Snow News last updated: 19 November 2009

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Despite the warm weather over Austria at the moment the snow is holding up well and this week more resorts are opening.

Thursday 19th November was the first day of the season for Obertauern (25/45cm). Five lifts were opened - Grünwaldkopf, Panoramabahn, Seekarspitzbahn, Kringsalmbahn and Hochalmbahn.

Skiers are advised to stick to the marked open runs as snow cover is thin elsewhere.

Obergurgl (25/61cm) is also open. An upper base depth of over half a metre ensures good snow conditions on marked runs.

An impressive 17 lifts are running at Obergurgl at the end of this week which is excellent for this time of year and there is plenty of skiing available.

Parts of the winter ski area at Solden (0/81cm) are now open. Nine lifts are open on the Rettenbach glacier and a further seven are open elsewhere in the Solden area.

3cm of fresh snow fell on the glacier on Wednesday night, further improving the ski conditions.

Six lifts and seven pistes are open at the Val Thorens (40/70cm) and due to the altitude the snow conditions are good, despite the mild weather elsewhere.

It is advisable to stick to the marked runs as the cover off piste is very thin.

11 lifts are open at Tignes (15/50cm) this week, with most of these being on the glacier.

It is still possible to ski down into Val Claret on the Double M piste. As with Val Thorens it is best to stick to the marked runs as there are uncovered rocks off piste.

Light snow and colder weather is forecast for Monday which should help further improve the snow.

An updated depth measurement from Saas Fee (19/155cm) now shows there is over a metre and a half of snow on the glacier. Their measurement on Monday showed the depth to be less than half a metre.

8cm of snow fell on Wednesday night on the upper slopes so there is a nice layer of fresh on top of the groomed snow. This combined with the sunny weather provides enjoyable skiing at the end of this week.

Flims/Laax (0/80cm) has opened for the winter season. Six lifts were running on Thursday, mostly from Crap Sogn Goin upwards. 5cm of snow fell on Monday which is still providing good slope conditions.

More lifts could open on the Vorab Glacier this weekend.

The little resort of Zinal (5/60cm) near Zermatt (4/70cm) is open at weekends. The resort opens five of its lifts every Saturday and Sunday until Saturday 12th December when they should open daily.

Two more lifts are open at Passo Tonale (20/130cm). One of these lifts is from the main winter ski area, away from the glacier.

The run that is open is largely covered in man-made snow and most of the off-piste terrain at that level has grass showing through. However, it means the resort have opened their winter ski area a little earlier than planned.

There is lots of good snow on the Presena Glacier where altitude has helped keep it in great condition. Two lifts are running up there.

Three lifts are open at Cortina d’Ampezzo (8/40cm). Both these lifts are on the Faloria Mountain and give access to 5km of open runs.

Their excellent snow-making system provides great coverage on the runs from the top to the bottom of the resort.

It is possible to ski between 3000m and 2000m at Bormio (0/60cm) this week. Four lifts are running and they should stay running over the weekend.

Heavy snowfall at the beginning of November allowed them to open this area and the snow is holding up well.

All of our reported Andorran resorts are currently experiencing mild weather.

There is now no snow on the lower slopes at any of our featured resorts and between 40cm and 60cm on the upper slopes.

The Grandvalira area, which contains Pas de la Casa (0/60cm) and Soldeu (0/40cm), managed to open last weekend because of the big snowfall the week before. The area is closed for snowsports during the week but will open daily from this weekend.

This was one of their earliest openings ever. Unfortunately warm weather dominates at the moment and it should continue to do so for at least the next five days.

A good amount of fresh snow has fallen at Hemsedal (60/77cm) this week. 4cm fell on Wednesday.

The fresh snow is providing some great skiing, especially on the upper slopes where it is colder. Some rain fell at base level during the week but above that it was all snow. Three lifts are open at Hemsedal this week.

Geilo (30/45cm) received 5cm of fresh snow on Tuesday which made for some fun skiing this week.

The resort has a fairly thorough snow cover which is excellent, although it is still best to stick to the marked runs as it is a little too thin off-piste.

Åre (0/4cm) in Sweden is unfortunately closed this week due to lack of snow. They need either prolonged cold weather to allow the snow cannons to run, or a good dump of snow to be able to open.

