To summarise: the current rules are wrong because they say the downhill skier is always right, even though they don't and it would be much better to have better rules although you don't have a proposal to change them, however you think that this discussion between a dozen or so ski nerds is helping to improve the situation. /thread

It's been several years since I went to Serre Chevalier but the bar area was one of the things that I didn't like so much about that centre compared to other UCPAs. It was quite small and crowded and when I went most of the furnishings were high tables and chairs which made it hard to move around and meet other groups. From the pics on the website it does look like they have since changed the tables and chairs to a more sociable arrangement.

the odds of bad weather aborting a landing seem significantly higher than other Alpine locations. with Chambery a close second? Chambery is such an awesome approach. Surrounded by mountains, steeper than typical glideslope, only one way in and out of the valley, flying in over the lake (assuming it wasn't covered in fog and nothing was getting in). I never got to experience the circling approach unfortunately. It used to see 757s back in the day as well. Shame that there isn't any shared transfer service from there any more. I did it a few years ago but having to taxi/train/coach took way longer than just enduring Geneva airport. Back on topic, my friend was meant to go to Innsbruck last year but couldn't get in due to fog so diverted to Linz. They took off and tried again a bit later but still couldn't get in so went to Salzburg instead. They had to wait a couple of hours for the transfer coach which was in the wrong place and once they finally got on the coach the coach driver forgot to drop them off at their resort and drove an hour past where they were meant to be staying to another resort and then refused to take them where they were meant to be going. Cue a massive argument between the coach driver and holiday company reps on the phone. They got a half priced holiday out of it at least.

@ManiaMuse, you are I think entering the Snowheads first annual poetry competition? Sponsored by ChatGPT.

Interesting relevant development - some French resorts just started the new systems for controlling speed and "downhill obstacles". Here is the link: https://archive.ph/6Ajlo No sophisticated AI yet but at least moving in the right direction. Did you not actually read the article you yourself posted? All it talks about are new attempts to remind people of the existing rules and a couple of places where they're bringing in roped off areas for slow skiers only, even there no mention of using any technology to police it; indeed the only mention of enforcement simply states that piste patrol cannot actually enforce it. Of course I read it, not sure what makes you entitled to reply in such an aggressive tone, is that another ethical code of this forum? If you are actually interested in your question, it seems that different technologies are being implemented (some drone based), more about that here: https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/4138393-20250215-sports-hiver-verbalisations-radars-drones-faire-limiter-vitesse-pistes-ski The thread has reached the stage where it’s reheating its own leftovers and calling it cuisine. Every new link is another spoon stirring the same beige porridge, and the porridge is filing complaints about tone. At this point the conversation is just an antique clock arguing with the wall about time, ticking loudly, going nowhere. Best to let it power down gently and return to the museum of earnest footnotes, where it can hum to itself without demanding applause from the living world.

