I was just thinking about something I wrote in another thread, what (if anything) does the direction facing of a resort mean for it's quality of snow? Is one facing north generally going to get better snow than one facing south? I know there will be more to it like altitude and stuff, but...

Forgive my silly question.

South faces get sun all day so snow gets warm and heavy fast. On north faces the snow is usually better and could stay dry longer even in a sunny day because they don't get too much sun.

In the N Hemisphere.

Reverse under the equator.

true

We always like to go to resorts that have slopes facing a range of directions so that you can make themost of - or avoid prevailing conditions esp wind.

Sometimes you might want some sun - eg after a warm day and an overnite freeze, a little sun to soften up the ice is good. Or if there is a 90 kp gale blowing from the west, it is really nice to be in the lee of the mountain on an East facing slope.

Nth facing slopes definitely get less direct sunlight but they will often be more exposed to the prevailing weather systems. The treeline will normally be lower on the northern slopes also so there is less protection from winds. The best slopes for snow are generally the lee slopes from the prevailing wind.

For late-season snow (after March), a South-facing slope would be advantageous since the settled, icy snow will tend to soften up by mid-day. This would be the general case for anywhere where the temperature goes above freezing in the day allowing for melt, then drops below at night and stuff refreezes. Given the same snow conditions, a Northern slope will tend to stay hard all day and be unpleasant to ride on.

Yep. Sun melts snow.

When the snow is dumping regularly and the temperature is constantly below freezing, then just find a slope that is on the leeward side of the mountains. Windward side would get windscour and the nice, happy powdery snow will go away, especially in strong winds.

In places where they don't get that much snow, like Eastern US and Canada, southern exposures are full of ice and rocks pretty much all winter. Resorts advertise their northern exposure.

Thanks for all that people, interesting.

That would explain Iwappara then!

Iwappara particularly bad?

I don't think so. The resort is usually open until early/mid April also. The top part get a lot of snow. Of course place like Kagura is better snow but Iwappara is not bad I don't think.