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Easter skiing and what to expect - your thoughts

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hi all,

This will be our last family ski trip Sad and we need to go on 28th March. We have decided to wait until last minute to book based on conditions and in the mean time I have been doing research for contenders but I need to broaden the list so that we don't just have high altitude resorts but also lower North facing slopes.

I have skied in Morzine in mid March and it was fantastic however this was in 2009 (great snow year) and 2010 when it was a fairly good year for snow. I am preparing myself to be disappointed in the snow quality and would welcome your experiences as what to expect. We will not be putting the kids into ski school so that we can get up high and stay there for better snow.

I am interested in your experiences - good and bad and where you skied over this period and whether you had to stop skiing early or managed all day. This is so when we go, we will have a realistic expectation of the holiday.

Thanks
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
We skied in April (6th & 12th) in 2012 and 2013 (would've done so last easter but a family wedding meant we couldn't) and absolutely loved both trips.
In 2012 we were to Val Thorens, high altitude, snowsure, and had a terrific week of great snow, lovely sunshine, lunches sat on sun loungers with a cold beer.....
Being high altitude, we skied until 4pm every day and only encountered slush at the end of each day at the busiest intersections of piste.

The following year we were to Montgenevre, not so high (village at 1860m, highest piste around 2,700m), but again had a terrific week. The first half of the week there were some (maybe 15%) pistes closed or not nice due to poor snow, but then had a huge dump (a metre or so) one evening, which made the 2nd half of the week terrific. Again, all week we skied all day every day, and while some runs were closed (as stated), and a few others would be slushy by 4pm or so, it doesn't stop the enjoyment (I actually quite like skiing slush now!).

We absolutely love skiing at Easter, and will be doing so again this year (probably leave weekend of the 6th). We'll be booking late, looking at the snow conditions, and then going and I'm sure having a great week wherever we end up.
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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?
I expect a few powder days and a few baking hot sunny days and that seems to be the norm for us over the last 15 years.

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=92512&highlight=family
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Article in Telegraph from few months back may be useful.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/snowandski/features/11070728/Best-ski-resorts-for-guaranteed-snow.html
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
This was last year in the end of March/begining of April on Stubaier Gletscher last year


http://youtube.com/v/M8bOE_zk3rQ
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@Paul100, very biased as always and not exactly uptodate. Been chatting to a friend who lives in Vancouver and they are having a dreadful season, rain rain and more rain! she is driving down to the mount Baker region for her skiing most weekends!

Easter is early this year, @mini_mo, wait and see if a proper winter turns up before making any decisions! wink
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
We skied at Sainte Foy from 5th-13th April 2014. There was plenty of snow on the slopes, it was hot though. In the morning, the conditions were icy until about 11am when the sun hits the slopes and you get a sweet spot of lovely snow for about an hour..then it turns to a marshmallowy kind of sludgy snow... however, it was glorious sunshine, plenty of fantastic opportunities to sit with a glass of wine, relaxing with a ski back to the chalet afterwards. We loved the experience so much, we are booked to return for the same week this year. However, we wanted to go the week before but our niece is at private school and doesn't have the same Easter holiday as my son.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@Samerberg Sue, just curious... how can a 158cm base and 393cm accumulation @ Whistler/Blackcombe be dreadful? Having skied Whistler, we experienced rain at the village occasionally and high winds on the actual slopes, but it normally snowed up to a foot per night (we had over 3mtrs accumulated during the fortnight we were there in 2011)... maybe the Canadians are just used to being spoilt with phenomenal conditions... and Vancouver is 2-3hrs drive from Whistler... but they do have a range which is just outside the city... while we were there they mentioned that it was very poor for skiing that year. We were quite worried until we left the city and headed out on the road to our resort...
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Quote:

proper winter


Looks like it's turned up then. Winter that is. At least round here.

@mini_mo, It's impossible to forecast. We've had a whole week of fresh powder in Chamonix Easter 2008 (or maybe '09) and equally had baking hot heat and slush everywhere from 13h00 with long lunches and afternoon naps.

It's certainly worth leaving it late, but you are less likely (I think, based on not very much) to have the fine granularity of changing conditions from valley to valley in Spring as you do right now when a single ridge can make a big difference to actual snowfall.

And you have to accept that -

- sunny = south facing

- long sunny days = softening snow during the day and hopefully likely overnight freezing so slow morning starts

- but this means likely spring snow and spring snow skiing snowHead snowHead little better than that.

