Improved Ski Conditions in the Alps After Big Snowfall
Improved Ski Conditions in the Alps After Big Snowfall
Published : 20-Jan-2023 09:10
Conditions have settled in the Alps after heavy snowfall, heaviest in the west, over the first half of this week.
Snowfall has now eased, although lighter showers continue, particularly in the east, sunnier in the west, with the main change on the past month being a big drop in temperatures.
Most Alpine villages are not seeing temperatures getting above freezing and up on high mountain slopes the numbers are as low as -25C. The forecast is much the same through the coming week.
In terms of how the snowfall has impacted ski areas, some higher slopes in the French and Swiss Alps have reported jumps of upto a metre in their upper slope base depths in the last seven days. Alpe d'Huez and Avoriaz are now posting more than 3 metres lying on their highest slopes.
The biggest difference though is for lower lying areas like Les Gets (pictured above on Thursday), Megeve, Gstaad and others that sparked (continuing) "No snow in the Alps" stories in world media. These have seen a big improvement with les gets, for example, which had all its slopes closed, now reporting it has fully reopened them along with Portes du Soleil connections, with the snow lying 60cm deep on lower slopes.
Most of the big ski regions like the 3 Valleys and 4 Valleys have much of their terrain above 1800m so were 60-80% open during the "no snow in the Alps" periods. They've seen a small improvement being able to open their low runs and are now mostly 80-95% open.
All the snowfall has though increased avalanche danger with much of the Western Alps at level 3 on the scale to 5 ("considerable") and some areas at level 4 ("high").
Conditions have also improved in terms of colder temperatures and some snowfall in the Balkans and the Pyrenees, which had also been facing unseasonably warm temperatures previously.
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