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Zermatt (and Cervinia) 2017/18

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
From Cervinia about one hour ago on social media:

The Avalanches Commission has authorized the opening of the road approximately at 12.00.
Valtournenche lifts are open in the lower middle part, for lifts in Cervinia the next update is expected at 11.00 am.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
The Zermatt 'liveticker' page shows how organised the Swiss are in an -as a they put it, 'extrordinary situation'.
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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?
Lifts in Cervinia all shut still as is road to Valtournenche. Hopefully some lifts will open this afternoon.
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Rubbish collections starting in Zermatt! Road and Rail still closed though with airlift continuing
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@caughtanedge, Anyone know If road was blocked at Stalden as well? - ie. no access from Stalden to St Niklaus & Grachen?? Thanks.
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kapt wrote:
@caughtanedge, Anyone know If road was blocked at Stalden as well? - ie. no access from Stalden to St Niklaus & Grachen?? Thanks.


It was for about 20 hours. All fine now though and traffic is running smoothly all the way from Visp to Stalden to Täsch. The road is still blocked from Täsch to Zermat. The train line is as well. The men were working hard today clearing it but there is a huge amount of work to do. We watched an avalanche come down on the track this morning from our window. We look south down the valley from Täsch to Zermatt. It was hard to tell how big it was as the powder cloud is so huge you can't really tell how much snow is moving below. There is still no news on when the shuttle might get going again.

The helicopter shuttles have been working continuously all day taking people and supplies back and forward between Täsch and Zermatt.
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@kapt, JohnMo is our on-the-spot reporter! I'm tied to a desk in the Bristol Alps.....
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@JohnMo, @caughtanedge, Thanks to both. Have only just left Grachen this last weekend - just before downfall. Will be returning in a few weeks - if there's still a road!
Sorry to hear about being desk bound - any chance of castors & trying a little slalom practice to keep in shape?? Laughing
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@JohnMo, Was this the avalanche ? https://www.facebook.com/weerenradar/videos/238814763325763/
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@BergenBergen,

I don't know. There have been several avalanches where the powder cloud came across parts of the town. Fortunately none of them have caused any serious damage to the town itself. People on the outer streets were warned to stay indoors a few days back but as far as I am aware none of the avalanches hit areas of the town itself.

While Zermatt is surrounded by steep slopes it is in something of a bowl at the source of the Matter Vispa river. So there is some protection from avalanches. However between Zermatt and Täsch most of the route is in a very steep V shaped valley. So anything that comes down from the west face hits the trainline (all be it there is a lot of protection which is fine in normal snow years). Anything on the east face hits the road, which is less protected but is less important than the train line.
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snowHead snowHead snowHead

The shuttle train between Täsch and Zermatt is starting up again from 5 pm (Swiss time). The link with Italy was open again - as were most pistes but not the itineraries (bar one) which pretty much by definition have a greater avalanche risk.

Glass half full: conditions and weather are awesome for the next couple of days. Glass half empty: another storm coming along for the weekend which could push the avalanche risk back up.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
great news JohnMo snowHead
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Spent the day in Cervinia with the Rabbit, Fifi and Andanotherthing. Pistes were in super good nick. Everything else was wind blown to poo-poo ☹️. Link to Zermatt was open, link to Valternouche wasn’t.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
...one thing to add; there is a serious quantity of snow on the ground in the village. The snow banks are 2 to 3m high and roads are white from the entrance to the village.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@JohnMo,
Glad that everything is opening up and you will be able to enjoy the next couple of days. Maybe even the itineraries? We’re back out for the last week of Feb and are keeping our fingers crossed that, on the law of averages, we’ll have some sunny days.
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Sharkymark wrote:
Link to Zermatt was open, link to Valternouche wasn’t.


That is really weird. They need to sort out that link. Poor Valtournenche is being done.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Welshcakes, the itineraries 18, 10, 67 and 68 are due to be open tomorrow. They were open before these mega dumps so I think they will be.

The Stockhorn sector (which is only itineraries) was due to open Sunday just gone. It is really rocky and some years misses its opening date because there is not sufficient snow covering the rocks. That is not a problem this year. So as soon as it is avalanche safe that will be open.
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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?
At last the visp to Tasch section of the railway opens at 6.08pm today, making a complete journey from Geneva to Zermatt again possible on train only. Also the Riffleberg to Gornergrat section opens tomorrow morning. I was getting twitchy as I only have a week till skiing snowHead
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Fab conditions in Cervinia today. Been snowing lightly most of the day. It’ll be great for anyone heading out this weekend.
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Caspar wrote:
Fab conditions in Cervinia today. Been snowing lightly most of the day. It’ll be great for anyone heading out this weekend.


I was over yesterday. Goggles off and sunglasses on (I think it is the law in Italy). I love a bit of January sunshine skiing in Cervinia. It really is set up superbly for that.
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Today was amazing - several inches of really light powder on top of an already epic amount of snow. Throw in some sunshine to make a really enjoyable day all round 😎
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Had a quick question regarding snow depths for Zermatt:
On January 21st Zermatt village had 180cm of snow, but now 6 days later it has only 100? Did 80cm really melt in a week or is there something funky going on with the measurements?

Data from the Swiss Snow app
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I have fond memories of Shine On You Crazy Diamond at full volume at the Ristorante Ventina on a day like that. But recently I got the impression that the younger staff there didn't really go along with the boss's taste in music...
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@südtirolistdeutsch, rest assured, Zermatt ain’t meltin’ 😎
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Sharkymark wrote:
@südtirolistdeutsch, rest assured, Zermatt ain’t meltin’ 😎

So what happened? Avy took out the snow from the measurement station?
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@südtirolistdeutsch, I’ve no idea but the snow data can be a little unpredictable if the Italian data is anything to go by.

