 Poster: A snowHead
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| Matrix wrote: |
| Hi all, would any one be able to recommend a ski school for one on one tuition. Ideally a smaller school over an ESF (whatever the Swiss equiv is) if poss. Thank you |
We always use Summit in Zermatt. They are consistently excellent. Mainly focus on the English speaking market. The instructors tend to be Brits or others who have English as first language.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@JohnMo, thank you
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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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| JohnMo wrote: |
The strict answer is that you don’t need your avi gear when doing a yellow run and you will see that the vast majority of people on the runs don’t have avi packs on. However, if you go further than the 15m (and whatever you think when you start it can be very tempting) then you should. |
Thanks for clarifying this. The footage I've seen of some of these runs doesn't look too crazy, so what you say makes sense.
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| JohnMo wrote: |
| Matrix wrote: |
| Hi all, would any one be able to recommend a ski school for one on one tuition. Ideally a smaller school over an ESF (whatever the Swiss equiv is) if poss. Thank you |
We always use Summit in Zermatt. They are consistently excellent. Mainly focus on the English speaking market. The instructors tend to be Brits or others who have English as first language. |
Another vote for Summit. Always brilliant.
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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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That is what you want to see: the Furggsattel lifts being run; piste bashers working full steam; and even a couple of piste patrol guys out. Hopefully this means that the lower glacier will open up tomorrow. There was a lot of precipitation overnight and into the early morning. Snow line was only about 2500m but as the lift station for the lower glacier is at 3000m that is not a problem.
Some chance of snow tomorrow as well. There is a big bank of precipitation coming over from Milan. It might make it to Cervinia but the odds look like they are against it.
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Is that the predominent direction for precip/snow for Zermatt - Milan direction?
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| Jamo wrote: |
| Is that the predominent direction for precip/snow for Zermatt - Milan direction? |
No, definitely not. Precipitation from that direction in the main ski season is most welcome (a Retour d’Est – there is a lot about it as a phenomenon on this forum and other ski sites). There are not that many but can produce fantastic amounts of snow from about November onwards. Cervinia benefits from a Retour d’Est more than Zermatt. Otherwise like everywhere in Western Europe the prevailing winds are from the West and so that is the broad direction that storms come from most of the time. But even then they range from NNW to SSW with very different results. The worst ones are the ones that come directly from the West because there are just too many high mountains in the way before it gets to us.
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| Owlette wrote: |
Looking for some advice on buying skipasses for Cervinia for 4 days with a possible add on to Zermatt on one of the days when we get there, if the link is open.
I'm looking at the tariff leaflet on the Cervinia site. I *think* I need 2 adult and 2 junior passes for Breuil-Cervinia and Valtourneche for 4 days. If I scroll down to the Zermatt section, I think a daily pass is this? Copied and pasted, apologies for the format. Am I on the right track?
Is it simple to just buy a daily pass when we're there? We're there over Christmas, so I've heard that winds can close the link, so I'd rather just decide on the day if we're going to go for it rather than commit ahead of time. This will be our first time skiing in Cervinia so I don't know the area at all.
Thanks.
Abbinabile ad uno ski pass plurigiornaliero o stagionale/en combinaison avec un ski pass pluri-journalier ou saisonnier/can be combined with a multi-
day and seasonal ski pass
ADULTO/ADULTE/ADULT JUNIOR 3)
SUPPLEMENTO GIORNALIERO/SUPPLEMENT POUR UN JOUR/DAILY
SUPPLEMENT
€ 52,00
al giorno / par jour / per day
€ 26,00
al giorno / par jour / per day |
Hi! I'm a ski instructor from Cervinia!
Because of the wind (That can be VERY strong) I highly suggest buying the upgradde for Zermatt only the same day you decide to go, in that way you'll be 100% sure that you can get to the other side.
P.S. If you need a ski instructor feel free to contact me! 
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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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Lovey Saturday night sunset from the Bontadini lift station (the final lift up to the Theodulpass from Plan Maison). They reckon 50-60cm of snow sitting there already. Still been more rain than snow at Plan Maison (currently switched back to green from white!) but it is nice to know the top is building up.
