 Poster: A snowHead
|
| Astontech wrote: |
If you are referring to where I said conditions started to get poor, it was just pretty icy across the 3V (except for Courchevel side).
Sounds like I want to be getting out early on groomed runs and retiring mid afternoon if no frequent fresh snow? |
Yup or also you learn about various resorts, Courchevel imho often has better snow than Méribel which is often scraped and hard packed in the afternoons in my experience.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
@Astontech, Yeah, a while ago I asked the missus why don’t they make those nice corduroy lines on the piste anymore? She said they still do them, you just need to get up earlier.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
| kitenski wrote: |
| Astontech wrote: |
If you are referring to where I said conditions started to get poor, it was just pretty icy across the 3V (except for Courchevel side).
Sounds like I want to be getting out early on groomed runs and retiring mid afternoon if no frequent fresh snow? |
Yup or also you learn about various resorts, Courchevel imho often has better snow than Méribel which is often scraped and hard packed in the afternoons in my experience. |
Courchevel … as good as conditions as we’ve known. Mottaret-Meribel not as pleasant, slushy in marginal weather, whilst VT and Courchevel both seem a notch colder.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
I think the reason that pistes become hardpacked is because natural snowfall these days tends to be wetter and more marginal. Warm, wet snow is easily compressed and once frozen can be difficult to groom back into something more forgiving.
I’ve never skied in the US but I suspect that Rocky Mountain skiing is rarely icy because the temperature there is still consistently lower and the air is drier, than the Alps.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
Interesting
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
| Peter S wrote: |
I think the reason that pistes become hardpacked is because natural snowfall these days tends to be wetter and more marginal. Warm, wet snow is easily compressed and once frozen can be difficult to groom back into something more forgiving.
I’ve never skied in the US but I suspect that Rocky Mountain skiing is rarely icy because the temperature there is still consistently lower and the air is drier, than the Alps. |
Yes.
* Europe = maritime mountains (wet snow).
* Rockies = desert mountains (dry snow).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Looks like rain for the lower parts of the European Alps by Wednesday.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Do you think I’d have a better week in Austria or France from the 11th? From what I can see both are forecasted to be sunny that week but unsure on what would have the better snow conditions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
@JRB747373, can’t speak for France, but in my part of Austria (Saalbach) conditions have been excellent so far this season; and temperatures are forecast to be well into minus figures over the weekend and early next week, with the promise of fresh snow on Saturday.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Whitegold wrote: |
| Peter S wrote: |
I think the reason that pistes become hardpacked is because natural snowfall these days tends to be wetter and more marginal. Warm, wet snow is easily compressed and once frozen can be difficult to groom back into something more forgiving.
I’ve never skied in the US but I suspect that Rocky Mountain skiing is rarely icy because the temperature there is still consistently lower and the air is drier, than the Alps. |
Yes.
* Europe = maritime mountains (wet snow).
* Rockies = desert mountains (dry snow). |
Don't forget the Intermountain Region - Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana.
Not as maritime as California, not as desert as Colorado. More snow, drier snow, easily my favourite part of the US.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
A first for us in 60+ ski holidays, every lift is closed purely due to the winds (direction and gust strength). In Arosa. Pine trees visibly bending. Despite the lovely sun, it’s also mild.
Off to ice skating.
Can’t be doing with trains or expensive cabs to Lenzerheide.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
One of the strongest foehn winds I can remember for a while last night in Bourg. My balcony faces right up towards the Col du Petit Saint Bernard so the wind comes straight towards me! One of the drain pipes on my building was ripped off!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Snow&skifan wrote: |
A first for us in 60+ ski holidays, every lift is closed purely due to the winds (direction and gust strength). In Arosa. Pine trees visibly bending. Despite the lovely sun, it’s also mild.
Off to ice skating.
Can’t be doing with trains or expensive cabs to Lenzerheide. |
Ow, that’s too bad. We just came back from Arosa and had a reasonably fantastic week, even a bit of a powder day on Friday. My snow app seems to be pointing at a new dump today, so fingers crossed that it works out for your trip.
The main thing I’d have to share is that Lenzerheide was on the wrong side of the snow this year. So while Arosa might seem limiting (and you know, closed due to wind at the moment), Lenzerheide is very, very hard, with a bunch of folk from Lenzerheide taking the connection to Arosa. The black slopes at the top of Arosa got hard quickly and when it snowed the moguls made it quite annoying, so that’d be my quick point up there.
All in all, we spent a week over NY there and I was surprised how lucky we got, given that it ‘s still pretty early in the season.
