Informative Ski Reports and Other Ski Links
2024-25 Season Progress Report as of November 10, 2024
Prior Progress Report
October 31, 2024
Past Season Summaries
In November 2007 I expanded my analysis of El Nino/La Nina, now updated through 2022-23:
El Nino Defined and Ski Areas Favored by El Nino
Ski Areas Favored by La Nina
Ski Areas Indifferent to El Nino/La Nina
El Nino 2015-16: A Non-Event for North American Skiing?
Season summaries for every season since 1968-69 are available in my
Detail Package.
Since 1996 I have accumulated an extensive list of links. Those
I consider unusually informative are in italics. While I
recheck most of them each fall, I welcome any feedback on broken links, obsolete
sites, etc.
General Internet Ski Links
Skier-Submitted Eyewitness Reports
Current and Predicted Weather
Direct Links to Area and Region Ski
Reports
The Westwide Avalanche
Network was run by Knox Williams through 1995. The October 1995 Powder article and this website would not have been possible without
Knox's cooperation in providing about half of my data. Westwide
administration changed in the summer of 1995 and their data is
unfortunately no longer timely nor publicly available. Knox
Williams continued to operate the Colorado Avalanche Information
Center through 2005 but CAIC has no resources to gather data outside
Colorado.
For General Internet Ski Links, I
recommend the following:
- On The Snow
is the most popular general purpose ski site, run by Mountain News Corp, a Vail subsidiary from May 2010 - October 2020.
- SkiNet is the site of SKI
and SKIING Magazines. They have a search engine which retrieves
back articles they have published on the browser submitted topic.
This is also a good source for recent news in the ski industry.
SkiNet's archive contains
my historical analysis of early season snow conditions.
- Real Skiers
contains Jackson Hogen's informative equipment reviews, which were formerly
done by Peter Keelty in Inside
Tracks
- SkiResort.info
is probably the most comprehensive survey site of the world's ski areas. Areas are grouped by
country and often subregion with maps showing ski area locations. Basic info such as vertical range,
trail mileage and usually a trail map is also provided.
- Curbed Ski: Insider Intelligence for the Great North American Ski Towns
has interesting articles about numerous North American ski resorts.
- SnowBrains is based in Tahoe but covers snowsports
activities all over the world.
- First Tracks
Online Ski Magazine, has extensive features on a wide range of topics and interactive forums.
Skier-Submitted Eyewitness Reports
- The Southland Ski Server pioneered this concept for southern California and
Mammoth / June and had an extensive library of reports since
1994-95. Activity on this site declined after its El Nino 1998 peak and
particularly since 2001. The original administrator closed the site in late 2007.
It was revived including archives for several more years but with minimal new content
it eventually was shut down. I have posted
49 of my own reports from January 1996 through February 2003.
- First Tracks
Online Ski Magazine No-Bull Ski Reports accepts skier submitted
reports from anywhere, many with pictures. Historically about 90%
of their reports were from the East, but since 2004-05 reports most reports
are from the West. My own reports with pictures have been posted here
since 2003.
- EpicSki.com was a leading ski forum from 1999-2017
with 55,000 registered users and a wealth of information about ski instruction and gear as
well as resorts and travel. It was purchased by Mountain News Corp, a Vail subsidiary, in 2012
because the "epic" URL could have potentially been related to EpicPass, EpicMix, etc. For 4+
years Vail neither interfered with nor invested in the EpicSki Forum. When EpicSki's
software platform Huddler was phased out by its owner Wikia, Vail chose to shut down the
EpicSki Forum on May 12, 2017 rather than migrate it it to a new software platform. _____
- Teton Gravity Research
has lively forums that include trip reports. It is often the best souce of eyewitness
info from the Southern Hemisphere during our summer.
Epic and TGR were the most active general purpose ski forums for over a decade, with TGR
being a younger and "edgier" crowd.
I encourage skiers to submit reports to these sites, as
they become more informative as their databases grow. I would also
be interested in being notified by e-mail of any other skier-submitted
report sites, so I can include their links here. For some
inspiration, check out the Powder Archive of
Online Skier Submitted Reports.
Daily snowfall data from selected resorts has enabled me to model the frequency of days with 6+
inches new snow.
What is the Probability of a Powder Day? also analyzes
the range of probable powder days over a one week vacation.
