Cold Spring Brings Fresh Snow to the Alps
27th May 2021
Last modified on June 1st, 2021
It’s June but snow conditions in the Alps are exceptional at altitude. With several resorts open and more due to open soon, there is some great skiing and snowboarding for those lucky enough to get on the slopes. UPDATED
It’s been a cold, cold spring and that’s good news for the glacier ski areas open for business.
Five of them are in Austria: Kitzsteinhorn (Kaprun), Kaunertal, Pitztal, Mölltal, Stubai and the year-round Hintertux near Mayrhofen.
Fraser Wilkin, the alpine snow expert from Weather to Ski, says all the Austrian resorts are in great shape but Hintertux has the most extensive skiing on 30km of pistes with base depths of up to 465cm.
The ski instructor and PlanetSKI reader Toby Fishel has been making a few turns there.
“After one of the coldest springs in recent memory, snow conditions in the Alps are now exceptional for late May,” says Fraser Wilkin.
“The weather in the Alps is warming up, with temperatures set to return to their seasonal average over the next few days, however, with snow depths on the glaciers uniformly (way) above average for the time of year, the start of the summer skiing season is looking as good as it possibly could!”
It’s looking good in France too.
Tignes does not open its glacier until 19th June but, according to Fraser, ski tourers prepared to earn their turns can currently ski all the way back to resort.
https://www.facebook.com/weathertoski/posts/1888158251340329
Out of the blocks this weekend is Les2Alpes.
It opened its glacier (and a bit more) on Saturday, 29th May.
Zermatt and Crans Montana are open in Switzerland.
In Italy, Cervinia has opened and Passo Stelvio is firing up its lifts.
And over in Scandinavia, the season began today (Thursday 27th) at Stryn Sommerski in Norway.
https://www.facebook.com/strynsommerski/posts/5826370007374926
Main photo c/o Toby Fishel
