Bulgaria Ski discussion board
Snowheads Resort Report
Author:
posts : 13 (Beginner)Date : 12-12-06 11:54Snowheads Resort Report
The early season across the Northern Hemisphere is gathering speed.
North America has above-average conditions. Europe is below-average. Asia is average.
Here is a summary of global snow conditions, from West to East...
************
Canada: Western Canada remains topnotch. Plenty of new snow. Whistler is almost 100% open. East Canada has improved slightly. Mont Tremblant is roughly 30% operational.
USA: The Midwest has great coverage. Alta (Utah), Keystone (Colorado) and Beaver ...
North America has above-average conditions. Europe is below-average. Asia is average.
Here is a summary of global snow conditions, from West to East...
************
Canada: Western Canada remains topnotch. Plenty of new snow. Whistler is almost 100% open. East Canada has improved slightly. Mont Tremblant is roughly 30% operational.
USA: The Midwest has great coverage. Alta (Utah), Keystone (Colorado) and Beaver ...
The early season across the Northern Hemisphere is gathering speed.
North America has above-average conditions. Europe is below-average. Asia is average.
Here is a summary of global snow conditions, from West to East...
************
Canada: Western Canada remains topnotch. Plenty of new snow. Whistler is almost 100% open. East Canada has improved slightly. Mont Tremblant is roughly 30% operational.
USA: The Midwest has great coverage. Alta (Utah), Keystone (Colorado) and Beaver Creek (Colorado) are all more than 80% open. California, in the West, is limited. Mammoth is running 10%, mostly on manmade. Conditions in the East are better. A modest dump has allowed Killington to operate 12 of its 31 lifts.
Scotland: Conditions are volatile. Good snow up top allowed Cairngorm to run 3 tows on Sat. By Sun, rain and wind had wiped out most of it and the resort was closed.
Scandinavia: A good pre-season in Norway, Finland and Sweden has faded. A number of stations have shut back down, due to thin cover. Geilo in Norway is doing ok and has almost half its uplift running.
Andorra: Modest snowcover. No major resorts open. Worst start for a few years. Adverts for £99, fully-catered, 1-week chalet vacations have been spotted on the Web.
Spain: Limited snow. Sierra Nevada, in the South, has a handful of runs on the go. High winds still a problem.
Mediterranean: Resorts in Portugal, Corsica and Cyprus are closed. Temps are high. Unlikely to offer much before Jan.
France: Coverage has improved markedly above 1500m. La Plagne is self-reporting 55cm of fresh neige at its mid-station (2700m). Val d'Isere has 32% of all its slopes available, up from 5% just two weeks ago. The snowline in France is down to perhaps 500m, but depths are low.
Switzerland: The outlook is much healthier above 1500m. Zermatt has pistage down to the mid-station. St Moritz offers some top-to-bottom skiing. Saas Fee claims 70cm of pow-pow at resort-level. Like France, the Swiss snowline is down to about 700m, but depths are thin.
Italy: The situation is far better, particularly at higher elevations. Cervinia (2000m) has slopes down to the resort. Roughly 30% of its tows are fired up.
Germany: Reasonable snowcover. Still modest at lower altitudes. Garmisch is roughly 15% operational.
Austria: Austria is gaining ground. Ischgl, Obergurgl, Obertauern, Hintertux and Soelden seem to have the most available terrain. The big one, St Anton, continues to struggle, at around 5% open. Saalbach-Hinterglemm (1000m) opened a tiny number of lifts up top. The Austrian snowline is down to perhaps 700m, but heights are limited.
Alps: The United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (UN WMO) indicated on Thurs that snowcover in the Alps was as much as two-thirds below-average for the first week of Dec 2006. This weekend's snow is, therefore, most welcome. The Southern and Western Alps received the most, overall.
CE Europe: Moderate snow across Poland, Czech Rep, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Turkey. No major stations are believed to be operating.
North Africa & Middle East: Few stations, in places such as Lebanon and Morocco, are likely to be open much before the end of Dec.
India: Major snowfalls have hit the north of the country. Some upper villages claimed up to 7ft (2.1m) in just a few days. Gulmarg, the number one station, appears to have a handful of tows running.
China: Modest snow has fallen in the last couple weeks. No big stations known to be open yet. Yabuli (1400m), one of the top destinations, still seems shut.
South Korea: The season has just kicked off, with modest coverage. High 1, the number three resort, fired up this weekend.
