J2Ski Snow Report - May 1st 2025
J2Ski Snow Report - May 1st 2025
Published : 01-May-2025 05:10
It's way too early to get excited, but... Cardrona, New Zealand, got snow to the base this week...
Europe and North America's remaining seasons now measured in days, but fresh snow in the Rockies. As one season closes, another opens; late autumn snow has fallen in New Zealand.
The Snow Headlines - April 24th
- Japan's Gassan summer ski area opens for 2025 season with 9.5m base.
- Up to a foot of snowfall on high slopes in California.
- Snow in southern hemisphere – Argentina and New Zealand - ahead of 2025 season.
- 15cm snowfall on high slopes in the Alps.
- Last ski area still open in Spain, Sierra Nevada, due to close for season on Sunday.
Final call for winter in the northern hemisphere?.
Re-publication :- the J2Ski Snow Report Summary, being the text above this line, is free to re-publish, but must be clearly credited to www.J2ski.com with text including "J2Ski Snow Report" linked to this page - thank you.
World Overview
The 2025 season continues to wind down in the northern hemisphere.
There were about 150 ski areas still open for the final weekend of April, but that number halved at the start of this week and will halve again at the start of next.
The USA has the most areas still open, about 25, with Japan at around 20 and Austria, Norway, Finland and Sweden each at between 10 and 15. For other nations with skiing in the Alps, Spain and Canada, there will be fewer than a half-dozen from next Monday. The weather across northern hemisphere ski slopes has been typical spring, with some areas seeing 10-20cm accumulations on higher slopes, but also rain, sleet and warm temperatures and sunny spells at times. So a very end-of-season feel.
Outside the areas mentioned above in Europe, all ski areas in Eastern Europe and Scotland are now believed to be closed and the last centre still going in south-western Europe, and the continent's most southerly, Sierra Nevada, is amongst those due to close this Sunday. The last area operating in Germany, the Zugspitze glacier, will also end its season on the 4th.
A few dozen ski areas remain open in Japan where the country's Golden Week celebrations are underway. Summer ski area, Gassan, has opened for its 2025 season, posting the country's deepest base of 9.5m, a snowpack that will hopefully last it through to July.
Meanwhile, temperatures are dropping in the southern hemisphere where the first areas are expected to start their 2025 seasons at the end of May. Ski areas in Argentina and New Zealand have posted video of decent looking pre-season snow cover down to base levels.
Europe
Austria
Austria has more ski areas open for the start of May than any other European nation, thanks in part to its seven glacier resorts.
Three of these, along with resorts like Ischgl that have a reputation for long seasons thanks to snow-making efforts and natural advantages, will close on Sunday however. Solden and Pitztal also end their seasons on Sunday.
It's been a fairly typical spring week with plenty of sunshine but also some snow/sleet/rain showers at times. The Stubai Glacier, which currently plans to stay open until the 11th, posted a 15cm accumulation over the weekend, the Molltal, open into June, just a few centimetres less.
In total five Austrian areas remain open into next week including the Kaunertal and Kitzsteinhorn glaciers. Temperatures have been climbing through the week and the freezing point is now above the highest slopes in the country in the afternoons.
Sunny skies will dominate through the coming weekend with just occasional light showers.
France
The French season is winding down.
Just four French centres remain open and only one of those will make it into next week. All four have reported small accumulations of fresh snowfall on their higher slopes this week though.
Tignes and Val d'Isère have been reporting still having about 75% of their vast area open, one of the largest still skiable in the world for a few more days.
They, along with the skiing around Europe's highest resort, Val Thorens, close at the end of Sunday.
Les 2 Alpes is the centre remaining open next week and indeed, all being well, all month and through to early July. For May the aim is to maintain 1000m of vertical skiable. With the snow lying nearly three metres deep up top it will hopefully manage that.
It has been getting progressively warmer through the last week with sunny skies and the freezing point moving above 3,000m even in valleys, so the thaw is currently accelerating.
Italy
Italy is also into the final days of its season and, like France, will have only one ski area open next week.
There are four other areas open to this Sunday, including Cortina d'Ampezzo which got 5cm of weekend snowfall, Macugnaga and the Presena and Senales glaciers.
Livigno, which closed today - Thursday, May 1st - posted the biggest snowfall over the last seven days; around 30cm in total.
It has been a week of sunshine and showers, the latter falling as snow on the country's highest slopes.
The rest of the week looks sunnier with the freezing point getting up above 3,000m.
Fortunately, a lot of Cervinia's shared May skiing area with Zermatt is above that level and is expected to be the only Italian area open next week.
Switzerland
There's been some snowfall on high Swiss slopes this week, with Engelberg posting 15cm at the weekend.
It's been drier since, with temperatures climbing over the past few days and that's how it's looking heading into the first weekend of May.
Temperatures are staying above zero right up to 3,000m altitudes.
A dozen Swiss areas were still open last weekend but that dropped to five this week and only one – year-round Zermatt - will be open next week (unless any other extends its season).
However, this coming weekend you can still also ski at the Diavolezza glacier near St Moritz, at the Engstligenalp near Adelboden, at Samnaun, linked to Ischgl and on the Titlis glacier above Engelberg.
Scandinavia
Finland, Norway and Sweden have more ski centres open for the first weekend of May than the four main Alpine nations combined.
Temperatures are of course rising in Scandinavia too though and ski areas in much of the region are seeing their bases diminish fast now, with Sweden's biggest resort, Are, posting only a 15cm base left.
There are much colder temperatures and more wintery weather in the far north where daytime highs are still only a degree or two above freezing in Lapland, overnight lows are down towards -10C still.
Finland's Levi and Sweden's Riskgransen, now entering a period of 24-hour daylight and starting its midnight-sun skiing season, are the two resorts still open after next weekend.
North America
Canada
There are just a handful of ski areas still open in Canada most of them on the western side of the country, but Quebec's Sommet St Sauveur is still opening at weekends for as long as its snow cover lasts.
In the West, Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler and Banff's Sunshine ski areas are both open for another three weeks, but it's the last weekend of the season coming up for Jasper's Marmot Basin and another Banff resort, Lake Louise, which with Whistler's diminished open area is currently posting the most terrain open in the country.
It's still fairly cold in the west although temperatures are rising and the spring thaw is well underway now.
USA
The US has the most ski areas open of any country as we start May, about two dozen from coast to coast, and last weekend and the start of this week saw some wintery conditions for quite a few of them.
Ski areas in California posted video of more than a foot of fresh powder snow and resorts in the Rockies got up to nine inches (22cm) over the past few days too – Arapahoe Basin announced it had has 5 inches to start May on Thursday.
Despite this, it is, of course, the latter half of spring so outside these snowy spells there's been plenty of sunshine and warming temperatures, so snow conditions are largely soft and wet with open terrain fast diminishing to the upper mountain.
Six or seven US areas are due to close this weekend but at least 15 plan to stay open later into May, some now operating just at weekends.
Join the conversation : Discuss this in the J2Ski Forum
This news item has been viewed 475 times.
Also on J2Ski :- Val Thorens Snow Forecast Ski Hotels Ski Hire