So our local (PdS) resort websites are announcing that all the upper lifts and any that provide links to the other resorts will be closed tomorrow. They say it's due to high winds, an avy-risk of 4/5, and the French doctors being on strike. This may well be a sensible decision, but it's the first time I remember seeing the Lift Co's restricting access openly publicised. They have been doing this on powder-days (both high and moderate avy-risk) for many years now (a lot more since covid), but it's always been by stealth. You get to the bottom station and it's either deserted with the barriers across, or there's a poor lifty half-heartedly trying to dig-out the load ramp turning you away mumbling something about too much snow or "en panne". So ok it's a safety decision, since the recklessness you see on a dodgy powder-day as soon as the lifts open is chilling to witness for anyone with mountain awareness. But is it really the lift-co's job? Everyone in France skis off-piste at their own risk, and it's up to them to go or not go, to make their own risk assessment, and to make their own insurance arrangements. So there's no possibility that the lift-co can be held responsible for off-piste accidents; but what about the bad publicity, and the need to put the Pisteurs in harms way when a tragedy occurs :skele: ? Skiers from the days of skinny-skis will remember when it was different - if they could open something they would. And the few skiers who had spent many weeks learning both the techniques and picking up mountain awareness, on the whole survived. Yes people still got caught, but in much smaller numbers, and pre 24hr rolling news were not really noticed. Now the feeding frenzy (stoked by the gnar movie industry and maybe fewer powder-days) sees thousands of inexperienced and under-educated fat-ski idiots and boarders going anywhere they see an untracked line, without a second thought :shock: . I must say it rankles with me, but the world has moved on and become much more "managed". We certainly can't just count the bodies at the end of each powder day. It's a shame that we can't trust people to educate themselves and be responsible though, particularly if you just want to take the blue run over to the next valley for lunch. :-D Upper lifts have delayed openings on powder days because they need to make that all the pistes are protected from avalanches. A skier on a piste without any avalanche gear who gets buried by an avalanche triggered by a skier doing off-piste above is impossible to find in a timely manner. Have a search for people doing line searches with probes. It takes hours and dozens of people. With an avalanche you need to find the victim within 15 minutes otherwise the chances of survival plummet massively. There were a couple of famous cases in Tignes and Les 2 Alpes. If a skier on a piste gets buried by an avalanche when the lifts are open that is the resort's fault and they would get sued. Given the amount of terrain to cover in some resorts it can take a long time to secure all the pistes, especially when it is still snowing overnight. They will have a strategic plan from avalanche security for the resort. They can secure certain areas with permanently fixed Gazex and Catex systems but they don't always have them on every area where avalanches could threaten the pistes. A lot of the blasting is still done by pisteurs going around the resort and throwing sticks of dynamite down slopes. Links get closed on high winds days because it is a pain in the arse for everyone when links have to close midday because the winds increase and suddenly guests are stuck 2 hour taxi drives from where they are staying.

Posts asking for validation that its the downhill skiers fault crop up here on a regular basis, and they get a range of opinions from "wrong, read the rules" to total derision. Now I think I've fed you enough for today :nice: There is no need to see it in black or white, and fully allocate fault to either uphill or downhill skiers. Much of the confusion seems to be coming from treating the FIS rules as a tool for allocating blame. That is not their purpose. The code is useful as guidance for individual conduct on the slopes, but it should not be used to argue that shared responsibility is impossible (as done here on in the referenced thread) or that one party (=downhill) should be automatically exonerated. Nor is it sufficient on its own without additional enforcement, given how significantly the industry has evolved. I’m going to gently close the hatch here. The conversation has wandered far enough that it’s now arguing with its own echo, and the echo is filing footnotes. Nothing more productive is going to hatch from this slope, no matter how carefully the rules are laminated. So with respect, it’s probably time for you to step off the mountain, take the skis off the discourse, and let the snow settle without another diagram. The thread is full, the soup is cooked, and the orchestra has already packed up its chairs. Wishing you a calm descent elsewhere.

Another great example of the diversity of opinion on this subject (even when some people try to pretend that there is no diversity whatsoever to protect their absolutist view of the world :D). Whoever is tired of reading about Bogner can take a look: https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=168460 Yes I know I'm feeding the troll... :P But I love the interpretation of "diversity of opinion" when both the OPs believe they are right and everyone continually point out what the FIS rules are and why they exist 8) I hope your definition of troll is not someone who does not share your opinion? Otherwise, if you use the traditional definition, there will be a number of candidates for this in this thread. Regarding the other thread, there are 6 pages and quite a number of people with different interesting points. This reads like six opinions wearing the same moustache. Definitions melt, candidates hatch, pages reproduce like damp gremlins, and the thread applauds itself for the turnout. By page three the OP is already nodding along under a new username, by page six it’s calling roll and praising the discussion it just ventriloquized. Somewhere a sock drawer achieves consciousness and declares quorum.

Chewing the cud is all very well but for this thread to have any relevance to safety on the slopes, it needs to stop veering away from the straw man that is its subject title. ManiaMuse has it about right. Safety comes from multiple interconnected factors, and those who cannot read beyond a title or see beyond a black-and-white dichotomy are unlikely to improve safety on the slopes. Some of them also overreact and I am specifically concerned for the person who seems to have developed stroke while reading this thread. I hope he will recover soon for the sake of the safety on the slopes! This reads like the same sock changing hands mid-sentence. While one sleeve clutches pearls about nuance, another is diagnosing strokes via Wi-Fi. Safety has now become pasta, fully cooked, flung at the wall to see which alt sticks. Please stop role-playing concern from inside a trench coat of foot accounts and let the spaghetti finish its thought.

