Tag: snowbrains.com

Glacier skiing at Passo Stelvio. | Image: Julia Schneemann Italy’s Stelvio Glacier has suspended summer skiing until further notice, making it the latest Alpine glacier ski area to fall victim to a blistering summer heatwave in continental Europe. SIFAS announced on the resort’s website that skiing will stop from August 15 after persistent heat, a…

Figure 1. Average relative sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies (°C) for July 2026. Anomalies are computed with respect to the 1991-2020 base period monthly means. Data: OISSTv2.1. | Image: NOAA The El Niño ski season 2026-27 is shaping up to be historic, with a powerful El Niño is building rapidly in the Pacific Ocean. Forecasters…

The mayor Peillex forced the group to pay for a private helicopter. | Image: CMBH 32 mountaineers were forced to pay for their own helicopter evacuation from the Goûter Refuge on Mont Blanc in France after they continued their ascent despite warnings by mountain guides. The region had closed two mountain refuges on Mont Blanc…

Aerial view of Mammoth Mountain. | Photo: Ecosign Mammoth Mountain, California, is facing $126,000 in Cal/OSHA fines following an investigation into the December 2025 avalanche that killed ski patroller Cole Murphy. The investigation found three workplace safety violations, including one classified as a “willful” violation, as reported by SFGATE. Mammoth says it has corrected the…

The Sommeiller Glacier in its heyday. | Image: Torino Storia 20 years ago, the last remnants of one of Europe’s forgotten summer ski areas disappeared from a glacier high on the French-Italian border. The Sommeiller Glacier, above Bardonecchia in Italy’s Piedmont region, once offered an extraordinary proposition: skiing in the middle of summer at around…

Forecasters are gearing up for what could be a historic winter across North America, driven by a potential “super El Niño” event capable of reshaping storm tracks worldwide. In a long-range seasonal forecast published by OpenSnow, lead forecaster Alan Smith lays out a high-stakes outlook that hinges on a record-shattering ocean warming trend across the…

Summer construction of a new quad chairlift at 49 Degrees North. | Photo: 49 Degrees North Facebook 49 Degrees North, Washington, is making headway on the latest of its recent improvement projects. The Spokane-area independent ski resort is installing a currently unnamed Doppelmayr quad chair, which will service the beginner terrain areas of Gold Chute…

Looking for more than the classic chicken tenders and fries? | Photo Credit: Winston Foodservice After a long day of shredding the slopes, sometimes those overpriced chicken tenders and cardboard slices of pepperoni pizza at the mountainside cafeteria won’t cut it. Luckily enough, the appetite for a day of high-altitude escapades has created a robust…

A view of Corralco Resort on Lonquimay Volcano, Chile, in August 2026. | Photo: Cyrus Struckman El Niño is unleashing its wrath on Chile. The austral winter is full-on this year. Photojournalist Cyrus Struckman arrived in the Araucanía region of Chile’s southern zone a few weeks ago. He brought with him his telemark skis, his…

Conditions Report from Wednesday, August 12, 2026 Corralco makes its signature “Corralco sour” pisco sour drink with local piñion extract — the nuts from the giant araucaría dinosaur trees that have reptilian-like scales on their bark and razor sharp leaves that twist upwards in perfect fibonacci spirals. There’s nothing better than a Corralco sour after…