As the 2014/15 season finally comes to a close, The Ski Club – provider of daily and bi weekly snow reports from over 250 resorts worldwide for their members and the media - looks back on the highs and lows of this season's snow conditions from Scotland right across to the USA.

The Alps

The 2014/15 season will be remembered as a season of two halves. Promising early season snowfall in November was followed by almost no snow until Boxing Day, accompanied by unseasonably warm temperatures. Many resorts postponed opening until at least the start of the Christmas holiday week, and when they did open could only offer very limited snowsports on predominantly artificial snow.

The first major snowfall of the winter coincided with the busiest transfer day of the season, leading to traffic delays across much of the Alps, but especially in the Savoie region of France. This fortunately enabled lots more terrain to open up across the Alps, in the nick of time for one of the busiest weeks of the winter over New Year.
From then on, snowfall was relatively plentiful, resulting in some fantastic skiing conditions for the second half of the season, and surprisingly good skiing at the tail end of the winter for the higher resorts. Unfortunately, at times the snowfall was accompanied by strong winds and rapidly changing temperatures which led to some of the worst avalanche conditions in recent memory. By the end of March 106 fatalities (80 last year) had been recorded as a result of the unstable weather and inevitable “powder-stress” from the poor early snowfall.

Some great skiing was reported across the Alps throughout February and especially through half-term week which was blessed with sunny skies. March and April saw several spells of heavy snow, providing some very good late season powder days, interspersed by lots of sunny and mild weather. Most resorts closed as expected, with very few needing to close early, and it remained possible to ski right back into resort in most places right through until the final day of the season.

The Pyrenees

The Pyrenees had one of their best seasons of skiing for many years. It started off not as badly as further east in the Alps, with a 50cm+ dump on the 10th December opening up most runs in time for Christmas. The Grandvalira region had the second highest number of pistes open in the world prior to Christmas trailing only Zermatt/Cervinia. 

Good skiing was had right through January but it was February and March that really set the season alight. Grandvalira recorded over three metres of snow in February alone (the highest monthly total for five years) and 24 hours totals in excess of 1m were recorded at Bareges and Cauterets in France April was then extremely sunny, giving some incredible late-season spring snow skiing with upper base depths remaining at almost two metres right until the very last day.
An unwelcome side-effect again was the avalanche risk, which at times cut off and closed several resorts. Rare Level 5 avalanche warnings were raised twice this season – a very rare occurrence.

Scotland

The motto “west is best” rang true for much of the winter in Scotland, as Glencoe and Nevis Range consistently saw some of the best conditions in the country. Glenshee and The Lecht had decent seasons, especially during January and February and Cairngorm remained open until May Bank Holiday Monday.
Lots of snow fell throughout the winter, but most of it was accompanied by extremely strong westerly winds. As a result the gullies and natural snowfields were the place to be all season. This meant that Glencoe in particular has had a standout season, with some incredible powder conditions reported right through to the end of April. Lots of the snow fell to low levels, meaning that the full 750m of vertical was on offer for well over a month at Glencoe – bear in mind than in some seasons the lower level runs never open.

The Rest of Europe

Bulgaria had a standout second half to the season, with March seeing some huge amounts of new snow. The season had been rolling along nicely until over two metres of fresh snow fell during the middle of March, raising base depths well above three metres and enabling all resorts to extend their seasons by at least a week. 

Elsewhere a new 24-hour snowfall record was set in the Italian Appenine Mountains. The town of Capracotta received an astonishing 256cm of snow in under 18 hours, smashing the previous record by almost 60cm.

USA/Canada

The early season conditions across the pond were very good, with some great skiing to be had all over North America before Christmas. From there it sadly went downhill for many, although the east coast provided a notable exception.
Bitterly cold and snowy weather was stuck in place across the east coast for much of the winter, leading to one of the best ski seasons in recent years. The snow remained in excellent condition and with regular top ups of fresh powder, some incredible powder days were had. In fact the snowiest spot in the whole country (outside of Alaska) was Jay Peak in Vermont, where 9.07m of snow fell throughout the winter.

Sadly the same could not be said for California, with resorts having one of the worst seasons on record. As little as 10% of average snowfall was recorded and many resorts didn't open up fully all winter – some even had to close as early as mid-March.
The Rockies also had a below par season after the good start. The situation was by no means as bad as in California and most terrain was open throughout the season. But below average snowfall hit many resorts (Snowbird 8.36m vs 11.56m) although the few still open into the second half of April saw some epic late season powder. Some good powder was also had in early March and again in early April. Skier days at Vail Resorts (nine resorts across the USA) were down 3% on last season as a result of the below average conditions, although they still managed to turn a profit and keep all their resorts open until scheduled close.