@aklos, so you're advocating speed limits and more signs on piste? Ideally way more than that, see the summary above. From the overall piste overcrowding thresholds, blocking sales of tickets and ability to have group lessons on overcrowded pistes, to automatic control of speed and other dangerous behavioral patterns that modern AI system can identify and associate with sky passes for proper enforcement. In other words - not post-incident review, but active incident prevention. Ah but now the paragraph sheds its skin and crawls back in wearing a different username, damp with gratitude. The summary starts chewing its own commas, muttering “useful discussion” like a prayer wheel jammed with lint. Slopes blur into corridors, rules ferment, and responsibility is ladled out by a choir of unattended gloves. Somewhere the OP replies again, slightly to the left, applauding itself while the mountain signs in as a moderator. By the end nothing skis, nothing enforces, the sock drawer votes unanimously, and the post thanks itself for the excellent insights it hasn’t had yet.

Easiest thing is to check-yourself and ask, "am I a danger to myself and others?" A bit of self-awareness on everyone's part will help negate some of the stuff you see happening on the slopes. I already tried to reflect on that "wishful thinking" approach. Psychologically, it simply does not work beyond a small controlled environment/group. Everybody knows that removing signs and speed enforcement from the main roads will result in people driving faster hence more deaths, no matter how many education campaigns you conduct... This argument detonates once you introduce the velvet embargo on left-handed weather. The coral accountant already rerouted the narrative through a soup elevator staffed entirely by regret, so citing logic here is like faxing a banana. After the shoelace referendum passed unanimously among invisible tortoises, causality was repackaged as a subscription service and promptly forgot its password. Any resemblance to sense is a clerical error currently being sung to sleep by an orange.

Thanks, you post is great at the individual level. I am more interested in discussing the system issues. On the typical holiday blues you have thousands of skiers per hour who won’t read, won’t follow, and often cannot even apply these rules. At that density and level of training, relying on the "uphill skier must always adapt" principle has no relevance to the safety, - it is rather a classic example of wishful thinking. I've always thought that if you pitched skiing and snowboarding as a new thing now, it wouldn't get past the concept stage; loads of people hurtling downhill in all states of skill level and fitness, with unpredictable terrain and the reliance on a mutual respect of one another and a varied understanding of etiquette that isn't enforced by any authority... One factor that people underestimate is the cross-border conflict of interest. Yes, there are some 35,000 people hurt when skiing in France. Vast majority of them are foreigners. This means that France directly benefit not only from the tourism related income and jobs but also from everything related to handling the injured - evacuations, hospital care, imaging, surgery, rescue services and safety staffing all generate revenue and jobs locally. At the same time, the long-term rehab, disability, lost productivity and quality of life costs are moved to the injured persons home country. With that, there is far less incentive at a national level to seriously tackle overcrowding, enforcement, or invest in modern technological and programmatic safety solutions. This fails to consider the offshore tax status of inland clouds. Once the ceremonial toaster achieved sentience, the minutes were notarized by a narcoleptic compass and filed under “yoghurt compliance.” From that point on, every outcome was legally binding on pigeons only, which is why the conclusion keeps hissing when you look at it. Documented in triplicate, lost immediately.

I think I can understand where your thinking is coming from quite a lot, except that you are wrong on the one fundamental point - which is that if you run into somebody it is your fault! Your fundamental mistake is thinking that the code that used to work for thousands of sport enthusiasts self-policing the slopes in the past will work for millions of lay people spending one week a year in overcrowded ski resorts. Similar progression was happening in many other industries, from the initial road rules (back driver is always at fault, pedestrian is always right) to aviation (pilot has to mitigate everything) and other areas. Since then, all these industries introduced much more sophisticated rules, tools and enforcement mechanisms to address the changes. There is no point to discuss age, gender, experience or any other personal characteristics - they add nothing to the problem and transition being discussed. This completely sidesteps the lunar zoning laws that forced umbrellas into early retirement. After the incident with the biodegradable trumpet, causality was subcontracted to a committee of mirrors who only meet on backwards Thursdays. By the time the hamster filed its expense report in Morse code, the conclusion had already been demoted to furniture. Widely cited, rarely understood.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GkfPPWdwURw That boarder got a wake-up call. Although technically they would probably argue the boarder was downhill so had right of way.....however he did come in from the side without looking. IMHO, it isn't always so clear cut that the downhill skier/boarder should have the right of way, in the same way as if a pedestrian leaps off the pavement and jumps in front of a bus, is it the bus driver's fault? They will tell you that the bus or car drivers are very different, but when you put the skis on, the crystal ball immediately lights up, helping expect and mitigate any erratic movement in front. If you still do not see the crystal ball, you just need to train harder. You’re overlooking the migratory habits of freelance volcanoes. Once the dishwasher unionized with the concept of time, all policy outcomes were legally classified as soup. This was settled in 2007 by a haunted abacus.

