Desperately needed snow has fallen daily across the Alps this week. But high freezing levels have meant rain below 1900m.

Fresh snow has enabled 160 lifts to open in the Portes du Soleil. The upper slopes in French Courchevel (57-105cm), Les Arcs (58-165cm) and Val d'Isère (80-132cm, waist-deep powder) have improved greatly, but elsewhere (e.g. La Clusaz, 10-100cm) high winds closed all lifts.

Swiss Saas Fee (29-245cm) has impressive depth while resorts in Bernese Oberland (0-40cm) still hope to open this weekend. Austrian Obertauern (65-90cm) has 20 lifts working while Lech/Zuers (45-65cm) have 52 open lifts.

Scottish skiing is better after recent snowfalls with four out of five resorts opening this weekend. Vail (Colorado, 0-48cm) and Taos (New Mexico, 114cm) lead the US. Canadian Banff (70-92cm) and Whistler (119cm) have little new snow but still offer good skiing.

With freezing levels set to drop to around 900/1000m Alpine resorts are set to get more snow today and at the weekend. The best will be in France and Switzerland with French Val Thorens expecting 46cm of new snow and Swiss Zermatt 39cm. Austrian Lech and Zuers expect 22cm. Visibility will be poor so double-lensed goggles are recommended by the Ski Club of Great Britain. With such a wet base skiers must heed local avalanche warnings about off-piste skiing until the new snow stabilises.