Heavy snow returns to Europe's ski resorts

Storms are set to bring heavy snowfall to European ski resorts this week after a two week sunny spell.

More than a metre of snow is forecast for the French resorts of Les Deux Alpes, Alpe d'Huez, La Plagne, Les Arcs and Meribel, and the Swiss resort of Verbier. Lech and Obergurgl, in Austria, are expecting more than half a metre of snow, while the Italian resorts of Cervinia and La Thuile are expecting almost a metre. Many other European ski resorts are expecting between 25 and 50cm.

"This new snow has come at the perfect time," said a spokesman for the Ski Club of Great Britain. "It's been cold and sunny over the past few weeks, which was starting to affect conditions on south facing slopes," he added.

Snow has already begun to fall in some resorts, the French resorts of Val d'Isère and Tignes received 20cm of snow on Sunday and have a further 75cm forecast. In the Italian resort of Courmayeur, 15cm fell on Monday and a further metre of snow is forecast to fall before the weekend.

"These are some of the best conditions that I've ever skied in Courmayeur," said Jonny Baird, a mountain guide in the Courmayeur and Chamonix area. "There is powder everywhere and it's thigh-deep in places."

This latest heavy snowfall will top up Europe's pistes ahead of the February half-term. However, many resorts already have an excellent base layer after heavy snowfalls in November and December, which saw the best start to a winter ski season in Europe since 1974.

In Britain, heavy snow in western Scotland over the past week has enabled Nevis Range to open for the first time this season and the resort is expecting a further 16cm of snow by the weekend. Glencoe, also in western Scotland, has 18cm forecast this week and is expected to open on Wednesday.

More snow on the way

The high pressure which has dominated weather in the Alps for the past few weeks, is set to make way for snowier and milder weather in parts of Switzerland, Italy and Austria early next week.

We've been waiting a little while for another good dump of fresh stuff, and whilst the consistently cold weather has kept the snow in good shape, powder hounds will be pleased to see what the weather has in store over the next few days.

It looks like Switzerland will receive the lion's share of this weather front, with Verbier expecting a whopping 44cm of fresh snow in the next five days, St Moritz 50cm and Zermatt 38cm!

French resorts will also get a look in, with Les Deux Alpes expecting 20cm of snow on Sunday night which should help to boost the already good conditions, and a further 18cm of snow is forecast for Monday.

In Tignes, conditions are still very good thanks to the cold weather and lovely sunshine this week but a top up of 14cm is forecast for Sunday, which should get heavier on Monday night.

Parts of Austria already had some snow this week, with the Piztal area receiving 15cm of snow and powder conditions can already be found across the whole resort. Whilst the weekend is forecast to be largely sunny, clouds will be gathering again by Tuesday when a further 13cm is expected, and Bad Gastein further East should also see 22cm fall by Tuesday.

In Italy, Selva Gardena received 8cm of fresh snow during the middle of the week, and a heavier band of snow is expected to move over the area on Monday night, bringing with it up to 20cm of fresh snow.

Back in the UK, snow fell across most of the Scottish ski resorts this week and the forecast is for temperatures to fall across Scotland over the weekend and more snow to fall from Friday onwards. Glencoe has 25cm of snow forecast and all of the other resorts are expecting at least 10cm.

So it looks like it might be time to put the sunglasses and sunscreen away for the time being, and get those goggles and fat skis back out by the front door.

Europe triumphs at Tignes Airwaves

More than 2000 spectators gathered in the Tignes to support freestyle skiers taking part in the 5th Tignes Airwaves event this weekend.

The freestyle skiing competition kicked off on Sunday with, for the first time at the event, the Riderscup. Inspired by the golfing competition, the contest saw North America take on Europe in the Big Air contest, followed by the half pipe competition yesterday.

Unlike other freestyle competitions, the Riderscup is based on team ranking. Team leaders Candide Thovex (Europe) and TJ Schiller (North America) each recruited 8 of the best riders, including one promising new talent.

Sunday's Big Air featured an 18ft high kicker which the competitors used to perform tricks and jumps to bag points. Canadian Ian Cosco did an impressive double‐cork 1,260° mute and North American captain, TJ Schiller, performed for the first time an amazing switch double cork 1,200° safety. The Europeans came out on top though and finsihed the day 4 points ahead of the Northern Americans.

Monday arrived and North America were looking to fight back in the Half Pipe, but unfortunately Ian Cosco, Mike Riddle and Josh Bibby were injured during the Big Air event and Half Pipe training.

European team were keen to prove their skill in the 412ft long half pipe. French Kevin Rolland took the lead with a superb cork 5 double mute when entering the copping and performed a crazy switch cork 7 mute to end his run.

Loïc Collomb‐Patton and Thomas Krief, the youngest of the team, also impressed the crowd and performed a fat 540°, a holly hoop flat spin 540°, a cork 900° and a switch 720°.

At the end of the day the results said it all and with 23 to North America's 11, the European team won a resounding victory and took the title of the very first Tignes Airwaves Riderscup.

The Tignes Airwaves event continues this week with the 4Cross today and then the Moguls and Ski Cross competitions on Wednesday and Thursday.