For those of you on the American continent - I was planning on doing a long weekend at Lake Louise in April, is it too late by then? [I might end up opening a separate thread for that, but hoping someone here will see the q]
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| timlongs wrote: |
| One of the strongest foehn winds I can remember for a while last night in Bourg. My balcony faces right up towards the Col du Petit Saint Bernard so the wind comes straight towards me! One of the drain pipes on my building was ripped off! |
foehn wind is from the south, the Col du Petit St Bernard is N.E from Bourg St Maurice so you should be on the lee side of your building.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
| davidof wrote: |
| timlongs wrote: |
| One of the strongest foehn winds I can remember for a while last night in Bourg. My balcony faces right up towards the Col du Petit Saint Bernard so the wind comes straight towards me! One of the drain pipes on my building was ripped off! |
foehn wind is from the south, the Col du Petit St Bernard is N.E from Bourg St Maurice so you should be on the lee side of your building. |
The foehn always seems to funnel down from the PSB into Bourg and hits my balcony. According to the local paragliding club:
Dans la vallée de Bourg-Saint-Maurice. l'axe de l'effet de foëhn n'est pas Sud/Nord - comme le vent en altitude- mais Nord-est/Sud-ouest, perpendiculairement à la chaîne frontalière. Appelé localement "Vent du Saint-Bernard"
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
| blind_raven wrote: |
| Snow&skifan wrote: |
A first for us in 60+ ski holidays, every lift is closed purely due to the winds (direction and gust strength). In Arosa. Pine trees visibly bending. Despite the lovely sun, it’s also mild.
Off to ice skating.
Can’t be doing with trains or expensive cabs to Lenzerheide. |
Ow, that’s too bad. We just came back from Arosa and had a reasonably fantastic week, even a bit of a powder day on Friday. My snow app seems to be pointing at a new dump today, so fingers crossed that it works out for your trip.
The main thing I’d have to share is that Lenzerheide was on the wrong side of the snow this year. So while Arosa might seem limiting (and you know, closed due to wind at the moment), Lenzerheide is very, very hard, with a bunch of folk from Lenzerheide taking the connection to Arosa. The black slopes at the top of Arosa got hard quickly and when it snowed the moguls made it quite annoying, so that’d be my quick point up there.
All in all, we spent a week over NY there and I was surprised how lucky we got, given that it ‘s still pretty early in the season.
For those of you on the American continent - I was planning on doing a long weekend at Lake Louise in April, is it too late by then? [I might end up opening a separate thread for that, but hoping someone here will see the q] |
I fell in love with Arosa straight away. We were booked to come here in the two pandemic winters, but restrictions put paid to that. Great skiing, empty pistes, lovely Alpine vibe. Its remoteness preventing the crowds. I like the reds but my daughter (a neat skier, underrates herself) didn’t warm to them in yesterday’s lowish light.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| timlongs wrote: |
| davidof wrote: |
| timlongs wrote: |
| One of the strongest foehn winds I can remember for a while last night in Bourg. My balcony faces right up towards the Col du Petit Saint Bernard so the wind comes straight towards me! One of the drain pipes on my building was ripped off! |
foehn wind is from the south, the Col du Petit St Bernard is N.E from Bourg St Maurice so you should be on the lee side of your building. |
The foehn always seems to funnel down from the PSB into Bourg and hits my balcony. According to the local paragliding club:
Dans la vallée de Bourg-Saint-Maurice. l'axe de l'effet de foëhn n'est pas Sud/Nord - comme le vent en altitude- mais Nord-est/Sud-ouest, perpendiculairement à la chaîne frontalière. Appelé localement "Vent du Saint-Bernard" |
very interesting... although not great for your balcony
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
| Snow&skifan wrote: |
I fell in love with Arosa straight away. We were booked to come here in the two pandemic winters, but restrictions put paid to that. Great skiing, empty pistes, lovely Alpine vibe. Its remoteness preventing the crowds. I like the reds but my daughter (a neat skier, underrates herself) didn’t warm to them in yesterday’s lowish light. |
Has fond memories for me as we learned to ski at Arosa many moons ago, had two feb half terms there. The train ride up from Chur was excellent.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
a bit of a washout in places
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
@blind_raven, if I were doing a long weekend from Calgary I think I’d be going to Sunshine instead of Lake Louise. Nearer to the airport, closer to Banff (guessing that’s where you’d stay unless stopping in LL itself) and usually has much better snow conditions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
In Les Karellis, conditions were great last Saturday, then yesterday the snow was visibly wetter even all the way to the top; I suspect it did snow at the very top (around 2500m) but even still it felt like "wet powder", and only in the very first metres. It rained quite a bit down the valley on Saturday evening and clearly the snow line was disappointingly high.
| Astontech wrote: |
A question I have pondered for a little while that somebody may be able to help me with is:
If there is no fresh snow for lets say 1 week, with temperatures around 0c, what will the piste conditions be like and what actions are taken to ensure quality reamains?
