 Poster: A snowHead
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@foxtrotzulu, well, maybe. To a point, Argentiere "doesn't" have any lifts. You can't, for example, get an "Argentiere" lift pass. You have to get a Chamonix Valley one. By a similar argument, Les Houches "does" have lifts as you can buy a Les Houches lift pass - and so I think that kind of delineates things. In my mind anyway. I wouldn't expect an Argentiere lift opening search to find me anything. Likewise, Argentiere doesn't even have its own first page on google website.
@Boris, do you mean Xmas 2011 or winter season 2011? Although looking through the few I have from winter season 2011 there was loads of snow around Monterosa.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@under a new name, I presumed he meant 10/11 as he referred to Easter, which was indeed dire.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I'm just back from a lovely weekend in Lech. The weekend was made even better by the snow being much better than we expected based on all the doom and gloom in the press.
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@foxtrotzulu, probably not. Currently skiing so will check when I get home.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I'd love to know how Club Med dealt with their 1200 clients* that were booked for this week in Serre Chevalier as they decided not to open only within the last two weeks ???
And at least a fair amount of Serre is open, but you can not ski back down to Club Med.
Now that would make a good story.............
I was told €3,000 for this week
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No we're not talking about the same article. This is the article I was referring to.
The one point I would make about the article that you linked to is that it was published on 30 November, perhaps written the previous day, and that's pretty early to be committing to stories of doom about a season which was still a couple of weeks away from opening. You could have easily written the same story in November of 2011, 2012 and 2013 and ended up being completely wrong about the actual conditions in the first week of the season.
As you can see in the article I linked to, photos are all library stock (including one from the summer!) and throughout the article the very worst case examples are cited. On the day that the article appeared I was in Les Arcs skiing pretty decent conditions in the Arc 2000 bowl. The previous week I was skiing perfect piste conditions in Val Thorens, and even one half-decent off-piste day. That same week I had friends skiing extremely good conditions in Hintertux, but at no point did the DM attempt to bring just a little bit of balance to their story, perhaps by saying that unseasonably warm temperatures had meant many slopes were still without snow but the was some good skiing at altitude in a number of resorts.
Just one question: can you remember the Daily Mail, or any of the nationals for that matter, reporting with the headline "Conditions in Euro ski resorts way better than average; everyone having a great time"...? I can't, most probably because it doesn't fit their typical narrative of things are always worse than usual.
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@rob@rar,
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The one point I would make about the article that you linked to is that it was published on 30 November, perhaps written the previous day, and that's pretty early to be committing to stories of doom about a season which was still a couple of weeks away from opening. You could have easily written the same story in November of 2011, 2012 and 2013 and ended up being completely wrong about the actual conditions in the first week of the season.
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But this is precisiely my point. It was a SH who kicked off a thread with the title "This season is DOOMED (says the Daily Mail)" - It never said any such thing or even close to it. All it said was "Lack of snow threatens to disrupt start of Austrian ski season (and travel plans for thousands of Brits) as unseasonably warm weather leaves slopes bare" - The rest of the article built on that theme. The DM was inaccurately bullish with a promise of fresh snow that never materialised. It never said anything about the season as a whole, just that the start was threatened. In that it was 100% accurate.
With regard to the other article, the one you were talking about, I think you have to remember this is not meant to be a snow report. It does very clearly say that SOME resorts / some slopes etc. lack snow. You can't really expect it to bang on about all the places there is snow. In the same way, when one aeroplane crashes you hardly expect them to talk about all the other aeroplanes that didn't crash.
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Just one question: can you remember the Daily Mail, or any of the nationals for that matter, reporting with the headline "Conditions in Euro ski resorts way better than average; everyone having a great time"...? I can't, most probably because it doesn't fit their typical narrative of things are always worse than usual.
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I can certainly remember the nationals reporting bumper snowfalls. It's not a question of whether it fits their narrative, it's a question of whether it is news. If you had huge snowfalls in July and everyone was skiing then it would certainly make the news. You're right in suggesting that newspapers are sensationalist, but that's what their audiences want. 'Normal' news isn't really news. "Stop Press!!! Train arrives on time" - People aren't going to bother buying/reading that.
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@foxtrotzulu, I'd just like their reporting to make some attempt at balance rather than their usual bias to sensationalism. In the grand scheme of things a snow report is hardly important, but I see the same bias to sensationalism and distortion on issues which are genuinely important. I have very little respect for the media, especially the press. The public might be interested in sensationalism, but it's not in the public interest.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Boris wrote: |
| @red 27, err 2011 snowed before Xmas and then never again. Les Arcs at Easter was dire, everything above Vallandry closed just one thin strip down to la plagne link |
I had a cracking season in 2011 including a lovely few days in Les Coches in late March.
