 Poster: A snowHead
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@jamesforclaire, sounds like a fair assessment , and i am sure you'll have a great time , and xmas in an alpine village will always be christmassy . enjoy 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| jamesforclaire wrote: |
Posted on both threads!
I called the agent today at igluski who's actually been very useful (he's based in Morzine btw) and he told me not too worry. He didn't dress things up, indeed said the chances are the trees and surrounding would be green on the basis of no snow forecast, however he did ay that the resort is one of the best available (club med) and indeed that every day the Ski instructors will take us skiing, a cable car away in Sestriere, where the current cover on the pistes is good.
He could have sold me on a transfer of resort/area but he believes (and i believe him) that we may as well be there as anywhere, and with excellent all inclusive food!!
It will be a shame if its not all snowy and christmassy however, it's the only time i could get my work and the kids holiday to align for a holiday skiing (Feb half term is not option, daughters birthday and she has plans here) so had to take the chance...
if like the agent says, we get to ski each day, enjoy a lovely resort and be away as a family for new year, objective achieved!!! |
Sometimes it is not if the glass is half full or half empty - it is what is actually in the glass that counts. Great to see open and honest exchanges between the TO and the client. Here in the Pyrenees we like almost everywhere are having a poor start (relatively) to the season. Locally we have 3 resorts, Luchon-Superbagneres which unfortunately has delayed opening but will open with limited skiing this weekend. Peyragudes which has been open at weekends since the beginning of December and which opens fully on Saturday - with plenty of good skiing on well groomed slopes. And just across the border in Spain, Baqueira Beret has about 100 runs open with only a few very low runs suffering.
The weather again like most places is looking warmer than normal with no fresh snow in the coming days - but, and a big but - when you are paying almost 50% less than a lot of Alpine resorts, and where there is a true local and friendly atmosphere, and of course snow - well we should count ourselves lucky.
Where ever you are next week - best wishes for the Christmas holidays 
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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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Article in Planetski on how snow cannon have currently saved the skiing in the Dolomites: http://www.planetski.eu/news/7497
Quote"We can confirm that this really is not PR spin.
Yes, it would be nice to get some of the real stuff falling from the sky, turning the landscape white and opening up the off-piste.
But the slopes are, indeed, ready and they are very, very good."
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
- it is what is actually in the glass that counts
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That's true - if it contains something pleasant, it's half full, and if its contents are unpleasant, it's best regarded as half empty. Thus a skier visiting a ski resort that has half its runs open is recommended to consider his or her glass half full (unless of course the conditions are horrible, in which case he/she is recommended to have a full glass of jagatee).
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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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| Alastair Pink wrote: |
Article in Planetski on how snow cannon have currently saved the skiing in the Dolomites: http://www.planetski.eu/news/7497
Quote"We can confirm that this really is not PR spin.
Yes, it would be nice to get some of the real stuff falling from the sky, turning the landscape white and opening up the off-piste.
But the slopes are, indeed, ready and they are very, very good."
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Thanks - that's an interesting article.
I'm in Selva and have enjoyed another day on the slopes today. I am happy to confirm the confirmation above!
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@IanTr,
Where are you staying?
Make sure that you pop into here and say hi to Werner and Ines http://www.curona.it/en/Default.asp
The views are breath taking and the food is amazing.
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| Quote: |
Personally I think skiing on closed pistes is knuckle-headed (though I have been taken on closed pistes by instructors more than once and was OK with that).
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Are you still 'skiing against local advice' if skiing on a closed piste with an instructor?
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I haven't got room for another footlong...
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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'd like to tell everyone there's plenty of snow where I work, it snows most nights, and yes, I even mention it in my signature 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I am at Geneva airport waiting for a delayed Easyjet flight. The places is teeming with folk with ginormous ski and snowboard bags. Goodness knows where they're all going. Most resorts have a few pistes open but the car parks in Les Saisies and Combloux - neither of which have a lot open - were rammed today. praz Sur Arly was much quieter and there's a decent selection open there. There was no queue for the fast 6 man chair and I suspect that could be the best bet in the next few days. Megeve looked very grassy but possibly there's a narrow strip of muddy stuff down to the town somewhere. Didn't explore there, though I could have done had Easyjet flight tracker not been giving duff info.
