 Poster: A snowHead
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| Woosh wrote: |
| I think it is pretty certain that midweek next week will be extremly cold. The uncertainty is how long it will last.. |
At the moment the extreme cold looks like lasting for four days. Then looking like remaining cold (but not as extreme) but still uncertainty over this!!
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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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Sunny this morning then got cloudy at lunchtime. Some light snow early afternoon but then reasonable light by 3, and very quiet. Virtually no queues all afternoon on Biok and Pralongia 2 (both seem generally the busiest lifts around here). Dusting of snow this evening too.
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@jimmybog,
I agree. Looks like most of next week will be really cold and then it might get slowly milder from next weekend. Still well below normal, though. All depends on the movement westwards of the high over Northern Europe.
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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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Any precipitation due for the Dollies , or will it be cold and dry
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@dublin2, A small amount of precipitation due Thursday-Friday (ARPAV says 10-15cm in the Dolomites up to 20-25cm in the pre-alps in total over Thursday/Friday) and a little bit more weak snowfall on Sunday, then looks very cold and dry for a few days. Might be some precipitation involved with the breakdown of the cold spell towards the end of next week but that's too far away for any certainty.
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@what...snow, nice pic from Mont Vallon, one of my favourite spots. Lovely view out from there in the late afternoon as well.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@what...snow,
thanks for great updates. Bringing back happy memories of 2 trips this season.
Hope the snow today doesn’t hamper your plans and leaves the pistes in even better condition!
Quite a spectacular area eh?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Looks like the deep easterly cold will be affecting the Dolomites Monday through Wed next week according to Bergfex, though the sunshine should make it feel a bit warmer during the day.
If hiring a car from Milan or Venice and it's a diesel, make sure you get an anti-waxing additive or Winter Diesel in the tank. The fuel from the plains will tend to wax at -7C, the Winter Diesel has been shown to have protection down to -27C.
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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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@luigi, was just wondering about this. I'm collecting a car from Treviso on Saturday with a full tank, I'm guessing they don't automatically use the winter diesel unless asked in advance?
Having checked the forecast, all recommendations for the best areas (and maybe restaurant stops...  ) in extreme cold and/or poor visibility gratefully received! We'll be based in Vigo di Fassa.
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Must have been 5/6 years ago I got caught out in Gressoney st Jean.I had hired a car from Linate airport and driven to the hotel. By the time I got there the hotel had given away my pre booked space in the underground car park.Despite stopping on route and putting two bottles of additive in the tank the diesel froze twice during the week as temps weee below-20 and I lost 2 days skiing as a result.The next year all the rental companies had notices up stating they were not liable if cold weather caused the diesel to freeze .
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You know it makes sense.
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@Angus og, 2012 I think, last time I had to use winter diesel. Think I'd better check with the rental company and our apartment hosts. Luckily there are buses!
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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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Does starting the car, going a short drive, 10 miles etc help, instead of parking the car outside for a week without starting it
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Poster: A snowHead
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I thought that oil companies provide winter diesel from Sept/Oct onwards till March?? Or is this just in the UK??
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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 was driving to staffal every morning to get to lift,about 2 miles.Diesel froze overnight on 2 nd night then again on night 5.Temperatures were brutal.Italian mechanic told me to put a few litres of petrol in the diesel.I insisted he did it but it worked and apparently you can put about 5 litres in a tank.Car was a fiat , wouldn’t fancy doing that To my discovery though.
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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’ll pack an extra layer then! 😄
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@luigi, Thanks for mentioning about the diesel. It looks like the car I've reserved is one. Is the fuel additive readily available at petrol stations between Venice and the mountains?
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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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@musehead, we were easily able to buy additive a couple of weeks ago once in mountain terrritory on the way to birthday bash.
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| musehead wrote: |
| @luigi, Thanks for mentioning about the diesel. It looks like the car I've reserved is one. Is the fuel additive readily available at petrol stations between Venice and the mountains? |
Yes, I stopped at a garage on the motorway up to Cortina. The helpful attendant suggested a bottle of additive which would treat 50 litres and then we squeezed in another €10 worth of Winter Diesel. The additive was probably overpriced at €9.50, but it was peace of mind as temps were due to drop below -12C that night. I didn't have any issues all week starting the car.
I believe there are various grades of Winter Diesel, the stuff sold in the lowlands will only keep you out of trouble down to -7C, but with this deep cold you need a bit more than that. The car hire lady reminded me too. I guess it causes a massive headache if they have to go and retrieve a car that's waxed up and won't start.
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| Angus og wrote: |
| I was driving to staffal every morning to get to lift,about 2 miles.Diesel froze overnight on 2 nd night then again on night 5.Temperatures were brutal.Italian mechanic told me to put a few litres of petrol in the diesel.I insisted he did it but it worked and apparently you can put about 5 litres in a tank.Car was a fiat , wouldn’t fancy doing that To my discovery though. |
With newer direct injection diesel engines adding petrol to the fuel tank apparently can destroy the injection system. I would recommend only using the proprietary additives.
