 Poster: A snowHead
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Not sure what the point of that link is. That is Torgnon - a small ski area further down the Aosta Valley at 1480m.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Sad news for Sports fans. Time Out is closing. It was a good place to go and watch a range of sports. Will definitely be missed by many.
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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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Thanks for the responses - never stayed in Cervinia, only had the odd afternoon while staying in Zermatt. Not expecting too much so anything at that time will be a bonus, but it's good to know what to expect and @JohnMo you covered that well- thanks.
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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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Been out this week for Zermatt Unplugged, the pop/rock/anything music festival. It has been great. They do a good job of getting a decent variety of music and the locations are fantastic. I was speaking to the two Irish lads on the first day they were performing Gandgeghütte at 3030m. I think it is fair to say they were in desperate need of oxygen. I hope they got used to it as the week went on.
Because I have been out with non-skiing wife I have been hiking rather than skiing. The town is now close to snow free but it is still reasonable (albeit it slushy as the day goes on) from about 2000m (the lowest skiing point, ignoring home runs, is Furi at 1867). The snow up at Trockener Steg at 2939m is fantastic. This morning we walked up to Riffelalp at 2211m and we were on crisp, fresh snow and more of the white stuff was coming down. There is a decent looking dump looking likely early hours of Sunday morning so that would improve things even more. Anyone coming out for a late ski is making a good decision.
I am afraid I have not been over to Cervinia so can’t comment on the Italian side. However a lot of the snow over the last week has come from the south so I would be fairly optimistic.
Off back into town soon for this evening’s performance by Boy George and Culture Club. Karma,Karma, Karma Chameleon!
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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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@JohnMo, great news. I'm heading there next Friday for a week with the family, so should be a fine end to the season
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks for the update! Anyone on the Italian side have any information? Would be curious to know how much it has actually been snowing over there today as thinking about heading over tomorrow : ).
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I’ve been in Zermatt all week.
The first few days were great, with most slopes open and in great condition in both Zermatt and Cervinia, with fresh snow on Tuesday. I was thinking it was a great pity that Gornergrat and Sunnegga were closing on Tuesday given it is still Easter week.
However Wednesday and Thursday had ferocious winds that closed all the lifts, and today it is snowing heavily in town so as far as I can see no slopes are open yet, and only a few lifts are.
So for anyone coming over the weekend they should have some great snow to play with.
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@Whitters, bad luck over the last couple of days. The snow that has just come through looks fantastic. Zermatt was meant to have skiing down from Gornergrat open this week (after the main closure from Tuesday) but I am not sure the weather ever allowed that.
Anyway now it is only the Klein Matterhorn sector that is open but that should be fantastic in the fresh snow. Cervinia remains open until 5 May.
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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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Arrived in Cervinia yesterday lunchtime and it was snowing. Cleared up though and today there’s hardly a cloud in the sky. Windy up top apparently, about to go up. Last weekend of the season here, closes 02/05 I think hotelier said.
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@steviet865, Have a good time. Wind is not looking too bad on the readings on the website.
Cervinia lifts are definitely open until a week on Sunday (5th).
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Cheers, yes so I heard John, it’s our hotel closing on the 2nd! Great conditions high up we found, gets claggy on most of run 5 down to Cretaz. No queues anywhere.
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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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Very strong winds in Cervinia today shut all the lifts for a time and only the gondola was operating out of the town for a couple hours. They reopened the Cretaz chair about noon but there was only one chair running above the mid station plus a very short drag. The link over to Zermatt was closed. A shame because the conditions higher up are really good. Mainly blue skies but flipping cold.
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Been mainly hiking this week. But the non-skiing wife had things to do today so I was released up high onto the slopes. There has been quite a bit of snow in May and temperatures are staying low (even though the sun is shining) so piste conditions are great. Up until 21 June the lift Trockener Steg to Furggsattel is operating so one can ski the Furgg glacier. That is mainly what I was doing today (and what the photo shows). The lift up to Klein Matterhorn is also operating and so one can ski the Theodul glacier as well (which is the only one open from 22 June until October).
