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Which resorts have good conditions now?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Thinking of squeezing in a last-minute week flying out either Thurs 31st Mar or Fri 1st Apr.

Which resorts in Europe currently have decent piste conditions? Especially keen to look at any that aren’t usually as popular in April, so hopefully less busy and more accommodation availability.

Family of 4, both teenagers double vaccinated and both adults boostered. We stick to piste skiing, mostly blues and wide reds, no interest in off-piste or snow parks etc.


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 22-03-22 20:38; edited 1 time in total
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Quote:

Especially keen to look at any that aren’t usually as popular in April

Thing is, the ones that are popular in April are popular because they have some high altitude and/or north-facing, skiing so are more likely to have good snow conditions. After a generally poor season for snow in many areas and currently warm weather, those factors are even more important this year. And everybody is chasing the same thing.......

But resorts are rarely as busy in April as they are earlier in the season - in France locals have turned to thoughts of summer and it's low season for accommodation costs. There should be plenty of accommodation available. Flights which fit round the UK school holidays won't be cheap. The best approach is to drive, and therefore be flexible to make a last minute choice of accommodation and to be able to travel to alternative destinations locally.
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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?
Very true @pam w, re the high/north-facing resorts. Thought it would be nice to take advantage of the late booking to see where else is good that we wouldn’t normally consider in April. But we’ll look at anywhere that is currently good to be honest.

Hoping that flying on a Thursday (or Friday) might mean cheaper flights. Also, a lot of schools here don’t break up until the following week. Would prefer to fly as my son doesn’t travel well in the car over long distances.
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Flying mid week is indeed cheaper but will greatly complicate the search for accommodation, particularly in France, where the obsession with Sat/Sat booking is extreme!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I have similar concerns as yours, as I'm off to St. Moritz for 10 days starting coming Friday, and the conditions in the Alps in general don't seem that amazing. Once I'm there I can provide more info on the overall conditions.

From what I've been seeing, it doesn't look suuuper promising... March seems to be warmer and drier than average in most places, at the time there's little to no snow forecasted for the coming 10 days in most regions I've checked, and the forecast also suggests temperatures may rise a bit in the coming days. As far as I've seen, it has snowed very little in most of the Alps since last week, so I'm afraid the effects of the Sahara sand may still be noticeable as it may not have been completely buried under new snow yet. Of course, long-term forecasts are far from reliable and everything can change in 10 days, but for now that's what I've been seeing.

Also, there are exceptions; for instance, Alti Aigoual, in the south of France, had a dump of 1,5 metres last week.

Anyway, for snow there's a little bit of snow expected by the end of this week in the larger Austrian glaciers, namely Hintertux and Stubai, and also a bit in Kaprun and Sölden. They're all very nice resorts in my opinion, and especially Hintertux has several VERY broad amazing red runs. Hintertux, Kaprun and Stubai are not very large (max 65km of piste), but Sölden is (although the glacier areas themselves are not so large). And if you go to Hintertux or Kaprun, you have the Zillertal Arena or Zell Am See closeby for additional pistes, in case the conditions there turn out to be good as well.

So yeah, in principle (and if you wanna book soon), my first suggestion would be Hintertux, but of course, the longer you can wait, the more certainty you will have.
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Obertauern in Austria could be an option for you. I just did a quick search on their website and there are plenty of accommodation options for both dates you stated. It's high and has plenty of snow.

The long term weather forecast is suggesting that this fine weather will break at the end of the month (for Austria that is, I didn't check anywhere else). Obertauern can be a bleak location when it snows.

Gustavo's suggestion of Hintertux is a good one although getting down the Zillertal valley if the weather comes in would take more time than if you stayed somewhere like Mayrhofen.
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@SkiPenguin, worth consideration for aspect certainly, along with it's other attributes Grimentz Val d Annivieres.

Reachable by public transport from Geneva, great skiing (Grimentz and Zinal combined) lovely village with plenty of accommodation options. Likely low total number of visitors too.
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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:

Obertauern can be a bleak location when it snows

Any of the "good bets" for April can be bleak when it snows.
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@SkiPenguin,
For non-Sat to Sat accommodation try asking on the appropriate Seasonnaire group(s) on Facebook for chosen resort(s), or try approaching providers direct.
For example Tignes Spirit have Wed-Wed accommodation https://www.tignes-spirit.com/flats/all_apartments so may be flexible
Chardons may be flexible, too https://www.chaletchardons.com/en/deals/
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Wouldn't the teenagers need boosters for Austria?
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@SkiPenguin, presumably DIYing if going out Thursday/Friday for the reason of cheap flights? If so, I would be thinking about getting flights and then being flexible on where you are staying. You can always find something. You don't have to stay high. For example you could stay in Brides-les-Bains and gondola up/down every day and then over to Val T.