So treat it as a holiday rather than a ski boot-camp. For me, one or two excellent spring runs a day is enough to reflect on happily over a fine sunny terrace late lunch.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Like @under a new name says, it's impossible to forecast.

jellemr wrote:
We skied in April (6th & 12th) in 2012 and 2013 (would've done so last easter but a family wedding meant we couldn't) and absolutely loved both trips.
In 2012 we were to Val Thorens, high altitude, snowsure, and had a terrific week of great snow, lovely sunshine, lunches sat on sun loungers with a cold beer.....
Being high altitude, we skied until 4pm every day and only encountered slush at the end of each day at the busiest intersections of piste.


I've skiied Easter in Val Thorens for the past couple of years, and I love it. Great snow and being able to sit outside with a cold beer in a t-shirt is amazing.

The downside is that the popular runs can become a mess by 3pm - the Plein Sud run is just a slushy, lumpy, bumpy, horrible mess at the end of the day.
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@Fruity, vancouverites don't know the meaning of "low snow year"
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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.
If you can aim for a high resort. Make sure you are up early and ski as much as you can in the morning. Stop for a lateish lunch and enjoy the sun on the terraces with a bottle of wine. Ski back down to the resort
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@mini_mo, I have been skiing 15 or so years consecutively at this time sometimes for two weeks though recently have only been able to get single week breaks so have some experience. I have skied largely in France and Switzerland at this time with occasional day trips to Italy and have been earlier in the year to Austria so cannot really comment on there. Overall I have had decent conditions most of the time outstanding conditions several times and a couple of disappointing years though none in which we could not ski. On top of this conditions change more from day to day and within a day far more at this time of the year than earlier in the season.

At this time of the year you need to be aware of the effect of the sun at different altitudes and different aspects the same slopes can be a delight at one time of the day and a nightmare at others. However you choose your resorts and skiing you will probably ski at least some pretty hard frozen slopes and some slush at various times, most years you can expect some fabulous skiing in between and you often get fresh falls of snow but these need to be skied quickly particularly at lower altitudes before they suffer in the sun.

We have often skied all day some of the time though lately we have tended to stop early 2-3pm (late lunch) largely because the kids have recently had exams shortly after and the agreement is that they study on the Easter holiday rather than because there has been a need to stop though it would be unusual for the lower slopes to be in decent condition after this.and higher ones may be suffering as well if it is warm.

Personally at Easter I would always like to have some tree lined skiing as storms are probably a bit more common the need for truly high skiing varies from year to year but I agree that North facing skiing is a real advantage.
We have skied extensively in Serre Che and also in the Maurienne valley and Zermatt as well as using a car to get to other places recently we have found Nendaz an excellent compromise of some decent high skiing tree lined stuff with good chalets for rent to give the kids some room to study at a pretty reasonable price though the rise in the Chf may diminish its attractions this year.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
bompey wrote:
If you can aim for a high resort. Make sure you are up early and ski as much as you can in the morning. Stop for a lateish lunch and enjoy the sun on the terraces with a bottle of wine. Ski back down to the resort
That sounds like a lot of fun, lol,
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
High resorts typically have fewer trees which is fine if it's nice weather all week, but rubbish IMV if the weather's not great.

You need trees.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@Fruity, don't ask me, I was surprised to read her chat about how bad things are! She said it is the worst season she has known since moving out there quite a while ago! I knew she'd been to the Mt. Baker region a couple of times but not that she had not skied Whistler/Blackcomb yet this season! Maybe she hads become spoilt, no idea, but she is a passionate skier and if it were worth doing the trip she would be up there all the time as she has been ever since she emigrated from the UK.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
bompey wrote:
If you can aim for a high resort. Make sure you are up early and ski as much as you can in the morning. Stop for a lateish lunch and enjoy the sun on the terraces with a bottle of wine. Ski back down to the resort


No, I'd save the beer/wine drinking until the lifts have closed. Easter slush surfing in the hot Alpine afternoon sunshine is just brilliant. Seriously. Cool
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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?
That Telegraph article makes the claim about the "fridge effect" of Mont Blanc keeping Flaine in good nick. Is there anything at all in that? Sounds like rubbish to me. Flaine gets just as slushy as anywhere else at 1650m if the weather is warm and although there is some skiing above the village much of the GM is lower.

