J2Ski Snow Report - April 24th 2025
J2Ski Snow Report - April 24th 2025
Published : 24-Apr-2025 07:21
Great spring snow, blue skies, Stubai Glacier, Austria, open until 11th May...
Spring has returned to the Alps, but now with much more snow. And there's been fresh in the Rockies too.
The Snow Headlines - April 24th
- Huge snowfalls bring big boost to late-April snow conditions in the Alps.
- Ski season is all but over in Eastern Europe and Iberian Peninsular.
- Ski areas in the Rockies report up to 40cm (16 inches) of snowfall for Easter weekend.
- Snowfall totals up to 155cm in 36 hours in the Western Alps ahead of Easter weekend.
- Europe's deepest snow level jumps from under 3 to over 4 metres.
Top-ups for a few still-open ski areas.
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World Overview
Last week's snow report was published just as the Western Alps ground to a halt as an incredible snowstorm deposited huge amounts of snow in just 24-36 hours.
Resort staff were busy trying to keep people safe at this point last week but by the weekend stats were starting to firm up, the biggest accumulations recorded at 170cm – for many resorts as much in a little over a day as they'd had in total over the previous 2-3 months.
This volume of snowfall of course caused many logistical issues and set avalanche danger levels at maximum, but by Good Friday the sunshine was returning and ski areas were re-opening terrain that was considered safe.
It's been much calmer since and whilst more resorts ended their seasons at the end of Easter Sunday or Monday, those still open to the coming weekend or into May are enjoying some of the best conditions of the whole season on high terrain.
After months of little movement or slow decline, Europe's deepest reported base depth has also jumped from 2.5 to 4.2 metres!
In the wider skiing world, the weather has been less dramatic and we're down to a few hundred northern hemisphere resorts still operating with almost all centres now closed for the season in eastern Europe and the Pyrenees.
Europe's most southerly ski area, Spain's Sierra Nevada, has extended its season to May 4th after a snowy April.
Across the Atlantic, it's a similar story with around 50 or so ski areas open, with periods of snowfall reported in the Rockies and other areas, but also temperatures continuing to rise as we approach the latter half of spring.
Anticipation of the 2025 season starting in the southern hemisphere, now just a little over a month away, is starting to build.
Europe
Austria
Austria was on the edge of last week's storm, but still saw some decent snow.
The biggest accumulations, up to 50cm, were reported above 2500m on the country's glaciers.
The Stubai was one of the big winners and is now posting Austria's deepest base at 2.6m, overtaking long-time holder of that marker, Solden, which is down to 245cm up top.
It's the glaciers and a few high or snow-sure areas like Ischgl and Obertauern that remain open amongst the dozen or so Austrian centres still operating.
It's been a week of sunshine and (mostly light) showers, the latter varying between rain, sleet and snow as temperatures rise and the freezing point gets above 2500m. That's the forecast heading into the last weekend of the season although it's looking more sunny over the next few days.
France
France saw some amazing snowfalls in the latter half of last week with Val d'Isère posting the biggest accumulation of 170cm (68") over 72 hours, most of it on Wednesday and Thursday.
As we published last week's report many ski areas were essentially in lockdown as authorities and ski area managers battled to re-open roads, restore power supplies and make ski slopes safe.
Things improved fast from Friday though, as sunshine returned and slopes began re-opening.
All the snow continues to give great conditions for the eight French ski areas still open, with one of them, Les Arcs posting a base back above the 3-metre mark for the first time in a month.
After this weekend, four French ski resorts will still be open into May; Les 2 Alpes, Tignes, Val d'Isère and Val Thorens.
Italy
Italy saw some good snowfall in the latter half of April too, especially in the west of the country. Cortina d'Ampezzo in the East, one of the centres open to May 1st, saw plenty of fresh snow just before Easter too.
There are half-a-dozen Italian areas open this week, but unless there are any late-season extensions, only one, Cervinia, is expected to be open after Sunday 4th May.
Those open now include Livigno, Macugnaga, Madonna di Campiglio, Val Senales/Schnalstal, Sulden (not to be confused with Austria's Solden over the border) and Passo Tonale (Presena Glacier).
Switzerland
Western Switzerland saw huge snowfalls as we were publishing last week's report, with ski areas closing down here too on Thursday. The Valais region was particularly hard hit with some claiming the snowfall here – of up to a metre in 24 hours – was the heaviest and most intense in the region for decades.
Here too things began to improve rapidly from Friday with blue skies returning and runs re-opening. By Saturday Saas Fee, which had been cut off by the snowfall, was reporting a 155cm snowfall total and said its base had jumped more than 1.5m to over 4 metres.
Verbier and Zermatt both reported more than a metre of snowfall.
Scandinavia
The ski season remains in full swing in Scandinavia with most of the region's leading ski areas aiming to stay open to the start of May.
There is though something of a north/south divide with ski areas in the far north, generally within the Arctic Circle, still seeing plenty of snowfall and temperatures getting below -10C overnight and rarely above freezing during the day. Further south the bigger resorts like Sweden's Are and Norway's Hemsedal are the other way around, daytime temperatures getting up towards +10C and hardly getting below freezing overnight.
That said Are is one of those open to the start of May and still posting more than 90% of its slopes open.
North America
Canada
The Easter weekend was the last weekend of the season for most of the ski areas in Canada that were still open.
However, half-a-dozen areas are still running, most in Alberta and British Columbia and at least one centre in Quebec. The good news for them has been up to 30cm more snowfall, especially on higher slopes and temperatures remaining relatively low in western mountain ranges.
It's been warmer for Quebec's Summit-Ste-Sauveur but here they're really just skiing and riding on the thawing snow patch that covers the upper quarter of the mountain.
USA
The Rockies have reported the best conditions in the US this week, particularly around Good Friday when some centres in Colorado and Utah reported up to a foot of fresh snowfall to deliver powdery conditions for the Easter weekend.
The Arizona Snowbowl to the south reported similar and announced it was extending its season to May 4th as a result.
More changeable conditions included some fresh snowfall in the north of the region for New England, with 6 inches or so in Maine, Northern Vermont and New Hampshire. Mostly dry and sunny on the West Coast.
More than 20 US ski areas remain open this weekend, the most of any country in the world, with the majority planning to remain open into May.
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