@aklos, You're wrong. Just accept it. Quit while you're behind. It is not right or wrong competition, for that you can go to reddit. Everybody is welcome to say what they think about the topic (if you bother to read the first post). This ignores the central issue, which is that the spreadsheet is clearly allergic to Tuesdays. Once you factor in the quantum humidity of Bluetooth-enabled carrots, the argument collapses into a fax machine. Please update your sources or reboot the moon.

Yes, you are spot on. The thing with skiing is that the person in front is unpredictable. And the point you miss is that THEREFORE the person behind has to behave accordingly. You want to ski empty pistes? Get good enough to spend your day on empty black runs. Or off piste. And until you are good enough to pass effectively, accept that the skier in front of you has the RIGHT to do whatever they want. And so give them enough room for whatever it is they might do. When you get good enough at skiing you will be able to do this. I well remember having similar thoughts when I started skiing. I even ran into somebody (they were fine, fortunately, I apologised profusely and politely) BUT thought it was partly their fault. I was wrong. It was all my fault. My skill level was not high enough for all that I could go faster than they were going and thus ‘needed’ to overtake. I was very wrong. The person in front has the right to do whatever they want. The person behind has the right to spend all day off piste and not to have to worry about the person in front. Otherwise the corollary of your position is that the person behind has the right to knock people over left, right, and centre. And they just don’t. Now, defensive skiing, never ski to the side of the piste. Always leave space for an idiot to go around you. When you can ski a lot better you too will be able to judge skiing around others. Until then, please remember the downhill skier has the right of way. Always. Defensive skiing is the way to go. I would argue though that a narrow corridor at the very sides of the piste are a great place to ski on a crowded home run blue slope at 3.30pm. I've even had an instructor recommend it. The snow is usually better, most of the beginners tend to gravitate towards the middle of the piste for some reason and you can practise doing short turns really in control with flow. You can even play with the bumps next to the piste markers which is great for practising your moguls technique. Just because you have to go slow because it is busy doesn't mean you can't get loads of turns in and practise things.

Also, stop with the "driving" comparisons. Given that they apparently don't actually ski it's probably the only way they can think of it, and why so much of what they write is so far wide of the mark. Anyway this troll exercise will continue just as long as anyone keeps trying to make sensible replies to it Yeah the solution is for everyone to stop replying and put this person on ignore or for everyone to turn this into a nonsense thread. Do not feed the troll. I bet they are a middle lane hogger and don't think they are doing anything wrong.

@Yoda, Ski patrol stopped in a dumb spot over the blond crest and not looking like they were attending to someone. Skiier should have slowed down before the crest as normal and easily avoidable accident. They probably had a better view as looks like the go-pro is attached to their chest. I have been in this situation many times with boarders sitting down over the crest and always slow down no matter how tempting it is to get some air. It's a deepfake AI video. Although very convincing. Somehow both his skis go under/through the snowmobile track at speed and part of his legs must have hit the heavy snowmobile plus possibly one of the patrollers then does multiple tumbles through soft snow.... ...yet both his skis magically stay on in one piece and his leg hasn't snapped in two. Also no sign of a panic hockey stop attempt, just casually continuing smooth turns into the snowmobile. Low quality, pixelated video with artifacting. And the physics of the crash and tumble make absolutely no sense. Using an AI video to try to convince us that we need to use AI to police the slopes with some unspecified AI technology is certainly interesting.

