Snow News last updated: 12 November 2009

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This weekend is scheduled to be the first weekend of the season at Obergurgl. Their lifts should open on the morning of Saturday 14th November.

You can expect some soft snow cover on Saturday, as mild conditions and sunshine are forecast.

The largest open area in Austria at the moment is on the Hintertux glacier (10/170cm). There are 61kms of pistes to ski on and is expected to remain this way with good weather forecast during the rest of this week.

Snow conditions are very good. Plenty of recent snow means you can ski down to 2100m at the moment, which is impressive for the time of year.

The open resorts in France have been enjoying great snow conditions recently. Cold weather and fresh natural snow meant that many resorts have had their snow cannons running non-stop.

It is possible to ski down to Val Claret at Tignes (20/45cm) at the moment. The Double M piste is open but with around 20cm of snow coverage, it is best to stick to the groomed runs.

The glacier is currently the best place to ski, with better snow coverage and lower temperatures.

Lots of fresh snow in the Three Valleys will allow Val Thorens (55/85cm) to open on Saturday 14th November. They were originally scheduled to open on 21st November, but early-season snow has allowed them to move their opening date forward.

Five lifts and ten slopes should be open, with the slopes ranging from green to red in difficulty.

A good number of resorts in Switzerland are scheduled to open before next week.

It is currently possible to ski at Zinal (5/60cm) and the Lac des Vaux area at Verbier (5/52cm) on weekends. The riding is great for this early in the season thanks to snow that has fallen so far.

It is possible to ski at Saas Fee (25/50cm), Zermatt (4/70cm) and Gstaad/Les Diablerets (0/46cm) throughout the week on the glacier ski areas.

The winter season will start a week earlier than first planned for Davos Klosters (0/56cm).

The Jakobshorn ski area will open on Friday 13th November and the cable car will operate from 8.15am.

Andermatt (10/90cm) is also scheduled to open shortly. The first day of their winter season is planned to be Saturday 14th November and, with almost a metre of snow reported on their upper slopes, the riding should be excellent.

The glacier ski area above Flims/Laax (0/90cm) is also planning to open on Saturday 14th November and there is almost a metre of snow on the slopes.

The deepest snow base in Italy is currently on the Presena Glacier above Passo Tonale (40/130cm).

At the end of last season they had five metres of snow on the glacier, some of which remained throughout the summer. Down at lower levels they have 40cm on the slopes, most of which is man-made.

One lift is running on the glacier this week, which is the only one working in the Passo Tonale area.

15cm of snow fell at Cervinia (10/70cm) last Sunday, which helped freshen up their pistes considerably.

Skiing is currently limited to the Plateau Rosa glacier, so there isn’t much variety but it is good for the time of year.

Light snow is forecast at the end of the weekend, which should help further improve the skiing.

Most non-glacial resorts we report on are yet to open for the winter season.

The Grandvalira resorts have reported around a metre of new snow this week, which has allowed the area to bring the opening date forward by two weeks to Saturday 14th November.

It should therefore be possible to ski on a limited number of slopes from Pas de la Casa and Soldeu on Saturday and Sunday, but the lifts will only operate over the weekend.

The resorts will be closed for snowsports from Monday 16th to Friday 20th November, but then open again from 21st to 27th November.

The whole area will then be open for the winter season from 28th November.

A light dusting of snow has fallen at the open Norwegian resorts this week, although it has not been enough to dramatically alter the riding conditions.

The snow is good for this early in the season and, with Oppdal (20/25cm) planning to open for the winter season this Saturday 14th November, the riding is set to get even better in Norway.

There is some great skiing possible at Geilo (25/35cm), Hemsedal (35/65cm) and Trysil (20/30cm) before the weekend on the prepared and open slopes. This is due to snow that has fallen so far and the current low temperatures.

In Sweden, the Tandådalen area at Sälen (20cm) opened on 12th November for snowsports, offering three lifts and two pistes.

The snow quality is good thanks to the recent snowfall and low temperatures.

More snow is forecast to land in Norway and Sweden this weekend, although the most amount of snow is expected at Geilo and Hemsedal on Norway.

Only a light dusting is expected at the other resorts.

Garmisch (0/100cm) is the only open ski area in Germany that we report on currently. The glacier pistes were enhanced by light snowfall on Wednesday.

Changeable weather at the end of this week could see further light snow showers, but this will not be enough to dramatically change the conditions.

All of the Bulgarian resorts we report on are yet to open for the season.

