 Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone able to recommend a transfer service (either shared or private) that services Cervinia from Turin airport? Thanks in advance
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| JohnMo wrote: |
Info issued by the Tourist Office yesterday.
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The descent from Matterhorn Glacier Paradise towards Trockener Steg has also been improved. The Gandegg piste (number 73) has been designed to ensure a pleasant return journey to Trockener Steg with no uphill section. |
I will miss the uphill section on piste 73 coming down from Klein Matterhorn or the border crossing. It allowed us regulars to tuck down and straight line from high up to get across it, while smugly going past those not familiar with it who were swearing in various languages while poling themselves along. However if there was a decent northerly wind no amount of tucking and straight lining would get you the whole way.
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Well - maybe it was me that you heard swearing when I forgot to get enough speed for the umpteenth time (although I'd almost mastered it last year).
I'm surprised fixing this bit has taken so long as it was always a bit of a pain to get to TS for a lunch stop or to download from there, especially with kids or more nervous skiers in tow.
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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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| Whitters wrote: |
| JohnMo wrote: |
Info issued by the Tourist Office yesterday.
| Quote: |
The descent from Matterhorn Glacier Paradise towards Trockener Steg has also been improved. The Gandegg piste (number 73) has been designed to ensure a pleasant return journey to Trockener Steg with no uphill section. |
I will miss the uphill section on piste 73 coming down from Klein Matterhorn or the border crossing. It allowed us regulars to tuck down and straight line from high up to get across it, while smugly going past those not familiar with it who were swearing in various languages while poling themselves along. However if there was a decent northerly wind no amount of tucking and straight lining would get you the whole way.
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Well - maybe it was me that you heard swearing when I forgot to get enough speed for the umpteenth time (although I'd almost mastered it last year).
I'm surprised fixing this bit has taken so long as it was always a bit of a pain to get to TS for a lunch stop or to download from there, especially with kids or more nervous skiers in tow. |
I agree. It is a route that loads of people use. Anyone skiing from Italy to Switzerland has to take it - and anyone returning to Switzerland from Italy. It was odd having such and unpleasant stretch. I am out there next week so I will be interested to see what they have done.
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Snow has been really good. But today saw a Föhn coming in from the south, bringing moist air, which we definitely don’t want. Here is a great photo from Meteo Swiss showing the Föhn crossing the border.
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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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Snow down in the village today. Slushy obviously but a good indicator of the quality higher up. Temperature coming down, lots of snow over the weekend and enough uncertainty after that to keep optimism levels up.
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| stevesie wrote: |
| Planning a trip to Zermatt this season. Should I go March 3-9 or March 10-16? |
Either. Toss a coin!
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Very rare, nowadays, to see snow in Zermatt town.
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Quick look at Zermatterhof roof town webcam. Still plenty.
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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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The new Zermatt to Furi lifts started running today (parallel to the Matterhorn Expresss lifts to Klein Matterhorn). Very cool.
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Got to love the Italians. Pistes prepared down to Plan Maison and snow cannons blasting. I wonder if there is any chance they will open that stretch up this weekend. It would be ridiculously early but the Italians have done it before.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Wow that would be class @JohnMo, is there a thaw coming though?
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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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| 8611 wrote: |
| Wow that would be class @JohnMo, is there a thaw coming though? |
There is no thaw in the forecast. Nice low temperatures for this weekend’s precipitation and then low in the reliable range. Even if the potential above average temperatures turn up in ten days or so (outside the reliable range) that will not produce any thaw at Plan Maison (or the equivalent on the Swiss side).
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You know it makes sense.
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Back in Zermatt. Lovely to see everything covered in a blanket of snow this early in the season. Coming up the valley last night the snow stretched almost down to St Niklaus - which is more than it did for most of last year’s awful (with the exception of the last few weeks) snow season.
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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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John, great news. Nice to hear that snow is inching its way down the valley - look like some sensible temps up top to keep snow in place.
