Poster: A snowHead
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D G Orf, This is turning out to be one of the snowiest seasons for many years. Can't remember the last time the tourist office reported 80cm in the village (as this morning). 1999 was the last time I guess.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Murren tourism are currently stating 180cm in the village. Apart from end of Feb 2009 when they had 150cm I can't remember such depths in the village.
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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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telford_mike, think you may be right, in '99 the snow didn't fall in force till the middle of Feb and we haven't got that far yet
So long as the snow doesn't fall in huge dumps the avalanche threat will be less than it was in '99 provided it has time to settle, potentially this looks like it could be a really fantastic season for skiers, just a shame that the exchange rate is so dire at the moment.
I can remember some time in the early to mid '70s when we had about 60cm of snow overnight in the village on Christmas eve.
I've also seen the old pics of Wengen with several meters of snow in the village but that's not happened in my lifetime so far as I can recall
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D G Orf, I do value your snow forecasts, which are usually right on the button. What I don't understand is how Snow-forecast.com is showing only minimum snow fall for the next week. Where do you get your forecasts from - or are they your own interpretation of raw data from met sites allied with examining the entrails of sacrificial victims who have strayed over from Murren? (Sorry Chris )
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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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Brian T, I analyse the raw data and then adjust for best guess based on how weather typically performs in the area.
As an example if I know that the weather has been warm I will anticipate that precipitation falling at lower levels is likely to be rain whilst at higher levels it may well be snow, depending on the ambient temps it may be wet snow for which you can roughly say that 1mm or predicted rainfall will give 1cm (or slightly less) of snow, or it may be drier powder snow where it will be more than 1cm of snow perhaps almost 2cm for 1mm of predicted rain, I check the local forecasts every day and the live cameras and temp reports from Mannlichen and Schilthorn, I combine this with the raw data from the Air Resources Laboratory which gets its data from NOAA, I find the ARL has the best predictions, but they are not always right, you never get 100% accuracy in the Alps because the mountains can cause strange effects on the weather, my limited skill is interpreting the data and then making a best guess, I'm always surprised at just how close to the mark I seem to get.
P.S I only sacrifice victims to ensure good snow, I had a desperate request at the start of the season for an urgent supply of snow and I suspect I may have found an ideal sacrifice based on how well it seems to have worked this year
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P.P.S. Snow forecast seem to be completely useless at predicting snowfall for Wengen I have no idea why though
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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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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Arriving in Wengen tomorrow cannot wait to try out all that lovely snow.
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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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riverman wrote: |
Arriving in Wengen tomorrow cannot wait to try out all that lovely snow. |
Have a fantastic time...looks amazing right now !
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Its snowing again !!
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You know it makes sense.
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Just downloaded the SC12 ski race app onto my IPad. Fantastic but I can't complete the Wengen downhill without crashing!
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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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Brian T wrote: |
Just downloaded the SC12 ski race app onto my IPad. Fantastic but I can't complete the Wengen downhill without crashing! |
If you have Apple TV, airplay it onto the telly and just use the ipad as a controller - it's a lot easier!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I have jus read on the DHO blog that a few members were skiing off-piste at Sprockets Hole and Macs Leap. Can anyone alleviate my ignorance. Where are Sprockets Hole and Mac's Leap
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Brian T, I posted about Sprockets Hole on page 7 of this thread, quote "Yesterday I skied with a DHO group led by Sheridan, and she found plenty of nice off piste snow - one area which I hadn't done before was I think called "Sprocket's Hole" (just near the top of the Fallboden lift - I'm sure DG Orf will confirm if I've got the name right) and although there were many tracks on it there was still plenty of untracked snow."
As you probably know when you get off the top of the Fallboden chair you can take a short rope tow and then go slightly uphill through a short tunnel (I think this goes underneath the Jungfraujoch rail line). Once past the tunnel you reach a signpost where the piste coming down from Eigergletscher comes in. From this point the Sprockets Hole off piste is just off to the left.
I don't know where Mac's Leap is - I'm sure D G Orf will know though.
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Alastair Pink, Macs leap is below the bottom of Tschuggen lift, I think from memory it's a route off to the left of the Ladies Downhill race course, but I may well be wrong about this, it is a very long time since I did it
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Alistair
Yep Mac's leap is near the bottom of the Tschuggen but I am the same as DG -its a few years since I have skied it . As far as I can recall it's quite challenging? Any way enjoy the skiing.
