What happens if no snow....

A snowHead

Freezing level going above 4000m in next few days and entire 1st half of November looking balmy. Its normal to be anxious

A snowHead

if it doesn't snow get drunk/high/play monopoly(or your board game of choice)

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

2waterford,

I might have a longer memory than some but like snowball think there is a reasonable chance that at 1200 - 1600 m you might well want to bring your walking boots not skis at christmas.

Booking in December I would want to go for altitude where snow cannons would be ensure taht there was some piste available if there is a warm or dry start to the season.

The last 2 years have spoilt us.

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I must say I had the same reservations booking early for Les Saisies Christmas week but after much agonising thought sod it why not? At worst we will be in a beautiful location true charming French mountain village at Christmas with festivities, walks, shortish drive somewhere higher to ski if needs be and most importantly away from the hum drum of normal Christmas aggravations over whose family sees who on what day and then sitting around bored watching crap TV and getting pissed just to make the pain disappear....I can't wait for Christmas this year snow or no snow me and mrs jirac18 are proper excited for the first one in years and the kids are super excited!!

and besides pam w, said the snow record for Les Saisies is excellent for Christmas so if all goes wrong I can just blame her!! Toofy Grin

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You can sit and panic about something you have absolutely no control over, or alternatively you can go and have a great holiday whatever the weather. There will be snow, Austria resorts have a vested interest in ensuring their visitors return year after year to enjoy their ski facilities and warm hospitality.

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

and please note I have never claimed that LS is a true French mountain village. The snow record would be a lot worse if it was!

After all it is free

pam w, the offers just keep rolling in....first a guide around the pistes and now monopoly. Gonna be a good Christmas!! Smile

queen bodecia, "There will be snow,"

That's quite a statement.

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under a new name, of course it isn't. Ski resorts have snow in winter, that's how they generate an income. In this day and age with widespread use of snow cannons it's far more likely to achieve.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Going to be a lower than average snow year according to this rubbish:

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/europe-winter-forecast-warmer/19131940

Posted on another thread..

Easy solution. Have a roof rack that can accept a ski rack or mountain bike rack and choose what you are going to take based on the webcams just before you leave. Sorted...

snow reports

queen bodecia, rolling eyes

let's take Morzine, new year 2009 (I think) - December too mild to run the cannons, some snow fall for Xmas mostly washed away by torrential rain. New year's day +10C and heavy rain to above 4,000m.

Snow is not guaranteed (in 1933 I think, Kitzbuhel council voted against promoting the resort for Xmas winter sports because snow was relatively unlikely - now, they probably meant on the lower slopes, infrastructure was not what it is today and they didn't have snow cannons, but still...). Anyway, cannons are not a universal panacea.

So "there will be snow" is indeed quite a statement. There probably will be snow, however, but there's little a resort's commercial ambitions can do to change the weather.

under a new name,

Fully agree, can remember some lean periods in 70s and 80s when there was very little skiing that time of year.

As you say snow cannons only work if the ambient temperature is low enough and that isn't certain at that altitude at xmas.

If it were me I would book a high resort in december as at least if there hasn't been much snow then the canons are likely to work. Last year was coompetely bare through November into December then suddenly dumped and dumped 1st or 2nd week.

Just worth looking at lofer v val thorens for the next 6 days:

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/LofererAlmBahnen/6day/mid

vs.

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Val-Thorens/6day/bot

pretty dramatic difference.

You know it makes sense.

under a new name, can't compare Morzine with Austria, different climatic influences entirely. Listen to the people who live in Austria and ask them how many times they haven't had a white Christmas. I'd hazard a guess that it's pretty rare.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

christmas 2001
Les2Alpes...no webcams to see before we arrived
Arrived in resort - all the hills were brown. Three runs open. Glacier closed due to winds. When we eventually got onto it is was -25, with windchill, and boilerplate. Actually had a good time for two weeks. Rained on the last day and washed away the tiny bit of snow which had fallen. But hell, we skied.

2006
Crans Montana - Mudhopping at Christmas - nothing below 1800. Still had three decent trips.

2008
Nothing below 1800 in February - more mud hopping, then it snowed, and snowed, and snowed. We drove home in a blizzard.

Who knows what's coming - Chamonix could be neck deep and we could have none - or could be the other way around.
One of our chickens has just died and my left knee hurts - WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!!!!?