Webcams at Rothorn and Gornergrat looking good also - I assume the cannons will be firing to get a bit of extra stored up?
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Run28, The lift company are certainly claiming they are going for it. The cynic in me thinks a lot of lift company resource is going into making the race course top notch (to be fair, I do approve of that).
The snow in town is a little on the wet side but you don’t need to go far up the valley for it to be great. Beyond Furi (1867m) it is absolutely superb. For the next six weeks we are not really bothered about anything below 2000m (the start of the home runs).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Run28 wrote: |
John, great news. Nice to hear that snow is inching its way down the valley - look like some sensible temps up top to keep snow in place.
Webcams at Rothorn and Gornergrat looking good also - I assume the cannons will be firing to get a bit of extra stored up? |
Regarding the cannons – yes, they were going all day today. Here they are pumping into the midday sky up at Schwarzsee. And one doing its job at Findeln. That is the hardest slope to get going: it is low (by Zermatt standards) – it is 2288m at the top at Sunnegga and under 2000m at the bottom: plus it is entirely south facing so gets the sun all day long. However, it is the best slope for beginners and (more importantly) it has all the posh Findeln restaurants alongside it. If the lift company didn’t have that slope open at the beginning of December they would have a lot of angry restauranteurs banging on their door.
Temperatures low for another week then some more precipitation to look forward to. Encouraging so far.
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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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I can't imagine Vrony, Heidi and the Adler Hitta team would be impressed if a strip can't be created to get the restaurants up and running.
Looking healthy up there though.
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Went snowshoeing on a loop from Riffelberg to Rotenboden and back today. The walks are not open yet so you have to treat it like you would off piste skiing or touring (and equip up appropriately). The snow quality was not just the best we’ve had in November but amongst the best at any time - helped by the fact that we were making fresh tracks all the way with no-one around other than at the two train stations. These three days of sun have taken away a fair bit of snow down in town but up high it is real cold so conditions are as good as they were on Sunday. Chance of a top up tomorrow as well.
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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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Lovely update, thanks John.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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it is a very good start. Hoping for colder weather ongoing, with the occasional top up
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Cervinia opening up all the lifts above Plan Maison from next Tuesday 14 November (ie after World Cup races). Even opening the blue piste down from Plan Maison to the village.
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| JohnMo wrote: |
| Whitters wrote: |
| JohnMo wrote: |
Info issued by the Tourist Office yesterday.
| Quote: |
The descent from Matterhorn Glacier Paradise towards Trockener Steg has also been improved. The Gandegg piste (number 73) has been designed to ensure a pleasant return journey to Trockener Steg with no uphill section. |
I will miss the uphill section on piste 73 coming down from Klein Matterhorn or the border crossing. It allowed us regulars to tuck down and straight line from high up to get across it, while smugly going past those not familiar with it who were swearing in various languages while poling themselves along. However if there was a decent northerly wind no amount of tucking and straight lining would get you the whole way.
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Well - maybe it was me that you heard swearing when I forgot to get enough speed for the umpteenth time (although I'd almost mastered it last year).
I'm surprised fixing this bit has taken so long as it was always a bit of a pain to get to TS for a lunch stop or to download from there, especially with kids or more nervous skiers in tow. |
I agree. It is a route that loads of people use. Anyone skiing from Italy to Switzerland has to take it - and anyone returning to Switzerland from Italy. It was odd having such and unpleasant stretch. I am out there next week so I will be interested to see what they have done. |
You might need to know the Zermatt ski area quite well to understand what follows.
This is the new revised piste map. 73 comes down from Klein Matterhorn and the Italian border. 71 and 72 come down from Furggsattel. All joined (and still do join) together. Shortly after they join together there used to be an uphill section that few could manage the speed to get up and used to annoy beginners and advanced skiers alike. As the season went on they would open a direct route down to the bottom of the Furggsattel lift, which avoided the uphill section. Later on again they would open a branch of that (piste 75) which bypassed Trokcener Steg to take you straight down to Furgg. However, until they opened those and always if you wanted to go to Trockner Steg, you had to do the uphill section.