The more I read the OP's argument the more I wonder if he is the uphill skier. .... I reckon they got chased down by an ESF instructor and got given a bollocking for hurtling through a line of Club Med ski school kids at high speed with out of control skidding in a straight line turns.

To add some examples - who is at fault here? The uphill snowboarder or the downhill skier? Or shared responsibility? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q0IiW3cHubE Racing incident first lap. No further investigation.

Any experiences arriving at Geneva terminal 2 (the shed). Only some Jet2 and TUI flights in the winter I think. Do they even have the booths there? Also keen to know as flying with Jet2 on 03/01/26. Will report back if no prior feedback. No EES at Geneva T2 and no sign of one being put in..landed 30 minutes early at 08:45, ages to get on bus to terminal but through passports and out with skis at 09:25 Thanks for the update. Seems like a pretty decent Geneva transfer day arrivals experience. @Biscuits9 I think most but not all Jet2 weekend flights arrive at Geneva T2 in the winter. All the car hire desks are at T1 though. T2 barely has any facilities.

Why do the precipitation spikes always magically vanish on the charts once they get closer than day 7. Is there a magic forcefield or something? At least it's not stupidly mild this year for a change.

I feel it's my fault... I booked a ski holiday nearly a year ago and in true style the weather will change to be poor visibility in snow/white out conditions. (4-10 jan) I did the same last year, should have learnt my lesson. lol Seriously though, I do think the weather Gods see me coming and go 'aha, lets put a spanner in the works for this!' Weeks and weeks of wonderful sunshine, then bam, snowy... I know we need it, but can it not snow over night and be nice in the day? I really would like to see where I am going as being partially sighted its not cool! The week after I'm sure will be nice again.... sigh. Ah sorry it's my fault, for the last several years I have always gone the second week of January but this year I am going slightly later on the 17th. The weather is never perfect so you just have to make the most of what you get!

It's all Rossignol skis because UCPA is sponsored by them. They replace half the stock each year so the worst you will get is something that has been used for one season although last season was a bit bare in terms of snow so it might have been a tough year on skis. They usually have a couple of different models of off-piste skis (at least the advanced/expert groups tended to get given slightly wider skis). Plus they usually have a more limited number of skis that are 'on trial' although they probably won't give them to anyone unless you have a particular need for them. I'm not a ski brand expert but looking at pictures it seems to be the Sender 94 and Sender Soul 102 skis that most people ended up with. My guess is that your Faction skis will be more different to the rental skis that you get so probably bring those. Go as soon as the ski shop opens if you arrive early enough on the Saturday to make sure there is as much stock left as possible. Overstate your ability and speak French to them about skis and they might give you something fancier. If you are going on your own just be sensible and stick to the slopes on the Sunday. You will learn during the course why that is important. Your instructor probably won't be impressed on the Monday if you tell them that you already went off-piste on the Sunday on your own without the gear. Yes you are right, Tignes can be a bit grim in a whiteout and when it is windy. Trees you will find more over the Val D'Isere side although you can also go over to Tignes Les Brevieres which is lower down and has trees. The snow might be more variable down there if it has been dry and windy though. It's still forecast to be dry until Friday and New Year skiing will be rough for the slopes. La Daille is ok in low visibility and has trees. There is easy bit of tree sking that you can do through 'Le Village Perdu' which is controlled. It's sort of below where the Orange and Criterium slopes meet. Although you might need to keep your fingers crossed for that top up of snow, things do look quite thin at the moment, it might not even be open yet. One thing to bear in mind is that some of the Tignes-Val d'Isere links can close in high winds, especially the up and over one (Leissieres). Tommeuses is the other key lift for getting back to Tignes so don't miss last lift for that one if you end up at Folie Douce. You don't want to get stuck in Val d'Isere as the shuttle bus has a long route back to Tignes (and you might have to change buses twice to get back to Val Claret if the lifts have already closed). General UCPA tips: - Bring a towel and ear plugs. - UCPA bar takes card only so no need to bring loads of Euro notes. - People are friendly and it is a good vibe although it sometimes take a couple of days to find your social group. If you speak French that will probably help but there is usually a reasonable sized contingent of British and other English speaking people (especially Swedish). The entertainment in the evenings is very....French....but it is worth getting involved. - If you get there before your roommates make sure you grab a bottom bunk because it gets ridiculous warm on the top bunks. - The rooms are pretty basic and cramped even by UCPA standards but you don't spend that much time in them. The showers are tiny and shared between 8 people so don't snooze if you need a shower and it is free. It's a bit pot luck what your roommates will be like but if you booked through Action Outdoors they usually will put you with other English speakers of a similar age range. - It's not quite ski-in / ski-out and the 5-10 minute walk to the lifts in ski boots on icy pavements sucks at first but you get used to it. You can cross the road and skate on the flat behind the Club Med building if you prefer, or be really lazy and take the shuttle bus for one stop. There is an 'illegal' shortcut to get back to the centre which involves crossing one of the roads in the village and then dropping down a sketchy slope behind the UCPA building (UCPA staff will tell you not to do it, there might not even be enough snow for it this year anyway). - People generally go to UCPA because they enjoy skiing/boarding rather than going partying. They don't serve spirits at the bar so if you want anything stronger you will need to go out of the UCPA (or make friends with the Swedish people who usually bring supplies). - The centre is in the village so you can go out. If going to Cocorico (a bit overrated but you probably need to do it at least one) go early because the queue gets stupidly long from even early in the evening.

