 Poster: A snowHead
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Sure Verbier tries hard too!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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79chf for Verbier 4 Valleys
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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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Snow is great, cold but grippy. Off piste is non existant at the moment, may change in the next few days/weeks.
Are any of the Zermatt itineraries open? Would quite like a bit more adventure tomorrow before the weather sets in.
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| scottishandy wrote: |
Snow is great, cold but grippy. Off piste is non existant at the moment, may change in the next few days/weeks.
Are any of the Zermatt itineraries open? Would quite like a bit more adventure tomorrow before the weather sets in. |
Is the snow on piste good both zermatt and Cervinia sides? March is still a way off yet but I am getting nervous!
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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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Pretty similar from my experience Lots of bare grass/rock but pistes are fast and good. Only difficult piste was off glacier where the steep narrow bit was quite moguled leading to some carnage. Hard pistes and high winds warning at PRTG was unjustified IMHO.
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| scottishandy wrote: |
| Pretty similar from my experience Lots of bare grass/rock but pistes are fast and good. Only difficult piste was off glacier where the steep narrow bit was quite moguled leading to some carnage. Hard pistes and high winds warning at PRTG was unjustified IMHO. |
Thank you! Fingers crossed for some dumps over the next few weeks!!!
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| scottishandy wrote: |
Snow is great, cold but grippy. Off piste is non existant at the moment, may change in the next few days/weeks.
Are any of the Zermatt itineraries open? Would quite like a bit more adventure tomorrow before the weather sets in. |
The only two itineraries open at present are 67 (heading down to Furgg) and 49 (branching off from the red that runs round from Schwarzsee to Furi). Really poor for mid-Feb.
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Cheers JohnMo.
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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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Now light snow in Cervinia. On a non snow basis whilst not much is happening does anyone know if the Baita Cretaz restaurant is accessible from a blue run? On our first day I want to get a first day adult (30 year old bloke), there without mishap after his lesson or get the instructor to drop him off.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@BobinCH where is your 2nd photo taken from? i cant quite figure it out. is it looking up run 6 (Bontadini)??
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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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| Kj82 wrote: |
| @BobinCH where is your 2nd photo taken from? i cant quite figure it out. is it looking up run 6 (Bontadini)?? |
Not sure - this is what photo info says
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| Blackblade wrote: |
| BobinCH wrote: |
| Was more a reflection on the stark contrast of Zermatt vs Cervinia, that I didn’t sense a few years back. And how Chamonix feels like it has gone downhill in contrast to its Swiss neighbours. |
I noticed that since Zermatt started investing in Cervinia infrastructure the differences have reduced. Cervinia still has more 'old style' non-decoupling chairs, true, but they are now only in the more remote parts of the resort. All the lifts that service a return from Cervinia to Zermatt are now modern and swift.
Chamonix I'd agree with you completely though; feels to me as if they are sitting on their laurels as a bastion of skiing and have not invested in updating infrastructure. |
Moving this reply here…
I was impressed with Zermatt. It was even better than I remembered. On a busy Sunday morning, there was a bit of a queue but it was no more than 7 mins waiting for the Matterhorn Express
I want to be a Zermatt mountain guide when I grow up
The view from the queue 
The new lift to the Klein Matterhorn is quite something. Quick, comfortable, heated seats! Can we have one at Mont Fort please! The views are mindblowing - Dufourspitze, Lyskam, Weissshorn, Zinal Rothorn. The skiing area is huge and atmospheric. The snow was boilerplate but we could have had a ton of fun with some fresh. There were lines everywhere - big couloirs, between séracs…
The restaurants were great. We LOVE Chez Vrony. We were late on Saturday, greeted by the old boy, kitchen was closed but they still made us Apple fritters and hot chocolates and brought blankets
And Zum See not far behind
Service was great, food perfect, setting idyllic
Cervinia base station looked really tired. Our old fave Chalet Étoile had a massive disorganized queue outside. Toilets Stunk. It was chaos inside. Such a shame
The terrain is barren. Even the Matterhorn looks a bit messy from this side.
Lifts are older and slower - I guess they don’t have the Swiss cash?
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You know it makes sense.
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@BobinCH, it's hard to argue with a lot of what you say. I've never been to Zermatt or Cervinia, but I've been pricing up a possible visit to the Cervinia side ahead of an Italian trip next month.
