 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi All,
I'm organising a group trip which must be in Easter holidays due to teacher's in the group, so we have dates of April 6-13th or 13th-20th (or equivalent Sundays)
9-12 of us TBC
There seems to be some bargains to be had in Morzine with companies like Skiology and TreeLine Chalets - both seem to be good chalet companies too.
So much so that they are significantly cheaper than that time of year in places like Meribel and Val - anyone know why? (I know 3 Vallees and Val are expensive resorts, but price difference is crazy £700pp - £1200pp)
Don’t mind skiing a bit of slush but is Morzine particularly bad for late season?
Does anyone have any alternatives to look in to?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Morzine will struggle with snow at Easter as it's a bit low, hence the bargin prices - you might get lucky with a freak snow year, but it's very risky! Neighbouring Avoriaz is a much better bet for 6-13th, and should be skiable, even if it'll be seriously melting! The 13-20th is a bit too risky IMO, especially booking this early.
I'm off to Val Thorens for 6-13th - it's more expensive than Morzine as it's less of a gamble, simple as that.
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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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Good points and yes I'm pusing for the earlier week.
VT is well worth havign a look at.
IMO it's always a gamble. On one of my seaons in Courch a number of years ago we didnt have any snow from late Feb all through March then had 4foot the first week of April just before everything closed and I went home! I'll take that again.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I went to Morzine at Easter a few years ago and the snow simply dissappeared while we were there. We got the bus to the main lift station and went to Avoriaz most days. However even there the snow was not great and most people simply gave up on the last day. The reason Morzine is so cheep is that no one wants to go there that late in the season.
With Easter so late in 2019 I personally would not go to Morzine. Even the high resorts such as Val Thorens will be having some difficulties. Les Arcs is closing at the end of Easter week.
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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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| Quote: |
With Easter so late in 2019 I personally would not go to Morzine
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Nor would I.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Actually, thinking about it I probably will not go skiing at all next Easter - anywhere 
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| johnE wrote: |
With Easter so late in 2019 I personally would not go to Morzine. Even the high resorts such as Val Thorens will be having some difficulties. Les Arcs is closing at the end of Easter week. |
JohnE, agree with most of your post - however VT shouldnt have any difficulties in the weeks mentioned, as anyone that’s been on an EOSB will testify. VT is open till May.
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@Handy Turnip, Yes, you are right about Val Torens, but the rest of the 3 vallies will be closing on Easter Sunday and will be closed over the UK Easter bank holiday
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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'd say that any holiday that late needs to be a last-minute booking.
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@pam w, this.
Especially if it’s your only ski trip of the year.
I’ve had very good late season skiing in PdS. I’ve also had the opposite.
Book late 1. You’ll know if there’s snow. 2. That late you will get deals.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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What's the age range of the group?
Provided everyone's able to walk 5min carry their own kit and can get on a bus without getting lost Morzine would be a good bet - accepting your skiing may well be up in Avoriaz and you may be coming home on a bus rather than skis. Yes, even the snow up in Avoriaz could be a bit porridgy and ski early, through to a late lunch and home might be the order of the day.
On the other hand if it's that or no skiing, due to either date or cost limits, I'd rather be sat in the sun down in Morzine with a drink in my hand at 4pm, with five hours t-shirt skiing behind me than sat at home.
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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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People always says go to Avoriaz if the snow is poor in Morzine but the top lift in Avoriaz still only reaches 2254m. There are a huge number of resorts with most of their skiing above this altitude, many with their top lifts 1000m or more higher than this. 1000m altitude difference makes a big difference in the spring, it equates to temperature difference in the order or 6 degrees which could easily be the difference between pleasant soft spring snow and thick porridge, or no snow at all. For its height Avoriaz does appear to be one of the snowiest places in France but I would be quite surprised if that fact manages to compensates for its overall low altitude in mid-April. If I was restricted to school holidays I would rather go somewhere obscure at half term than Morzine at Easter when Easter falls this late
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Doesn't Morzine close on or around the 14th April next year?
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You know it makes sense.
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@giddyman, the local lifts probably do. The bars don’t.
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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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| rambotion wrote: |
| People always says go to Avoriaz if the snow is poor in Morzine but the top lift in Avoriaz still only reaches 2254m. There are a huge number of resorts with most of their skiing above this altitude, many with their top lifts 1000m or more higher than this. 1000m altitude difference makes a big difference in the spring, it equates to temperature difference in the order or 6 degrees which could easily be the difference between pleasant soft spring snow and thick porridge, or no snow at all. For its height Avoriaz does appear to be one of the snowiest places in France but I would be quite surprised if that fact manages to compensates for its overall low altitude in mid-April. If I was restricted to school holidays I would rather go somewhere obscure at half term than Morzine at Easter when Easter falls this late |
Absolutely this.
It's a common myth that Avoriaz is significantly higher than Morzine, or anywhere else in the PDS for that matter. The village/resort centre might be, but the skiing isn't really.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| rambotion wrote: |
| People always says go to Avoriaz if the snow is poor in Morzine but the top lift in Avoriaz still only reaches 2254m. There are a huge number of resorts with most of their skiing above this altitude, many with their top lifts 1000m or more higher than this. 1000m altitude difference makes a big difference in the spring, it equates to temperature difference in the order or 6 degrees which could easily be the difference between pleasant soft spring snow and thick porridge, or no snow at all. For its height Avoriaz does appear to be one of the snowiest places in France but I would be quite surprised if that fact manages to compensates for its overall low altitude in mid-April. If I was restricted to school holidays I would rather go somewhere obscure at half term than Morzine at Easter when Easter falls this late |
This is true...but then that's why those resorts want £1,200pp rather than £700pp for the OP's dates.