'Easter' was in about June that year which may be why the snow had all melted 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@foxtrotzulu, yeah, Easter weekend was April 23.
Just what do we expect not to be dire then?
We were having excellent fun in Monterosa two weeks earlier though.
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There are ski lifts in Argentiere, the rest is a technicality. But CMB opened few lifts and conditions are ok-ish everything considered. Skiing from the top is the best, Bochard is very icy as it rained all day at altitude on Thursday but not as high as top of grands montets. Verbier is similar though more slopes are open. They even opened Tortin today though not sure how long it will last till next snowfall. We skied it on Saturday and it was fairly rocky and definitely in need of lot more snow. Mont Fort has best snow as it's not affected by rain, but moguls are already tank-sized and getting out of the area is a challenge. Best skiing is from 9 till 10 while slopes are still fresh from grooming and between noon and 2pm when it's quiet, after 2 carnage begins and around 4 there are hour-long queues to get gondola back to the village. So, at least at this two resorts the situation is not catastrophic, just a little bit shitty and to get the best of the day some planning and precaution are needed, plus skis with sharp edges and tightish radius. Some snow was forecast for the end of the week, but at the moment foehn is blowing so unless this changes it won't be a dump of snow everyone is waiting for.
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You know it makes sense.
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It was Easter 2011 so the 10/11 season. Yes it was a late Easter but I've skied there that late before and this year it was dire. Yes Vallandry is low but Arc 1800 was green and the Arc bowl was pretty pants, I have photos of Arc 2000 where there was no snow either. It was IMO a crap year.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| admin wrote: |
What a dreadful article! Is there actually a fact in it that's correct?
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Many operators were already feeling the pinch before the poor start to the season.~
~A strengthening pound was cited as one factor; |
If so, it was cited by people whose maths skills suggest they shouldn't be in business in the first place. |
Nice job of omitting the context.
Many operators were already feeling the pinch before the poor start to the season. A survey by the Post Office Travel Money Ski Resort Report revealed that this year prices have dropped in 24 of the 27 resorts it examined.
A strengthening pound was cited as one factor; another was the fact that many resorts have felt compelled to cut prices. Economic uncertainty in Russia and several other European countries, notably Germany, has seen some regular customers stay away.
Strengthening pound = factor in dropping prices. A perfectly reasonable statement.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Boris wrote: |
| It was IMO a crap year. |
Started pretty well, but it definitely finished badly. We were also in Les Arcs at Easter that year and skied for one day at Arc 2000 then spent the rest of the week walking and a few days down at Annecy enjoying the warm spring temperatures around the lake.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| andy wrote: |
call it optimitic if you like, but sorry, an article with a pessimistic headline published 3 weeks before the season starts (a time period well in excess of most weather forecasting capabilities, with the possible exception of a high pressure stuck over the alps - which there wasn't), is pessimistic and trying to create a story, and make minor panic amongst Christmas/NewYr winter holidaymakers.
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It's filling column-inches. That's what newspapers do.
Others here are saying everyone is having a lovely time, come and join us. That's what people in the skiing industry do.
Pretty silly to complain about either. I dare say we are big boys and girls and can make up our own minds, based on individual circumstances.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Boris, Yes, Easter was late, but it was crap snow long before then. See my photo above.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Many operators will have fixed their prices with their accommodation providers back in the Spring when the pound was not quite so strong. They will still be paying them that price in Euros.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@foxtrotzulu, what photo?
I'm not arguing it was a good year!!!
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@foxtrotzulu, in wherever you were. We had lots of snow that weekend in Monterosa.
You can't generalise across valleys.
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@Boris, wow that was crap. I've been to Les Arcs at that time,on a bargain late chalet deal to Arcs 2000. I don't think it was a good year for snow then (maybe 2001) , but it was miles better than that.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Boris wrote: |
| ... it was crap. |
But you had a great tan
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Hells Bells, 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I'll have a go at completing the sentence...... "James Cove are the last two words in a completely meaningless post by Comedy Goldsmith"
Like most people, I suspect, I have not the slightest idea what you are on about.
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You know it makes sense.
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And a merry Christmas to you too, my friend!
May I offer an alternative: "James Cove, one of Britain's most travelled and committed ski writers, had this to say - "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas in Alpbach."
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FAQ
as no doubt did you. unless you forgot the sunscreen of course 