J2Ski Snow Report - July 31st 2025
J2Ski Snow Report - July 31st 2025
Published : 31-Jul-2025 06:27
Falls Creek, Victoria, Australia, earlier this week...
Heavy snowfall returned to southern hemisphere ski regions — boosting bases in Australia, Argentina, and Chile — while fresh summer snow also fell on high slopes in the Alps and North America, keeping a few northern lifts running despite record warmth elsewhere.
The Snow Headlines - July 31st
- Heavy snowfall and gale-force winds in Australia take more centres past the 1m base mark.
- Snowfall in summer reported in high slopes in the Tahoe region.
- Big snowfalls at last in Argentina, with more for Chile too.
- More summer snowfall high in the Alps with rain on lower slopes hitting summer activities.
See where the snow is forecast.
Re-publication :- the J2Ski Snow Report Summary, being the text above this line, is free to re-publish, but must be clearly credited to www.J2ski.com with text including "J2Ski Snow Report" linked to this page - thank you.
World Overview
Winter has returned with force to much of the southern hemisphere's mountains, bringing fresh snow and storms after a mid-July lull. The Andes welcomed overdue snowfall—especially Chile and snow-starved Argentinian resorts—while Australia's already strong season got another boost with up to 60cm more snowfall there. In New Zealand, skiers are making the most of the latest dump.
In the northern hemisphere, despite peak summer and record warmth in places like the Finnish Arctic, glimpses of winter persist at altitude. Alpine glaciers, Canadian highlands, and even peaks in Lake Tahoe saw fresh snow this week. Skiing remains possible at five glacier areas in the Alps and Scandinavia, with a couple of lifts still spinning in the Western US.
Southern Hemisphere
Australia
Australian slopes had another strong week, with 30–60cm of fresh snow pushing base depths past a metre at more centres (including Falls Creek and Hotham) and triggering wider terrain openings. The only downside was extreme winds that briefly shut some lifts - gusts reached 200kph at Mount Buller and over 150kph elsewhere.
"The entire village has transformed into a true alpine wonderland, said Betony Pitcher, Falls Creek's Field Marketing Manager, on Monday after the resort reached a 51cm storm total with snow still falling. She added, "It's like stepping into a snow globe right now, and the resort is in great condition with 100% of lifts spinning and a huge offering of progression-perfect terrain for all abilities. From mellow greens to steep blacks, every turn is riding beautifully. Groomers have been laying down pristine corduroy, while off-piste areas are filling in with each flake that falls."
With more terrain opening, Hotham hit full lift operation for the first time this season with all lifts spinning, although Perisher still has the most terrain open with 75% of its slopes and officially opened its new highest chairlift.
The snowfall eased off later on Monday/Tuesday, but temps have remained cold and with freezing nights down as low as -7C, daytime highs up to +5°C. Similar conditions are expected for the coming weekend.
New Zealand
It's been a week of snow showers and sunny spells with some strong northerly winds thrown in for good measure.
South Island resorts are enjoying their best week yet, with Mount Hutt leading the pack with its base at over a metre from top to bottom now and over 95% of its terrain open.
Cardrona, Coronet Peak, and The Remarkables are close behind, each with 80–90% of their terrain open now. Smaller Mt Dobson is 100% open, but Temple Basin and Mt Lyford remain closed, awaiting fresh snowfall.
On the North Island, progress remains slower, though there's been some snowfall and snowmaking: Turoa now has just over 10% of their terrain open but Whakapapa still has less than 5%.
Argentina
After, to be honest, a fairly lacklustre first month or so of the season, except in the far south of the country, Argentina's ski areas have finally had some of the big dumps they've been waiting for this week as heavily moisture-laden fronts have swept across the country's mountains.
So some big 50cm+ (20"+) dumps have been reported, and resorts have finally been able to open more than the 5-25% of terrain they had managed so far. The only downside is it has not been that cold, so some lower slopes have been rained on or sleeted rather than snowed on in recent days, although it does drop below freezing at all levels overnight, and it has got cooler through the week.
Southerly Cerro Castor continues to post a more 'normal' winter, the snow lying nearly a metre deep and more than 75% of its terrain open even before the latest snowfall arrived.
Chile
It has been quite a week for Chile too, with some big precipitation events, particularly for its more southerly ski resorts again, like Nevados de Chillan.
Further north, it has been drier, but still base depths are good, and most terrain remains open at ski areas like Portillo and Valle Nevado.
The latter announced at the weekend that its 2025 heliskiing season was now able to get underway.
The only downside to the often big snowfalls has been with daytime highs at base levels still reaching +8 or +9C, some of it has been landing as sleet or rain on lower runs at times. Overnight lows are back below freezing though.
Lesotho
After last week's cloud and dusting of natural snowfall, we've been back to clear skies and non-stop daytime sunshine in Lesotho.
Afriski reports its main slope is still fully open and in good shape as we reach the start of its final month of the season. Temperatures have continued to get well below freezing overnight, generally to -5C but sometimes as low as -10C. More sunshine is forecast for the coming week.
Northern Hemisphere
The Alps
A week of very mixed weather in the Alps with plenty of centres forced to close summer activities (hiking and biking) as heavy rain and low cloud impacted their operations.
The good news (for winter sports enthusiasts, at least) is that high slopes up above 3,000m have seen more summer snowfall, so once safe to run lifts, there's actually been some fresh snow to ski on at the four glacier areas currently open.
Saas-Fee has the deepest snowpack in the Alps at present, at 2 metres (also the deepest in the world in fact), whilst Hintertux is posting marginally the most terrain open, nearly 20km of slopes still.
The Matterhorn Glacier Paradise slopes above Zermatt and Cervinia are also open, as is Italy's Passo Stelvio.
Scandinavia
There have been some very warm temperatures in Scandinavia over the past week, with Finland reporting record warmth for much of the latter half of July. However, so far, the region's highest slopes at Galdhøpiggen in Norway remain open.
Overnight lows have stayed at or just above freezing, and daytime highs hit +10C with the weather a mix of sunshine and showers. The showers, unfortunately, mostly rain, but there have been a few fresh snow flurries.
It looks like conditions will be similar for the first week of August, too.
USA
Despite soaring midsummer temperatures across much of North America, fresh snowfall has made brief appearances at several (closed) ski areas this week.
Resorts around Lake Tahoe, including Northstar, saw a light dusting of wet snow over the weekend. Marmot Basin near Jasper in Canada also saw fresh snow on high slopes, remarkably exactly one year after devastating wildfires swept through the town.
Currently, Oregon's Timberline remains the only open North American resort offering lift-served skiing, with just over 2km of terrain open and best conditions early in the day, as you'd expect.
Colorado's Copper Mountain continues to operate its hike-accessed terrain park on weekends, though weekday access is limited to Woodward Camp participants. More sun, no snow, forecast for the coming week.
Join the conversation : Discuss this in the J2Ski Forum
This news item has been viewed 2,624 times.
Also on J2Ski :- Breuil-Cervinia Snow Forecast Ski Hotels Ski Hire Ski Holidays