The new approach is basically the old route to the Furggsattel lift. However, as well as going to the lift it veers over to the right to join with the old piste to Trockener Steg. This is definitely an improvement and one I was grateful for today with heavy cloud and lots of piled up fresh snow around.
However, at its narrowest point this new piste is barely more than ten metres wide (there is a rock face one side and a rock drop off the other). That was fine today but a huge amount of traffic comes down from Klein Matterhorn, Italy and Furggsattel. I can imagine some spectacular bumps come Xmas, the half terms and Easter.
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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, thanks for the update
More often than not we’d take the piste to Furgg and then download (or upload) from there, especially when my daughter was younger, but that last red bit could get interesting towards the end of the day.
I look forward to seeing the change in person in February
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| JohnMo wrote: |
You might need to know the Zermatt ski area quite well to understand what follows.
This is the new revised piste map. 73 comes down from Klein Matterhorn and the Italian border. 71 and 72 come down from Furggsattel. All joined (and still do join) together. Shortly after they join together there used to be an uphill section that few could manage the speed to get up and used to annoy beginners and advanced skiers alike. As the season went on they would open a direct route down to the bottom of the Furggsattel lift, which avoided the uphill section. Later on again they would open a branch of that (piste 75) which bypassed Trokcener Steg to take you straight down to Furgg. However, until they opened those and always if you wanted to go to Trockner Steg, you had to do the uphill section.
The new approach is basically the old route to the Furggsattel lift. However, as well as going to the lift it veers over to the right to join with the old piste to Trockener Steg. This is definitely an improvement and one I was grateful for today with heavy cloud and lots of piled up fresh snow around.
However, at its narrowest point this new piste is barely more than ten metres wide (there is a rock face one side and a rock drop off the other). That was fine today but a huge amount of traffic comes down from Klein Matterhorn, Italy and Furggsattel. I can imagine some spectacular bumps come Xmas, the half terms and Easter.
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@JohnMo I don't know the Zermatt ski area at all, let alone "quite well", but I have booked for 7 of us to fly out to Cervinia on Hogmanay [New Year's Eve] for a week. Whether permitting, up to 4 of us might do 2 perhaps 3 days in Zermatt but it will be Dad's [my] job to be ski guide (must be back at Trockener Steg by 2.30, must be back at TS. by 2.30..., PS.. Dad pays for anything that goes wrong).
The reason for this post is that I've been looking at OpenSkiMap ("why can't all ski maps be made this way?") to plan what we might be able to manage on these two or three days and for the life of me, if I look at https://openskimap.org/?obj=a3c6512335c20d14a97acafe7dba1af6f3218384#14.62/45.95846/7.71008 I can't find an uphill section that fits that description.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@tsgsh, it’s marked as downhill, but isn’t! Not a game changer but annoying. Not apparently anymore however, so happy days 
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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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For anyone with Eurosport 3, this SAT at 10.30am live coverage of the Zermatt to Cervinia downhill. Suspect they’ll be coming down even faster than me  Good indication of snow conditions as they currently are.
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@twoodwar, according to my Discovery+ app it's being broadcast on Eurosport 2, I don't think there's a Eurosport 3 channel? 
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You know it makes sense.
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@JohnMo, Thanks for that update. Will be interesting to see how the new piste works out. I must say that I have always enjoyed the challenge of runs like that and remembering when to start the schuss - not too soon or it's brown trouser time and not too late to avoid a hike. Getting to the top of the uphill section just before accumulated speed had dropped off was always a source of satisfaction (not necessarily smug!). That particular run used to have the added challenge of avoiding the T-bar while on the schuss.
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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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@tsgsh, it is/was only the very last little section of that map and I'd say a bit bigger than what the profile suggests.
Not a huge climb at all, just a bit annoying. Anyway, hopefully a thing of the past
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Whitters wrote: |
@tsgsh, it is/was only the very last little section of that map and I'd say a bit bigger than what the profile suggests.
