Sunshine Continues Across the Alps

18th January 2022

Last modified on January 28th, 2022

Many parts are seeing further sunshine and PlanetSKI reports again from the slopes of the Alps. Our teams have been in France, Italy and Switzerland today. Fresh snow may be needed but there is still plenty of great skiing to be had. UPDATED

Updated: Friday 28th January

Our latest video snow report comes from our editor, James Cove, who is currently in La Rosiere, France.

Now it should also be pointed out that when there are single clouds over Mont Blanc/Monte Bianco and the Matterhorn/Cervino the locals say the weather is about to change.

“The mountain has it’s hat on,” is how the locals from the two areas put it.

Now it may be an old-wives-tale, but from our skiing in La Rosiere and neighbouring La Thuile today the two mountain beasts of the Alps had their hats on.

Mont Blanc/Monte Bianco. Image © PlanetSKI

Matterhorn/Cervino. Image © PlanetSKI

Fingers crossed.

Also we don’t know if this has anything to do with the weather, but today at the end of January we saw a strange site.

A forest fire high up in the mountains.

It was above the village of La Thuile in the Aosta Valley, Italy.

La Thuile, Italy. Image © PlanetSKI

Helicopters were scrambled to try to bring the blaze under control.

One may expect mountain forest fires in the middle of summer, but not perhaps in the middle of winter.

More to follow…

Wednesday 26th January

The wall-to-wall sunshine continues across much of the Alps and it feels more like spring than the end of January.

PlanetSKI’s editor, James Cove, has been in the Italian resort of La Thuile in the Aosta Valley today.

It was +8c at the mid-station at mid-morning.

The avalanche risk is 1, the lowest level.

We will be writing a full length feature on PlanetSKI about La Thuile shortly – in the meantime you’ll just have to take James’s word for it.

He tends to know what he is talking about.

Or at least he likes to think he does.

And here is the view from the top as we crossed from La Thuile into La Rosiere.

We are looking across to Paradiski and its resorts of Les Arcs/La Plagne and beyond.

Sunshine all the way.

One of our readers, Neil Bradbury, has commented on the video over on the PlanetSKI Facebook page:

“Love sitting by the Fort there. Great views,” he said.
There is no fresh snow to talk about, but there is lunch on the restaurant terraces, soaking up a few rays and skiing on empty slopes that have pretty decent snow covering.

La Rosiere, France. Image © PlanetSKI

Elsewhere in the Alps it is a similar situation, with blue sky all the way.

A PlanetSKI team has been in Verbier, Switzerland.

Verbier, Switzerland. Image © PlanetSKI

“There is no off piste skiing here in Verbier, but the slopes are in surprisingly good condition considering it hasn’t snowed for a while,” said PlanetSKI reporter, Marie Taylor.

“We are whizzing round empty slopes on good, grippy snow with the sun out – what’s not to like?” she added.

And here we are on the slopes:

For the full details of the weather across the Alps, and the all-important forecast, here is the latest from Weathertoski.co.uk.

Latest thoughts on the weather and snow situation in the Alps: https://t.co/PGoKdcOhGN pic.twitter.com/2lgkAYq1Jq
— weathertoski (@weathertoski) January 26, 2022

More to follow…

Tuesday 25th January

The latest images and information come from PlanetSKI reporter, Vanessa Fisher, who is currently in Val Gardena in the Dolomites in Itay.

“Blue skies and incredible panoramas all the way,” said Vanessa.

“We skied the full Sella Ronda today in great conditions all the way up to Marmolada at 3265m, just a few scratchy places on the steeper sections in the shade but otherwise great piste conditions considering no fresh snow for a few weeks.”

The Dolomites, Italy. Image c/o Vanessa Fisher.

The forecast looks like there may be some fresh snow for the beginning of next week. Fingers crossed,” Vanessa added.

More to follow…

Monday 24th January

For many resorts across the Alps the piste skiing is pretty darn good.

The earlier winter snow, cold temperatures and snow making have combined to leave them in good shape considering the lack of recent snowfall.

PlanetSKI has been in the Aosta Valley in Italy this past week or so enjoying some excellent piste skiing.

Most recently in Courmayeur.

Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy. Image © PlanetSKI

On Monday PlanetSKI headed over to Switzerland, via Cervinia.

It is very simple to get to Zermatt from our base in Aosta.

And here are a few images from the day:

Cervinia, Italy. Image © PlanetSKI

Zermatt, Switzerland. Image © PlanetSKI

As James said, the fresh snow has been over in Austria.

One of our regular readers, Elena Protopopow from the Tirol Tourist board, has been in Seefeld.

Seefeld, Tirol, Austria. Image c/o Elena Protopopow.

It’s not just Seefeld:

Austria had a significant amount of snow arrive at the weekend. Some great conditions across Europe this week. ❄⛷
📸: Resort photos
1. @StantonReview
2. @skijuwel_com
3. @valdisere
4. @CerviniaValt pic.twitter.com/gp4kPJtWDF
— Ski Solutions (@skisolutions) January 24, 2022

And what about the forecast for this week?

