J2Ski Snow Report - June 1st 2023
J2Ski Snow Report - June 1st 2023
Published : 01-Jun-2023 04:10
J2Ski Snow Report June 1st 2023
You can still do this, in June, at Mammoth Mountain, California...
US resorts extend into June, season approaches for the south.
The Snow Headlines - 1st June
- Southern hemisphere's 2023 season starts next week - if nowhere opens early?
- Only around a dozen ski areas still open from 22-23 northern hemisphere season.
- Snowy weather in Australia ahead of the season start next week.
- Just four ski areas open in the Alps - one each in the main Alpine nations.
- Colorado's ski season ends Sunday, with snowfall forecast.
- Three ski areas open in Norway - the most of any country in Europe.
See the snow forecast for the week ahead...
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World Overview
We're into June and that means the start of the main 2023 ski season in the southern hemisphere.
It's also the start of wintertime by the meteorological measure of the seasons. So far things look fairly promising in the main ski regions with some big pre-season snowfalls in the Andes and some cold and snowy weather in Australia and New Zealand, although there have been warmer spells too.
The earliest official target opening date is next Friday 9th for Mount Hutt in New Zealand but it seems likely somewhere else may try to get in there earlier.
The end of May saw about half of the still-open ski areas in the northern hemisphere call it a day on their 22-23 season at last, but more than a dozen are continuing, with about half of these being fresh summer 2023 openings of (mostly) glacier areas.
They are fairly evenly divided between Europe and Scandinavia plus one in Asia - Japan's Gassan summer ski centre. Scandinavia has been reporting the coldest, snowiest weather in the north, delaying the season start of one of Norway's summers ski glacier area by three days last weekend.
Europe
Alps
Two more Austrian glaciers closed at the weekend leaving just year-round Hintertux open.
In Italy though, which has not had anywhere open for the last three weeks, skiing is back on with the Stelvio Pass re-opening and the Passo Stelvio ski area opening for its five-month 2023 season through to early November, all being well. The initial signs here are good from the looks of opening images showing base buildings buried in snow.
You can also ski in France, at Les 2 Alpes, with Tignes and Val d'Isere due to open for short summer ski seasons later this month. Europe's highest slopes above Zermatt are also open.
So, unusually, there's one ski area open in each of the big four Alpine ski nations for the next few weeks.
Scandinavia
It has been a wintery week in Scandinavia. There are now three small glacier centres open in Norway, more than any other single country in Europe at this point in the year.
New snow meant the Stryn glacier, the latest and last of the three to open, ended up repeatedly delaying its opening planned last Thursday to eventually open at lunchtime on Sunday. The cold and snowy conditions have continued here and at the other two open areas, Fonna and Scandinavia's highest ski slopes at Galhopiggen.
Sweden's Riksgransen has ended its 2023 main season but plans to re-open after three weeks of closure for a Midsummer ski celebration from June 22nd to June 25th, including midnight-sun summer skiing for the first time in several years.
North America
There were a dozen ski areas open in the US last weekend (and one unexpected brief reopening of Summit Saint Sauveur in Quebec) but that number has halved as we enter June.
Mount Bachelor, Winter Park, Snowbird and Arizona Snowbowl are among the areas that finally ended their long 22-23 seasons after the Memorial Day public holiday on Monday.
However we do have one newly opened option, with the small Beartooth Basin ski area in Wyoming, the only summer-only area in North America, which opened on Saturday for the first time since summer 2021. And Snowbird says it plans to re-open after a few weeks break, from mid-June.
In terms of skis areas still open from the winter, we are down to four. California's Mammoth Mountain and The Palisades – both still reporting snow lying nearly 5 metres (16 feet) deep on their higher slopes - are still open and remaining so at least into July.
The Palisades is now only operating its Alpine Base. They've been reporting mostly sunny weather although with the odd rain shower. Temperatures still dip to freezing overnight but in the 60s Fahrenheit during the day.
You can also still ski at Colorado's Arapahoe Basin although it has confirmed it will close this coming weekend on June 4th. Snowfall is expected for the final weekend – although just an inch or so.
The summer ski area at Timberline in Oregon, the Palmer Snowfield, is also open.
In the eastern US, Killington re-opened to advanced skiers on June 1st but it's assumed that was the last day of their season.
Southern Hemisphere
Australia
It was a very good week for pre-season snow and excitement build-up in Australia with repeat 10-25cm snowfalls and cold weather for snow guns to work full throttle. That was up to a few days ago when temperatures warmed up.
At the last report Falls Creek, Mount Hotham, Perisher, Thredbo and other areas are all looking in good shape for the season to start at the end of next week, on June 10th the start of the long holiday weekend. With conditions looking good, the big question is, will any open early?
New Zealand
Pretty good conditions for many New Zealand ski areas too with snowfall and low temperatures following a mild spell. Mount Hutt has the earliest officially announced opening date of any southern hemisphere ski area, although of course Managanui ski field already opened for three days in May after a big pre-season snowfall.
Now though, with winter here properly, we're (hopefully) talking about ski areas opening and staying open.
South America
It's looking good for the season start in both Argentina and Chile too with cold weather and decent pre-season snowfalls here.
The earliest expected opening is still about a fortnight away but here too some centres could open early. Ski tourers have been pictured skiing already at Las Lenas ski area after it received more than a metre of late June snowfall, but officially the season doesn't start there until June 14th.
Fellow Argentinian resort Chapelco and famous Chilean centre Portillo have also reported some good pre-season snowfalls if not so much as Las Lenas so far.
Africa
At the present time, it does not appear that either of Africa's southern ski areas – Tiffindell in South Africa, which last opened in 2019 for skiing and Afriski in Lesotho – will fully open this winter.
Afriski says it will be open but that it won't be able to run its lifts and snowmaking for logistical reasons, so snow play only. That got started on Wednesday this week after a good early natural snowfall.
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