Snow Report 22 April 2015 - Europe & Japan

Happo One 22.04.15 [Source: Happo webcam]

Hi all. Here's a quick look at where you can still ski at some of the major resorts.

JAPAN

Sunny days and rain on and off has been the weather in Japan for the last few weeks.

There has been no snow at all in April really. This week's wild winds caused lift closures at many ski areas. Not the same as those snowy days in January and February!

A friend of mine from Sydney was over at Niseko in February on an awesome ski trip and scored 1.2 meters in 8 days!

"It literally didn’t stop snowing and the snow was light and fluffy. The terrain was also really good although often the top of the mountain was closed which meant you couldn’t get across to the other resorts." Check out his cool video of his trip to Niseko.

Nozawa Onsen 22.04.15 [Source: Nozawa Onsen webcam]

Niseko had a massive amount of snowfall again this year - you can see how the centimetres stacked up at the SnowJapan Niseko report page which compares this year to last.

Interestingly this year there was much more total snow in the Yuzawa area and at Myokokogen, according to the other SnowJapan reports.

Happo One: 140cm@1400m, 0cm@850m Closing 10th May, top areas only
Nozawa Onsen: 240cm@1650m and 0cm@650m Closing 7th May, top areas only
Akakura Kanko: 170cm Closing 7th May
Gala Yuzawa: 200cm Closing 7th May, but you can ski at the top of Kagura ski area until the end of May.
Dynaland: CLOSED
Zao Onsen: 100/10cm Closing 7th May, top areas only
Niseko Grand Hirafu: 330/10cm Closing 7th May

FRANCE

Chamonix 21.04.15 [Source: www.compagniedumontblanc.fr/]

A heap of major ski stations finished operations last weekend, adding to the list of smaller ones that have already closed for the season.

There's a map of 3 Vallees lifts open this week. Most areas close on Friday including Courchevel, with Meribel-Mottaret going through the weekend, and Val Thorens open into May.

There's actually a fair bit of snow forecast at higher altitudes for the end of this weekend. so next week could make for a great last blast!

Isola 2000: CLOSED
Serre Chevalier: CLOSED

Les Arcs: 185cm@3200m, 30cm@1600m OPEN, Closing this weekend
Val Thorens: 220cm@3200m, 100cm@2300m OPEN, Closing 10th May
Val d'Isere: 158cm@2500m, 52cm@1850m OPEN, Closing 3rd May
Chamonix: 175cm@3275m, 105cm@1972m Grands Montets only is open until 3rd May, all other Chamonix ski areas are closed

Monte Rosa 21.04.15 [Source: Monte Rosa webcam]

ITALY

Just the upper parts of a few ski areas open in northern Italy now, for example, Gressoney-la-Trinite and Cervinia.

Monte Rosa (Gressoney-la-Trinite): 200/60cm OPEN, closing 3rd May

Madesimo: Closed 12th April.
Madonna di Campiglio: Closed 12th April.
Val Gardena: Closed 12th April. Snow cover peaked for my 13th February report: 110cm@2500m, 15cm@1400m