There has been little or no snow for weeks and none in the near term forecast bit temps staying low at the moment so pistes still good from what I can make out.
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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.
@robandliza, depends when they had a second jab.
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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
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
We have availability in our apartment for the week starting Sat 2nd April - Just discounted to £700. Centre of Val Claret, easy access to Grande Motte glacier. Given it hasn't snowed anywhere for a while the pistes are holding up fairly well.

https://www.tignes.co.uk/49curlingb.php

Pictures aren't quite up to date as we've since bought a brand new corner sofa, Tv unit and a Tv. I'll update the photos when I take the fireplace out in the summer - big job.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Extremophile wrote:
We have availability in our apartment for the week starting Sat 2nd April - Just discounted to £700. Centre of Val Claret, easy access to Grande Motte glacier. Given it hasn't snowed anywhere for a while the pistes are holding up fairly well.

https://www.tignes.co.uk/49curlingb.php

Pictures aren't quite up to date as we've since bought a brand new corner sofa, Tv unit and a Tv. I'll update the photos when I take the fireplace out in the summer - big job.


That looks pretty good! Good price too
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I'd be tempted to check out the Pyrenees - I have a feeling that they've had a better year than the Alpes
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
pam w wrote:
Flying mid week is indeed cheaper but will greatly complicate the search for accommodation, particularly in France, where the obsession with Sat/Sat booking is extreme!


You're quite wrong on that nowadays.

The whole accommodation model has changed since Covid it seems.

For sure Sat- Sat is the norm in High Season but outside of that AirBnB and Bookings.com have drastically changed things.

Long weekends are now very popular, the building next to me has a steady change over of different cars throughout the week.

Good friends below where I live have 12 apartments and they'll take anything that's going out of season rather than stay empty which was so often the case previously.

Plus with online booking sites you can manage the pricing far easier adapting to market demand

For sure the big Residence apartments Co's such as Odalys & Pierre might still be Sat to Sat but everything from Gîtes, hotels to family chalets with an apartment built in are using the online sites.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
That's good to know - the way that places used to be left empty, rather than take a non-standard booking, was very frustrating - I guess some good things have come out of Covid!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Ray Zorro wrote:
I'd be tempted to check out the Pyrenees - I have a feeling that they've had a better year than the Alpes


The Pyrenees were blitzed by the saharan sand storm, by all means check it out, but be prepared for a disappointment.
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Weathercam wrote:
pam w wrote:
Flying mid week is indeed cheaper but will greatly complicate the search for accommodation, particularly in France, where the obsession with Sat/Sat booking is extreme!


You're quite wrong on that nowadays.

The whole accommodation model has changed since Covid it seems.

For sure Sat- Sat is the norm in High Season but outside of that AirBnB and Bookings.com have drastically changed things.

Long weekends are now very popular, the building next to me has a steady change over of different cars throughout the week.

Good friends below where I live have 12 apartments and they'll take anything that's going out of season rather than stay empty which was so often the case previously.

Plus with online booking sites you can manage the pricing far easier adapting to market demand

For sure the big Residence apartments Co's such as Odalys & Pierre might still be Sat to Sat but everything from Gîtes, hotels to family chalets with an apartment built in are using the online sites.


The OPs dates cover some of Easter - while there may be a lot of accommodation around that can offer non-Sat to Sat holidays, the amount of people who missed ski holibobs the last couple of Easters may well prevent good accommodation in good positions booked non-Sat to sat.

not saying that is what has or will happen, but just could well be a limiting factor.

our apartment is totally booked up until 2 May - with the only gap wc 2 apr - can't believe it - all sat-sat, no short stays.


Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Tue 22-03-22 15:43; edited 1 time in total
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pam w wrote:
I guess some good things have come out of Covid!


Agreed, and maybe a subject for a new thread. I'd add: folks aren't going to come to work sick and show off how tough they are as they infect their coworkers anymore.
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davidof wrote:
Ray Zorro wrote:
I'd be tempted to check out the Pyrenees - I have a feeling that they've had a better year than the Alpes


The Pyrenees were blitzed by the saharan sand storm, by all means check it out, but be prepared for a disappointment.


I have a group of friends in Baqueira this week, they are far from disappointed!
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@Extremophile, you're in Tignes so that probably reflects in your bookings, and maybe not so many French?

Easter in France is when the French tend to look to the sun and sea, it's only the cloggies, Belges, Scandies and Brits that tend to carry on skiing right up to the bitter end.

