Epic Snows 'Round the World

Heavy snows in the Alps, the Rockies, the Sierra and totally unexpected places around the world too

Scotland-based Patrick “Snowhunter" Thorne, who keeps track of such things, has reported "once in a generation” snowfalls on Mau Son Mountain in Vietnam, a meteorological curiosity but not necessarily germane for skiers. In the United Arab Emirates, In the United Arab Emirates, snow also fell on the northern emirate of Ras al Khaimah's Jebel Jais range. Thorne noted that the “situation [is] so rare that the local dialect doesn't even have a word for it.” Crown Prince Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, who is planning an indoor snow center larger than the highly publicized Ski Dubai facility, visited the area to see real snow.

Closer to home, Mammoth Mountain, Calif., was inundated with five feet of snow over four days, and Steamboat reports has been slammed with powder-bearing storm after powder-bearing storm (42 inches out of the latest for a season total of 119 inches) and currently has an 80-plus-inch base. Steamboat (right) recorded 42 inches from this storm, bringing their season total to 229 inches (just over 19 feet). Crested Butte snagged inches for a season total to 202 inches. In this same late-January storm cycle, Aspen Highlands got 39 inches of new snow, Winter Park 35 inches, Silverton Mountain and Snowmass each 30 inches, Aspen Mountain 27 inches and Copper Mountain, Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort, and Loveland are each welcomed 26 inches of new snow. Even Eldora, just 22 miles from Boulder, got a rare 19 inches of fresh powder. New England is expecting such heavy snowfall out of a storm today (Wednesday) that schools in Main pre-emptorily closed.

But wait, there's more! Snowhunter reported epic snows in the Alps. Austria's powder champ was Nassfeld, with about four feet of snow in a week. The Axamer - Lizum above Innsbruck, far better known to American skiers, snared 14 inches. The report that the Mölltaler Glacier has the greatest snow depth in the country with just under 11 feet on upper slopes and German's Zugspitz Glacier in the Bavarian Alps got 11 inches, which is encouraging in light of the world's shrinking glaciers. Zermatt is Switzerland's seasonal snowfall leader with 18 inches from the most recent storm and a seasonal snow accumulation of 33 feet on the glacier. "Snowhunter" further reported that in northern Italy, Cortina d'Ampezzo got nearly three feet of snow, and Limone Piemonte 20 inches. Arabba Marmolada has the most snow Italy with 16 feet on the upper slopes. In France, where the World Alpine Ski Championships begin next week in Val d'Isère, Jean-Claude Killy's hometown, conditions are splendid -- though racers prefer hard, hard snow to powder.

The Pyrenees have also enjoyed abundant snow, including more than three feet at Baqueira/ Beret, Spain, and 20 inches in Andorra just this week, but as elsewhere, it comes with significant avalanche risk. “The snow depth and quality is excellent, but the risk of avalanche is high, and we are strongly advising our customers to stay on the marked pistes,” Vincent Doutres, lift company manager at Cauteret-Lys, told Snowhunter. Andorra expects to offer lift service until the first of May. In Scandinavia, Sweden received recent major winter storms, including something like 25 inches at Kungsberget. Ski Kungsberget! In Scotland, as unlikely a ski destination for North Americans as Scandinavia, all five ski areas are operation -- a rare occurance.

And if you are interested in conditions in places like Cauteret-Lys or Kungsberget, either because you like to ski places no other kid on your block has, or you just like to know about offbeat things, check out Snowhunter's site (www.skiinfo.com), which tracks conditions at something like 1,500 large and small ski areas.