 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi everyone,
I'm planning a ski trip from late March to mid-April and will be landing in Zurich. My plan is to rent a car and chase the best snow conditions across Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and France. I don’t mind driving 5-6 hours a day between resorts and will be making decisions on the go.
Can anyone recommend the best apps for tracking fresh snow dumps and filtering resorts based on real-time conditions? I'm looking for reliable forecasts to help me find the best powder days.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
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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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@munich_irish, the site look great. The only dampner is that it doesn't have mobile app.
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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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App will only give you forecast and won't outline conditions. Wepowder probably best for narrative directed towards conditions. Also the pages for given resorts here are probably the best place to get updates on conditions from people actually skiing the resorts.
You can also use bergfex and snowforecast both of which apps have webcams for given resorts but resorts tend to choose flattering locations for their webcams.
I think both of these also allow you to filter by recent snowfall (bergfex website certainly allows you to do this) but bear in mind that not all resorts will update this (i.e., bergfex still showing nothing for Cervinia in last while whereas Snowforecast correctly shows extensive snow over last week).
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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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@ankitind, I use Windy. Will give you new snow forecast and current base.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@8611, this is one of the issue - few apps are showing Monterossa will be great from skiing between 25th March to 27th March - while one of the app is showing nothing in the villages.
Most probably- I have shortlisted Monterossa as my resort for these dates. I'm also keeping an eye on Saas fee, Tignes, Andermatt, St Moritz after that.
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@ankitind, site loads perfectly well on my iphone SE 2022 on alpine 4G?
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@under a new name, yes site works perfectly. I just upgraded to pro account.
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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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@ankitind, just because I'm a bit nosy and all, I'm curious as to your actual objectives and what success/failure looks like? I mean, beyond the obvious.
It sounds like a marvellous idea (other than wasting so much time driving) but I fear you may be chasing dragons or tilting at windmills, or whatever?
If it was me, I'd be basing myself high and reliable like Chamonix/Tignes/etc. and using a good guide to find me good skiing. Especially at that time of year when nicely transformed corn is going to be much easier to find. Yummy.
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@ankitind, Not sure there is an app that does what you want. All the "prediction" sites, whether wepowder, bergfex, snow forecast, windy ( I use Wetteronline which is a German one) or whatever are simply algorithms based on one of the main weather forecast models. In my experience they are of limited accuracy and usefulness, they do show general weather trends but predictions such that there is going to be 50 cm of snow in Saas Fee on Thursday but only 25cm in Verbier or that it is going to be raining in St Anton at 15:00 on Wednesday is simply not useful because it will almost certainly be wrong. The thing that Wepowder has is the regular forecasts written by a person with experience & knowledge of skiing. They will point you to areas where there is likely to be snow and issue "powder alerts". They often suggest resorts where there is a good chance of decent snowfall on certain days. If you look at the weather forecast thread here you will see that predicting snowfall is often more art than science!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I am selecting resorts that have received significant snowfall in the past 2-5 days based on historical data. Additionally, I prefer resorts at an altitude of 2,500–3,000 meters, where temperatures remain below 0°C.
I have upgraded my wepowder account and diving deep into real forecaster blogs
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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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@under a new name,
I envisioned this as a crazy adventure. I don’t want to spend more than 4-5 days at a single resort and prefer taking a break after every fourth or fifth day of skiing.
I also love driving through the mountain roads of the Alps, listening to old songs, and creating unforgettable, silly stories with my son—stories we’ll laugh about when I’m old.
No practical reason. Won't recommend this to anyone.
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@ankitind, If you want more weather forecast info than you can usefully use have a look at https://wxcharts.com/ its free, has all the major weather models with lots of different charts from winter overview to atmospheric pressure, you can also get ensembles & meteograms for a specific location.
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You know it makes sense.
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@ankitind, then absolutely awesome plan. Get it on.
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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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Thanks everyone - let's see how it all goes.
Took membership of three apps
- wepowder
- snow-forecast
- opensnow
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| ankitind wrote: |
@8611, this is one of the issue - few apps are showing Monterossa will be great from skiing between 25th March to 27th March - while one of the app is showing nothing in the villages.
Most probably- I have shortlisted Monterossa as my resort for these dates. I'm also keeping an eye on Saas fee, Tignes, Andermatt, St Moritz after that. |
Any app that is purporting to tell you what snow conditions will be like more than 3 or four days away is just selling you dreams. Sometimes there is an indication in a narrative forecast of a general trend, but details aren't reliable until 3 - 4 days out and sometimes less than that
I think your major criterion will be altitude, there are limited resorts with sufficient height to offer the goods at this time of year. should be possible to link a few high altitude resorts guided by last minute forecasts. IE Northern Italy has just gotten the lions share of the snow. You can start there and then go from (for instance) Monte Rosa to St Morritz easily enough (pop in to Madesimo on the way), or go the other direction into the higher French resorts and even Verbier within a few hours drive of Aosta valley
Last minute accommodation should be available at this time of year
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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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| under a new name wrote: |
| @ankitind, then absolutely awesome plan. Get it on. |
agreed. Viewed as a memory creating road trip with your son it will be amazing, dragon chasing the absolute best conditions in europe will likely lead to torture and disappointment
Also remember any skiing at this time of year on a sunny day is highly enjoyable, regardless of snow conditions and I think most places just got a top up anyway
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@ankitind,
Rule of thumb for Alpine winter forecasts.
Unless under a stable high pressure area, today's forecast accurate, tomorrow's pretty accurate. After that, crystal ball time. 
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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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Bergfex, Meteoblue for France, also https://www.meteoalpes.fr.
@ankitind, At that time of year the reality is aim high, unless there is a clear long range forecast on arrival. Obvious options would probably include Zermatt/Cervinia (not the highest snowfall annually, but high), Val Thorens; Tignes and Val D'Isere. My impression from your post is that you're not familiar with the Alps (are you from North America by chance?) If you want real powder days-i.e the full off piste experience-make sure you have avi equipment and book a guide-they can find stashes that you would never find yourself days after the last snowfall.
Good luck!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Perty, I am from India. Not much familiar with Alps.
Tignes, Monterossa, Pitztal, Saas Fee, St Moritz all on my radar.
Starting tomorrow- I will be in Grindelwald for next 4 days and than most probably will go to Saas fee or Monterossa.
Me and my son we are intermediates. Comfortable doing red and occasionally easy blacks like those in Mitsurina, Tofana and Floria.
Won't be doing off-pistes and will restricted to groomers this season.
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| ankitind wrote: |
Won't be doing off-pistes and will restricted to groomers this season. |
Then just hit the high resorts and you''ll have a great time. You should add Cervinia / Zermatt to your list. Enjoy!
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@ankitind, now I understand more what you’re after- not so much powder skiing, but more intermediate on piste skiing with good conditions for the time of year. You are right to head high- there will be good snow cover even if it’s not snowed for days. You listed some ski areas for reference which you seem to have been to before which are relatively small. Though you favour short stays, do bear in mind some of your chosen destinations have a vast amount of skiing on offer and you won’t be get bored after a week, let alone 4-5 days!
Happy travels and let us know how you get on!
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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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@Perty,
That's great to hear. Just reached Zurich. Going to Grindelwald, will be there for next few days and will leave to some other place coming. Reading snow reports and studying weather apps is really interesting.
@munich_irish, Now I can understand why you said - predicting snowfall is more of an art than science.
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