Spring skiing has its devotees: sunshine, terraces, “carpet” snow in mid-morning, and rates that fall. It also has its disappointments — low runs closed, slush from 11 am, returns to the village by gondola. The difference between the two can be measured, and we measure it: for each resort matched to a Météo-France station, our pages give, fortnight by fortnight, the average depth on the ground and the share of days at 30 cm or more. The fortnight of 1 to 15 April is the one that counts here.
What the stations above 2,000 metres say
At that altitude, April is not the end of the season. At La Plagne, at the Météo-France station on its page (La Plagne, 1,980 m), share of days at 30 cm or more in the first fortnight of April: 98%; average depth on the ground: 122 cm (complete winters measured: 41). Above Val Thorens, at the station on its page (Orelle, 2,356 m), average depth on the ground in the same fortnight: 141 cm; for comparison, in the second fortnight of December: 79 cm — that high up, the April snowpack is usually deeper than the Christmas one.
The rule is simple: an area whose runs are mostly above 2,000 m skis in April as in February, only warmer. Tignes, Val-d’Isère, Val Thorens, the top of Les Menuires, the top of La Plagne, Arc 2000, Les Deux Alpes on the glacier, Alpe d’Huez on its high runs.
What the aspects say
Between two resorts at the same altitude, it is the aspect that decides in April. Our pages measure, from the fall line of each run, the share of north-, east-, south- and west-facing slopes.
Gourette, in the Pyrenees, skis almost entirely north-facing: a mid-altitude area (bottom of the runs: 1,351 m, top: 2,453 m) that keeps its snow far later than its altitude would suggest. The Col de Porte, Combelouvière, Les Monts d’Olmes are in the same case.
Conversely, La Rosière, facing due south first and foremost, and Chaillol are sunshine resorts: perfect in January, to be skied in the morning in April.
The mid-mountain surprises
You expect little from the mid-mountains in April, and are usually right. But not everywhere: in the Massif Central, the Sancy some years keeps its snow until mid-April on the north side of Super-Besse; in the Pyrenees, the Aure valley — Piau-Engaly — receives late-season easterly returns that reload the snowpack. The pages say, winter by winter, whether it held.
How to read the pages for April
Three blocks, in order. The “1-15 April” fortnight in the measured-snow table: its average depth and share of days at 30 cm or more. The worst winter in the series: it says what happens one year in ten. The resort’s season dates, once published: a resort closing on 12 April does not ski on the 20th, whatever the snow.
And one principle: the full price is not April’s price. Lists switch to low season, accommodation too — the same week often costs 30 % less than in February, for snow that, up high, is worth no less.
The table below is our spring skiing guide: the resorts whose station measures at least 30 cm on the ground most days of the first fortnight of April.