I was in Meribel last jan for a week and it was 7-12c all week, conditions started to get poor after around 6 days with no fresh snow, was this just because of the fact it was melting and refrezzing due to high temps? Would it be any different with cooler temps?
I am actually back there on Jan 18th and looking dry ahead of then. |
Something that might work for you in such conditions is "skiing with the sun"; in freeze-thaw conditions, as others mentioned, if slopes are icy, they may become more forgiving as the snow warms up and slowly melts. So if you start your day skiing on the south/east facing slopes (which receive sunlight in the morning) and finish it on the south/west facing slopes (which receive sunlight in the afternoon), you might just be there when the snow is starting to melt. The slopes that already melted early in the morning might be slushy in the afternoon (which not everyone is fond of - I normally am, especially if it keeps the crowds away, but yeah).
That of course is all theory - whether nature and physics will comply remains to be seen, but it's a tactic you might consider trying.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@blind_raven, it depends what you're after. I spent 3 winters in the area from 2008-2011 and the snow usually starts softening up sometime early to mid April. But Sunshine at least is open well into May, so there is still plenty of the season left.
If all you're after is a few late season runs and you care less about optimum (dry/light powder) conditions, anytime in April will be completely fine. The snowpack will probably be at its greatest at some point in April.
Having said that, Jan and Feb generally have little snowfall and it can be bone shakingly cold. Snowfall usually picks up again March into April when generally the best powders days are. So you can easily get lucky.
And as @bigtuboflard suggests, don't discount Sunshine. It's closer to Banff and Calgary, doesn't make any artificial snow (gets more than Louise sitting on the continental divide), it's higher and has ample terrain for a long weekend.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm off to the Alps for quick trip from 15 to 19th Jan. Still haven't decided where to go yet. I was planning to chase the snow but it seems like it will be dry all over the Alps from the 11th, so I'm trying to figure out where would have good snow after this week's roller coaster weather and some washouts. Charts are all over the place. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Hard to say - most parts of the alps are getting a lot of snow over the next week though so maybe hang on and see if there is a big issue with rain affecting places and then decide
I suspect most places will be in the same boat and you won't go far wrong going high
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously things change from day to day with the weather, but today was absolutely idyllic in the Ski Circus. Quiet, smooth pistes, after the departure of the New Year crowds.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
Snow-Forecast.com is showing a very high freezing level with alot of rain over the next week for NW Alps. Do any of the other models besides GFS show anything better?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It’s a mix bag with SL from 1600-2400 at times. gfs probably the worst of the bunch.
The channel low is modelled as further north on Wednesday which allows the Alps to see higher 850s, dragging the SL up.
Broadly speaking, anywhere above 2000m should have a good week ahead of them. 1500m probably wet. 1800 a bit of both.
I believe bergfex uses ecm, so you can usually take a mos ground between the two.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
ECM suggests a bit wet in the French & Swiss alps for the rest of the week, Arlberg looks good (see if that happens) see
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
In Arosa, that wind has gone, woke up to lots of new snow, looks fantastic.
Has a look at MeteoSuisse wind stats yesterday, strongest local gusts were 60mph in Arosa at village level and 94mph on a peak 16 miles away.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
|
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?
|
Overnight models still suggesting this week should be all snow above around 2000m, maybe a few hours here and there where it spikes a little higher, particularly on Wednesday and Friday.
How does 10-20mm of rain typically effect the mountain and conditions, especially if there is a cold, dry spell after? I imagine it will be pretty icy, or are there methods to offset the rainfall?
I will plan to try stay above 2000m of course but skiing back to the village at 1850 may not be great?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
@Astontech, i10-20mm of rain with cooling afterwards will make very little noticeable difference. It may also snow lower than the freezing level
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| kitenski wrote: |
| @Astontech, i10-20mm of rain with cooling afterwards will make very little noticeable difference. It may also snow lower than the freezing level |
indeed and the Piste bashers will soon take care of an icy crust
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
Ok that puts my mind at rest. I was a little concerned.
How much rain would it take to make a negative impact?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wepowder update for Friday interestingly suggests a snowline of 1500m, unless I am reading this wrong?
Friday and Saturday will bring the last precipitation
On Friday, the Alps will still be dealing with stau from the northwest. The weather models predict active precipitation, especially through the Swiss and northern French Alps, aided by milder air that slides over the cold air from the west and is forced upwards. Regionally, up to 40 centimeters may fall. The snow line will rise again to about 1500 meters. In Austria, less precipitation will fall, but it will fall as snow down to the valleys. Another 10 centimeters can accumulate there before the high-pressure lid comes on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| Astontech wrote: |
Wepowder update for Friday interestingly suggests a snowline of 1500m, unless I am reading this wrong?
|
Whatever they wrote on Friday is out of date for this Friday by now!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