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Decent hope on GFS (Meteo Swiss thinking the same) of precipitation at the weekend. Snow line looks to be about 2500m. Would be nice to see it coming down a bit further but almost all the ski area scheduled to open end November is above 2500m.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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Keep an eye on the weather for next week. A upper runs should be up and running but freeze levels look to be 3,500m so it may get very wet.
JohnMo will be best placed to guess which runs will be open.
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@BeginnerSkier, When Cervinia (re)opens its lifts to Plateau Rosa this weekend the main (and often the only) slopes are on the Swiss side so you will need a pass that let’s you go over. In summer the only pistes are Swiss ones but there is access from the Italian side.
As well as the summer ski area the chairlift from Trockener Steg to Furggsattel is open. The pistes from there are quite a bit more fun than the summer skis area in my opinion. Although of course it is nice to have both and you can ski from the summer ski area (or the border) down to Trockner Steg to get on the Furggsattel lift.
The Italians are good at getting stuff open when they can. There is no chance of opening anything down to Plan Maison this weekend. The other area that can get opened is Plateau Rosa/Testa Grigia down to Cime Bianche Laghi (number 7 – the Ventina). The top of that is on the glacier and the bottom is at 2800, plus they have excellent snow making. So I guess it is possible. The webcam screenshot below is taken from Testa Grigia and you can see where Cime Bianche Laghi is: white all the way down but turning to green not too far below there.
The next storm is coming on Saturday and Sunday and could be fairly major. Good for the area but not so good if you want to ski those days. There is a decent chance that on the “Opening Day” (sic) the lifts will be closed!
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You know it makes sense.
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From someone who's weather knowledge can fit in a thimble, how is the season/forecast/conditions shaping up for Zermatt, especially for last week in December? Too soon to tell?
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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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Thank you very much, Run28 and JohnMo!
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Poster: A snowHead
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| wjrlaw wrote: |
| From someone who's weather knowledge can fit in a thimble, how is the season/forecast/conditions shaping up for Zermatt, especially for last week in December? Too soon to tell? |
Too soon to tell if I'm honest. The weather gods can change their minds pretty quickly!
That said, the height of the resort helps and the snow falling now helps to get the glacier going and things moving in general. We need lots of storms rolling in during November to get the lower parts of the resort up and running my the December opening date.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The seas around Europe are currently very warm.
Which points to a warm winter.
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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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cowdoo. Same temps as last year and year before.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Mon 28-10-24 8:46; edited 1 time in total
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| wjrlaw wrote: |
| From someone who's weather knowledge can fit in a thimble, how is the season/forecast/conditions shaping up for Zermatt, especially for last week in December? Too soon to tell? |
As @Run28 has said it is too soon to tell. Late December the temperatures will be OK so it is down to whether enough precipitation gets through. We sometimes get blocking high pressure (Staus) which can prevent precipitation getting across. Also the precipitation can be coming from a poor direction for Zermatt/Cervinia (mainly meaning directly from the West).
What has happened so far is very little indication of what late December will be like. However, encouragingly a lot of precipitation has got through. At this time of year that is still rain up to a fairly high level but that is of less importance than that it has been getting through. Quite a lot of it has been from the south (including this weekend’s incoming storms) which is great for Cervinia and pretty good for Zermatt.
You can safely ignore the post above the last one. He knows nothing of skiing or weather.
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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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A good dusting up on the glacier this weekend - great for the levels and getting things moving above Trockener Steg.
Freeze lines are moving around a tad this week with Thursday a bit toasty for my liking. Temps drop off again by the weekend...fingers crossed they continue that way.
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Grr. Which idiot said the precipitation was getting through? I have never seen GFS so confident for so many days out (and not in a good way).
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Yeah looks like a warm stretch for the next week or 2 - hopefully followed by the snowy white stuff to close out autumn.
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| JohnMo wrote: |
@BeginnerSkier, When Cervinia (re)opens its lifts to Plateau Rosa this weekend the main (and often the only) slopes are on the Swiss side so you will need a pass that let’s you go over. In summer the only pistes are Swiss ones but there is access from the Italian side.
