Historical Snow Conditions for 2016-17 season

A glorious Zermatt powder ski day on the Hornli slopes under the Matterhorn:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A significant snowfall last night and continuing today, cumulating in a week's total of 55cm on the top slopes. And the village of Zermatt has taken on a fresh white mantle as you can see in the webcam still below:

It has snowed over the last two days a total of 20cm. Although it then rained at village level, on the slopes the conditions were excellent with fresh powder everywhere. The image below is taken from run #71 (Theodulgletscher):

And here are a couple of webcam stills from February 1st of Gornergrat and Riffelberg:

 

Still good powder to be had, as the young Mountain Exposure client found below

There was a significant snowfall from Thursday to Saturday last week, with 18cm in the village and 35cm on the Plateau Rosa. Zermatt now has snowy white streets and the snow conditions on piste are refreshed. Off-piste is still limited though.Temperatures plummeted yesterday to -20° at 3,000m and will remain cold for most of the coming week.

We have had a beautiful week of high pressure weather with clear skies and sunshine. The skiing conditions on piste are still good, especially above 2,200m and on the Italian side. Below this the snow is man-made and somewhat harder. These are typical Christmas week conditions with not much off-piste; however unlike many resorts Zermatt is blessed with a reasonable amount of snow so the majority of runs are open as you can see from the map below.

It has snowed a lot on the Italian side over the last two days, with a total of 40cm of fresh snow. Conditions in Cervinia and Valtournenche are outstanding, as they are also around the Klein Matterhorn and Furggsattel on the Swiss side. Below 2,200m there is no fresh snow, but due to the outstanding snowmaking systems in Zermatt, both resort runs are open as are a good number of challenging blacks and reds. With over 250km of open runs we are making the most of what mother nature has provided.

Ski slopes near Testa Grigia on December 22nd 2016

The number of open runs has increased again, with the resort run from Furi back to Zermatt now also open, giving a total of 210km of pistes. Although there is no snow forecast for the week ahead, piste conditions are very good with dry winter snow everywhere and beautiful blue skies and glowing sunshine. Eary season skiing at its best.

Above: the piste from Klein Matterhorn with a view over the Italian side. Below: powder snow last week.

After an entire week of signifcant snowfall at altitude, the sun has come out and all three ski areas on the Swiss side have opened: Sunnegga, Gornergrat and Matterhorn. Together with the Cervinia and Valtournenche sectors on the Italian side, this gives a total of 143km of open pistes – a truly amazing amount so early in the season. The snowline has hovered around 2,200m which means that the resort runs are currently closed. However, one can still ski back down to Furi at 1,800m altitude. Given that the top lift in Zermatt is at 3,883m, this gives you a vertical of 2,000m. Worth coming for some early skiing!

13cm more fresh snow fell last night and on the Italian side of the ski area both the Cervinia and Valtournenche sectors are open, with a total of 24 runs to enjoy. You can ski all the way down to the village of Cervinia already! Together with the 12 runs open on the Zermatt side, this is the most skiing you can get anywhere in the Alps. It is forecast to snow intensively over the next week, especially in the Matterhorn area along the border with Italy.