Japan: A growing number of skitowns are ready for business. Temps are very cold. Kiroro Snow World (600m) in Hokkaido, which traditionally runs from Nov to May, already has a claimed 170cm on its peak. Nayoro Piyashiri (200m) received 40cm of freshies this week.
FORECAST: The 2-week weather forecasts indicate mixed conditions. Healthy temps and snowfalls across Midwest North America. Warming up slightly in Eastern USA. Asia looks to be less cold, but still snowy, particularly in Japan. The Alps will see higher temps, sunny skies and limited snowfalls. Lower slopes, below perhaps 1800m, may suffer for the next week.
North America has above-average conditions. Europe is below-average. Asia is average.
Here is a summary of global snow conditions, from West to East...
************
Canada: Western Canada remains topnotch. Plenty of new snow. Whistler is almost 100% open. East Canada has improved slightly. Mont Tremblant is roughly 30% operational.
USA: The Midwest has great coverage. Alta (Utah), Keystone (Colorado) and Beaver Creek (Colorado) are all more than 80% open. California, in the West, is limited. Mammoth is running 10%, mostly on manmade. Conditions in the East are better. A modest dump has allowed Killington to operate 12 of its 31 lifts.
Scotland: Conditions are volatile. Good snow up top allowed Cairngorm to run 3 tows on Sat. By Sun, rain and wind had wiped out most of it and the resort was closed.
Scandinavia: A good pre-season in Norway, Finland and Sweden has faded. A number of stations have shut back down, due to thin cover. Geilo in Norway is doing ok and has almost half its uplift running.
Andorra: Modest snowcover. No major resorts open. Worst start for a few years. Adverts for £99, fully-catered, 1-week chalet vacations have been spotted on the Web.
Spain: Limited snow. Sierra Nevada, in the South, has a handful of runs on the go. High winds still a problem.
Mediterranean: Resorts in Portugal, Corsica and Cyprus are closed. Temps are high. Unlikely to offer much before Jan.
France: Coverage has improved markedly above 1500m. La Plagne is self-reporting 55cm of fresh neige at its mid-station (2700m). Val d'Isere has 32% of all its slopes available, up from 5% just two weeks ago. The snowline in France is down to perhaps 500m, but depths are low.
Switzerland: The outlook is much healthier above 1500m. Zermatt has pistage down to the mid-station. St Moritz offers some top-to-bottom skiing. Saas Fee claims 70cm of pow-pow at resort-level. Like France, the Swiss snowline is down to about 700m, but depths are thin.
Italy: The situation is far better, particularly at higher elevations. Cervinia (2000m) has slopes down to the resort. Roughly 30% of its tows are fired up.
Germany: Reasonable snowcover. Still modest at lower altitudes. Garmisch is roughly 15% operational.
Austria: Austria is gaining ground. Ischgl, Obergurgl, Obertauern, Hintertux and Soelden seem to have the most available terrain. The big one, St Anton, continues to struggle, at around 5% open. Saalbach-Hinterglemm (1000m) opened a tiny number of lifts up top. The Austrian snowline is down to perhaps 700m, but heights are limited.
Alps: The United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (UN WMO) indicated on Thurs that snowcover in the Alps was as much as two-thirds below-average for the first week of Dec 2006. This weekend's snow is, therefore, most welcome. The Southern and Western Alps received the most, overall.
CE Europe: Moderate snow across Poland, Czech Rep, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Turkey. No major stations are believed to be operating.
North Africa & Middle East: Few stations, in places such as Lebanon and Morocco, are likely to be open much before the end of Dec.
India: Major snowfalls have hit the north of the country. Some upper villages claimed up to 7ft (2.1m) in just a few days. Gulmarg, the number one station, appears to have a handful of tows running.
China: Modest snow has fallen in the last couple weeks. No big stations known to be open yet. Yabuli (1400m), one of the top destinations, still seems shut.
South Korea: The season has just kicked off, with modest coverage. High 1, the number three resort, fired up this weekend.
Japan: A growing number of skitowns are ready for business. Temps are very cold. Kiroro Snow World (600m) in Hokkaido, which traditionally runs from Nov to May, already has a claimed 170cm on its peak. Nayoro Piyashiri (200m) received 40cm of freshies this week.
FORECAST: The 2-week weather forecasts indicate mixed conditions. Healthy temps and snowfalls across Midwest North America. Warming up slightly in Eastern USA. Asia looks to be less cold, but still snowy, particularly in Japan. The Alps will see higher temps, sunny skies and limited snowfalls. Lower slopes, below perhaps 1800m, may suffer for the next week.