From what I can see, Cervinia has a lot of disadvantages which it is stuck with, compared to Zermatt:
- less scenic (particularly if snow cover off piste is patchy!)
- less variety of terrain
- less sheltered (Zermatt is not exactly amazing in this respect, but at least there are a few wooded areas lower down)
- less history (and therefore reputation, so it doesn't attract international tourists in the same way)
- south facing, which is a bigger issue in dry and warmish seasons such as this one
- possibly more remote
- it can't diverge too much in price from Zermatt for the all-area pass, which means it ends up being much more expensive than all the other nearby resorts on the Italian side
Cervinia still has many advantages compared to many other resorts, such as altitude, season length and ski area size, but it's difficult to overlook the disadvantages.
I've pretty much decided that I'll leave Cervinia for this year. If / when I do get around to visiting in a future season, I plan to base myself on the Swiss side. It'll be more expensive (which I dislike as I usually try to ski on the cheap), but I think it'll be worth it.
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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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One of the Cervinia ski shops i follow on instagram just posted, looks like a fair amount of fresh snow is falling to resort level this evening?!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Yep, bags first chair on Cielo Alto. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We normally ski from Zermatt, but we have a beginner and Cervinia wins hands down@BobinCH, did you book the restaurant? Chalet Etoile is a favourite of ours. Heart breaking to hear it may be not as it has always been…, great!
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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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| twoodwar wrote: |
| We normally ski from Zermatt, but we have a beginner and Cervinia wins hands down@BobinCH, did you book the restaurant? Chalet Etoile is a favourite of ours. Heart breaking to hear it may be not as it has always been…, great! |
Cervinia is perfect for beginners, wide, gentle pistes and if you go at sensible times, not too busy!
I’m taking my partner there in March, she’s only done one week in les arcs, she actually picked the resort this time, hope she loves it!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I’m going in late March too, I dare say the excitement of skiing again will outweigh the disadvantages Cervinia might have. I’ve been to Zermatt a few times and will be paying a visit again this time, lifts permitting. Very much aiming to get to the Findlerhof for an early lunch, are there any tips from seasoned travellers about the return to Italy (apart from avoiding an 800CHF taxi ride)?
A friend is out there now, she says bars are quiet (for a half term this is surprising), snow is coming down and the Chalet Etoile is already booked out for the week. Looks like more snow expected next week too, if Snow Forecast is to be trusted).
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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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Started snowing yesterday afternoon, lightly at resort level, still snowing at 8pm, still light but very dry, just a few cm but badly needed. Due to brighten up later and plan to head over to Zermatt. Can anyone recommend an area that's not too challenging for a skiier with a previously busted and vulnerable ACL? (I'll do separate thread in the Piste so as not to get off topic here!)
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| twoodwar wrote: |
| We normally ski from Zermatt, but we have a beginner and Cervinia wins hands down@BobinCH, did you book the restaurant? Chalet Etoile is a favourite of ours. Heart breaking to hear it may be not as it has always been…, great! |
Cervinia lower slopes looked ideal for beginners. The east blues around Plan Maison in the sunshine would be perfect. The run down from Klein Matterhorn and Plateau Rosa were steeper, rock hard and busy so would give those a miss.
We weren’t able to book Chalet Etoile as it was fully booked. But it looked like the people who did book were standing in a long queue going out the door and practically out the terrace. They were no doubt mixed with those queuing for terrace drinks and those just standing in the queue hoping for a table as there was no way to distinguish given the single queue.
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@BobinCH, cheers. People often queue who have not booked. Never had an issue when booking, but we are normally quite early, and want to get back off over the top to Zermatt handy. I have skied Cervinia for a week once, but it was 40 years ago with university friends. Looking forward to skiing all the area rather than a Chalet Etoile or Bontadini transit 
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| Jude1 wrote: |
| Started snowing yesterday afternoon, lightly at resort level, still snowing at 8pm, still light but very dry, just a few cm but badly needed. Due to brighten up later and plan to head over to Zermatt. Can anyone recommend an area that's not too challenging for a skiier with a previously busted and vulnerable ACL? (I'll do separate thread in the Piste so as not to get off topic here!) |
Glad there’s been a smattering to keep things fresh. The runs from the top of plan Maison are generally nice, once you’ve explored that area the runs from pancheron are a little more testing but still nice and scenic (well usually, might not be if it’s a bare as everyone says). By the end of the week, if feeling up to it, the Ventina run, number 7 I think, from the top of plateau Rosa is an absolute must! It’s very long, but of a leg burner!