@pam w, have you had a look at the online sites to see what you could book etc where you used to live to see if it's a similar scenario to down here?
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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!
Here is some information on the effect of sand on the snowpack: https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/occitanie/hautes-pyrenees/pyrenees-comment-le-sable-du-sahara-fait-fondre-plus-vite-la-neige-2503529.html

The sand crashed the season last year in the Northern Alps, fortunately it largely blew overhead last week where we are based but snow cover is getting a bit thin now anyway. We had a big snowfall at the start of December (about 2 meters at altitude) and have been living off that most of the season thanks to the cold, looking like the endgame now.
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Just back from long weekend in Val D'Isere and the pistes are still in very good shape.
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I am in the 3 Valleys and the conditions are oK in the morning..quite hard but water skiing on the lower slopes by 3...In the Dolomiti superski last week the conditions where similar but the pistes were in better condition but some slopes got slushy late in the day.......all in all I prefered the conditions in Italy
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Weathercam wrote:
@Extremophile it's only the cloggies, Belges, Scandies and Brits that tend to carry on skiing right up to the bitter end.



So, quite a few people then.
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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.
Thanks everyone. Quite a few places to look at so will check them out.

Austria is tempting as never taken the children there before, and just checked the entry requirements and we’re all good.

Have to say we do tend to DIY it and haven’t had problems booking midweek-to-midweek in recent years. In the past, we did struggle for anything other than Saturday changeovers but it’s changed a lot - I didn’t know if that was partly as we have tended to book Italy with the children and used to ski more in France pre-children.

Either way, there does seem to be more flexibility these days, which is great. Weekends used to be very tricky for accommodation but much easier nowadays too.
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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
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
Having dinner with my mate who has been running independent ski-hols for the past 35 yrs about how accommodation models have changed, he said the other driving factor for him to try and get non-weekend bookings was to alleviate the transfer hassle factor, he has a small operation in Valandry and was saying how this season the Saturday transfers have been ridiculous in terms of hours on the road in the Tarentaise.

Experienced clients such as @SkiPenguin, are also very relieved to have to run the gauntlet of Saturday transfers as well.

He's also fortunate in that from the first week of April through to December two of his big apartments are booked out to groups of builders working on various projects in the valley.

And as soon as the Tour de France route was announced with two days in our valley this year I told him immediately so he could amend his pricing accordingly and I'm in for a nice case of wine Very Happy
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
On piste surprisingly good round Monterosa …
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Re Saturday changeovers, anecdotally, shortage of changeover staff lending itself to going back to Sat-Sat dates … at least round Chamonix
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@under a new name, surely if there's a shortage of staff; mate was explaining how it's really hard to get a transfer on a Saturday out of the Tarentaise, then a weekday they'll be more staff available as not so busy, n'est pas?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@under a new name, Obvs only one data point but recently did a week Tues-Tues in Chamonix as that was what suited my group. We booked about a month in advance and there was a choice of suitable accommodation on AirBnB which I didn't initially expect to be the case
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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?
DaveD wrote:
I am in the 3 Valleys and the conditions are oK in the morning..quite hard but water skiing on the lower slopes by 3...In the Dolomiti superski last week the conditions where similar but the pistes were in better condition but some slopes got slushy late in the day.......all in all I prefered the conditions in Italy


I'd say things are far better than "ok in the morning." We are in Val Thorens and it feels very quiet on the slopes - which are holding up extremely well. Yes - it feels like mid April rather than mid March but conditions remain great, especially higher up. We skied down to St Martin yesterday at 2pm and didn't hit any slush until we reached the top of St Martin 1 lift, at 1800m. Below that it was still great fun on a very quiet run with some lovely slush bumps lower down Very Happy .

And Orelle remains great all day, with perfect, grippy snow.

As a fan of a certain burger chain would say, "I'm lovin' it!" Very Happy
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We are heading out to the Valais on 2nd.

We expect it to be rubbish.

Get out the fully rockered slush skis.

Or the enduro bikes.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@Bergmeister, here's hoping VT holds up another couple of weeks when we arrive for the SFaB Madeye-Smiley
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valais2 wrote:


Get out the fully rockered slush skis.


Spray n pray or go home early.
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@Bergmeister, did you get any touring in?
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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!
Piste conditions on the Kitzsteinhorn glaciers above Kaprun are pretty awesome at the moment and are holding good all day. Not everybody’s cup of tea, but plenty of UK skiers are currently enjoying the mountain.
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Norway is under rated for spring skiing. Doesn't get the crazy heat and mushy snow. Hemsedal, Voss or Geilo will all be great right now....

Though Alps probably due a good Jan-vril snow fall at altitude?
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Zauchsee I hope snowHead
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