What I hadn’t thought through (but which is now blindingly obvious) is how the new 3S gondola cars from Trockener Steg to Klein Matterhorn would operate as just like a normal ski lift in the Spring and Autumn seasons. In the past you either: skied the lower (and better in my opinion) glacier from Fruggsattel to Trockener Steg in Spring and Autumn; or the higher glacier (with the drag lifts) in main Summer. Now in Spring and Autumn you can keep switching between both because the 3S lift takes you back up to the top so easily and quickly. Fantastic.
A quick word on lifts. The Blauherd to Rothorn lift is down again this summer. Here is what the lift company says:
| Quote: |
| Last summer, the cable car Blauherd - Rothorn had to be closed for safety reasons to changes in the terrain in the area of tower 1. During the summer of 2018, the foundation was stabilised that safe winter operation could be guaranteed. In the coming summer season, mechanical devices must now be mounted on tower 2 and the tower feet must be adapted accordingly. Since this is a large-area subsidence in the existing bedrock, which causes the entire south-west area of the Unterrothorn to move approx. 1 cm to the north-west per year, shifts in the terrain must also be expected in the future. Sliding chassis, a kind of rail system, is mounted on the 4 support feet to compensate for the movements of the support feet in three dimensions. Thanks to this system, future movements can be counteracted quickly and easily, thus avoiding longer closures of the cable car. This work is expected to continue throughout the summer. The Rothorn area will be fully accessible again by the 19/20 winter season. |
In the meantime work has already started on the new “Alpine Crossing” lift. This is the lift from Testa Grigia, the highest Italian lift point, up to Klein Matterhorn. Here is a picture from today taken from the Swiss side of Testa Grigia. On the left is the existing Testa Grigia Italian lift station. In the middle is the goods lift that they use to shuttle stuff up to Klein Matterhorn (they also had this in place when they were building the new Trockener Steg to Klein Matterhorn lift). On the right is the new lift station which will ferry people up to Klein Matterhorn.
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You know it makes sense.
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Great update John. Good to see conditions up at Trockner have held!
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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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thanks for the post. glad to hear there are still some (lucky) folk out there.
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Poster: A snowHead
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It will mean the loss of the Grenzlift tbar which is currently Europe’s highest lift but I think there are problems with it anyway as the glacier shrinks.
Pleased that I’ve ridden it though as I suspect there won’t be any higher lifts built again in the Alps.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've ridden it too. There have been times in my life when I've been warmer!
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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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| Peter S wrote: |
It will mean the loss of the Grenzlift tbar which is currently Europe’s highest lift but I think there are problems with it anyway as the glacier shrinks.
Pleased that I’ve ridden it though as I suspect there won’t be any higher lifts built again in the Alps. |
Removing the Grenzlift (X6 on the piste map) and the associated infrastructure was part of the deal with the environmentalists. I don’t think it will be mourned much. It is a real pain of a way to get back from the summer skiing area to the lift station. Still two more summers to use it: this one and 2020. The Alpine Crossing lift opens Spring 2021. It will mean the loss of piste 82. But that is hardly ever skied because you have to take the Gremzlift to get to it from the summer ski area (or do it on your way down by using the equally annoying X7 lift (which will also go I assume).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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https://www.piste-maps.co.uk/Piste-Maps/Switzerland/Zermatt-Cervina-Summer-Piste-Map-2012.pdf
This illustration shows the two proposed new Gondolas. I hadn’t appreciated that it will start from the top of the Furgsattel chairlift. That section along the ridge is going to be tested by the wind !
The Gobba di Rollin at 12,795’ is the highest lift served skiing in Europe although when the X6 and X7 Tbars are removed that will drop by 260 feet, down to the level of the Klien Matterhorn top station.
I also hadnt realised that Cervina has two summer skiing slopes!
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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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@Peter S,
Hi Peter. That is an old map. The current project does not involve a lift from Furggsattel to Testa Grigia. That is no longer listed as even a proposed project. There was also another proposal to build a lift linking the top of the Furggsattel lift down to the Italian piste 20 metres or so below it. That too has gone by the wayside. With the new Klein Matterhorn to Testa Grigia lift in place I suspect the incentive to link Furggsattel to Italy will seem less of a priority. In one of those quirks of border drawing, the top of the Furggsattel lift actually is in Italy (by about 30 metres), albeit it is inaccessible from the rest of Italy (other than by climbing a cliff face). Similarly the Gobba di Rollin lift station is in Italy (by even less). So its closure will mean the highest lift station will be in Switzerland rather than Italy.