Bansko was originally scheduled to open on Sunday 15th November but due to a lack of snow cover this now looks unlikely.

There is no snow on the lower pistes but there is some snow on the upper slopes but it is not complete or very deep.

All of the Scottish resorts we report on are yet to open for the season.

Breckenridge (46cm) has now opened for the winter season. Two lifts are running this week but only a handful of runs are open.

Recent warm weather stopped them from being able to use the snow cannons so the base depth isn’t that deep, but it is enough to open some runs.

More snow fell at Timberline (91cm) earlier in the week. Over 35cm has fallen since Monday night providing good early season powder to ski in.

They now have four lifts running during the week so there is a good choice of areas to ski. More snow is expected before the weekend.

Down in California, Mammoth (30/51cm) is the only resort open at the moment. Two lifts operate during the day giving access to a handful of runs.

These are generally the beginner runs down near the base of the resort, as the terrain is very rocky higher up.

Excellent early-season snowfall will allow three resorts in Western Canada to open earlier than planned.

Whistler (95cm), Big White (65cm) and Sun Peaks (61/73cm) have all brought their opening date forward to Saturday 14th November.

There has been a lot of snow at Whistler over the past few days. Their upper slopes have nearly a metre already and another metre of snow is forecast to land this weekend.

Big White and Sun Peaks have both received great pre-season snow. Sun Peaks moved its opening date to this Saturday a while back and Big White took the decision to do the same earlier this week.

The freezing level should remain below base level at both resorts, so the snow will stay in great condition.

Sunshine Village at Banff (55/88cm) opened on Wednesday. It felt more like mid-winter than November due to cold temperatures and the amount of snow that has fallen already.

Five lifts were opened and there was great skiing all over the mountain due to 60cm of fresh snow in the last four days.

Eight lifts are now open in the Banff area, the other three being at Lake Louise.

It is expected to be unseasonably warm for the rest of this week and into the weekend in the Alps.

Light snow is forecast for many French resorts on Sunday, but only above 2500m. It is likely that precipitation below that level will fall as rain rather than snow.

However, there could be around 10cm of additional snow to the higher slopes, which will be welcomed.

The freezing level is expected to hover around 3100m across the whole of the French Alps region this weekend.

Austria is expecting similar conditions. The temperature in Obergurgl at 1850m will rise to 4C this weekend, which will bring light rain. This means snow should fall above 2300m though, but only around 5cm is expected.

The weather across the whole of Austria is set to remain mild for at least the next five days, with the freezing level above 3000m.

Italy and Switzerland are also expecting rain at low levels and light snow on the upper slopes.

The most snow is expected to fall at Zermatt in Switzerland and Cervinia in Italy. 10cm is expected on the upper slopes over the course of the next five days.

The good news in Europe comes from Norway and Sweden. Colder weather and heavy snow is forecast for some resorts, especially at Hemsedal in Norway. 36cm of snow is expected to fall by Tuesday next week.

Unfortunately, rain is expected at base level but a few hundred metres above that should see plenty of heavy snowfall.

There is a snowstorm heading for Colorado. Anywhere from 30cm to 50cm is expected for all resorts in Colorado, which will bring welcome relief to the mild, dry weather of late.

32cm of snow is expected at Vail, coupled with a drop in temperatures. Expect daytime highs of -6C over the weekend.

Loveland is expecting the most amount of snow of all of our featured resorts in Colorado. An impressive 51cm should fall on the resort by Tuesday next week and this should hopefully allow them to open up more of their advanced terrain.

Further north, 30cm of snow is expected to fall over Timberline in Oregon by next Tuesday. Most of this snow is expected on Friday and Monday, when 14cm and 11cm is expected respectively.

The temperature is expected to vary considerably, from -10C on Saturday to -2C on Monday.

As usual, Whistler in Canada is expecting a lot of snow to fall on its upper slopes. 126cm should fall by Tuesday next week. This is on top of the metre that has already fallen this week.

It should be a fantastic opening to their Olympic season, with powder skiing from the beginning. The freezing level remains around 1200m for the weekend.

Between 15cm and 70cm is forecast for other resorts in British Columbia and Alberta and it should remain cold.

By contrast, the eastern coast of Canada and America is expecting dramatically different conditions.

Daytime temperatures of 9°C and light rain mean they won’t be able to make any snow until at least Tuesday.

This isn’t good news for Mont Sainte Anne who had planned to open on Saturday 14th November.

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