“The next few days will remain mostly sunny, but a new, relatively weak cold front will reach the Alps on Thursday night bringing some further mostly light snow to some northern and especially north-eastern parts of the Alps on Thursday night and Friday,” said Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk

Shame we can’t have some of the snow in the Alps that is falling in Istanbul and causing some chaos.

Flights halted and cars banned as snow silences Istanbul https://t.co/LVjJDZmjsH pic.twitter.com/QXgS90y24H
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 25, 2022

Do check back for further snow updates direct from the mountains….

Friday 21st January

Here’s the latest from Weathertoski.co.uk:

Turning increasingly snowy in the north-eastern Austrian Alps. This is Bad Leonfelden in Upper Austria where it has snowed for much of today and will continue to do so tomorrow: Detailed weekend weather forecast for the Alps: https://t.co/cqzvzePeh5 pic.twitter.com/wrDxpUBzRc
— weathertoski (@weathertoski) January 21, 2022

More to follow…

Thursday 20th January

The weather is changing in parts of the Alps after a prolonged sunny and dry period.

There will be some decent amounts of snow in some resorts in Austria.

It has been clear and sunny in the Aosta Valley in Italy where PlanetSKI is currently based.

Courmayeur, Italy. Image © PlanetSKI

“There is no doubt that snow is need but the cold temperatures are helping to preserve the pistes and with very few people around the conditions are generally good,” said our editor, James Cove.

The slopes remain pretty much deserted across the area.

Cervinia, Italy. Image © PlanetSKI

Valtournenche, Italy. Image © PlanetSKI

Courmayeur, Italy. Image © PlanetSKI

More to follow…

Tuesday 18th January

It’s continuing largely fine and bright in the Alps and there’s been very little recent snowfall.

Some regions are, though, likely to get some in the second half of this week.

The PlanetSKI editor, James Cove, has just arrived in the Italian Alps.

See here on his first day back on snow since the pandemic:

PlanetSKI is back on snow

As well as skiing in La Thuile in Italy he crossed the border (no lateral flow test required) to La Rosiere in France as mentioned in the video.

More on the snow forecast for the Alps later in this report.

In sharp contrast, the east coast of the USA has been in the grip of a fierce storm with snow, thunderstorms and high winds.

It’s brought significant dumps to ski resorts in the north east of the USA and and also eastern Canada, such as Tremblant.

But it’s also caused severe disruption.

More than 4,200 flights were cancelled on Sunday and Monday morning.

Around 180,000 people were left without power from Georgia to New York.

In one New Hampshire resort, the storm was too much for them to stay open on Monday.

“Waterville Valley Resort will be closed for the remainder of the day, Monday 1/17/2022,” the resort said.

“We battled the blizzard as long as we could but Mother Nature got the best of us.

“We plan to re-open tomorrow at 9 AM, Tuesday 1/18/2022.”

Resorts in Vermont were open and it was powder heaven.

https://www.facebook.com/killingtonresort/photos/a.221620774400/10158859367079401/

https://www.facebook.com/stowemountainresort/photos/a.60258452381/10158172745077382/

https://www.facebook.com/alan.chase.902/posts/10225414644049649

And this is Whiteface Mountain near Lake Placid in New York.

https://www.facebook.com/WhitefaceLakePlacid/posts/10166172769300464

But what about the Alps?

Tuesday 18th January was another sunny day for most.

It’s likely to stay sunny on Wednesday before some snow falls on the northern half of the Alps on Thursday and Friday.

“The heaviest of this will fall in the Austrian Alps and the north-eastern Swiss Alps,” says alpine snow expert, Fraser Wilkin of Weathertoski.

“Some northern parts of the Austrian Alps (including the likes of Saalbach and Kaprun) may well see the snow continue for most of Saturday. However, the northern French Alps (eg Portes du Soleil, Grand Massif, Tarentaise) will see only a dusting at best.”

Fraser says that between Wednesday night and Saturday morning Saalbach, Kaprun, Lech and St Anton could see 20 to 30cm fall.

https://www.facebook.com/Stanton.Arlberg/posts/10159612738687964

In Avoriaz and Flaine in France it could be as little as 1 to 2cm.

The southern Alps – Italy and the far south of Switzerland and Austria – will stay dry with lots of sunshine.

“Snow conditions in the Alps generally remain good on-piste but are increasingly mixed off-piste,” Fraser says.

“There is still cold powdery snow to be found with the help of a good guide in the north-western Alps, where most of the snow fell earlier in the month.

“However, snow cover is generally quite modest in the southern Alps, especially in the south-western Alps (eg Sauze d’Oulx, Isola 2000) where it is extremely thin lower down.

“This isn’t a problem on-piste for now, but it could become so later in the season if there aren’t any significant snowfalls over the next few weeks.”

However the cold temperatures are preserving the snow and the sun is low in the sky and not so strong in January.

As we have mentioned the PlanetSKI editor, James Cove, is out on the slopes and making some turns.

“To be quite frank not many people care about the exact snow conditions at the moment,” James observed.

“We are all simply so glad to be sliding around on the snow after the experiences of the past couple of seasons.

“The reality of the experience is rather different from the statistics of weather reports and forecasts, with all the factual details.”

“Most people I have spoken to would describe the experience of the conditions as “perfect” and that is what matters.

“There are not many out on the slopes so who would not want to be out in the Alps at the moment?”