Snow Report: At last, hefty snows arrive to cover the Alpine resorts

There are superb conditions across the Alps after substantial snowfall last week in France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria. In North America, the best snow can be found in Colorado.

Pitztal and Sölden received the most snow in Austria, where between 28cm and 35cm refreshed the slopes. Austria is expecting slightly less snow than other European resorts this week, with clear and sunny days in the forecast.

In France, the Trois Vallées, Tignes, Val d'Isère and resorts in the Portes du Soleil all saw conditions improve last week with heavy snowfall on Tuesday and Wednesday. Les Gets was hit by 27cm on Tuesday and Les Saisies enjoyed 30cm on the same day. The snow is forecast to keep falling with consistent cloud cover all week. Alpe d'Huez, Argentière and La Plagne are all expecting more than half a metre.

Heavy snow at Swiss resorts on 14 January has greatly improved conditions. The most snow fell at Leysin – an impressive 60cm on 15 January. More snow is expected throughout Switzerland this week with Zermatt anticipating around 70cm.

Heavy snowfall made for excellent skiing In Italy. Madesimo and Macugnaga experienced 40cm to 60cm falls last wednesday. There was also massive snowfall at Bardonecchia on Thursday, with up to 60cm of fresh powder. Cervinia in Aosta reported white-out conditions. Italy will continue to receive good snow with most resorts forecast half a metre over the coming week.

Conditions are improving in Andorran resorts too, with a light dusting of snow in Grandvalira and the Vallnord region this week. There was 5cm of new snow on Tuesday at Pas de la Casa and Soldeu. Pal/Arinsal and Arcalis also received a few centimetres of fresh snow on Tuesday and heavy cloud cover over the following two days indicated that more could be on the way.

Norway has finally had a decent dump of snow – Trysil reported 25cm on Thursday.

It's been a relatively dry week in Canada and the US after a very snowy weekend. Colorado still boasts the best snow in America after a good start to 2014. Further north, there has been light snow at most Canadian resorts where there is generally excellent snow coverage.

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