By Patrick Thorne, http://www.skiinfo.com

Up To 2m of New Snow In Seven Days for Austria And Switzerland

It is still snowing heavily in Austria, German and Switzerland with many resorts receiving more than a metre of new snow in the past week. Switzerland had the largest falls of all with Sorenberg reporting an incredible 210cm (seven feet) of snow falling in the past seven days (the biggest fall of 60cm/two feet yesterday, February 17th). St-Cergue La Dole came close with 200cm (6.6 feet), 50 cm of which also fell yesterday. Zermatt continues to have the biggest snow depth in Europe and probably the world with 7.12m (24 feet) on the glacier.

In Austria the greatest snowfall of the past week has accumulated at the Zugspitzplatt Ehrwald which reports 135cm (over four feet) of new snow. Salbach Hinterglemm Leogang added 80cm (nearly three feet); the SkiWelt (including Söll and Going) 70cm (over two feet) and St. Anton am Arlberg 55cm (nearly two feet). The Kleinwalsertal area on the boarder between Austria and Germany received 65cm (Over two feet) of new snow in the past week, which according to Ralf Koberle of Kleinwalsertal Tourismus is, “Natural snow of the best quality - so our snowmakers take a break.” The resorts with the most snow in the country now have nearly four metre (13 feet) depths.

Germany had loads of fresh snow, too. The number of resorts that have a snow base of more than a metre doubled in the past week, with many adding at least 50cm in the seven days and several adding at least a metre. The Zugspitzplatt at Garmisch, which now looks forward to hosting the World Alpine Skiing Championships in two years time following the conclusion of the Val d’Isere Championships at the weekend, has the most snow in the country with a 330cm (11 foot) snow depth. Alpsee Bergwelt and Balderschwang were amongst the resorts reporting the most new snow in the past week, up by 140cm (4.6 feet) and 120cm (4 feet) respectively.

Snow In Sicily And For Rome’s Ski Areas

The most snow in Italy above Passo Tonale

In Italy most of the snow in the past week has been in the centre and south of the country causing traffic disruption as far south as Sicily, which has several small ski areas. Campo Felice-Rocca di Cambio in the Abruzzo region, one of Rome’s local ski areas, received 25cm (8 Inches) of new snow whilst Ussita / Frontignano in Marche region got the most in the country with 50cm (20 inches) more snow. It’s still snowing in the major ski areas to the north too though with La Thuile and Courmayeur in the NW of the country receiving 40cm/16 inches and 20cm/8 inches respectively. The Presena Glacier above Passo Tonale and Arabba on the Sella Ronda still have the most snow in the country with 550cm (18 feet) and 480cm (16 feet) respectively. Read more here.

Still More Snow In Scotland (2/13/09)

“This is the first time for many years that we’ve had such great snow at this time of year,” said Marian Austin, Chair of ski-scotland. “All five snowsports areas are reporting alpine conditions with snow fences buried under several feet of snow, and also a surge of interest from people who have not skied or boarded in Scotland before, or at least not for many years.”

Slovenia Record Snow Depths

As just one example, Mt. Kanin in Slovenia had 9 meters of snow (nearly 30 feet) at height 2230 meters elevation which is the record breaking snow height since they do measurements there. Winter snowfalls accumulations exceeded 11 meters (36 feet of snow) and snow was still falling heavily this week with plenty more to come!

See PDF here.