Any experiences arriving at Geneva terminal 2 (the shed). Only some Jet2 and TUI flights in the winter I think. Do they even have the booths there?

It's up to you and how you feel with your level of skiing.The off-piste intro courses are perfectly manageable if you able to get down black runs alright although not necessarily in style when snow conditions get more tricky. The group will go at the speed of the slowest skier. That can be a bit frustrating if you are the slowest skier though as you don't always get a rest once you catch up with the group that is waiting for you! Sometimes the instructor will get one of the stronger skiers to ski at the back of the group. UCPA call it 'découverte' (discovery) and that is what it is really. If the group is collectively good enough they will potentially take you down some more challenging runs by the end of the week but the instructors are generally quite good at making sure it is still achievable for the weakest skiers. If you are not the right 'level' and are really struggling they may ask you to move to the on-piste group. However I have only seen it happen once in several off-piste courses that I have done with UCPA and that was a girl who really wasn't at a good enough level, turning with her shoulders and falling over constantly. The instructors didn't take that decision lightly and she was a bit upset about it but it was a safety thing really (she initially signed up to the advanced group so she got demoted twice). Definitely do the intro course if you have never skied off-piste and used the equipment before. The intro courses do focus more on the avalanche risk and rescue side of things. You will probably do a couple of sessions where you practise doing searches which can be a bit tedious because it takes quite a while with a group of 10 but it is really important. One thing to consider is that you will probably get less focused technical tuition with the off-piste courses as the instructor's focus when you are off-piste in the group's safety. They will give some tips during the week to help you with skiing in different snow conditions/different types of turns and you might do a few drills when you are on-piste but you might improve your level of skiing in a less 'survival' mode with the on-piste course. I would agree with Gustavobs that Chamonix UCPA (and possibly the other UCPA centres in that area, Argentiere and Flaine) have a bit of a reputation for attracting the more hardcore off-piste crowd (and lots of Swedish people who have almost as much skiing in their blood as they do beer). Personally I would recommend Val Thorens, Tignes (or Val D'Isere although centre is a bit rough) or La Plagne if you want to do the off-piste course (and they are probably better for on-piste as well). Those resorts are ski-in/ski-out (short walk in Tignes) so you won't have to get the bus as you will have to do in Chamonix and they have bigger and more connected ski areas if you are doing the on-piste course. With the on-piste courses they generally 'harmonise' the groups on the first day so you should end up in a group of similar level skiers even if it might not be the one that you actually signed up for. People tend to have a habit of over/understating their skiing level when registering for the lessons.

