got everyone talking about a medal at the Winter Olympics in February.

Here’s the official FIS video of the event.

Second of all, there’s just been 10-25cm of fresh snow in the South Island resorts of New Zealand – the first decent snowfall for weeks. Of the bigger ski fields, Mount Hutt had the best of it.

But there was 15cm of powder at The Remarkables, too.

The Andes have seen more of the white stuff, too. Portillo in Chile reckons it had 25cm at the weekend, and skiers were still laying down fresh tracks on Tuesday. However, as you can see from the quality of the snow in these turns, the powder was getting heavier as the spring sunshine took hold.

Meanwhile in the Snowy Mountains of Australia, the recent, miraculous run of snowy weather has come to an end, and the weather has warmed up. Still, that suited the organisers of the Mile High freestyle event, which ran at Perisher on August 26 and 27.

	France: the Pisaillas glacier above Val d’Isere is closed for skiing, but there are still turns to be had above Tignes and Les Deux Alpes. The glacier at Les Deux Alpes closes at the end of the summer season on Saturday.
	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 open for late-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. The snow on the Hintertux glacier is now up to 75cm deep in places – a drop of 20cm since last week.
	Italy: access to high-altitude skiing above Cervinia is possible until September 8.
	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.