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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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@jamesforclaire, if you've got any other questions on Pragelato - Just ask. Safe to say I know it well.
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More skiing at Chamonix at the moment, than there was this time last year. It's only the forecast that's bad, and it's ureliable anyway!
If I remember correctly, it was 27th when it started to snow last year (changeover day/snowmaggeden etc), and that was not forecast til shortly before, and was better (or worse if you were in a car..), than expected.
Having said that, it's clearly not great for those coming over in the next few days, but in most places there is skiing to be found if you want it, and there will be a lot of people who won't bother because it looks so poor from the resort.
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You know it makes sense.
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I arrived in Saalbach yesterday (after a sleepless night spent packing and travelling) and have to confess that I didn't get my ars* in gear and head off up the Bernkogel - if I had I would have witnessed, or participated in, an enormous pillow fight to celebrate the official opening of the TirolS, the new gondola link to Fieberbrunn (https://www.facebook.com/Skicircus/videos/1193142510699979/?pnref=story. )
It gets worse: I missed a day's skiing today (and hence the opportunity to post a report on the conditions), as a result of becoming embroiled in late night shenanigans, which encompassed Bobby's Pub, the Underbar, Castellos, the Taverne and the Otzi Bar and went on until after 04.00am.
However, I spoke to numerous people who had been skiing yesterday and were able to tell me all about the current conditions. They were uniformly impressed by what has been achieved in terms of snow-making and piste maintenance, given the current snow drought. Apparently it's possible to ski around most of the circuit and the snow quality is generally very good. One guy, who has been here for the last week, said that he's been averaging 50km a day. Above mid-station it's pretty well business as usual, whilst the lower pistes down to the village are obviously much narrower than usual but nonetheless skiable. I got the impression that, despite the current situation, there has been a lot of enjoyable skiing going on, which comes as quite a relief - however this may be short-lived once the New Year crowds descend on us!
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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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@footsoldier,
Last year the snow on the 27th was showing up by now on the forecasts. It was never predicted to be a massive dump, it wasn't by alpine standards, it just fell on the first busy transfer day of the year.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| zzz wrote: |
@footsoldier,
Last year the snow on the 27th was showing up by now on the forecasts. It was never predicted to be a massive dump, it wasn't by alpine standards, it just fell on the first busy transfer day of the year. |
Sorry to be argumentative but it was the 2nd busy transfer day of the year and the weather was almost exactly as predicted. Just the local authorities (mainly police) didn't get their back bottom in gear soon enough.......it wasn't even a particularily large or prolonged snowfall (even just counting the previous 5 years).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@footsoldier, the only thing I'm dying to know is whether we'll ski or not lol
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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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There's only going to be one place to book for December skiing in years to come. £12m investment and 688km of skiing open. Reports from people out there say the snow is pretty good too. A staggering engineering achievement.
Hopefully, this will set the bar for other resorts to follow.
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=120942#2809685
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I was in Val d'isere last week and whilst it was unseasonably warm there was some good piste skiing to be had. My daughter enjoyed the baby ski club on the front de neige and whilst we at have spent longer at lunch or finished a little earlier than normal the skiing was on the whole fine and I'd do it again.
What the next few weeks will bring nobody knows for certain, but meteomorris at wepowder made a slightly more positive note about the duration of Mediterranean high pressure domination periods. Fingers crossed for all heading out soon.
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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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| Quote: |
@footsoldier,
Last year the snow on the 27th was showing up by now on the forecasts. It was never predicted to be a massive dump, it wasn't by alpine standards, it just fell on the first busy transfer day of the year.