Cervinia no longer does summer opening. They tried again a couple of years ago. The piste shown in that map (number 7 - the top of the famous Ventina run) can stay open about the same as the Furggsattel lift (i.e. the end of June). I loved having it open but I assume they just felt it didn’t attract sufficient extra visitors.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Many thanks for all that John, really Interesting 
I need to learn that finding stuff on the internet is not always up to date !
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It must have been a good aggregate snow season as there is still plenty of snow up high. We walked up to Rothorn today and then down the Gamsweg (Chamois Path). This follows pistes 14 then 15 from Rothorn past the avalanche demolished Kumme lift (work taking place building a new one all the way from Tuftern to Rothorn) and on down to Tuftern. While this walk is officially open it was quite tricky in places. There were stretches of up to 100m where you were having to traverse snow. If the snow collapsed under your foot, you had to extract one foot from waist height snow. Here is a photo looking down from the footpath on what would be piste 14. It almost looks skiable!
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If you want to see what it looks like when melt from the glacier gets held back for some reason and then bursts out in one go, have a look at the video on this news article. This is the Trift valley - a thin, steep valley leading up on the west side of Zermatt. There are some lovely walks up there and a couple of mountain huts. We were walking up that valley just a couple of weeks ago. The floodwater has done a lot of damage to houses on the lead into town. But thankfully it seems not to have got over the (artificial concrete) river sides in the main part of town.
https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/panorama/vermischtes/teile-von-zermatt-ueberflutet/story/15064542
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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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| JohnMo wrote: |
If you want to see what it looks like when melt from the glacier gets held back for some reason and then bursts out in one go, have a look at the video on this news article. This is the Trift valley - a thin, steep valley leading up on the west side of Zermatt. There are some lovely walks up there and a couple of mountain huts. We were walking up that valley just a couple of weeks ago. The floodwater has done a lot of damage to houses on the lead into town. But thankfully it seems not to have got over the (artificial concrete) river sides in the main part of town.
https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/panorama/vermischtes/teile-von-zermatt-ueberflutet/story/15064542 |
Good post.
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Just had a really great week in Cervinia. Kids did a freestyle ski camp and had great fun. We lost a couple of days to high winds (allegedly). Forgot the glacier opening for skiing is controlled by the Swiss. Snow was excellent, you could just sense conditions starting to change as we left and they are moving closing to 14.00 from this week I believe. Will definitely head back again next year. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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This is slightly more targeted towards 2019/20 but thought it worth bringing to peoples attention.
The Zermatt Bergbahnen AG team will be running a presale for ski passes in October. For anyone buying a 6 day+ ski pass, a 20% discount will be applied automatically. That's a saving of c135chf per couple....meaningful savings!
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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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| Quote: |
The Zermatt Bergbahnen AG team will be running a presale for ski passes in October. For anyone buying a 6 day+ ski pass, a 20% discount will be applied automatically. That's a saving of c135chf per couple....meaningful savings!
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Will that be available automatically from the website? I tried signing up for the newsletter as I remembered something like this from last year, but had lots of issues confirming email address.
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According to the team there, it should be automatically available in October. Currently it’s a 5% discount but that should change.
I’d expect it will only available for people buying week long passes and above.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Guernseyfreerider wrote: |
| Just had a really great week in Cervinia. Kids did a freestyle ski camp and had great fun. We lost a couple of days to high winds (allegedly). Forgot the glacier opening for skiing is controlled by the Swiss. Snow was excellent, you could just sense conditions starting to change as we left and they are moving closing to 14.00 from this week I believe. Will definitely head back again next year. |
Were you on the WSSA week 11? I was...
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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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Must be about time for 19/20 John Mo ? Your honour?
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Poster: A snowHead
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| twoodwar wrote: |
| Must be about time for 19/20 John Mo ? Your honour? |
Amen to that. Let's get cracking earlier.
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FAQ