As well as the summer ski area the chairlift from Trockener Steg to Furggsattel is open. The pistes from there are quite a bit more fun than the summer skis area in my opinion. Although of course it is nice to have both and you can ski from the summer ski area (or the border) down to Trockner Steg to get on the Furggsattel lift.
The Italians are good at getting stuff open when they can. There is no chance of opening anything down to Plan Maison this weekend. The other area that can get opened is Plateau Rosa/Testa Grigia down to Cime Bianche Laghi (number 7 – the Ventina). The top of that is on the glacier and the bottom is at 2800, plus they have excellent snow making. So I guess it is possible. The webcam screenshot below is taken from Testa Grigia and you can see where Cime Bianche Laghi is: white all the way down but turning to green not too far below there.
The next storm is coming on Saturday and Sunday and could be fairly major. Good for the area but not so good if you want to ski those days. There is a decent chance that on the “Opening Day” (sic) the lifts will be closed!
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I can only say you were 100% correct. I got a few days of skiing in during the first half of the week, but decided to skip Thursday and Friday due to the warmer weather.
Going from Klein Matterhorn all the way down to Trockner Steg was a longer and nicer stretch than I had hoped for to be honest, about 900 meters vertical over a 7 km run. And to do it on good snow in October? What a dream! But accessing the gondola and then stand on it to go back up hurt even more than the 85 euros per day for the ski pass 
So, as you might expect, I ended up sitting more on the chairlift up to Furggsattel than taking the t-bars in the summer ski area… But blue skies and snow conditions so good they made me feel like I was a decent skier was a fantastic experience!
It definitely made me jealous of those of you living in the area, and I just have to return!
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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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| BeginnerSkier wrote: |
Going from Klein Matterhorn all the way down to Trockner Steg was a longer and nicer stretch than I had hoped for to be honest, about 900 meters vertical over a 7 km run. And to do it on good snow in October? What a dream! But accessing the gondola and then stand on it to go back up hurt even more than the 85 euros per day for the ski pass
So, as you might expect, I ended up sitting more on the chairlift up to Furggsattel than taking the t-bars in the summer ski area… But blue skies and snow conditions so good they made me feel like I was a decent skier was a fantastic experience!
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Unfortunately the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise I lift is closed for routine maintenance in October (ie when you were there). That is a great lift: a continuous stream of huge gondolas with seating that speeds between Trockener Steg and Klein Matterhorn. It has totally changed crossing between Switzerland and Italy and the late spring and early Autumn skiing experience (when skiing between Klein Matterhorn and Trockener Steg is taking place). The old cable car that you had to use seems to take an age to get up in comparison – and as you say you have to stand. Fortunately the maintenance is over now so normal service is resumed.
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It is still in the unreliable range but at least GFS is showing some hope. Temperatures are lowering as well so snowmaking would be able to start. The photo of Sandinger Boden lift station at 2800m shows they are doing some snowmaking between Trockener Steg (at 3000m just above where natural snow is lying) and Furgg. Three and a half weeks to opening day.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The glacier area is in very good condition only possible to si down to Trockner Steg quiet and amazing conditions
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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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Great to hear that. Now for a few storms to roll through
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Looks like a nice window opening from the 12th for some cold temps and precipitation.
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You know it makes sense.
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Yes looks like a possible flurry around 13th/14th even to village level is possible on latest gfs
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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Could you point out on that ensemble chart which metric shows that snow may reach village level? For my education 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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850hPa is 1500m or thereabouts. That’s my understanding Jamo
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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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Great thanks, makes sense (and ChatGPT concurs  )
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Jamo, This may not be the question you were asking but for those who want a simplistic explanation of what those charts do and how you can anticipate village level snow:
The image that @twoodwar posted is the GFS computer model runs for Zermatt (as already said 850hPa, approx. 1500m above sea level, Zermatt village is 1620m). The top lines are temperature and the bottom lines are precipitation. The models for a couple of days out tend to converge together suggesting a high level of confidence while those several days out tend to vary a lot, suggesting a low level of confidence. So on that graph you can see there is a high degree of confidence for the next couple of days that temperatures will be between 5 and 8 degrees and there will be no precipitation.
