 Poster: A snowHead
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Arolla, 1st jan 2014. I've been skiing in the Arolla, evolene valley all week. It is a small less well known valley close to verbier and saas fee. From what friends tell me the situation is the same the ought the vallais.
There was a good dump of snow (50cm) before we arrived and it has certainly helped. The pistes are in good nick although thin on some of the rollers and steeper sections. The off piste is just about skiable. There is next to no base so rocks are everywhere and where there is a base the avi risk is high. The SLF are giving the risk as 3/5 but locally it can be much higher. Slopes, especially in gullies and bowls on all aspects are sliding if you so much as look at them, the fresh snow has not bonded to the snow below. Be very very careful skiing off piste. The safe lines have very little snow so it is easy to get drawn in to the gullies and bowls where the snow is deeper and very unstable.
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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 am going to Passo tonale at the end of the month (Jan 14). Can anyone tell me what it is like there and is there lots of snow?
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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 am going to Tonale too but in half term in Feb. On the web cam it looks pretty good but always best to get info from those who have been.
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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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Zinal, grimentz. Good snow, skied fresh snow every day, good base, no more rocks than you'd expect in the mountains although it is a bit thin in places(mostly on piste). Snow pack seemed stable but was still very sketchy in places so be very careful. It really can change from being good and stable to scary in a few meters. Be careful!
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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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Tignes. 03.02.2014 Excellent on piste today. Some off piste light snow. Lots of wind blown snow about. More snow forecast for every day this week.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Dumping in Valdez, Alaska!! The snow pack is looking great!! Anyone coming to the Chugach for Heli Season?
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Ski Dolomiti Perfect end of.
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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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Over the last week I visited a bunch of resorts in Romande. In general runs that are open are in good condition before 11am, with some bare patches on exposed South-facing parts of runs and on sections below around 1600m. The situation deteriorates progressively after 11am on runs below about 1900m. Lower runs are often like sludge and closing progressively. Although there has been virtually no snow for some time, the dumps last month have ensured there is plenty of snow on higher runs. Off piste, however, is pretty horrible unless you go high, e.g. Mt-Fort.
Verbier is pretty much below the snowline line, although resort runs are open. Nendaz is a bit of a disaster - best to take the ski bus back from Siviez. Bruson is fine, but the valley run is closed - how do they reckon there are 53km (the official claim) of piste there?
Villars is feeling like it will struggle to stay open until Easter, but most lifts and resort runs are open still.
Anzere is all open apart from a couple of lower runs, but the runs into the viillage and the gondola are still open.
In the Portes du Soleil ,Champery and Les Crosets are generally good, but the runs above Champoussin and Morgins are a disaster area in the afternoon with heavy snow, lots of tired skiers trying to get back to their resorts and crashes all over the place. Rock the Pistes has been fun though.
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Several inches of fresh snow fell each of the first four days of April across the Valais, and now - with a decent base above 2000m - there is still some great skiing around. Plenty of fresh knee-deep lift-served powder on Les Marecottes yesterday and at Arolla on Friday. Further West, in Graechen on Saturday there was good snow right down to the village in the morning, but it was heavy on lower slopes n the afternoon.Veysonnaz this morning, in the 4 Vallees is just perfect with all runs open and good snow on them. Couple of bare patches here and there on steep exposed areas and decent off-piste is high and all the easier to reach areas are heavily tracked,. Time to ski. Report date 6.4.2015
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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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Got back from Les Contamines on Boxing Day. The resort had done a decent job of maintaining a number of pistes and we were able to ski......but it's all relative ie "a bad days skiing is better than.....etc".
The conditions were deteriorating quickly and I suspect that things will be pretty poor by now. Les C is a high resort and ordinarily one of the areas most snow-sure locations so seeing it in such a state is shocking.
Les C hosts a big Army event in early January (Nordic & Alpine); at the moment there's no way the Nordic will take place and the Alpine is looking doubtful. Very sad for a resort I love.
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We were at Les Contamines on New Year's Eve. I saw a report elsewhere on the board that they got 20cm of snow since then, so I hope conditions are better now and all I write here is moot. But fwiw:
It was skiable, and worth the drive from Geneva, though not great.
About half the lifts/runs were open. I took a picture of the map with lights showing which, but am unable to paste it here.
It would have been best early in the day, as much snow was manmade and got tracked out by afternoon.
In general, the back side was far better than the front side, and the top of the mountain better than the bottom.
Specifically, none of the runs from the bottom of the Signal telepherique and Montjoie chairlifts down to parking were open. You need to take the Gorge or Montjoie telepherique down to parking. Around the bottom of the Signal telepherique was a slushy mix of mud and snow. Around the top of the Signal telepherique was also tracked down with bare spots. Going to the other side got better - the Roselette and Nant Rouge lifts were where we spent most time. Still some bare patches and muddy spots and dangerously crowded/narrow spots though. From Nant Rouge, the blue run down was closed but the red run was open.
It was snowing lightly at the top a couple times during our day, a good sign.
It was raining on our drive back to Geneva, which I hope means it was snowing on the mountain.
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