Sälen (5/7cm) has enough snow to ski on at the moment. Seven lifts are said to be running in the area but due to the thin cover make sure you stay on piste.

The open pistes are in good condition so the skiing should be fun.

The only open ski area we report on in Germany is Garmisch (0/110cm). Three lifts are reported to be running on Thursday but this is likely to increase over the weekend.

Light snowfall on Monday and Tuesday helped enhance the snow conditions so the skiing and riding is currently fairly good.

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

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

More resorts in America have opened this week. Solitude (56cm) in Utah and Winter Park (46cm) in Colorado are now both open.

Winter Park has the most skiing available of the two, with seven lifts running this week.

Two are running at Solitude and the base depth of more than half a metre provides some good skiing.

Elsewhere in Colorado, Vail (46cm) plans to open on Friday 20th November. A largely man-made base depth is typical of Colorado in the early season but this means on-piste conditions will be good for opening day.

There isn’t a lot of snow off piste so stay on the marked runs.

It has become warm on the east coast once again. A temperature of 12C is expected at Mount Snow this weekend bringing rain to both the upper and lower slopes.

This isn’t good news as many of the east coast resorts should be opening around the end of November.

Western Canada, particularly Whistler (189cm), continues to receive large amounts of snow.

The resort has seen 221cm of fresh snow fall on its upper slopes since last Thursday and another 211cm is forecast to fall before next Tuesday. This brings their total for the season so far to nearly four metres before their original scheduled opening date of 26th November.

If the forecast is accurate, they should break their all-time record for fresh snow in November.

Due to all the snow the powder skiing is phenomenal but do take extreme care as the avalanche danger is high to extreme.

It has also snowed a lot at Jasper (94/110cm) in Alberta. The resort has received 85cm of fresh snow since Thursday last week so there is plenty of great powder skiing there.

Six out of a possible nine lifts are running giving great access to the powder snow.

Some of this snow also fell at Banff (66/94cm), where Sunshine Village and Lake Louise are currently open. Most recently, 11cm of snow fell at Sunshine Village on Tuesday night.

Light snow is forecast over the weekend which should help keep their snow conditions excellent.

The mild weather in Europe at the moment is forecast to continue for the rest of this week.

However, the general trend is for colder and snowier weather to move in by Monday next week. It won’t bring large amounts of snow but it will be welcomed by all the resorts.

In Austria, Hintertux is expecting the most of the snow when it arrives on Monday. 13cm alone should fall on Monday which will give a great boost to their skiing.

The freezing level will also drop from around 3600m on Saturday to 1400m on Tuesday.

Les Deux Alpes in France is also expecting light snow on Sunday and Monday, amounting to around 13cm over both days.

The snow should come coupled with a noticeable drop in temperatures, from 12C at base level on Friday to 0C by Tuesday.

Fluctuating temperatures are expected in Scandinavia this weekend. There should be lots of precipitation with it too and whether it falls as rain or snow will depend largely on altitude.

Hemsedal in Norway is expecting 22cm of snow to fall by the coming Tuesday.

Apart from Timberline in Oregon and Jackson Hole in Wyoming, it should be fairly dry across the whole of America.

78cm of snow is forecast to fall at Timberline, predominantly over Friday and Saturday when 55cm will land. The snow will bring lower temperatures with it but once the snow has passed away, warmer weather will follow.

Jackson Hole should see 31cm of snow fall by Tuesday next week. Sunday and Monday is when the snow should be heaviest, and it will come as a welcome relief before the resorts planned opening day.

You can expect temperatures of -16C at the summit of Jackson Hole over the weekend and a more modest -9C at the bottom.

No new snow is expected for resorts in Colorado over the weekend but it should remain cold. Nighttime temperatures in Vail will drop to around -15C, which is cold enough for the snow cannons to run.

The east coast of America remains unseasonably warm. Heavy rain is forecast for many of the resorts in that area, both on the upper and lower slopes.

They desperately need colder temperatures to be able to resume their snow making as their opening dates are fast approaching.

Plenty of snow continues to fall on the west coast of Canada. Whistler has received phenomenal amounts of snow already this season and the snowstorm is still going strong.

A further 211cm of snow is expected to fall on the upper slopes by next Tuesday, which should mean the resort breaks its record for the most amount of snow in November.

The record currently stands at 416cm, which was set in 2006 and they are currently on 362cm so far this month.

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