For there to be snow you need two things: precipitation (duh!); and temperatures below about 2 degrees (not zero as one might think). So if you look out a week to 14 November, although there is not surprisingly quite a bit of divergence between the runs, they are mainly showing temperatures below 2 degrees, even during the day. If there is precipitation there is a reasonable chance it will be snow even down at village level (village level precipitation tends to be rain still in November and changes in December). The precipitation is much less certain. It is basically saying the current annoying blocking system might break up and bands of precipitation might come through. Those “mights” are what we live for.
Us sad obsessive people who look at these GFS runs on a daily basis know only one thing for certain: when it gets to 13 November the runs for 14 November will look nothing like they do at present.
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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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@JohnMo, I was about to say that
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Thanks so much JohnMo.
That annoying blocking system you speak of...is there another visual/chart you can show me where that is visible? Is it a big high pressure system over Switzerland/Europe?
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| Jamo wrote: |
Thanks so much JohnMo.
That annoying blocking system you speak of...is there another visual/chart you can show me where that is visible? Is it a big high pressure system over Switzerland/Europe? |
Not sure. The weather thread on this site was always one of the best places to read about the trends across Europe. It still has some decent informative posters. Unfortunately some of the best ones have given it up as a bad job. There are too many trolls who have no interest in genuine weather watching.
I actually think the BBC forecast for Europe is helpful in seeing what might be coming:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/videos/clwy91n2zd8o
In a similar vein the Meteo Swiss site is good:
https://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/#tab=forecast-map
Go to the Alpensüdseite tab. You either need to be able to read German or cut and paste and use Google translate.
The precipitation animation on that site is really good for showing what might be coming over the next day or two. The Meteo Swiss app also has the same feature.
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Bringing my family to Zermatt for my 50th birthday (Dec. 6th) with plans of skiing December 5-7th. Would there be much benefit to delaying the trip until January or is there expected to be a good amount of terrain open in early December?
We're also going to Jungfrau from the 8th thru the 14th to meet an old friend and do more skiing.
Thanks for any feedback!
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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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| djlippert wrote: |
Bringing my family to Zermatt for my 50th birthday (Dec. 6th) with plans of skiing December 5-7th. Would there be much benefit to delaying the trip until January or is there expected to be a good amount of terrain open in early December?
We're also going to Jungfrau from the 8th thru the 14th to meet an old friend and do more skiing.
Thanks for any feedback! |
There are two questions: what is planned to be open? and will there be sufficient snow?
The first question is easier. The winter opening is planned for 30 November. That means all four Swiss mountain areas will be open: Rothorn; Gornegrat; Schwarzsee; and Klein Matterhorn. Plus the link to Cervinia is planned to be opened. That means there will be runs from all the lifts (not Hirli on Schwarzsee). However not all pistes will be open. There will probably be none of the black runs open and none of the yellow quasi-off piste runs. That will be more than enough for a ski trip.
As to whether there will be enough snow. There isn’t at present! But as discussed elsewhere on this thread the blocking high pressure weather system over Europe looks like breaking up early-mid next week. Temperatures are coming down (allowing more snow making) and precipitation should at least be able to get into mainland Europe.
In the something like 15 years I have been going there (11 semi living there) they have always managed to get open on the planned opening date. But weather can never be guaranteed.
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As John mentioned, we need a bit of a break in the current status quo to get the snow rolling in.
Things are trending in the right direction from next week onwards. Now for the snow to come. A lot can change in 4 weeks!
Considering you are only going to be skiing for 2/3 days or so, even if there is limited openings above 2500m there should be enough to keep your party entertained. Thats unlikely but 5-7th is pretty early!
I’m in town 10 days later so I’m just as eager to see some heavy snow fall!
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FAQ
. But is it likely that anything else is also going to be accessible? I can’t seem to find anything online…