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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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I've clipped a couple of pages out of one of the DHO journals and stuck them together. This shows the colloquial names for a lot of the runs:
Bigger version here: http://www.downhillonly.com/piste.jpg
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Thanks everyone. Very useful map as well. 3 weeks to go.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Snow foercast is predicting temperatures (with wind-chill) of -33 in the village and -45 at the top station. Can this be right/ DG ORF we need your weather guru skills!
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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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Brian T, I don't think it will be THAT cold but it is going to be pretty bad, currently showing the lowest predicted temps I've ever seen for Wengen, at about -20C on Saturday possibly colder but that will be around 6am, once the sun arrives (weather should be clear) It should rise to above -20C So wrap up warm anyone out there, wind speeds are predicted to be fairly low, but we all know how the mountains can alter that, I've seen predicted wind speeds of under 5 knots become actual speeds of 70kph through Kl Scheidegg.
Very light snow forecast for today and maybe Thursday, total snow fall under 10cm, temps look likely to stay distinctly chilly for some time, at least until Tuesday or maybe Wednesday next week, after that the long range forecast indicates a return to temps arround 0C perhaps a light dusting of snow Friday 10th or Saturday 11th
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Thanks Everyone
Well we are back from our week in Interlaken ...... Sat the 21st arrival in a lot of rain (Zurich) ....Sunday (Jan 22) on the slopes....first at FIRST but the upper lifts and gondola were closed and viz was bad so after a bit we downloaded, went to Grund for train and up to K S> weather cleared a bit and I thought the Kl Sc area was really fun to watch all the action (Trains, tepee bars). Skied blue 22 down to Grund . Went up via Wengen the next few days and tram to Mannlichen ...still more bad viz at least in the am so took Tuesday off and explored Interken / Untersee, and then up to Grindelwald for lunch and touring a few hotels for bringing a group next year and staying there vs Interlaken. Skied KL Sc / Mann again Wednesday and by now my favorite was taking the Lauberhorn lift up and skiing red 44 to blue 36, maybe with a detour on red 43, then up to the Hutte for late lunch ...eventually rest of way into Wengen. Thursday was glorious only full sunshine day so up we all went to Schilthorn / Piz Gloria...skiing the top and then through Murren to Winteregg ....magnificent ...more Winteregg on Friday. So now I have finally gotten the lay of the land and if it works out to bring a group in March 2013 I'll know my way around. We thank you for all the tips which I summarized into word documents and passed out to the group I was with (not the leader for this trip, but "helping"
Snowheads is a great forum!! Enjoy the rest of your winter. We are off to Lake Tahoe California for skiing next week but there is hardly any snow there unfortunately.
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You know it makes sense.
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medskis, So glad you enjoyed the trip. Long way off but let us know when you will be in Wengen area next year. It would be good to meet up if poss.
Enjoy Lake Tahoe.
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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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Brian - Absolutely (re letting you know if we come over next year)..... we are looking at early March and getting some quotes now for Grindelwald hotels. Will try to combine that with a post trip extension in maybe Amsterdam or Spain (my husband and I spent 24 hours in Zurich this time ...great town ....but we try to vary our extensions ....did Paris via TGV when we skied Trois Vallees last year ...yes, it gets complicated but we come a long way and try to make it interesting from both a skiing and touring perspective
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Poster: A snowHead
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Been in Wengen for 4 days with very little sunshine with light snow most of the time. The snow conditions are perfect but visability at times is nil. The forcast going forward is for more sun but very very cold as reported above. Today the temp on the slopes was -7c and getting colder.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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telford_mike, Thanks for posting that DHO map. It certainly shows the location of Mac's Leap, but it doesn't show Sprocket's Hole or another off piste bit we did with Sheridan, I think it was called Happy Valley - which I seem to recall is off from one of the pistes from the top of the Lager chair down to the Gummi chair?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Yes I think you're right about Happy Valley, get off Lager then turn right under the lift. Not sure about Sprockett's though. I wonder who Sprockett was?
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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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telford_mike, sprocket was probably just a small cog in the wengen operation (sorry)
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Clear weather up top today, but cloud lower down making it very grey in Wengen, would love to know why the snow cannon is hard at work in Inner Wengen, surely they have enough down there right now ?
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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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telford_mike wrote: |
See you up there for a 007 breakfast on Sunday morning colder still by Tuesday apparently. You out for half-term this year? |
Out on the 25th
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