A below par season was also seen in western Canada, as milder and drier than average weather held firm throughout much of the winter. Whistler in particular suffered as it saw only 6.66m of snowfall compared to 11.64m on average, leaving many of the lower slopes reliant on artificial snow and powder days few and far between. Lots more rain than usual was reported throughout the season, leading to some tricky skiing conditions and long periods of snowless weather.

Chris Madoc-Jones, Head of snow reports at The Ski Club of Great Britain commented:

“Whilst many people might remember the start of the winter as experiencing unusually low snowfall in the Alps at Christmas, some great skiing conditions were had during the second half of the season. Snow depths were certainly well down on average in January, but by the Easter Holidays most places had recovered to at least average levels thanks to a series of big snowstorms during the second half of the season. Looking slightly further afield was a great option this winter, with the Pyrenees, the east coast of the USA and Scotland consistently providing some of the best conditions anywhere this season.”

ENDS

If you are interested in receiving the Ski Club of Great Britain's winter snow reports for 2015/16 season on a daily or bi-weekly basis then please contact Beth Begg: beth.begg@skiclub.co.uk 020 8410 2018 / 07740 642 262
Notes to editor

The Ski Club's snow reports are the best online, offering snow conditions, snow depths, fresh snowfall, resort weather and lift operations for over 250 resorts worldwide. The snow overview is a twice weekly summary of the skiing conditions around the world, plus up to nine days weather and snow forecast, webcams and 22 seasons of historical snow data – meaning you can find out where to go for snow.

The Ski Club of Great Britain a not-for-profit snow sports membership organisation offering benefits and services to those who enjoy skiing and snowboarding. The Ski Club members get the most out of their snowsports with 100's of discounts on travel, kit and holidays; access to industry leading snow reports; info & advice on all things winter sports related and exclusive access to the Ski Club leader service. For more info visit: skiclub.co.uk

Contributing sources:

The Alps
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/news/story.aspx?storyID=9337#.VUDrs5OYSTo
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11314946/Chaos-in-the-Alps-as-massive-snowfall-traps-15000-cars.html
http://wepowder.com/weblog/5943/Winter-14-15-106-fatalities-due-to-avalanches-so-far
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/news/story.aspx?storyID=9398#.VUDjUpOYSTo
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/news/story.aspx?storyID=9415#.VUDY0ZOYSTo

Pyrennes
http://www.grandvalira.com/en/news/grandvalira-2nd-ski-resort-europe-most-skiable-kilometres-weekend
http://www.grandvalira.com/en/news/grandvalira-records-highest-snowfall-february-last-five-seasons
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/news/story.aspx?storyID=9391#.VUDbc5OYSTo
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/blizzards-southern-france-pyrenees-ski-resorts-forced-shut-because-too-much-snow-1486473

Scotland
http://www.winterhighland.info/pix/pixalbum.php?pix_id=1045
http://www.winterhighland.info/pix/pixalbum.php?pix_id=1092
https://www.facebook.com/GlencoeMountain
http://www.winterhighland.info/pix/pixalbum.php?pix_id=1057

Rest of Europe
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1038036336224724&set=pcb.1038039052891119&type=1&theater
https://www.facebook.com/funbansko/photos/a.211554046939.133516.193429496939/10153166628556940/?type=1&theater
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2989975/Italian-village-buried-100-INCHES-snow-18-hours-Locals-forced-leave-homes-second-floor-windows-freak-weather.html
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/news/story.aspx?storyID=9346#.VUD0spOYSTo

USA/ Canada
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/news/story.aspx?storyID=9346#.VUD0spOYSTo
https://www.facebook.com/JayPeakFan/photos/pcb.10153111547754441/10153111540209441/?type=1&theater
http://unofficialnetworks.com/2015/04/last-weekend-for-resort-skiing-in-tahoe-all-ski-areas-close-sunday
http://unofficialnetworks.com/2015/04/statistically-this-will-go-down-as-the-worst-ski-season-in-utah-history
http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/news/story.aspx?storyID=9415#.VUD4iJOYSTo) http://unofficialnetworks.com/2015/04/vail-resorts-revenue-is-up-despite-fewer-skier-visits-this-season
http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/the-mountain/snow-and-weather/index.aspx