Standing on several metres of snow the other day staring into the Zermatt valley (which still had several itineraries closed due to snow), I concluded a lack of snow is the last thing anyone should worry about! snowHead
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.


The snowpack settles over time.
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Worse places to stop for a packed lunch in Cervinia Happy
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.



No lack of snow in Cervinia Happy
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:



This is the road into Cervinia (higher part of the town) yesterday.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

and this must belong to a female or a brit - fancy driving it without clearing the windows 😂😂

The aftermath in places is worse but the town is flowing.

And fear not, if Zermatt is anything like this side of the hill, it isn't meltin 😂😂
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Sharkymark wrote:
@südtirolistdeutsch, I’ve no idea but the snow data can be a little unpredictable if the Italian data is anything to go by.

Standing on several metres of snow the other day staring into the Zermatt valley (which still had several itineraries closed due to snow), I concluded a lack of snow is the last thing anyone should worry about! snowHead


Ah ok, you think there's a good chance that there will be a decent amount of valley snow around Easter?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
AndAnotherThing.. wrote:


The snowpack settles over time.


Interesting, thanks for the info
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@PaulC1984, Wow great pics!
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südtirolistdeutsch wrote:

Ah ok, you think there's a good chance that there will be a decent amount of valley snow around Easter?


On which side? Easter is reasonably early this year (1 April) so should be a good one. Both the Italian and Swiss sides have such a good base now there should be no problem for any of the pistes. Cervinia being south/southwest facing gets lot of sun. That is lovely at Xmas and New Year but they can suffer for it by Easter with some slushy slopes into town if the weather is hot. Fortunately most of the non-beginner skiing is quite a bit higher than the town. Over in Zermatt there is no skiing into town other than two home runs which are used for nothing other than getting home. The slopes in Zermatt should be in fine condition come Easter. Whether either side will have fresh snow of course .......
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Everything, including all the itineraries, is now open. Even red 69, which runs along the east wall of the Matterhorn and is usually a latecomer to the party, is now running and was quite splendid when I skied it this morning.

I’ve mainly been doing itineraries today and having a great time. I also had rather more “excitement” than I anticipated as part of a cautionary tale about venturing onto itineraries when you don’t know what you are taking on.

Late afternoon I was heading up to the top of Rothorn and saw that the piste that runs back round the top of the south face (red 11) was closed because of avalanche risk. I wasn’t surprised: a steep south facing face with a large unstable snow pack that had had three days of sun blasting at it. The relevance of this comes later.

At the top of Rothorn I turned left down itinerary 16. Being west facing it was now bathed in sunshine and was in great condition with deep snow. There were very few people doing it. About a third of the way down I came across a bloke trying to get down by sitting on his skis and sledging. Frankly his chances of making it without his skis shooting off down the steep slope were not great. I asked if he needed help. The mid-30s bloke was distraught. He explained his girlfriend (I am surprised not now described as ex-girlfriend) had led him on to this by accident. He’d never skied anything like this before. She was a much better skier than him and had disappeared off down the mountain and was nowhere to be seen. I assumed he’d lost his poles. But he explained he never used them. I guess on piste that is fine but on a steep itinerary in deep snow it is anything but.

I told him I would stick with him and we’d just get down carefully. I got the ice out of his bindings, made a flat platform in the snow and, by leaning on me, he managed to get back into his skies. I told him that unlike pistes the poles were the centre of the route and he should stick close to the poles. He went off, did one turn and then another. They were not exactly the type of turn you’d recommend in deep snow but they were sort of doing the job and I thought he’d make quite a few falls but would eventually get down. But a third turn never came! Where he should have turned, he just straight lined towards a lip and went over it. Fortunately this was not a cliff edge. But he was now in the centre of a gully. We all know what comes charging down gullies. And with the avalanche risk closing the piste on the adjoining face it didn’t seem a great place to be. I had no choice but to ski down and join him in the gully. We were well and truly off piste by now. We skied down the gully and I persuaded him to take the opposite lip a bit lower down and get onto a safer slope (all be it still off piste). The good thing was that from here he could now see the piste I was trying to get him to. While this didn’t improve his skiing it did improve his morale. While he still had quite a few falls to make, we did make it to the piste safely. He was very grateful and was a really nice bloke. I waited to see him set off to make sure he was fine. He actually was a very good piste skier. I then later saw him with his girlfriend. I would have loved to overhear their first conversation!
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JohnMo... legend. That's a great deed done.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
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Quote:

and this must belong to a female or a brit

Not concerned about the 'brit' part but the insult to female drivers is juvenile to say the least. It all adds up...
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caughtanedge wrote:
Quote:

and this must belong to a female or a brit

Not concerned about the 'brit' part but the insult to female drivers is juvenile to say the least. It all adds up...


Would you like me to pass you a box of tissues to wipe away those tears or provide you with a renewed sense of humour?! Id tell you to grow a set and lighten up, but thats sexist to I guess. Lord... rolling eyes Shocked
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PaulC1984 wrote:
caughtanedge wrote:
Quote:

and this must belong to a female or a brit

Not concerned about the 'brit' part but the insult to female drivers is juvenile to say the least. It all adds up...


Would you like me to pass you a box of tissues to wipe away those tears or provide you with a renewed sense of humour?! Id tell you to grow a set and lighten up, but thats sexist to I guess. Lord... rolling eyes Shocked


Morning Paul Very Happy Start the day with the insults as you mean to go on I say Very Happy Toofy Grin Right I'm off skiing for the day with Snowheads most renowned sex pest rolling eyes
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