If you’re looking for a final fling on the slopes before the snowline creeps up the mountainside and lowland meadows burst into flower, don’t despair. It’s not all over yet, not by a long way. All eyes this April are focused on California and Nevada which, unlike the Alps, are experiencing a stupendous season that seems set to break snow depth records in a handful of resorts.
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Mammoth in the Sierra Nevada mountains is a six-hour drive from downtown Los Angeles, but hordes of snow-fixated Angelinos think nothing of heading up here for a winter weekend. So far since it opened in November it has recorded nearly 18m of the white stuff – and it keeps on coming. The resort lies at a heady 2,424m with the top lift at 3,369m. Usually it experiences a long season, with the regular goal of remaining open over the July 4 Independence Day holiday. This year, “winter” could potentially stretch into August.
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It’s a similar story elsewhere. Palisades Tahoe (formerly Squaw Valley) will stay open until the end of May and its sister resort Alpine Meadows hopes to keep its lifts running on selected dates until Independence Day. Other destinations scattered around the shores of Lake Tahoe are experiencing an equally superb season: Heavenly, on the California/Nevada stateline closes on April 23 and nearby Kirkwood on May 1.
Resorts in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming are also extending their dates into late April and May. Park City is having its latest closing date in 30 years on April 23. Vail also closes on April 23, but Breckenridge will remain open until May 30. Further north in Canada, Whistler is still skiing well and not due to close until May 22.
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If you’re planning on a mad late dash across the Atlantic to catch the best of the end of this season, be warned that the number of lifts remaining open in your chosen resort may well be limited and snow conditions could be slushy.
But you can also look a lot closer to home where conditions in the Alps have now dramatically improved. In recent decades there’s been a marked trend for snow cover in Europe to shift forward – less snow in November and December, but plenty falling in April or in early May just as the final tourists depart from the highest resorts. This season is proving no exception. Before Christmas, ski resorts here generally got off to a miserable start. December skiing was often confined to strips of man-made snow – or no snow at all. You might have done better to have packed your golf clubs or even brought along the lawnmower instead of your trusted Salomons.
Alpine villages in France experienced their warmest January days since 1997 with a few reduced to just a couple of lifts, or forced to temporarily close altogether and bring out their stock of rental mountain bikes. Austria fared a lot better, but nowhere can this be described as a vintage season.
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Indeed, low-lying resorts never fully recovered. After New Year, fresh snow fell only intermittently with week after week of sunshine during February high season and beyond.
However, many of the higher resorts are now – finally – in excellent condition. Val d’Isère, which was forced to postpone its late November opening, has now extended its season by a week until May 6. Currently there’s 117cm of snow in the village and twice that on the higher slopes, and April conditions are the best they have been all season.
Other major high resorts that plan to stay open into May include Tignes, Val Thorens, Zermatt, Cervinia, Engelberg, and Sölden.
If you still want more snow, it’s time to explore summer skiing on European glaciers. More than 40 years ago a handful of high resorts across the Alps saw the potential of developing lifts on permanent snow to provide year-round skiing. Tignes offered a 365-day ski area on the Grande Mötte Glacier and others – particularly in Austria – followed.
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At first there was considerable public interest, but as the decades passed, the ski market failed to grow in the way that those pioneer resorts had predicted. At the same time, rising global temperatures caused glaciers to shrink. Resorts such as Alpe d’Huez continued to develop their glaciers – not to attract summer skiers but as insurance against limited snowfall in winter.
Today, Tignes still opens – conditions permitting – for part of the summer and autumn, along with a handful of others across the Alps. Zermatt and Cervinia always have snow – reached this summer (from June 30) by the newly completed £27 million Alpine Crossing.
Hintertux in the Austrian Tirol remains the principal 365-day ski area with the steepest pitch that allows even downhill training for racers. National teams and other racers are the biggest “off” season clients for all these destinations, but everyone is welcome. As part of a summer holiday in the Alps a trip up one of these glaciers is an essential component for anyone who has the skiing bug.
In the summer months you need to rise early to catch the best of the snow. If overnight temperatures have dropped below zero, pistes will be bullet-hard, but they soften rapidly in the summer sunshine. Usually there’s an optimum hour mid-morning when conditions reach perfection. By midday slush dominates and it’s time to head down the lift system for a long lunch on a sun terrace followed by a swim or a siesta.
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Other resorts that offer summer skiing include Sölden in Austria, Saas Fee in Switzerland, Les Deux Alpes in France, Val Senales in Italy, and Riksgränsen in Sweden.
At high altitude you can also expect summer snowfalls. I’ve skied 30cm of fresh powder in August on the Stubai Glacier near Innsbruck and on the Kitzsteinhorn above Kaprun. As in winter, conditions can vary dramatically.
However, if your snow addiction is deep and you truly want to hit the slopes in the European off season, your best bet is to head for Chile and Argentina. Major resorts including Portillo, Valle Nevado, Las Leñas and Cerro Catedral (Bariloche) start to fire up their lift systems in late June and the season lasts until October.
The ski infrastructure in the main destinations in the Andes is sophisticated and compares favourably with that in Europe and North America. Yes, you can venture even further afield to Australia and New Zealand. But South America is better, which is why you well come across the US and Austrian national teams among others training here during our summer months.
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And if all that is beyond your budget, you can always opt for The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead, Chill Factore in Manchester and other real snow slopes in Britain. Ok, so it’s not the same thing… but, hey, it’s still skiing.
