 Poster: A snowHead
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Despite the GFS/ECM looking better yesterday, it downgraded that already and at this rate the season is not even going to start.
So given this I wonder if anyone who hasn't booked will even bother?
Those that have may have to start looking at the small print.
And before people say a bad day on the slopes is better than a good day in the office, I don't buy it - we are not all in it for 'lifestyle' choices.
This forum is called Snowheads and Snow is a fairly important part of that..... 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yes, not everywhere is that bad, if you pick your resort carefully you'll still find snow. So long as there are some lifts open when i arrive in Italy i'll be happy.
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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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I agree - have recently sadly pulled the plug on a forthecoming ski trip. With a family of 4, the cost runs into £000's, so I'd rather be "in the office" and have that money in the bank, than be in a ski resort with little or poor snow. We've actaully just booked a Carribbean cruise instead!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Yes, I'll be booking another trip soon. You just need to broaden your horizons, micksup.
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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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| Wear The Fox Hat wrote: |
| Yes, I'll be booking another trip soon. You just need to broaden your horizons, micksup. |
Yes I am looking at Colorado at present 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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People come on this site before their holiday - get stressed, subscribe to weather forecasting sites - get more stressed.... do snow dancing to snow gods....................
Go on holiday........
Come back and say what a wicked time they had (including myself, Zell am See Crimbo week - when I was supposed to have limited skiing -0/47cm)
Lets face it skiing is a fantastic way to spend a week, and cruising is for pensioners!!!!!!!!! (No offence meant by the way!!)
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Whymicksup, I went skiing over christmas on the non existant snow. Just look at some of the pictures I posted in the snowMedia zone.
For example on this picture you can clearly see that there is no snow and the pistes are packed with people!
http://www.snowmediazone.com/the_zone/showphoto.php/photo/5231
(? how do I get the picture to appear rather than just a link its spoiling my sarcasm!)
Looking at the webcams for Arabba they show little change since we were there - so I expect there will be lots of good skiing on hard packed pistes under blue skies!
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| micksup wrote: |
| So given this I wonder if anyone who hasn't booked will even bother? |
Those who haven't booked are in the best position. There's going to be loads of late availability bargains where people cancel, even in places with snow.
| stevec wrote: |
| if you pick your resort carefully you'll still find snow. |
Fine for those that haven't booked up front, and those looking for a 2nd (or replacement) holiday. Not so fine for those that booked up early.
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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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I'm not pessimistic at all. I've had three very enjoyable trips this season, with a few more to come including two long weekends this month. So far I've always had plenty of skiing available - not perfect by any means, but no shortage of choice. There was too much snow for what I wanted in November, early December saw a decent fall of fresh snow to play in and empty pistes, Christmas was a bit thin but most of the domain was open so endless piste skiing was available. So, I'm a happy skier and I'm mighty confused by the doom and gloom that is spreading around these parts. Perhaps I just have very low expectations?
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Conditions really aren't that bad in a lot of places. Alright they have been better but it is perfectly skiable and definitely good enough for a very enjoyable holiday. Think there is a lot of scare mungering going on in the UK about 'what a terrible season it is' when actually if you are out here you just get on with it and enjoy yourself. I would rather be here than on a carribbean cruise that is for sure!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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As an aside, How many people book up front?. Ive always considered it madnas, but I stand to be corrected. We always ether book last minute, or just book flights up font and choose the resort last minut. Ive never had accomadation issues.
I hear the moaning about economics and the resorts this season, just wait till next season when no one has booked anything till late Jan.
I certainly wouldnt want to own anything in a low level rsort i can tell you.
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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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To put things in perspective:
A big bunch of Snowheads went to L2A at the start of November.
We had some horrendous lift problems
There was only a small area on the glacier open plus the summer snowpark ( the vertical drop was about 300 metres and it would be about 500 metres wide.
All of the area wasquite gentle and very "samey"
There was very little snow but stacks of ice and what could only be described as "Glacier Ice", Glacier ice is slightly harder than diamond, and has a nice grey blue twinge. you could see the skeletons of mammoths just below the surface 
Guess what?....... Most of us (and perhaps even all of us) had a great time.
