 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all,
Like most desperate to get on the slopes pronto and hoping to get a week over Xmas. Like the idea of St Gervais but a couple of concerns… firstly is there likely to be plenty of snow that time of year as won’t have transport to go elsewhere? Looks to have decent covering on the webcams but Xmas always risky. Secondly, it is one gondola up abd down so what are the queues like at Xmas? We were in samoens last new year we could travel and having to queue for 45 mins each day to get up and down would put me off going back at that time of year.
Would appreciate anyone’s previous experience at that time of year.
Thanks
FT
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Fast_ted wrote: |
Hi all,
Like most desperate to get on the slopes pronto and hoping to get a week over Xmas. Like the idea of St Gervais but a couple of concerns… firstly is there likely to be plenty of snow that time of year as won’t have transport to go elsewhere? Looks to have decent covering on the webcams but Xmas always risky. Secondly, it is one gondola up abd down so what are the queues like at Xmas? We were in samoens last new year we could travel and having to queue for 45 mins each day to get up and down would put me off going back at that time of year.
Would appreciate anyone’s previous experience at that time of year.
Thanks
FT |
Hi,
We have a place up the road in Les Contamines. In the 8 years we have owned it, there has been one season when St Gervais wasn't open at Xmas and people were bussing in from Megeve and St G to the partly open Les Contamines to ski (obviously making Les C VERY busy). I think there was one other season with pretty sketchy cover. I don't know if our sample size is big enough to give you a good indication. My honest view is that I would be reluctant to book Xmas week in St G until quite near the time when I knew what early december snowfall had been. You would probably be fine but...
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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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@Fast_ted, though we bought a place in St Gervais we haven't skiied there at Christmas (we bought autumn 2019 so only had one opportunity to try). This year we are heading out two days after Christmas.
However as part of my investigations before buying I did check the snow record. It seemed snow before Christmas was somewhat variable, but there was no year when there wasn't snow by New Year. As long as it is cold enough they will have made artificial snow for the main runs, they even did last year in preparation for the season that didn't happen, but in the worst case skiing could be limited.
And you are right about the single gondola from the village. Our skiing in 2020 overlapped with Paris half term, and there was a point around 9 am when queues were too long to be fun, I guess at the peak travel time for ski school. It was the same or worse when we took the bus up to Les Contamines (which as @jedster reports has a little more snow reliability from its height and location relative to Mont Blanc). There is a risk the same will happen at Christmas/New Year.
So I agree, wait until close enough to see whether a snow base is being established. Our travel arrangements for December are ones that can be moved if necessary.
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| Quote: |
It seemed snow before Christmas was somewhat variable, but there was no year when there wasn't snow by New Year.
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agree - this is our experience
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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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We went to St. G for Xmas in 2018, I think. Christmas is always a crap shoot for snow, and there had a been a lot of freeze/thaw cycles so the snow was rock hard. Lots of closed trails, although between Megeve and St. G we found enough to keep us occupied for a week. The gondola waits were not bad at all. But keep in mind that the "big" Xmas holiday week in France is the second week, bc most people spend the holiday with family rather than go on break. So you'd want to aim for the week of Dec. 18 to avoid crowds.
I probably wouldn't go back there for Christmas unless I knew there was going to be pretty good snow conditions, i.e., booking very late. The snowmaking/grooming, from what i could glean, is not outstanding. Certainly serviceable tho. There also were a number of very slow, outmoded lifts.
Don't get me wrong, it has a lot of charm and is definitely a cut above a lot of French mid-tier stations. Also bear in mind that it's not linked to Les Contamines (but it is to megeve) so you have to drive/bus up there. I know there are a couple of Snowheads who own there so they will have a bigger dataset.
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We went skiing for Christmas in 2016 in the worst conditions in living memory in the northern french alps. We spent New year's Eve skiing in Les Saisies which had several runs open but some were very icy. However Les Saisies seemed significantly better than neighbouring resorts like Megeve (linked to st gervais) which looked completely green at resort level.
Therefore whilst St Gervais would probably be fine at Christmas in a normal year I would say that Les Saisies would be a slightly safer bet. Flaine would also be worth considering.
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the long & short of it is that the snow is not 100% sure, there are however some positives.
If it is patchy there are both north & south facing slopes so hopefully the north holds the snow.
It is only 15 min by car from Les Contamines & they are far more snow sure.
If there really is no snow, it is still a nice place to be & the spa is a good day out
I have only ever seen anywhere near a 45 min queue in the feb holidays
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Thanks all. I’ll take your advice and hold off booking accommodation until nearer the time, will get flights booked and sit and wait, if we lose the accommodation we are looking at we should be able to find something as a group of 9 should fill any chalets still not booked up. Flights to Geneva so should leave plenty of options.
The queuing to get up the lift was a real drag in samoens when we were there (new year week) and certainly wouldn’t go back there at that time of year, but sounds like it shouldn’t be too bad for Xmas.
Seems to be some snow at the moment but nothing forecast (I appreciate how unreliable snow forecasts are but religiously look at them daily when planning a trip) for a couple of weeks.
Thanks again! FT
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| Fast_ted wrote: |
Thanks all. I’ll take your advice and hold off booking accommodation until nearer the time, will get flights booked and sit and wait, if we lose the accommodation we are looking at we should be able to find something as a group of 9 should fill any chalets still not booked up. Flights to Geneva so should leave plenty of options.
The queuing to get up the lift was a real drag in samoens when we were there (new year week) and certainly wouldn’t go back there at that time of year, but sounds like it shouldn’t be too bad for Xmas.
Seems to be some snow at the moment but nothing forecast (I appreciate how unreliable snow forecasts are but religiously look at them daily when planning a trip) for a couple of weeks.
Thanks again! FT |
good call I think
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