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Winter Arrives in the Mountains

The past 7 days have seen the arrival of winter in both the Alps and Rockies.

20cm of snow fell in the Chamonix Valley, with a dump of up to 80cm being deposited at the highest point of the ski area, raising hopes that the main Grand Montets ski area could open 2 weeks ahead of schedule in mid-November.

Photo taken at the weekend by Claire Burnett in Chamonix.

The snowfall wasn’t restricted to the ski resorts around Chamonix either, with the resorts of the Tarrentaise doing well – Les Meniuires in the Three Valleys especially so with about a foot of the white stuff falling.

It’s been a good week across the pond for ski resorts in Canada and the USA as well. Predictions of another La Niña winter has us salivating at the prospect of another record-breaking winter.

Whistler has already received plenty of snow, as you can see in this video of pro skiers Mike Douglas and Callum Pettit getting the season’s first powder turns.

Powder Turns on Whistler Blackcomb Oct 6th, 2011 from Whistler Blackcomb on Vimeo.

It’s been snowing south of the border too with most resorts in the American Rockies getting good snowfall. This stunning photo from Aspen shows autumn desperately clinging on in the valley, with winter having fully moved in at higher altitude.

Photo by David Amirault

This photo sums up what we love about this wonderful time of year in the mountains - cold and crisp air, hard frozen ground and that hanging sense of expectation in the air that winter is on its way.

The biggest news though comes from the little-known resort of Wolf Creek where autumn is now a distant memory. This small ski area is in the middle of nowhere in Colorado, but they’re open for skiing and have just had what looks like a pretty good powder day.

Winter here we come!

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