Bumper Year for Spring Skiing
26th April 2024
Last modified on May 1st, 2024
April has seen significant quantities of snow with cold temperatures and some of the best late-season skiing in recent years. UPDATED
More than 1m of snow has fallen in some of the high-altitude resorts in the Alps in the past few weeks.
Stubai in the Tirol in Austria claims a depth of 5.65m, one of the deepest snowpacks reported all season.
There has also been snow down to 300m in the valleys as the temperatures dropped.
April often sees significant quantities of snow and lets hope that same happens next year as Easter is late – April 20th.
This year it was March 31st.
A handful of ski resorts are still open in the Alps with some continuing into May:
Austria: Ischgl, Soelden, Hintertux, Stubai, Kaunertal, Kaprun & Pitztal.
France: Tignes, Val Thorens, Les2Alpes, Val d’Isere & Argentiere.
Italy: Cervinia & Livigno.
Switzerland: Engelberg & Zermatt.
Events are still taking place.
Here one in Val d’Isere, a mixture of slalom and slope-style, organised by Clement Noel, local WC racer.
Participants had to find and follow a path through an array of slalom poles.
There are also resorts open in Scandinavia including Riksgransen in Sweden and Narvik in Norway.
Riksgransen, Sweden. Image © PlanetSKI
Narvik, Norway. Image © PlanetSKI
The Fonna glacier in Norway is preparing to open for summer ski operations.
Locals say there have been some of the best April skiing conditions in recent memory.
“April is perhaps my favourite month to ski, though it is a very personal choice,” said PlanetSKI editor, James Cove.
“Often more snow falls in April than in February, certainly in the last couple of seasons.
“You need to head high where there is a good base, and the conditions change across the day so you need to be on the right slope at the right time.
“There is often powder, but otherwise hit the spring snow as the sun does its work.
“The slopes are usually deserted and once the skiing ends its BBQ times and chilling with mates over a cold one in the early evening sunshine.”
Warren Smith and James in Verbier at the end of April. Image © PlanetSKI
PlanetSKI was in Verbier this time last year:
Verbier, Switzerland. Image © PlanetSKI
The weather is now warming up with Spring returning
“The exceptionally cold spell of weather for late April is finally coming to an end, with temperatures set to climb steadily in the Alps,” said Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk.
“Over the last week or so, temperatures in the northern Alps have been around 10°C below normal, about as cold a spell of late season weather that we can remember, at least in recent years.”
April started off breaking records as the temperature shot up:
It then fell sharply.
The resorts that remained open saw excellent conditions.
A few small ones including Marbachegg in Switzerland, Kandel & Feldberg in the Black Forest in Germany and Bolognola in the Appenine mountians near Rome re-opened.
Many had closed early due to poor conditions earlier in the winter.
It has been similar over in the USA:
Spring skiing in the USA. Image © PlanetSKI
Back in the Alps the excellent April ski conditions should bode well for the start of the summer ski season.
We’ll shortly be compiling a list of the best resorts to head to for some summer glaciers skiing so look out for that if you are thinking of a few summer turns.
Summer glacier skiing in Les2Alpes. Image © PlanetSKI
Hintertux in the summer. Image © PlanetSKI
