16th November 2023
It’s been a wild few weeks in the Alps. Heavy snow then torrential rain, with another storm now coming in. NEW
This weekend Val Thorens and Tignes are opening some of their ski areas ahead of schdule.
They are the first French resorts to open for the season.
PRÉ-OUVERTURE DU SKI À TIGNES 🎁
À la suite d’importantes chutes de neige (+d’1m), nous avons décidé d’ouvrir une partie du domaine skiable à partir du SAMEDI 18 NOVEMBRE 🥳https://t.co/jait08dPU3#tignes #ski #opening #sport #montagne #alpes #tourisme #aventure pic.twitter.com/MywuKEfm35
— Tignes (@TignesOfficiel) November 8, 2023
In Italy Madonna di Campiglio is also opening some slopes on Saturday 18th November.
They join 20 or so resorts now open across Europe – we list them all at the end of this article.
Other resorts that are open will be offering more terrain.
World Cup slalom racing is set to take place in Obergurgl with the men’s slalom.
GB’s Dave Ryding will be in action.
It comes as more snow is set to fall.
The snow started on Thursday morning in the western Alps with the freezing level around 2,000m.
It should drop to around 1,000m on Friday.
“Snow depths remain decent for the time of year at higher altitudes across most of the Alps, despite Tuesday’s rain, which saw the rain/snow limit close to 3,000m for a time in the north-western Alps,” said Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk
“Lower down, snow cover is very patchy or non-existent, but this is not remotely unusual for mid-November.”
Weathertoski says the areas that will benefit most are:
The north-eastern Swiss Alps – from about Engelberg eastwards.The western Austrian Alps – especially Lech & St Anton.
These regions will see 30-50cm of new snow above 1800m by Friday.
The western Swiss Alps – Verbier.The northern French Alps – Tignes will see closer to 10cm.The southern half of the Alps will miss most of the precipitation.
Last weekend saw over 1m of snow at altitude as we reported at the time:
Then earlier this week the snow turned to rain as the freezing level shot up to 2,800m.
It produced flooding in parts of the Alps.
The heavy rain in the Swiss Alps led to the closure of several bridges in the Geneva area as water levels rise.
The Arve river that flows through Geneva and into the Rhône, had its highest flow ever recorded on Wednesday.
“We have exceeded 1,000 cubic metres per second”, said the Fire and Rescue Service, SIS.
Five of the eight bridges across the river were closed.
It caused major disruption to traffic with trams no longer able to cross from one bank to the other.
In the Haute-Savoie region of the French Alps residents in the Chamonix valley and around the Arve River were advised to stay at home on Wednesday.
Almost 300 homes were without electricity and many roads were closed because of the risk of landslides, rockfalls and subsidence.
Now the storms have passed and things are looking better across the Alps.
In Scandinavia resorts are also opening.
Here’s Myrkdalen in Norway that opens on Saturday 18th November:
PlanetSKI was in Myrkdalen last winter on a rail safari round a few resorts in Norway:
Resorts Currently Offering Skiing
Austria: Kaunertal, Soelden, Hintertux, Pitztal, Stubai, Moltaller, Schladming, Kitzbuhel & Kitzsteinhorn.
Finland: Levi & Ruka.
Italy: Passo Stelvio, Solda & Cervinia.
Norway: Norefjell.
Sweden: Idre Fjall
Switzerland: Saas-Fee, Diavloezza, Engadine, Davos/Kolsters, Arosa/Lenzerheide & Zermatt.
So, what does the recent snow mean for the coming season?
There is now enough snow for a base at altitude in resorts such as Val d’Isere, Tignes, Val Thorens in France and Zermatt & Verbier in Switzerland.
Lower down it is a different story.
Much of the snow that fell, has either melted or been washed away by the rain.
There is plenty of wishful thinking around.
One UK ski operator claimed “there’s a good enough base laid down for great December skiing now across much of the Alps.”
Another said “this will ensure a solid base for the winter ahead” and the “exceptional early season snowfall had transformed the European ski landscape”, promising “an outstanding start to the season”.
It is far too early to make such sweeping remarks as we have only just reached the second half of November.
Much can happen between now and the start of the season.
PlanetSKI is set to start its season.
Simon Wilson is heading to the highest resort in the Alps next weekend: Val Thorens in France which is at 2,300m with skiing going up to over 3,000m.
The following weekend PlanetSKI editor James Cove is in the glacier resorts of Pitztal and Kaunertaler in the Tirol in Austria.
Plus he’ll be in Khutai for its opening day on Friday 1st December.
Then it is the lower resort of BadKleinKirchheim in Austria on December 6th for our chief reporter, Jane Peel.
We’ll be reporting on the conditions at the start of the season so do check back…