A new £47m combined rail, bus and gondola station has opened at the Swiss ski area of Fiesch, which sits below Europe’s largest glacier, Aletsch. The new three-level facility sees buses arrive at the base level, trains on the mid-level and an all new state-of-the-art 10 seat-cabin gondola departing from the top level to the ski slopes.  With the floors inter-connected by lifts and escalators it makes for a seamless connection from Switzerland’s famously comfortable and efficient rail and bus network to the slopes.  All facilities have been designed to ensure accessibility for disabled visitors. The project involved rail operator the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn moving Fiesch’s main railway station 400 metres north of the old station’s site. The new gondola

Issued: 11 December 2019 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne With 20 to 30cm of fresh snow Spain’s Baqueira Beret in the Pyreneees now has 156 km (97 miles) of piste skiable with 60 to 90 cm of snow lying and 33 lifts operating – one of the biggest areas already open in the world. Beware though the fresh snow has pushed the avalanche risk off piste up to 3 on the scale to 5. INTRODUCTION EUROPE It has been a fairly quiet week for most ski areas in Europe in terms of fresh snow with nearly two weeks since the last big snowfall; however, it has been snowing in the Alps again in the past few days and more heavy snow

This week has started with heavy snowfall in much of the Alps after a fortnight with little or no fresh snow. Snowfall totals of up to 70cm (28 inches) in 24 hours were reported on Monday/Tuesday transforming conditions after two weeks with little fresh snow in most areas. Prior to the snowfall runs were getting hard packed with the best of the skiing above about 1800 metres, the new snow has brought fresh cover at altitude and snow cover down into lower mountain valleys reaching traditional village resorts. The Gstaad ski area in Switzerland posted the biggest snowfall total with several other Swiss areas reporting more than 60cm (two feet) of snow in 24 hours. In Austria the biggest accumulation

As we start December and the start of the ‘main ski season’ is less than a fortnight away, the battle for attention between ski areas switches from which are the first to open to which has the most terrain open this early in the winter? In Austria Ischgl prides itself on its long season running from late November to early May but also makes great efforts to ensure it has a big ski area open from day one, shared with Swiss neighbour Samnuan – when many of the big ski areas that are open perhaps only have 10% of their terrain skiable in the first week of December. How much Ischgl can open varies from year to year depending on

One North American ski area has now reported over a metre of snowfall this week. Powder Mountain, in Utah, reports 102cm (41 inches) of fresh snow and it opens for winter 2019-20 tomorrow! Issued: 04 December 2019 By Patrick "Snowhunter" Thorne INTRODUCTION December began with heavy snowfall in both Europe and North America.  For the Alps this was simply 'more of the same' after a very snowy November 2019. For North America, particularly the west where most of the snow had fallen, it was quite a relief after a mostly dry November. The snowfall in the Alps was heaviest again in the west and south with less snow further east.  This picture was mirrored to some extent in the US,