Event managers could be forgiven for choosing the dates for their next corporate ski trip by spinning a bottle. The certainties of mid-season dates evaporated this year and whilst Austria boasted the best snow in the Alps (as it almost always does), the cloudless skies were miserly with the powder skiing days.
It’s snowing … a lot
Snow levels over the easter weekend fell to around 1300m around Innsbruck with some of the very best snow of the winter to be found on the Tirolean glaciers and the high-altitude resorts of Ischgl, Obergurgl, Sölden and St Anton. Even resorts such as Axamer Lizum, just above Innsbruck saw some epic April powder conditions. The coming days are set to bring more snow and cold weather.
April / spring skiing
It is business as usual in the bigger and higher ski resorts of Austria – all lifts running and pretty much the full complement of pistes are available. The Easter crowds are now heading home, leaving superb snow conditions to enjoy for the remainder of the ski season. Season dates vary but Ischgl will operate until early May and the glaciers beyond that.
Temperatures fluctuate greatly at this time of the year but for those in the Tirol over the weekend, the stars aligned and the breaks in the cloud revealed a powder bounty that felt like a distant memory at times this winter.