A snowHead

queen bodecia, morzine is low but linked slopes go to 2300m. That's a lot higher than Lofer's highest 1670m. Lofer is very low. Hard to guarantee snow. Chances are they will have white Christmas, but chances not quite as good as Ischgl, Lech, or Val Thorens. Personallyn outside Jan to mid-March, I would only book somewhere with plenty of skiing above 2000m (or at least above 1700m in Austria). And I mean plenty of skiing above that level, not highest lift at that level

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

peanuthead, so I imagined the thigh-deep powder on piste at 700m last season at the end of March?

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2007/sep/27/skiing.top10 Top 10 ski resorts for early snow - Austria have three places due to glaciers and traditionally good coverage.

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well happy today looking at the webcams to see some snow and will watch in disappear over the next few days. going to be a long 7 weeks. rolling eyes

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

fatbob, yes I was in Cervinia in February 2012 with rubbish snow. Altitude isn't everything. Sustained low temperatures to allow snowmaking is probably the main factor these days. Christmas and New Year are economically important times for ski resorts, they will do everything they can to ensure their guests can ski, have a great time and want to return.

After all it is free

Christmas is definitely a risk - a bigger risk than Easter, even when Easter is quite late. Generally there will be enough ski to do some skiing and have fun, but it can be mild and drizzly (so no snow cannons) and when this combines with the mid-winter short days, it's not great.

However, it is still a lot better than too much telly and too many Quality Street in the UK.

go to the pub and say Heisse Witwe bitte. after 2 or 3, you wont give a monkeys about the snow Blush

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SkiG, I've asked Bing...he's says he's not sure...

http://youtube.com/v/uSmB8R_xWaA

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

well it is booked now and all I can do is keep everything crossed and hope mother nature will be good to us. We will have a hire care so we will head to higher resorts if needed.

snow reports

I've not been over Xmas for a long time. Last time was La Rosiere in 2007, we had too much snow almost in the end up. But the chalet host showed us pics of the previous week where the home run (down to 1800m) was green and muddy. Expect your back bottom could be nipping until the last minute and then everything will be OK Cool

queen bodecia,

You know it makes sense.

queen bodecia, without being grumpy, I am curious, "thigh-deep powder on piste at 700m " - where on earth did you find that? I am jealous. (P.S. in my book, thigh deep =>80cms)

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

emwmarine, I suspect fowl play.

A snowHead

Having skied both Morzine and Mayrhofen I would never believe ca 2m50 to 3m in Morzine. Lech maybe. And the lower slopes in Mayrhofen means the 1 valley run down to 650m, not the bottom of the main skiing area.

Once pisted, doesnt' matter if it's 50cm or 2m.

And in 20 years of skiing, the only time I've ever arrived, in January, to a resort that was almost entirely grass with a few round blobs of snow cannon remains, just about linked together with pisted snow cannon snow was...
Les Gets and Morzine.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

andy, I strongly suspect that the "Upper slopes" numbers relate to top of Avoriaz - but they're not the ones that I'm really interested in. Your single "datum" is a nice anecdote snowHead

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

clarky999, I did say that I'd cherry picked, didn't I?

Had over the knee snow in my garden in Geneva November 2011. Thought that was a lovely sing. Then it rained (although it didn't wait until I had enjoyed (?)) a 9 hour drive to Zurich Shocked

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under a new name, yep Laughing

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

clarky999, you've never had knee deep snow on piste? I'm surprised. If we get a big snowfall during the latter part of the night they can't get round it all and just piste the main "through routes" leaving plenty of unpisted slopes.

After all it is free

pam w, not at 700m wink

Though very very rarely, and mainly in tiny resorts.

Would have to be a very heavy storm to drop over 50cms of snow between say 2am (guessing, I don't know when they finish bashing!) and first lift at 8.

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And the other datum of mine is that of 20 years of skiing, the only village I've ever stayed in to get over the knee powder in the village...

was Mayrhofen (in March) Wink

But I've also had over the crotch deep powder back home in Kent at approx 10m ASL (January 1986 iirc). 4 days off school Smile

Then the JCB turned up to clear the roads.

Still, with grass in Morzine, we still managed a full 6 days on snow in the PdS. Needed 1 day pass for restricted areas only, then 5day area pass.
And we got a full 6 days' skiing in the Dolomites too, when it was +8decC and hadn't snowed for 5+ weeks prior to arrival.

And i'd never believe SCGB snow levels anyway.

Help!!

What happens if no snow....

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