If the snow cover is poor then make sure you dont think about ticking off the kilometres, think of things to do rather than just blasting around. Have some lessons and practice what you learn. poor conditions are great for improving technique
Postive Mental Attitude
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| Quote: |
Glacier ice is slightly harder than diamond, and has a nice grey blue twinge. you could see the skeletons of mammoths just below the surface
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a mirror like finish........
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You know it makes sense.
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I got stressed last year due to poor conditions in Savoie in Jan and Feb. By the time I went away on 10thMarch it had snowed for nearly two weeks and the issue was whether the snow would stop. It stopped snowing on the Sunday morning. We skied on the virtually knee deep in powder. By Monday the sun came out for the remainder of the week. I'm going the saem week to St anton - I guess conditions are not perfect there at present but there is a 190 kn of pistes open. I'm skiing in Austria for the first time. I'm not going to get streesed until 48 hours before and then only if I see Green slopes. I recall last year in January it was too cold. Conditions were poor and icy. I think its just teh case of choosing your resort. 
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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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katski, 100% true about the scaremongering, not helped by BBC's late reporting and going on about no snow just when the last dump was well in progress.
roger1000, I expect that most skiers in general book in advance. Many need to book time off work, and don't want to take the risk of not finding anything at short notice. sH has a much higher number of seasonaires and multiple holiday skiers than average.
Whatever, from next year, I'll be booking in advance mid season in a glaciated resort, and also booking time off for the 1st cheap week in Jan (and buy cheap airfare to GVA).
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Poster: A snowHead
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Mattmulkeen, Bravo
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I was planning to grab a late deal at the start of December but canned that due to lack of snow. Now I'm planning for the week after next but, as always, I'll book at the last minute to grab a better deal.
As far as I'm concerned, there's more than enough snow in places like Val d'Isère or Trois Vallées for me to have a cracking time.
As for cruising.......yawn, I can't think of anything worse.
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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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| stephen buck wrote: |
| We've actaully just booked a Carribbean cruise instead! |
From Portsmouth to le Havre !
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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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| Quote: |
| Despite the GFS/ECM looking better yesterday, it downgraded that already and at this rate the season is not even going to start. |
Erm,...GFS may have, but ECMWF hasn't downgraded anything yet.
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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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We were pleased to have someone book last Sunday for next week.
Keep them coming.
There's a lot of bollox being talked about the snow right now. In many places (not only Chamonix) the snow significantly better than the media and many "pundits" (who clearly know and understand far less than they claim, and should know far better than they clearly do) would have you believe.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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roger1000, [quote]
As an aside, How many people book up front?. Ive always considered it madnas, but I stand to be corrected. We always ether book last minute, or just book flights up font and choose the resort last minut. Ive never had accomadation issues.
Mmm! Not so sure of the certainty of accommodation in high "snow sure" resorts. They're likely to be the focus of interest if current conditions persist. For the week commencing 10/11 March, which is the only time available for me, in Val and Tignes places like the Mercure and Arbina are full even when contacting the hotels direct. I wouldn't want to rely on cancellations - we've booked Les Campanules.
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I'm on verge of booking trip les deux alpes 31st March. If snow conditions are not good then i would enjoy myself anyway. Even if i didn't ski all week i'd still enjoy. Perhaps me and friends are just interesting enough to enjoy any trip 
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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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davidof, Nice one! It's actually Barbados to St Lucia - maybe time to start a new site - Cruiseheads.com???!
Seriously, though, I think the profileration of webcams, radars etc, where we can now see up to the minute conditons, has both pros and cons. In the old days, we just had Ceefax, or the press snow reports to go on, whihc were often unrelaible (snow depths exaggerated by tourist offices etc) and sometimes several days old, but in times of bad snow conditions, gave us less reason to worry.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Thu 11-01-07 14:32; edited 1 time in total
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| Dave Horsley wrote: |
Whymicksup, I went skiing over christmas on the non existant snow. Just look at some of the pictures I posted in the snowMedia zone.
For example on this picture you can clearly see that there is no snow and the pistes are packed with people!
http://www.snowmediazone.com/the_zone/showphoto.php/photo/5231
(? how do I get the picture to appear rather than just a link its spoiling my sarcasm!)
