Saas-Balen is a ski area in Switzerland, at about 1,486 m. Its mapped area is about 0.4 km across, with 3 marked runs and 1 lift (about 2.5 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 314 cm of snowfall a season, 430th (tied) of 3,069 worldwide and 72nd 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 (203 cm). March still brings 85 cm on average, close to January, its snowiest month.
The nearest city of any size is Bern, about 92 km away. Below is a link to its official live camera.
Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear here once snow starts to fall. Until then, the long-run record comes first.
Elevation of the ski area’s centre point, taken from a digital elevation model. It is not the base-to-summit range.
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. Snow report on the official site ↗
How much snow it gets
Measured by us across 3,069 ski areas by one identical method. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Compared with what is nearby
Within 50 km straight line. Measured the same way, so the ranks compare directly. Ski areas a few kilometres apart share a weather grid cell and can return the same figure.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saas-Grund | 3.5 km | 303 cm | 466 |
| Grächen | 6.7 km | 316 cm | 423 |
| Staldenried - Gspon | 7.8 km | 314 cm | 430 |
| Saas Fee | 8.1 km | 294 cm | 503 |
| Saas-Almagell | 8.2 km | 294 cm | 503 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 96% 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.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 314 cm, and 8 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2016/17 with 203 cm; the biggest was 2017/18 with 538 cm (2.7 times as much). For 47% of the 283 ski areas in Switzerland, the leanest winter was the same 2016/17: bad winters tend to hit a whole region at once.
Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.
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.
Run map
The shape of the mountain
Which way the slopes face
72% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. Those slopes get the least sun, so the snow lasts longer.
By difficulty
Lift types
- Platter1
Source: OpenSkiMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Vertical is the difference between the highest and lowest points of the mapped runs and lifts.
Live Cameras
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Map
Where it sits relative to nearby resorts. For a piste map, see the official site.
Official piste map ↗More places to look
Guides covering Switzerland
- Everywhere on Earth You Climb for Snow. Japan Is the One Place You Drive Toward the Sea. 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.
- A Black Run in Colorado and a Black Run in Austria Are Not the Same Thing. The Maps Prove It. Across 2,888 ski areas: 39% of American runs are graded advanced or harder, and 9% of Austrian ones. Nobody thinks Austria is four times gentler. The grades are measuring different things.
- How Much Does Snowfall Change From One Winter to the Next? Country by Country Over twelve winters, the typical Japanese ski area's best winter was 2.3 times its worst. In Italy and Chile it was 4.6 times, in New Zealand 4.2. Canada, Finland and Sweden come out steadier than Japan.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52