I shall be spending Easter, as usual, in Les Saisies where the highest lift is 2009m. There is a good mix of "aspects". We've had a variety of conditions over the years but generally most enjoyable. Mid April it's getting a bit iffy but really, at the end of March/beginning of April a whole great range of resorts will provide good skiing. And a lot cheaper, and less busy, than the likes of the Espace Killy.
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@Samerberg Sue, Vancouver is a funny place (my inlaws are from there.) It seems like it doesn't take a lot for there to be a massive collective downer on conditions up at Whistler which bears little relation to reality
Last year (which started out much worse than this year as far as I can work out) I had a string of people telling me not to bother going up there or to hire a bike etc I skied 4 days and got some good skiing in on all of them. It was a little challenging a couple of times but I have had way worse in Europe without all the whinging to go with it
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Quote:

If you can aim for a high resort. Make sure you are up early and ski as much as you can in the morning. Stop for a lateish lunch and enjoy the sun on the terraces with a bottle of wine. Ski back down to the resort


^This! Love a late season ski trip sunshine!
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Quote:

Make sure you are up early and ski as much as you can in the morning. Stop for a lateish lunch and enjoy the sun on the terraces with a bottle of wine. Ski back down to the resort

I like doing all that too but on 28 March you don't need to go to a "high resort" to do it.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
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Thanks for your feedback.
Quote:

I like doing all that too but on 28 March you don't need to go to a "high resort" to do it.


@Pam_W. This is the magic answer. Very Happy I've noticed there are very little last minute deals coming up in places like Val Thorens and Tignes and no doubt every Tom, Dick and Harry will be going there anyway. I am hoping that by 2 weeks before we go the conditions will be good enough for us to whittle down a list of resorts that are not so busy, not so high and tree lined, with lots of Northerly aspect slopes!! There's enough on this forum to get me researching.

Cheers
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@mini_mo, except that as Pam alludes, if the season develops as it normally should, by March 14 everything will have lots of snow and everything will be open. None of which is helpful information.

@pam w, I don't believe there's such a thing as a Mt B. fridge effect, especially not as far away (i.e. a couple of valleys) as Flaine.

I do believe that PDS and GMs get more snow fall lower down than you'd otherwise expect though, but I put that simply down to them being first in the way of prevailing storms.
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@mini_mo, bear in mind, it IS the start of the Easter break for the UK... (on the whole)... so the best deals are already being snapped up....especially given the poor start to the season, I suspect a lot of people will take a punt and take the children at Easter, where before they may have gone at Xmas. I noticed, for example that Sainte Foy doesn't have a great deal of properties available the first week in April... although, granted its a very small resort.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
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pam w wrote:
That Telegraph article makes the claim about the "fridge effect" of Mont Blanc keeping Flaine in good nick. Is there anything at all in that? Sounds like rubbish to me. Flaine gets just as slushy as anywhere else at 1650m if the weather is warm and although there is some skiing above the village much of the GM is lower.

I shall be spending Easter, as usual, in Les Saisies where the highest lift is 2009m. There is a good mix of "aspects". We've had a variety of conditions over the years but generally most enjoyable. Mid April it's getting a bit iffy but really, at the end of March/beginning of April a whole great range of resorts will provide good skiing. And a lot cheaper, and less busy, than the likes of the Espace Killy.


I actually think there is some truth in the fridge effect at Flaine but I'm happy for everyone else to disagree so I can have it to myself this year! snowHead I don't know if it is due to the proximity to mont blanc or the geography of the Flaine bowl. It can definitely feel colder there than other places at the same altitude.
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Hi everyone, has anyone out there been skiing late April in Tignes. Myself and 6 others are out there for a 5 night break from 26th April. As we usually ski Jan and March this is a first for all of us. It was a deal I couldnt refuse, even if it ends up just being a walking to bar holiday at the price we paid. ( This was a define not expected holiday!!) Very Happy
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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.
Quote:

I've noticed there are very little last minute deals coming up in places like Val Thorens and Tignes

Just a very quick check and Crystal have £566 for a catered chalet in Les Arcs.

By there very nature last minute deals come in at the last minute and the original post was about Easter I would not expect to see any last minute deals coming in until very late March for the Easter weekend.

