Have You Seen The Size of This Jump?

Our latest Snow Report is dumbstruck by the One Hit Wonder in Thredbo, Australia - and notices a dusting of white in Austria.

Tomorrow sees the start of the One Hit Wonder in Thredbo, in the Snowy Mountains of Australia – when the world’s best freeskiers will be launching themselves off the 2016 equivalent of this:

It’ll be the biggest jump on the AFP World Tour, and the festival that’s built up around it is the centrepiece of the region’s late-season calendar. It’s going to be quite a show.

As regular followers of our Snow Reports will know, the second half of the season in Thredbo has been a good’un – and there was another 15cm top-up of snow on the upper slopes on Saturday. However, mild weather is now the norm, and the bottom runs back into the resort are ribbons of white against the grass. Spring sunshine is expected for the first two days of jumping, with the chance of some snow at the top of the mountain on Friday.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, winter is about to make a comeback. According to the country’s MetService, a “potent cold front” is approaching, and will race up the country on Wednesday and Thursday. “The polar air in behind the southerlies will bring a noticeable drop in temperature, plunging the country back into winter-like conditions after a fairly mild start to spring,” said the report. Snow is likely to fall down to 300m.

This is of course great news for the country’s ski areas, and will pep up the slopes nicely. However, before skiers get to ski the fresh snow, they’ll have to sit out lift closures due to the high winds.

Here’s how the Remarkables, near Queenstown, looked yesterday.

Have You Seen The Size of This Jump? | Welove2ski — Photo: The Remarkables/Facebook

And here, for no particular reason other than the fact that it contains some insane skiing, is Konstantin Ottner’s run in in the North Face Frontier at The Remarkables at the end of August.

In the Andes there’s been a little fresh snow already. This was Valle Nevado, near Santiago in Chile, on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in the Alps…

A cold(ish) front crossed the region yesterday, and it’s still affecting the weather in Austria this morning.

There was even dusting of snow on the highest ridges and peaks. Here’s how it was looking at the top of the Stubai Glacier skiing area earlier today.

Further west, the skies are already clearing, and the temperatures are set to jump. In fact, it’s going to be extraordinarily warm, with the daytime freezing point at 5000m: so the snow will be softening even on the summit of Mont Blanc. There’s talk of September temperature records being broken, before the weather breaks down at the weekend.

This was the early-morning view above Saas-Fee today.

	France: The summer ski season in the French Alps is now over. All eyes are now on Tignes, whose glacier should re-open again in October.
	Switzerland: despite the very warm end to the summer, Zermatt is reporting that there’s plenty of snow on the glacier – up to 150cm, in fact. You can also ski on the glacier above Saas-Fee.
	Austria: late-summer skiing is currently on offer on the Hintertux and Molltaler glaciers. On the Hintertux, the snow has thinned in the recent hot spell and is only 35cm deep. Let’s hope autumn kicks in soon…
	Italy: Cervinia finished its summer season on Sunday.
	Andorra: no skiing is currently on offer in Andorra.
	Western USA: summer ski camps are currently running at Timberline Lodge in Oregon.
	Western Canada: the Horstman glacier on Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler is now closed.