Snow Conditions
Online snow reports since 2000 have enabled me to construct Snow Conditions Charts.
As of November 2008 the charts include an adjustment for powder incidence.
Weather Forecasts - U.S. and North America Maps
National Weather Service Regional and Local Radar
Weather Forecasts - Ski Area Predictions
- Snow Forecast
is based in England and utilizes computer generated data to produce snow and
temperature prediction maps for 9 ski regions in North America plus
other mountain ranges all over the world. For each region, there
are color coded maps of past 7 days, past 3 days and next 3 days predicted.
There are also prediction maps in 6 hour intervals with freezing
elevation lines displayed.
- Snow Forecast (without the hyphen)
has narrative day-by-day predictions for the next week for numerous ski areas across
North America.
-
Powderchasers is a narrative summary for the western U.S.
of the best ski areas for powder predictions over the next 7-10 days
Ski Area and Region Web Pages are primarily
intended to be detailed marketing brochures, with online travel
booking likely to be common in the near future. However, many do
have daily snow and weather reports buried within their extensive
sites. Below are some which I have browsed and consider useful. In
the early season it is very desirable to see percentages of lifts
and terrain available. The links below go directly to the html
file with the ski report. I review these links each November,
and I would like to be informed by e-mail about any good ski report web
sites which I may have missed or lost.
There are numerous sites which provide within each country, state or
province the usual data of base depths and new snow. I
have most often used
SnoCountry Reports. Similar info can be found at
On The Snow. The latter site no longer
contains historical calendars with daily new snowfall amounts on its resort pages.
- Open Snow has emerged over the past decade as the premier
weather forecasting source in North America for skiers.
Daily narrative forecasts by meteorologists familiar with their local mountain microclimates
are the unique value here. Individual ski area pages
contain determistic predictions up to 10 days forward for subscribers. Subscribers can also access
historical calendars of daily snowfall as were formerly found at OnTheSnow.
California
Pacific Northwest
Canadian Rockies and Interior B. C.
U. S. Northern Rockies
Utah
Northern and Central Colorado
Southern and Western Colorado
Northeast
European Ski Information
- Ski Club of
Great Britain is usually the most timely source for snow conditions in
the Alps. It contains weekly base depth charts (late Nov.-mid-Apr.)
at upper and lower elevations for the past 7 seasons for many
resorts. By late December or January there will be many Ski Rep
reports coming from designated representatives living in various
resorts.
- Weather to Ski is the
brainchild of Fraser Wilkins, who is in many respects my counterpart
in the Alps in terms of collecting snowfall data and analyzing snow
conditions. Fraser rates resorts in the Alps for snow reliability,
posts in-season recommendations and has season analyses of the past
several years in the Alps.
- Where to Ski and
Snowboard is the website of the excellent British ski book of the same name.
It contains more detail on the Alps than the Rockies, and is the only travel book
I have seen which analyzes snow reliability in the Alps. The website is less detailed
than the book.
- WePowder is a detailed snow
forecasting site for the Alps.
Japan Ski Information
SnowJapan Now! Reporting has daily reports
and lots of background information about Japan's major ski resorts.
For the off season, don't forget the
Southern Hemisphere
- Australian Snow Info. Australian snow
conditions are very erratic, not unlike Southern California, though
the resorts are somewhat larger. This web site is very well done,
and features a graphic consolidation of skier submitted
reports.
- New Zealand Snow. New
Zealand has much more than Australia to offer in terms of both
terrain and snow conditions, including glacier and heliskiing. The
web site contains area descriptions, locations on a map of New
Zealand, snow reports and several trail maps.
- With the demise of Chris Lizza's South America Ski Guide, general
information is provided mainly by tour operators. Of these, I find the
most informative site is SouthAmericaSki.com
Lift serviced terrain is much more expansive than in the
South Pacific, and at many resorts Andes snow quality is better with the
Colorado-like altitude. Snow quantity is huge with El Nino (500+
inches at Portillo in 1997), but drought is severe in La Nina years
(Las Lenas, the most famous expert resort, never opened in 1998).
For reports of conditions during the season, check AndesWeb.
- During our summer months the On The Snow Report Index
Page
summarizes most Southern Hemisphere resorts plus a few Northern
Hemisphere areas which offer summer glacier skiing.
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