I skied PdS in the first week of the season in 2016, the year it didn't snow, and while the pistes were green in Morzine and you couldn't get out of the Avoriaz area it was empty, cheap (lift pass was something like E50) and there was plenty of snow fun to be had before sitting on the balcony in shorts and a t-shirt catching a tan over a bottle or two of rose. Could I have spent twice as much and gone to an crowded glacier resort? Yes, but I booked a second, late season week in Morzine instead so got 2 weeks on the snow for the price of one.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It's a very crude heuristic to relate snow depth simply to altitude.
Many other factors come into play, such as aspect, microclimate, exposure and protection from adjacent peaks, snow management during the season, propensity for localised storms, continentality, humidity etc ..
To equate altitude simply to depth of snow remaining at easter is a bit like saying that my digestion is better than another person because I produce bigger turds.
Whilst future conditions are not determined by what has happened in previous years, previous years data can tell you how one resort stacks against another, and if you run your sample over say the last 12 seasons, you might get an indication as to which resort is more likely to have snow at easter.
That being said, Avoriaz did re-open parts of the Arare sector in June this year for the local ski clubs, whereas normally they would have shipped out to Saas Fee, so it was a bit of a freak.
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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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Have a look at Les Deux Alpes. It's got plenty of skiing at very high altitude and it tends to be a bit cheaper than the 3 Valleys. I've had a few great easter holidays there skiing powder up high when everything below 2000m was getting rained on. I personally much preferred it to Meribel at Easter.
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@WindOfChange, you are correct about snow conditions being related to other things than just altitude, but as @giddyman, says, Morzine itself will close on April 14th, the week before Easter
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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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@johnE,
It's not a big issue if the Pleney is closed - it's pretty crap anyway.
The Super Morzine sector is also pretty dull.
So long as Avoriaz is open, then Lindarets via Montriond is probably the best option if you do choose go to Morzine, as linga will probably be open too.
The French book their Easter hols very late.
If the snow is good they go to the mountains, if not and the weather is good then go to the beach.
I'm thinking of a weekend in Margate.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@WindOfChange, I didn’t try to suggest a straight-line correlation between snow depth and altitude, as I alluded to in my previous post, Avoriaz does do well on the snowfall front, about 35% more than Val d’Isere in town for example, both of which are at roughly the same altitude. Temperature though, does decrease fairly linearly with altitude though and it is temperature, along with aspect, that has probably the biggest affect on the snow conditions (at least on piste). In Avoriaz's favour, Les Hautes Forts is a sheltered North facing bowl but plenty of other much higher ski areas have a decent number of North facing slopes at much higher altitude and as such, unless booking last minute when you can see that conditions are good, I wouldn’t want to recommend heading to Morzine in mid-April on the basis that at least Avoriaz would be ok.
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| Quote: |
I'm thinking of a weekend in Margate.
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I thinking of climbing in West Penwith the Easter weekend. It will only be the second Easter I have not gone skiing in 20+ years
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| borntoski wrote: |
Good points and yes I'm pusing for the earlier week.
VT is well worth havign a look at.
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I think that’s a good plan - go high and you’ll be fine. Your first week will be snowsure, and your second week will probably be fine. I’ve been to VT on 30th April and all pistes were open.
Nothing guaranteed obviously, but if there’s no snow in VT then there’s no snow anywhere.
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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 for all the input.
Have given this some thought and have decided to pie it off and the group is now going to rent a house for the week somewhere in the UK! If it wasn't for the teachers in the group (one being my darling sister  ) we could go any other time.
Not all lost, it means myself and my partner can now go skiing when it's actually snowing (touches all of the wood) and I think I'm going to finally drag myself away from the 3V (2 seasons and about 10 trips)
LGM looks good, Les Carroz looks like the best resort to stay in for the area but there seems to be some absolute bargains to be had if you stay in Samoens. Does anyone recommend one over the other?
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Samoens is a pretty village, but it's Yazz and the plastic population.
Les Carroz is a resort half way up the road to Flaine, with some slopes of its own.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@borntoski, there are a few detailed threads elsewhere on SHs which might help with that question. I've stayed in Flaine and Les Carroz.
In summary though, general consensus was that Les Carroz and Morillon 1100 are the best placed, particularly with respect to stormy days. Flaine isn't a good base in a white-out, and Samoens 1600 can be a bit limited in stormy weather too.
Later on in the season when stormy weather is less frequent and lower slopes become slushy, Flaine becomes a good bet again.
It's one of my favourite ski areas.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Tue 2-10-18 23:17; edited 1 time in total
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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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| johnE wrote: |
| Actually, thinking about it I probably will not go skiing at all next Easter - anywhere |
Easter skiing in Western Europe is always epic.
Great sun, good snow, and emptyish trails.
Head high.
Make sure the village is above 1800m, and the top lift above 3000m, and everything will be good.
Val d'Isere, Tignes and Val Thorens always have good snow in April and early May.
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