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Sorry to disagree, but it was one of the biggest 24hr snowfalls I can remember in 9 years of living in the Alps. It was also almost perfectly timed to cause massive traffic disruption, as the snow started to fall at around 6am on the busiest transfer day of the year and continued throughout the whole day and well into the night.
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@stevomcd, maybe in your neck of the woods... But these things are very localised - as you know.
It certainly (in Chamonix) wasn't anything like the dump of pre-xmas week 2011.
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Looking at the webcams La Plagne is having a dusting up top. 
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Snowing in Tignes and also St Anton
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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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@under a new name, we're splitting hairs. It was a metric ****load of snow. As was December 2011 (and 2012 for that matter...).
Last year's was unusual in being incredibly focussed on a 24hr period (not even that, more like 1 . Total snowfall may not have been particularly exceptional, but it was very intense. We went from zero snow in our back garden (at 900m) to about 90cm in less than 12 hours.
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| Quote: |
| There's only going to be one place to book for December skiing in years to come |
Tignes, as in years past as well ??
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I'm usually a December and January skier. Glad I'm not going till February this year.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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| Markymark29 wrote: |
| Snowing in Tignes and also St Anton |
It's stopped snowing in Tignes...by a stretch of imagination, you could say it snowed 1 cm...
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Poster: A snowHead
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Weather.com is now showing snow forecast for the week following 1 Jan
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| CourchGal wrote: |
| Weather.com is now showing snow forecast for the week following 1 Jan |
We are in for a tense 10 days...
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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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Anyone out in Kitzbühel at mo? Was just wondering how it is that they are reporting 42cm at top and bottom when just a couple of meters down the valley the SkiWelt is reporting 10cm? Did someone shovel all the snow together in a pile before measuring or is this for real?
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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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@cameronphillips2000 well, why bother and battle with temperatures then? what is the point in doing so if mother nature just says no. artificial snow is not the solution and if it was, like u r suggesting, lets all go to dubai and enjoy. same with oceans for example if summers get colder, what should we do? heat them? boil ocean water? lol, if there is no snow, just dont go skiing. or go to dubai, where the piste is open all year round. lol.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| drvosjecha wrote: |
| @cameronphillips2000 well, why bother and battle with temperatures then? what is the point in doing so if mother nature just says no. artificial snow is not the solution and if it was, like u r suggesting, lets all go to dubai and enjoy. same with oceans for example if summers get colder, what should we do? heat them? boil ocean water? lol, if there is no snow, just dont go skiing. or go to dubai, where the piste is open all year round. lol. |
Read this and then, as Alan Partridge would say, go and get a big plate and a spoon and eat a big portion of humble pie. 688km open in wamr temperatures! I believe it's in the pre cooling of the water....
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=120942#2812233
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| cameronphillips2000 wrote: |
| drvosjecha wrote: |
| @cameronphillips2000 well, why bother and battle with temperatures then? what is the point in doing so if mother nature just says no. artificial snow is not the solution and if it was, like u r suggesting, lets all go to dubai and enjoy. same with oceans for example if summers get colder, what should we do? heat them? boil ocean water? lol, if there is no snow, just dont go skiing. or go to dubai, where the piste is open all year round. lol. |
Read this and then, as Alan Partridge would say, go and get a big plate and a spoon and eat a big portion of humble pie. 688km open in wamr temperatures! I believe it's in the pre cooling of the water....
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=120942#2812233 |
I think it absolutely amazing that the resorts, at least the high ones, in the alps have managed to give many thousands of people some great entertainment over Xmas. I think, pretty much without exception, everyone who has been and posted on here has had a good time.
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@cameronphillips2000 lol why dont use styrofoam instead and ski all year round. smh
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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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| drvosjecha wrote: |
| @cameronphillips2000 well, why bother and battle with temperatures then? |
Simple economics
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@Sharkymark lol, sure. it pays off. what have you guys been eating? people are canceling their ski trips, cuz of the poor conditions, e.g. myself and countless others, so less people on the slopes + the cost of maintining man made snow and your argument is economics. how does that add up? smh
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FAQ