Looking at the webcams for Arabba they show little change since we were there - so I expect there will be lots of good skiing on hard packed pistes under blue skies! |
Dave Horsley Are you The Edge from U2 ?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Dave Horsley, If I want to post a picture in-line to a forum you can do so like this:
{IMG}http://i1.tinypic.com/2vdn3ah.jpg{/IMG} - replace the curly brackets with square ones - [ & ]
e.g.
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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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micksup, you obviously dont realise that some places do actually have snow! Where you may say the season hasn't started yet i've been out there riding off piste, on piste, getting freshies and have a goggle tan.
and yes people are still booking.
i've just taken a booking for april.
thankfully some people aren't as negative as most that seem to post on here.
when i get more than a 5 min break as its change over day, i'll upload my pics from montgenevre on tuesday. and you'll see just how empty the slopes are and how much snow there is. but if you'd rather stay at home, more piste and off piste for us to ride!
suits me just fine
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I had a great time in St Anton last week, if anyone is planning to cancel their holiday, let me know I'll take it!!!
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You know it makes sense.
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There seems to be a big difference in the opinions about how bad things are between those who are watching the forecasts/snow reports, and those people who have been/are skiing in the Alps.
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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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rob@rar, that's right. I didn't always play cricket and football in perfect conditions, but if you enjoy your sport you make the best of it!
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Poster: A snowHead
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micksup, please hand in your snowHeads registration and leave this place!
You are cancelling a ski trip to go on a cruise ????
GET OUT!!
Seriously though:
There was no snow at all at the beginning of the season....that knee/thigh deep powder I skied in on 9th-10th December weekend...just an illusion.
The pistes weren't even open for Christmas....umm, actually just about 100% of Verbier's pistes were open, no problem at all skiing down to the village.
There hasn't been a decent dump for ages....I must have been dreaming that I skied all the way down into Le Chable at 800 metres last week. Deep powder most of the way.
You have to got to a Glacier to ski....just browse some webcams, there is plenty of decent/good skiing to be had.
OK, it is not a vintage year, but cancelling a ski trip for a cruise?
I say again:
LEAVE THIS PLACE!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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This was just posted by davidof in another thread in respect of snow depths
| Quote: |
| ...in the Northern Alps and Hautes-Alpes in the interior ranges (Vanoise, Massif du Mont-Blanc, Beaufortin, Ecrins, Haute-Maurienne, Haute-Tarentaise) the situation is NORMAL at 2400 meters altitude. |
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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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roger1000, booking in advance is a complete nonsense unless...
- you are in a party greater than one
- you care where you're going
- you care where you might be staying
- you have an opinion on where the snow might be expected
- you have kids (who will not be left at home).
Otherwise, it's not the worst idea in the world...
At least you admit to booking flights in advance. I would AT LEAST do that, especially after having to pay £400 to fly club class London-Geneva at Easter last year as I left things a tad later than I really wanted to (for reasons unrelated to skiing...)
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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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Yes people are still booking, I've had 2 bookings in the last week, one from a , and no cancellations . When we had to book holidays we had to book well in advance, except fro perhaps an odd trip at Easter, because of kids holidays, hubby hols, etc. He always booked Easter week off, and we would spend it at home if we didn't find a suitable holiday, but we couldn't do that for half-term regardless of the snow.
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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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We had a great time in the 3 Valleys from the 20th to the 27th December. Despite the doom and gloom beforehand we still skiied all day / everyday. It may of been a bit thin in places, but the sunshine, quiet pistes and the general atmosphere was well worth it ! 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I've just seen a catered chalet in valmorel in april for 99 quid a week and another non catered with free lift pass for 138. I will be skiing for a month at the end of the season with a bit of luck....cheaper than a weeks shop at tesco!
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I'm in a difficult position, nothing booked but English friends will be in Salzburg and Ishgl next week. I'd rather ski offpiste and any major dump looks like coming no sooner than the last week of Jan.
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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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micksup, please hand in your snowHeads registration and leave this place!
You are cancelling a ski trip to go on a cruise ????
GET OUT!!
Where did Micksup say he/she was going on a cruise? To be fair that was someone else.
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lisach, it was stephen buck, that cancelled to go on a cruise (3rd post this page)
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FAQ
Now I have the choice of late availability in earlyish March, or the hassle of rearranging work/vacation schedules with everyone else. Or squeeze in a few long weekends.
