Brrrr. Over the last 24 hours, heavy snow has left many resorts in the western Alps blanketed in white. As I write, it’s still snowing in Zermatt in Switzerland, and along the Franco-Italian border – and more of the white stuff is expected over the next two days as the depression moves into Austria.
Overnight, the snow fell as low as 800-900m. It’s gone from those really low altitudes this morning, but at 1850m it’s still lying in resorts such as Val d’Isere and Courchevel in France.
Here’s how it looked in Val d’Isere this morning.
And this was Courchevel.
This was the scene further south, at 2167m above Serre Chevalier.
Pictured below is the tail-end of the storm at 3000m above Zermatt.
More snow is expected overnight and tomorrow with the focus of the storm moving into eastern Switzerland and western Austria.
Of course, this kind of weather is quite normal for May, and when warmer, calmer conditions return on Thursday, spring’s Big Melt will continue. But the white stuff is good news for those glacier areas (such as Zermatt, the Stubai and the Hintertux) which are still open for skiing, as well as those opening in June for the the summer season.
Meanwhile the march towards the hiking/biking/running/climbing season continues. In Italy, the Dolomiti Paganella bike park is already open at weekends. The bike park at Les Gets opens for the first time on May 26 and 27, and in Kitzbuhel, the hiking season kicks off on May 31.
Here’s how it looked in Kitz on a couple of days ago, at the start of the weekend.
For more on hiking and other mountain sports in the “off” season, check out our new guide to summer in the Alps.
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