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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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| Blanch1962 wrote: |
| I’m going in late March too, I dare say the excitement of skiing again will outweigh the disadvantages Cervinia might have. I’ve been to Zermatt a few times and will be paying a visit again this time, lifts permitting. Very much aiming to get to the Findlerhof for an early lunch, are there any tips from seasoned travellers about the return to Italy (apart from avoiding an 800CHF taxi ride)? |
From Cervinia town I would personally leave 2 hours before last lift to make sure you get back, this should be ample for good skiers, because once you are at the Top of Plateau Rosa you can ski down into Zermatt. A word of warning, those not wanting to ski the black that ends up in Furi should leave more time as they will have to download on the gondola so will obviously need to make sure it’s open to get down, the black run is steepish in places but is quite narrow, and twists and turns sharply down into resort, personally it’s one of my favourite runs in the resort.
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@Jude1, @Blanch1962,
Would strongly advise you download fatmaps, I find it great for getting around, mobile reception dependent.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@LDP816, late in the day it’s churned up though, so beware, with a lot of people who can’t really ski it on a busy day. Can be carnage
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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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A couple of iterations of this nice blip. Could be more reasonable snow on the way
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| twoodwar wrote: |
| @LDP816, late in the day it’s churned up though, so beware, with a lot of people who can’t really ski it on a busy day. Can be carnage |
That I was unaware of, the times I’ve been I’ve always stayed Cervinia side so ski’d the runs down to Furi late morning. Maybe that is one plus point of staying Cervinia side 
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You know it makes sense.
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| twoodwar wrote: |
| A couple of iterations of this nice blip. Could be more reasonable snow on the way |
I would love to know how to read these, is there a thread on here somewhere?
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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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@LDP816, https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=14852. A sticky at the top of snow reports. Essentially top squiggle is temp, the lower the better, and bottom is precipitation, the higher the better, ( assuming temperature allows for snow not rain).Most of these are GFS forecasts and to the 6 day out level will be mirrored by what you see on ‘Snow forecast.com’ for example
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Poster: A snowHead
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Also they update 4 times a day, so take one with a pinch of salt further out than 3 days. If it keeps repeating it’s getting more probable it will happen.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| twoodwar wrote: |
| @LDP816, https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=14852. A sticky at the top of snow reports. Essentially top squiggle is temp, the lower the better, and bottom is precipitation, the higher the better, ( assuming temperature allows for snow not rain).Most of these are GFS forecasts and to the 6 day out level will be mirrored by what you see on ‘Snow forecast.com’ for example |
Thanks for this, it’s exactly what I wanted to know the sticky topic assumed a massive amount of knowledge from the start! All I wanted was to know how to read the charts, thanks for your help!
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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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@LDP816, good, I had not looked at the sticky for a while!
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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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@Onnem, They won’t always be bad but more likely to be inaccurate indeed
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thank you! Our trip is a way off, I know there is no point looking at charts just now, but that is never going to stop me!!
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Adler Hitta is a lovely lunch stop, with some wonderful Matterhorn views on the terrace on a nice day. However I also remember it as the first place I'd been charged for tap water, but they explained the issues they have with getting fresh water at that location, cleaning costs, etc, so I didn't mind
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| Whitters wrote: |
| Adler Hitta is a lovely lunch stop, with some wonderful Matterhorn views on the terrace on a nice day. However I also remember it as the first place I'd been charged for tap water, but they explained the issues they have with getting fresh water at that location, cleaning costs, etc, so I didn't mind |
Water, coffee (and probably wine?) are the 2 most striking cost differentials between CH and IT. We paid euros 2.50 for a coffee at Plan Maison vs 5chf at Findeln. Water was 3.5 euros for 0.75l vs more than double that CH side.
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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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@BobinCH, wine in Switzerland beggars belief. Really poor wine in my opinion for 45chf. That’s the cheap end, out of proportion expensive to even beer and coffee. I assume massive tax but I have no idea.
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Should say I will still be going to Zermatt as it is entirely worth it. I don’t go on a wine tour. Hope we have some snow to talk about soon
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FAQ
