There has been up to a foot of new snow at ski resorts in Austria and Switzerland ahead of the final weekend of the winter for more resorts in those countries and other parts of Europe. Still open ski areas in Scotland, Scandinavia and the US have also reported new snow, as have resorts in Australia where the start of the 2010 southern hemisphere ski season is only five weeks away.

About 50 ski areas remain open in 12 countries in the northern hemisphere although this weekend will mark the end of skiing for 2009–10 in France with the last three resorts – Chamonix, Tignes and Val Thorens closing their lifts and runs for the last time this ‘winter’ after the season ends on Sunday.

However Tignes, along with Val d’Isere and les 2 Alpes, will re-open for summer skiing in late June.

Austria currently has the most ski areas open with six glacier ski centres and it is these that have seen the new snow, along with recently opened Norwegian summer ski areas like Folgefonn, which www.skiinfo.co.uk reports has started its summer snow season with a four metre base and a big dump of fresh snow on top.

In Switzerland Engelberg and Zermatt have also seen new snow while over in the US Mt Bachelor in Oregon has reported another six inches in recent days. Other US resorts still open include Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, Snowbird in Utah and Mammoth and Squaw Valley in California, although the latter will close on Sunday after its final day and famous Lake Cushing Pond Skimming contest.

North of the border Whistler and Mt Sunshine at Banff are still open in Canada.

Closer to home, CairnGorm Mountain above Aviemore in Scotland, is open at weekends through May. It received fresh snow last weekend and is expecting more snow showers over the coming weekend as temperatures are remaining low for the sixth consecutive month.