 Poster: A snowHead
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Most lifts closed this am, Friday, our last day  the wind strikes again, we were up in it yesterday just before they shut the lifts and it was grim.
Waiting for the 1030 update. I'd decamp to eg Pila but can't do that today as have to return hire gear to Valtournenche by 3.30. Gah.
Them's the risks in a high altitude place.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That is unfortunate. Everything open on Swiss side (except link to Italy obviously). Nice fresh snow and low temperatures keeping it in good condition. We had the 3 year old granddaughter having her first fresh tracks experience yesterday.
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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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That sucks. Could you at least get to Valtournenche? I'm at Pila today and it's really nice and sunny, very little/no wind. I quite like the runs off the 2 highest lifts. Snow is fine up there, very thin/no snow cover below Baby Gorraz. Tomorrow is the last day I guess.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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We did exactly that! By the time we got up to Salette it was perfect and we had 4 hours of brilliant skiing before leaving for the airport. Epic conditions for April.
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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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As so often happens April is producing some of the best skiing of the season. The majority of the Swiss side is now closed (although there are still some good areas open) but the Italian side keeps going until 7 May. The photo is from a video the tourist company posted of today’s skiing. Looks more like February than end April (a normal February that is - this season’s February was very poor).
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@JohnMo, looks great, when do they shut?
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| kitenski wrote: |
| @JohnMo, looks great, when do they shut? |
As of tomorrow Zermatt is on the first stage of its summer timetable. In May that means the Furggsattel lift will be open with the excellent runs going down from there to Trockener Steg. At the end of the month that will close and all skiing will be up on the higher pistes coming off Klein Matterhorn. Hopefully they will manage to keep that going all summer. Last year for the first time ever they had to close for 6 weeks because of the poor snow cover on the glacier.
Cervinia keeps going quite a bit longer and will have a fair amount open until 7 May.
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The snow gods really like to torment us. After no snow at all in February there was snow all the way down to village level in both Zermatt and Breuil-Cervinia today. Lovely stuff higher up for those lucky enough to be out there (particularly on the Italian side where quite a lot is still open).
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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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Interesting to see the fan fare regarding the Alpine Crossing. Can't quite get my head around the 240 CHF price for a return ticket and who will actually be spending this for the royalty of sitting on a new cable car. Impressive feat of engineering all the same!
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Latest reports from Zermatt summer glacier this week do not sound good.
Narrow pistes, and down to 1 lift on some days.
Feels like yearround skiing in Zermatt is drawing to a close.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Last year in mid July the summer glacier closed for a time. Hasn’t seemed to happen this year…yet anyway.
Any on the ground views?
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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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Just to quickly add to this - the SnowPark Instagram account seems to show things operating properly as expected for this time of year.
Probably burying my head as I'm not out there but it gives me hope!
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@Run28, I wouldn’t be worried by our American friend who has never been to Zermatt (and certainly has no “latest reports”). I got back from Zermatt on Sunday and things are running very well indeed. Here is last week’s vlog from the Warren Smith Academy – it was taken gone 1 o’clock when people have usually headed off for lunch in the summer. In fact there was a good dump high up later in the week which improved things even further – also made things look very pretty as the lower Furgg glacier (which I look at from my window) turned to a gleaming snowy white from its usual icy blue/grey this time of year.
https://fb.watch/mhXpFtEwH7/
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You know it makes sense.
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John, as always the voice of reason. Glad to hear you've been out recently.
Great to hear things are running well. From the looks of that video the glacier is in great condition for the time of year. That video aligns well with the SnowPark.
How did you find the temperatures? With the rest of Europe baking was it fairly typical for July/August?
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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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We were out for 10 days. The temperatures were lovely - just above or just below 20 degrees the whole time. Perfect for hiking in the mountains.
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Poster: A snowHead
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The video is ~2 weeks' old.
Temps are high.
A more-recent update from a skier here.
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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’ll be honest, I’ll trust John over PlanetSki. He has just been in town.
Check out the SnowPark Zermatt updates. All looks good up top.
There is enough doom and gloom in the world. Keep positive.
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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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| Run28 wrote: |
| Interesting to see the fan fare regarding the Alpine Crossing. Can't quite get my head around the 240 CHF price for a return ticket and who will actually be spending this for the royalty of sitting on a new cable car. Impressive feat of engineering all the same! |
I tend to agree. Nothing against Cervinia but I am not sure I would recommend anyone in Zermatt in the summer or Autumn to go over for the day (not sure you can make the trip in Winter – or at least no prices yet).
I would think the main target is tour groups (primarily from East Asia) coming to one place and heading across the border to continue their journey around Europe. One of the main purposes of the new cabin between Zermatt and Furi (opening in the Autumn) is to transfer luggage – for such tour groups I imagine. The one way price Zermatt-Cervinia is CHF156 – still toppy but it is an experience. I would also guess that tour groups negotiate a bulk discount well in advance.
While the new lifts do little or nothing for skiers, I am fully in favour of them making as much money out of this as possible. It means more money for the new lift projects. The next one is from Hohtälli to Stockhorn. Stockhorn has been out of commission since they stopped using the drag lifts a few years back. One now accesses that excellent itinerary run area only from Rote Nase, which is fun but I preferred Stockhorn.
On a slightly related note (niche interest – possibly only me on here!), because of the new lift the annual pass has now been changed to: “ordinary” (CHF2,200) which means all ski lifts in both countries throughout the winter season and all Swiss lifts etc during other times of year; and “Xtended” (funky spelling – must have accidentally hired a young person) for CHF2,600 which includes all the Italian lifts during the non-ski season parts of the year. Not sure I would ever go over during non-ski times to justify CHF400 so I will stick with “ordinary”.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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CHF 2,200 seems excellent value considering the weekly rate in winter season.
@JohnMo - the clock is ticking until the 2023/2024 Zermatt & Cervinia page is started?
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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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Always comforting (reassuring) to see the opening schedule for the coming 'winter' season. Fingers firmly crossed these dates hold. After a few years of frustration and suspect snow conditions....pray for snow.
Glacier Paradise/Schwarzsee - 1st November
Sunnegga-Rothorn/Riffelberg etc - 2nd December
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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If all goes well I should get a day's skiing at Zermatt on 25 August. Will be checking out the new lift and will report back (as well as for Episode 184 of The Ski Podcast www.theskipodcastcom)
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Snow in the village in August. Will be superb skiing up on the glacier later this week.
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Agreed. Cracking to see a dusting in August in the town. The Fluhalp team put up a picture of the tables outside the restaurant - at least 5cm.
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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’ll call 10cm at Fluhalp actually. Exciting stuff.
Couldn’t care less that it’s going to melt. Bring back the winter!
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| Run28 wrote: |
I’ll call 10cm at Fluhalp actually. Exciting stuff.
Couldn’t care less that it’s going to melt. Bring back the winter! |
Certainly it will all melt at Zermatt and Fluhalp and similar levels. Some pockets might survive higher up. Most importantly it will linger on the glaciers: good news for those fancying late summer skiing on the upper glacier; but also helpful getting the Autumn skiing started in October on the lower glacier (obviously need several more dumps but that would always be the case).
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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A great start!
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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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John, fancy getting a 2023/24 thread going?
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You know it makes sense.
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@iainm, re post on 23/24? Looking forward to the ride though
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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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Just looks the same as every other high tram in the European Alps.
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Poster: A snowHead
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What, no announcement in Mandarin? Surely not then catering to a key target market.
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FAQ
