 Poster: A snowHead
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Can anyone tell me where is the best place to ski in Europe at Christmas
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Do you know what Chamonix and Val'isere are like?
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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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ialford, Val d'I can be OK. I was there for New Year about 5 years ago, and pretty much all the pistes were skiable (except 'Face'). Can't remember what the off-piste was like. Others can probably tell you more.
Chamonix is probably not a particularly good idea at that time of year. The main slopes are generally rocky, so need quite a bit of snow to make them really skiable. And the main attraction there is the off-piste, which needs even more snow than the pistes to be comfortable. I was there at New Year about 4 years ago, and they only really opened most of the domain up about 30th Dec (only about half the lifts were open prior to that). The previous year, things were so bad that friends had to drive over to Verbier to get any sensible skiing at all. We did manage to ski pretty much everywhere, but the bases of the skis took a bit of a beating. The high glacial areas (server by the Grands Montets lift) only really open late Jan, as the crevasses need plenty of snow to for the bridges to form. Les Houches and Megeve are probably the best in that area at that time as they are grassy meadows rather than rocky hillsides.
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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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GrahamN, Where would you go if you had the choice of Europe? Thanks for the info very helpful....Irene
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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ialford,
If it were me I'd book Xmas last minute, if I couldn't do that I would book somewhere with a glacier.
Regards,
Greg
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I've done Norway, twice at xmas and there was plenty of snow, but it's more suited to xc.
For Europe, I would go for Obergurgl.
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ialford, this link here will give you some historical data http://uk.weather.com/activities/recreation/ski/ using method 2, scroll to Dec week 4, select your country and it shows the average (3 years) depths for a number of resorts.
Of course next season may be very different  .
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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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ialford, The problem is that Christmas these days is quite early in the season. Last year many "snow sure" resorts hadn't had much snow at all whereas some lower ones did. The snow just didn't follow a typical pattern.
GrahamN is correct to say that off piste is one of Chamonix's big attraction but there's plenty of everything else too. Anywhere higher up will require sufficient depth too cover rocks.
You might (not wanting to discourage you from CHX of course) consider somewhere with lots of snowmaking? We had a perfectly acceptable Christmas last year in Champoluc - although the lack of natural snow made half the area inaccessible...
What sort of skiers are you?
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ialford, Are you actually going to be away over Christmas itself? If so, will the atmosphere be important to you. Apart from those on this site with a vested interest in France, I seem to remember that most on here have found that Austria is better in that respect (I have never been over Christmas itself so can't comment first hand). There was a thread on it somewhere?
I have been away over New Year several times and never had a problem with snow - so to an extent we can be doom and gloom merchants on here.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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last chirstmas most of france were a bit short of snow, it was a fairly ice ride, where as christmas before that was superb! We had 4 or 5 dumps in christmas week alone.
The atmosphere here at christmas is wicked and riding on christmas day is a must!
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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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ialford, We have availability in our chalet in Alpe D'Huez over Chirstmas if you are interested in that? High altitude resort with glacier and special discounts for snowheads. Have a look at our website www.skialacarte.co.uk and contact me if you would like a quote.
Other than that my advice for Christmas skiing would be to head high! 
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katski, i dont think it makes that much different. Last year both adh and les2 had less snow than we did in serre che.
ultimately you dont know how next year will be, decide where you want to be then keep everything crossed that it will be very snowy that week!
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