Not a huge climb at all, just a bit annoying. Anyway, hopefully a thing of the past |
OK, thanks. I think I know type... there's one in Alpe d'Huez at the Alpette if I remember that can be very busy and hard to schuss. I'm sure I won't miss what I never had.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| tsgsh wrote: |
| Whitters wrote: |
@tsgsh, it is/was only the very last little section of that map and I'd say a bit bigger than what the profile suggests.
Not a huge climb at all, just a bit annoying. Anyway, hopefully a thing of the past |
OK, thanks. I think I know type... there's one in Alpe d'Huez at the Alpette if I remember that can be very busy and hard to schuss. I'm sure I won't miss what I never had. |
Not sure if this will help as they took the images on a gloomy day. Here are two screenshots from “street” view on Google mops. They are both taken from the same place. The first one is looking down the piste at the Trockener Steg lift station. The second one is looking back “up” to the Italian border (the T bar lift at the side has now gone). I don’t know if you can tell but you had to come uphill to get to that point.
Thankfully all a thing of the past now - it is downhill all the way.
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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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| tsgsh wrote: |
@JohnMo I don't know the Zermatt ski area at all, let alone "quite well", but I have booked for 7 of us to fly out to Cervinia on Hogmanay [New Year's Eve] for a week. Whether permitting, up to 4 of us might do 2 perhaps 3 days in Zermatt but it will be Dad's [my] job to be ski guide (must be back at Trockener Steg by 2.30, must be back at TS. by 2.30..., PS.. Dad pays for anything that goes wrong).
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I don’t want you to cut it too fine - particularly for a first visit. But 2.30 at Trockener Steg is very comfortable to get back to Cervinia. At the time of year you are going the advertised last lift from town (and it is a decent journey from town to Trockener Steg) is 14.50 (it is 15.20 later in the season).
Do however keep an eye on the electronic screens above the gates as you go into the lift stations. They will alert you if, for some reason (usually winds that weren’t forecast), they want you to go back earlier.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks John, 2.30 it is, weather gods permitting.
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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, I’ll put my glasses on! Not a Eurosport afficianado. Most channels seem to have a least 3!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| twoodwar wrote: |
| For anyone with Eurosport 2, this SAT at 10.30am live coverage of the Zermatt to Cervinia downhill. Suspect they’ll be coming down even faster than me Good indication of snow conditions as they currently are. |
Hope it goes ahead. For the second day running they had to abandon the training because of the heavy snow! I came down off Klein Matterhorn yesterday, running parallel to the race track. It was not easy going. It would be ironic if they lost last year’s race through no snow and this year’s through too much! Fortunately conditions look better for tomorrow.
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| JohnMo wrote: |
| twoodwar wrote: |
| For anyone with Eurosport 2, this SAT at 10.30am live coverage of the Zermatt to Cervinia downhill. Suspect they’ll be coming down even faster than me Good indication of snow conditions as they currently are. |
Hope it goes ahead. For the second day running they had to abandon the training because of the heavy snow! I came down off Klein Matterhorn yesterday, running parallel to the race track. It was not easy going. It would be ironic if they lost last year’s race through no snow and this year’s through too much! Fortunately conditions look better for tomorrow. |
Oh no. They have had to cancel today’s racing because of the heavy snowfall (strong winds as well but I think they would have coped with them).
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At least it will stop them digging up the ancient glacier.
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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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Great start to the season. Even with the above average temperatures coming up that will be snow in the ski area - on top of what has already been fantastic dumps
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I’ll be in Aosta for 5 days in very early February. We tried a trip to Zermatt from Cervinia a few years ago but were unsuccessful due to high winds. I am determined to make it happen this time. I’ll obviously try to pick the day with best weather forecast.
Assuming I’m successful which mountain cafe/restaurant is best for views of the Matterhorn? Preferably not nose bleed expensive. I understand Zermatt is pricey but something Aussie dollar friendly. 
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FAQ
