A weather-model figure, worked out the same way for every ski area, and lower than what actually falls. Use it to compare ski areas, not against the resort’s own totals. How we measure →
Snow 24h
0 cm
Next 24h
0 cm
Temperature
3°C
Max wind
4 km/h
Elevation
1,620–2,863 m
Across
5.8 km
Updated: 10 Nov 2026, 12:15
We do not show a snow depth here. The weather model we use reports snow lying on the ground — it knows nothing about grooming or snowmaking, and it is not the base depth a ski area publishes. In Japan we can check our figures against 234 weather stations. Outside Japan there is nothing to check them against, so we do not print a number we have not verified.
7-day outlook
Date
Weather
Snow (cm)
Low / high (°C)
Wind (km/h)
Tue 10 Nov
Showers
0
2 to 4
5
Wed 11 Nov
Showers
0
3 to 4
5
Thu 12 Nov
Rain
0
1 to 3
7
Fri 13 Nov
Rain
0
−1 to 3
6
Sat 14 Nov
Cloudy
0
−4 to 3
9
Sun 15 Nov
Cloudy
0
−2 to 2
18
Mon 16 Nov
Snow
6
−3 to 2
18
Score breakdown
Fresh (48h)0/40
Forecast (24h)0/25
Snow quality0/20
Wind10/10
Base2/5
The five add up to the 100-point Powder Score: more fresh snow, more on the way and colder air all push it up. How we measure
Grächen, in Switzerland, runs from 1,620 m at the base to 2,863 m at the top. Its mapped area is about 5.8 km across, with 32 marked runs and 15 lifts (about 17 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 316 cm of snowfall a season, 423rd (tied) of 3,069 worldwide and 69th in Switzerland. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2017/18 (538 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2016/17 (198 cm). March still brings 85 cm on average, close to January, its snowiest month.
The nearest city of any size is Bern, about 86 km away in a straight line.
Runs and lifts
Counted from the runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Marked runs
32
Run length
17km
Lifts
15
Vertical
1,243m
Top 2,863 m · base 1,620 m
Run map
EasyIntermediateAdvancedLift
North is up. Runs are coloured by difficulty; black lines are lifts.Slope shape, difficulty and lift types
The shape of the mountain
Longest run on the map2.8 km
Steepest pitch27°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs11.4°
Which way the slopes face
North37%
East1%
South9%
West52%
Only 38% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. The most common direction is west (52%).
The most snow falls in January. March brings 93% of January’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in Switzerland (76%). In amount, March brings 85 cm, more than the median of 60 cm.
80cmDec
91cmJan
61cmFeb
85cmMar
Average snowfall by month, last 12 winters
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 316 cm, and 8 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2016/17 with 198 cm; the biggest was 2017/18 with 538 cm (2.7 times as much).
Across 3,069 ski areas we measure, height and snowfall move together — +0.58 in France, +0.85 in Germany. In Japan the figure is +0.02. The reason is not that elevation stopped working.