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| dublin2 wrote: |
| Does starting the car, going a short drive, 10 miles etc help, instead of parking the car outside for a week without starting it |
I doubt it would make a lot of difference as the heat from the engine wouldn't warm up the fuel tank or the fuel lines which is where the problem occurs. Anyway, I should imagine that after a couple of hours of not running, any heat in the engine would dissipate and it would fall to ambient temperature.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Don't want to be contentious but the thread about weather has now become about fuel.
Every few minutes my phone bings and I see it's a post about Dolomites weather . I open my phone with haste and anticipation hoping it's going to tell me it's snowing but no it's about diesel.
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@FrequentFaller, it snowed all day but calmed down at the end of the day and stopped an hour or so ago. Not a day for photos
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@what...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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@what...snow, yeah ended nice with the sun trying to peak through the clouds. I’d say 5-10cms of light snow.
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It looks like the easternly winds will last from Monday to Thursday next week with very cold temperatures. We will then get snowfall on next Thursday and Friday. The northern European high will then send the lows on southernly track wich will give normal temperatures and unstable weather in week two. All precipitation will fall as snow.
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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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Arrived in Arabba yesterday. Mostly cloudy today with some hazy sunshine around. Relatively warm as most ski lifts with thermometers were saying around -1C to -3C. There had been the smallest of dustings this morning, probably about 1mm on the car. A few light snow showers around today might have added 1cm at altitude. Bit disappointed not to get the 8-10cm that was expected in the forecasts a couple of days ago!
Pistes were in great condition pretty much everywhere (skiied Arabba and Alta Badia today). Didn't go off piste aside from near the piste a few times - which ranged from cruddy and very variable, to really nice light powder on shaded steeper aspects, although not deep.
Looks like deep cold (expecting -20C) and partly sunny for the next 3 days. Much warmer at the end of the week.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@what...snow, we must have been extremely close, I was up there with a few mates Friday and Saturday.
Saturday was spectacular, and yes it's really supposed to plummet temperature wise this week.
I've always found (for the car), keeping the tank relatively full of artic diesel does the trick.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Arrived in Selva yesterday. Zero viz at the top of the Dantercepies for the first hour this morning. Then got a lot better. Hit the Sasslong before lunch and the conditions were ideal. Got cooler in the afternoon and steeper slopes got a little cut up by the end of the day.
Overall one of the best first days skiing I've had in a while.
Hope it's not going to be too cold tomorrow.
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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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Absolutely glorious morning in Vigo do Fassa, the temperature readouts in the village are showing minus 15 in the shade.
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Fantastic conditions this morning but got f'ing cold after lunch. -19 on the screen above one of the lifts while doing the Ronda.
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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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Headed up to Carezza in search of the sun. Despite a late start due to car issues (not diesel related, the additive worked as intended), excellent day & I see why Snowheads love the Dollies.
Pistes were in great nick, albeit hard packed in places. Grading seems harsher than I'm used to, blacks we skied today would have been red in the big French resorts. No queues anywhere, loads of wide cruising runs for us lazy intermediates.
Food & drinks very sensibly priced, I had an excellent venison tagliatelle at the Ochsenhutte (below the new Tschein chair) for 12.5 euros. Very few British voices & seemed to be more German than Italian spoken where we stopped.
And the views...unbelievable, off to the West for what seemed like hundreds of miles, jaw-dropping stuff.
A balmy minus 13 when we got back to the car at 5pm. Hoping for at least a couple more days of sun...
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| head_like_a_rock wrote: |
Grading seems harsher than I'm used to, blacks we skied today would have been red in the big French resorts. No queues anywhere, loads of wide cruising runs for us lazy intermediates.
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The 3-tier grading system (blue-red-black, no green) has the effect of understating difficulty to those used to the 4-tier French system where reds are all pretty steep and black is reserved for the steepest and mogulled pitches.
Everything in the Dolomites tends to get bashed smooth every night which makes every piste that bit more flattering too.
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Because the ski conditions out here are so good at the moment all the steep runs are fairly easy.
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Oh, and it's still f"ing cold..
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| FrequentFaller wrote: |
| Oh, and it's still f"ing cold.. |
... if not colder. We were at the top of Pralongia this morning intending to ski down to San Cassiano but it was so bitterly cold we headed to Corvara instead and spend most of the day between there and La Villa hiding from the worst of the wind (not that strong but very cold). IMHO, the piste grading is more or less correct but the main issue this week is having decent edges - some of the runs are boiler plate under a dusting of snow
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Have now done the Sella Ronda each way - personally preferred the Orange route as we seemed to spend much more time on lifts going via the Green route. I've noticed there are lots of gondolas here - good for the current cold weather!
Want to go up Marmolada and do the Hidden Valley / Cinque Torri area before the week is over.
Pistes are excellent and grippy pretty much all over. Had to get my skis re-waxed though as my all purpose wax was sticking at these sub -10C temps.
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FAQ
Seemed a bit tougher than I was expecting and ended up getting back 20 mins late 