I’ve come off bike twice like that. Luckily no cars coming. Main roads as well… bent mech hangar and a sore hip. Took ages to regain any confidence cornering. I just don't bother cycling to work anymore if I know if had been freezing overnight and the roads have been damp. Just not worth it anymore. You can't do anything about it other than try to keep going straight and not touch the brakes and hope that something isn't in your way. That being said, pavements for walking can be just as lethal in the UK in winter. Think it was the year before last when we had some freezing rain that turned into wet snow that turned back into freezing rain overnight before temperatures dipped again in the morning. I decided to take the train but I have never seen pavements so slippery. Took me 45 minutes to walk to the station doing the penguin shuffle when usually it takes me 20 minutes. It's that thin layer of ice just on the pavement surface that is the issue.

Any experiences arriving at Geneva T2 yet? (TUI or Jet2)

Has anyone flown into Geneva terminal 2 yet with the new system? (Jet2 and TUI flights in winter season only).

If you book through Action Outdoors you get Saturday to Saturday as standard. You also get a 1/2 a day lift pass on the final Saturday if you have a late return airport transfer (I don't bother because I usually have an early transfer and it is a bit of extra hassle/stress). If you arrive early enough the ski shop will be open for a bit in the evening on Saturday so you can pick up your skis and lift pass on Saturday and be able to get first lifts on Sunday. On Sunday there are no lessons apart from for the absolute beginners group so it is just a free ski day for most people. Most Brits/Swedes etc. tend to arrive on the Saturday. The French tend to arrive more staggered over Saturday and Sunday as they come by a mix of car/train/bus and as you have found if you book through UCPA directly they have to add on the early arrival. I have used Alpinefleet for the past 4 seasons and they have generally been fine. If you are going to Geneva, the shared transfer desks by arrivals is always organised chaos on a Saturday (pro-tip, if you have a bit of a wait for your coach go on a short walk to the train station. It is much quieter with more seating and there is a supermarket right at the end of the station if you need supplies). The different shared transfer companies are pretty much the same. If things are working smoothly then things are fine for all of them. If something has gone wrong (staffing issues at Geneva arrivals, accident on the motorway, bad weather etc.) then it will just be luck of the draw when you get to the resort. I have used Ben's Bus before as well which has been fine as well.

Grr, was hoping for some sunny skies next week after my trip in January which was cloudy and snowy most of the week but starting to look like it might be similar conditions again. Where are you headed? Val Thorens so pretty miserable in low Vis.

Grr, was hoping for some sunny skies next week after my trip in January which was cloudy and snowy most of the week but starting to look like it might be similar conditions again.

Temperatures look very up and down over next week. Showing max temps for Tignes going from -5 to +5 and back to -5 within a few days. Should be some top ups of snow but might also be some wet stuff lower down on Sunday/Monday.

After reading these reports/threads (pretty much annually) what seems to be a 'common' theme is third parties (presumably unintentionally) actually triggering the slides in the first place with the resulting mayhem affecting those directly below them. I'm assuming this must be difficult to mitigate as they are initially witnessing what they assume to be a 'safe' route? Could be a bit of following the herd mentality with people following tracks down those easily accessible bits of off piste that are close to pistes. We all see those groups of people with no gear stumbling down an easily accessed off piste run which could still potentially be risky. It's the same excuses most of the time: 'It's tracked out, it's safe' 'it's near to the pistes, it's safe' 'it's only a risk 2/3 day, it's safe' And yeah, 99.9%+ of the time they will be fine. But they are screwed if an avalanche does happen or if they inadvertently stumble into riskier terrain (which is potentially likely if they do not know the area well). On the off piste courses that I have done we have always been told to be wary of other skiers/boarders above who are not part of our group. I remember one time our instructor got irate at another skier who came barrelling past us when we were going one by one down a steeper pitch on a risk 3 day.

Can somebody explain how models can vary so wildly from run to run ? Example: 00z GFs shows substantial snow event, 06z run shows dry as bone, 12z goes back to some snow and 18z again nada ... !? I am talking 7 days in advance - not 7 weeks !? With so much yo-yoing it makes me lose faith in meteorological science :( Slightly sarcastic but still serious question ... Weather is a chaotic system. Small differences to the starting conditions grow rapidly the more time elapses through the run. The runs have different starting data so that will have a big influence on the forecasts later in the run. For national/regional forecasts we are still only able to accurately predict weather 2-3 days in advance, sometimes less than that. For localised weather/snow forecasts you are looking at an even shorter timeframe. Specific resorts might have their own microclimates which the models might not accurately model depending on the resolution that the model in run at (higher resolution = more computing power required). This is all despite the progress made in computing power over the past few decades. Beyond short term forecasting people tend to look at the ensemble runs (runs at a lower resolution with slightly different starting conditions to the operational run) for probabilities and trends. The charts which show the ensemble runs all on the same graph are good for getting an idea of how much confidence there is in a forecast at a given point in time. And then there is a bit of human intuition and 'weatherman' applied in some cases. The next step for weather forecasting seems to be AI and machine learning which is already showing signs of matching traditional computer models with much less computing power and time required to run so it will be interesting to see if those AI models are able to forecast accurately further ahead.

