"Endless Winter Snow"

Snow Alert -Glaciers like Tignes in France, to see some fresh snow this weekend

photo: The Grande Motte - Tignes France

The snow in New Zealand has stopped falling at last. Up to 5m of snow reported at Tukino on the east side Ruapehu Weekend snow was reported as far north as Rotorua, closing many roads on both islands

Central Otago areas benefited from the recent snow too - Cardrona reports 60cm of fresh snow An increasing mild and strong NW wind this weekend, followed by a westerly Expect some snow loss with little new snow expected soon

In Australia, conditions have greatly improved and the 2008 ski season is now in full swing

Further snow on Thursday and Friday, blizzards at times Much better weather on the weekend. Perfect skiing conditions. Prospect of further snowfalls late next week

South America offers plenty of great skiing Very little fresh snow fell last week
Expect moderate falls around Las Lenas on Saturday Next week will provide fine weather for most Prevailing cold and snowy at Cerro Castor in the far south

After three weeks of stormy weather that dropped record snowfalls at many places in New Zealand the weather settled down in time for the school holidays and many resorts have reported superb conditions this week once they had dug themselves out. The main weather action has shifted across the Tasman and snow conditions in Australia are improving very quickly thanks to recent snowfalls. The current blizzard that is affecting resorts in the Victorian Alps and the Snowy Mountains will abate on Friday morning allowing all resorts to enjoy the best weekend of the winter so far. Prospects for the week ahead follow below.

Turoa, Whakapapa and Tukino have previously seen wonderful snow conditions go to waste because of volcanic activity. Similarly, Llaima ski area in Chile’s Conguillio National Park was evacuated last week as the Llaima Volcano on which the ski area is located spewed out lava flows up to two kilometres long above the ski runs and lifts. The 3,125 metre high volcano is 78km from regional capital Temuco and 700km south of Chile’s capital Santiago. The area’s two drag lifts serve five ski runs between 1500m and 1800m above sea level. The current eruption began on New Year's Day and the last few people still staying in the area were evacuated to outside a 15km exclusion zone last week. The biggest fear in that the heat of the lava will melt snow causing a lahar. We note that Llaima is not currently on our list of forecast locations and so we will optimistically add it, on the assumption that it will still operate in the future.

Lifts Open this Weekend

North America
Whistler - Blackcomb
June 4 - July 29, 2007 Summer Glacier skiing/riding begins on Blackcomb Mountain. Access via the Wizard Express (Blackcomb Daylodge base)
Whistler Blackcomb

Mt. Hood Timberline Lodge
Palmer Lift - race lanes upper- park lower
Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood

Europe
Stubai Glacier -Austria
Stubai Glacier

Hintertuxer Glacier -Austria
Hintertux Glacier

Tignes -France
Glacier open
Tignes

Engelberg-CH
Engelberg

Saas- Fee-CH
Saas- fee

Verbier-CH
Verbier

Zermat-CH

Zermatt

South America
Catedral

Catedral Patagonia

Las Lenas
Las Lenas

Portillo
Portillo

Valle Nevado
Valle Nevado

Australia
Falls Creek
Falls Creek

New Zealand
Cardrona
Cardrona

Coronet Peak
Coronet Peak

Treble Cone
Treble Cone