 Poster: A snowHead
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Does anyone know of a website giving free historical (well going back at least 5 years) snow depths for a good range of resorts? 
I'm looking for exactly the sort of info the Ski Club provided free until it became a members only perk a couple of years ago (now there's only the previous season available).
Would be a big help to me, and hopefully to lots of other forum users given the amount of how-likely-is-there-to-be-snow-at-ResortX-on-dateY discussions we have here.
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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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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Hmm logging on as a "Registered User" rather than a Member I'm only getting 1 year's information. Unless I'm being really dim, which wouldn't be the first time. 
I'm after at least 5 years' worth if poss.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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JimiHendrix, statistically you really need a 15-20 year perspective on this. Without wishing to be negative, there was a run of very late winters in the late 1980s/1990 which should be taken account of. We're talking winters when snow conditions across the French Alps (for example) were poor well into February.
These late winters can strike on a pretty random basis and - of course - can affect Austria, Switzerland and Italy too. Then again, you get winters where a run of storms blankets one region but leaves another almost bare.
If you give us a shortlist of resorts you're considering, the combined historical knowledge of this community might be able to steer you in the most reliable direction for snow.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks for the advice so far guys.
I assumed that the SkiClub sourced their historical data from somewhere, so it might be conveniently (well not conveniently enough for me to be able to hunt it down so far!) available elsewhere.
It's really just for my general information and interest. Currently, I'm interested in seeing how late the Scandanavian ski season might run to tie up with an April Business trip, and I'd also like to put some stats against altitude and slope direction to see which Austrian resorts hold snow in March. Next month, I'll quite possibly be interested in something else, hence the general enquiry.
I agree that with specific resorts you can't beat personal knowledge. Not least because of the variance and inaccuracy in snow depth reporting between resorts!
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JimiHendrix, the ski club will source their data from the tourist offices of the various resorts. I know in our resort there is a dedicated tracking of historical data going back to 1961. What has surprised me has been the wide variance from good years to bad years.
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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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Thanks Ray Zorro
On another note, growing up "Way too low in Hampshire" myself I remember there being several good-enough-for-a-weekend's-sledging snowfalls every year in the late 70's and 80's, even right on the coast. (Lee on Solent Hovercraft slipway being a prime sledging destination). What's happened to all that, I can't remember the last decent South Hampshire snowfall!
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JimiHendrix, too true. I remember the winter of 81/82 as being the last time that I could go sledging with any real success. At univeristy that year, we had great fun using a glass-fibre rowing boat on a fairly steep hill near Runnymede. It could take about 6 at a time, but steering was a mystical art that we never quite mastered and hitting the trees at the bottom of the hill was an occupational hazard!! Great fun though.
I'm not sure why the "way too low in Hampshire... Grrr!" comes in, I just did it because another snowHead that lives in the same village did it first. I'm actually NE Hampshire.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ray Zorro, Good grief!! I was living in Egham at that time and would probably have been up on the same hill at the same time you were. We did plastic/tin trays purloined from the Beehive.
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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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CP, I was staying at Shoreditch College that year, it was a bit of the hill on the campus. Were you at Royal Holloway or Shoreditich or Brunel or just in the area? There was also a group that were using the roof of a car, that went like a train. I seem to recall that one of the guys on that broke a leg.
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Ray Zorro, Too thick for University I am afraid  I had a house at the back of the high street in The Grove. There were a couple of winters in the early 80's that we managed to a bit of fun on the snow up the hill at Runnymede. This tended to follow a Sunday session in the Beehive so you can imagine the carnage!!
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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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JimiHendrix. Supreme skitarist. His skis used to wail with a sound that no one has ever matched.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks for the link the ice perv. In return I feel fairly sure that the Hendrix Family Estate will be remastering/reordering/repackaging some songs in the near future!
I do sometimes wail on the chairlift if a fellow rider puts the bar up too early - perhaps that's my link to Jimi's guitar
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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One thing on the snow stats - be aware of stats and snow reports in general ! Some of the differences in depths between resorts every winter only proves that the people making the reports don't have a standard for performing the measurement and the difference between resorts reporting literally a few KM away and resorts significantly lower just can't be measuring the same thing - I seem to remember Avoriaz being a little generous! PS I am not talking about the differences due to north/south facing etc
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