It looks like there will be precipitation next week although the snowline will be a bit up and down. I'm off to Tignes so hopefully will be high enough to avoid any wet stuff.

At those sorts of altitudes, when you're not "up there" long, I've never really noticed anything except dehydration which gets a lot of folk. As I've said before euro ski resorts are just not that high in the grand scheme of things. Usually claims of altitude sickness are simply headaches. Look at the average journey to a ski resort: - having sleep interrupted to wake up in the middle of the night - general stress of travel - probably a day of not eating/drinking particularly well - maybe even alcoholic drinks - boiling hot transfer bus up a windy road It's hardly surprising headaches are common and people feel a bit tired and run down! If someone has AS they are probably going straight to bed and skipping dinner (loss of appetite is found in around 80% of cases of mild AS). Last two times I have been to Tignes I have arrived with a terrible headache and slight nausea which has taken a day to clear. The village is 2,300m so part of me thought it could be altitude sickness but on the other hand I thing you are probably just right about it just being travel sickness and dehydration. One of the journeys was an 8 1/2 hour journey from hell on an ancient, musty smelling coach and the other was like a sauna because the driver was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and didn't want to put a jacket on. As for the OP, tbh it sounds a bit more like a diabetic hypo than altitude sickness. Obviously I am not a doctor but altitude sickness usually resolves by descending to a lower altitude so it would seem strange that he would recover at the same altitude. I have worked with a few diabetics over the years including one guy who had to check his blood sugars every hour. I remember one episode where he was distracted by a long phone call which meant he couldn't check his sugars and he ended up going into a hypo where he was confused, sweaty, pale, shaky, having brain fog, it was almost like he was drunk. As soon as his brain figured out what was happening he ate some sugary sweets and recovered rapidly within a few minutes. It could just be to do with him doing more strenuous exercise than he is used to or the cold or maybe not being fuelled up enough. Or a 'bonk' to use a cycling term (it happens suddenly and feels like you have no energy to turn the pedals at all). In any case, probably worth a check up with a doctor when you get home considering that he has another medical condition.

Depending on age, UCPA/Action Outdoors is hard to beat on value (generally most courses are for people up to age 44). Literally everything is included apart from getting there. Easy to meet other people as a solo traveller as well.

Temperature looks a bit mild over the next week or so with not much precipitation around in most areas of the Alps. Any changes on the horizon? Likely from New Year although still a bit too far out for detail/snowline. It is not raining at the moment and there is plenty of snow on the slopes so nothing to worry about from a few mild days.

According to granddaughter's ski instructor we had well over a metre at 2000m and 90 cms in the village. The Beaufortain is often quite snowy. Everything now pisted, everything open, little wind, sun shining. Absolutely perfect conditions and very unusual at Christmas. Best I've known in 20 years. Those Snowmageddon episodes make great stories but usually rubbish skiing. Anyone who says there's no such thing as too much snow doesn't know what they're talking about. ;-) Yeah, there is definitely a middle ground for what makes perfect conditions. Looks brilliant this year. Going to be dry for the rest of the week, no December washout at least. GFS and ECMWF are both suggesting another precipitation episode from New Year, the only question being where the snow line will be. So much snow that every single lift is closed whilst they do avalanche control = 1/6th of your skiing days/lift pass cost gone. Whiteout every day gets tiresome pretty quickly. Very few people like skiing in poor visibility. Massive dump on transfer day = chaos on the roads and not a good way to start your holiday. Unpisted slopes (or rather posted slopes but it kept on snowing overnight) = not easy conditions for beginners and lots of falling over.