I will go at Easter, probably leaving on Maunday Thursday and coming back 10 days later, but that is about a far as any planning has got so far.
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@Mrs Ducky, Not late April, but early May (Mayday weekend). The snow was good but got heavy in the afternoon. I think the resort stays open to mid May with lots of instructor courses
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Thanks John,
Looking forward to it seeing as how it wasnt planned, just one of those things seeing an old friend we hadnt seen for months who goes every year to this catered chalet and the price including the lift pass was under £300. Admittedly the chalet is at Boisses which is in the middle of nothing but hey ho if we need to get anywhere what are taxi's for!! lol
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Thanks John,
Looking forward to it seeing as how it wasnt planned, just one of those things seeing an old friend we hadnt seen for months who goes every year to this catered chalet and the price including the lift pass was under £300. Admittedly the chalet is at Boisses which is in the middle of nothing but hey ho if we need to get anywhere what are taxi's for!! lol

Ps forgot to say this also included the flight!
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@snowymum, i'm struggling to see how it could work physically. And why it wouldn't affect Chamonix first (no-one ever talks of a Chamonix fridge effect), etc., etc.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Mrs Ducky, £300 including lift pass! Even with no snow that would be a good deal just to go walking. Who is it with? most UK TOs stop immediately after Easter.
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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?
@mini_mo,

Hi. I've skied quite a lot at Easter (did it a lot when the kids were young). Personally I would go somewhere high and worry less about trees. There will be skiing to had at lower resorts for sure but the window in which the pistes are really nice will be quite narrow (quickly go from very hard to slushy). I don't mind this but it is nice to have the option of going very high for some runs where the texture of the snow is retained (particularly on North-facing slopes). For example, the snow on the Gd Motte (Tignes) or Cime de Carron (VT) stays qualitatively different than snow at 2000m.

If you really want trees then I'd consider Courchevel (option to get to VT but the elevation means that the slopes from the Saulire above Courchevel at 2700m also stay very good. Another option would be Sestriere (loads of trees and plenty of slopes 2500-3000m). Wild card - Solda / Sulden am Ortler in Sud Tyrol - very high skiing and also some treelined lower slopes.

Final point - I've never found the slopes very busy at Easter. AT least not in France which is where I've been at that time.
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Quote:

Personally I would go somewhere high


Being why you bought in Les Contamines? Twisted Evil
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Quote:

Being why you bought in Les Contamines?

Very Happy
Well I bought for life not just for EAster Very Happy
If I'd bought a timeshare week at Easter it wouldn't have been in Les C.

That said, last year at Easter Les C had better conditions than the GM Twisted Evil
Actually, I was always thinking that Easter will be increasingly about touring for us and Les C is probably as good a base as any for that.
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Love Easter skiing

Longer days, warmer with the chance of a sit out in sunshine, but at same time generally good snow. Plus it's quieter and cheaper than half term or Xmas

What's not to like Cool
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@jedster, good point re touring, something I really must do more of.

And another thing, why is a day at Les C on the MBU weekly pass but not on my annual? I am peeved.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Quote:

last year at Easter Les C had better conditions than the GM

I'd say that's the case more often than not.

Is somebody seriously looking for "last minute deals" for Easter in January? Puzzled

The prices of Easter flights from the UK are now high, and any school holiday time sees TO prices go up - simple supply and demand.

But if you drive, and rent an apartment or a hotel direct, in most of France, it's low season rates and you can have a really economical holiday.
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Quote:

And another thing, why is a day at Les C on the MBU weekly pass but not on my annual? I am peeved.


Isn't it? I believe I have a day in Chamonix on my EMB season pass. Do you have St Gervais/Megeve? If so it almost certainly covers Les C. I don't know exactly how that works - first time I've had the season pass.
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Quote:


Final point - I've never found the slopes very busy at Easter. AT least not in France which is where I've been at that time.

Mmm, last time I skied France at Easter I was in the Maurrienne valley the slopes were indeed delightfully quiet and the snow excellent . We went over to Val Thorens one day to meat up with friends who were in Les Menuires. The queues were seriously big for the Cime de Carron and some of the other high slopes the slopes were busy and the snow no better than the resorts the rest of the week.
The following day we woke to rain low down but snow just a bit higher but with top lifts closed and had an epic day skiing powder on piste and then just off on deserted slopes in Val Cenis. I really would not have liked to be above the tree line but below it was fabulous.

I must admit if I was going for Haute Tarentaise for a week at Easter I would probably choose Les Arcs or La Plagne which still access decent high skiing but have substantial tree lined stuff rather than Tignes or Val Thorens which get very busy and have no shelter in bad weather.
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