 Poster: A snowHead
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Conclusions I have drawn from this season on conditions is that it an excellent start and finish. The mid season was alright.
Not having much experience of ski seasons. Was 2007-8 in one of the top seasons for snow conditions?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Christopher wrote: |
Not having much experience of ski seasons. Was 2007-8 in one of the top seasons for snow conditions? |
whereabouts? Not in France for skiing.
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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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davidof, I'm talking about the Alps in general.
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I had the best season to date, with 9 under my belt. 
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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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Christopher, Good, but not great in my experience.
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Some great moments, particularly last weekend, but average overall.
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I feel it was good for us, in our situation, in our area, though I would have preferred better cover in the lower parts of the domaine - ie from 1100 - 1500m, where there is some great skiing. It was too warm, overall. And I could have done with more sunshine in April. But not bad. 
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SMALLZOOKEEPER, belt or bedcovers?
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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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Great in terms of number of ski days and progress. Decent in terms of conditions but not epic. The last 2 or 3 seasons have been warmish imo - nothing to compare with -25 at 2500m that we had not infrequently about 5 years ago (bear in mind only 8 years' experience though)
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eng_ch, but to be honest i don't want to be skiing in -25. I don't think that'd make a great season, with prolonged tempratures similar to that.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
to be honest i don't want to be skiing in -25.
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neither do I - though I'd be happy with it a bit chillier than this year. I scarcely used my bootwarmers at all and my very cheap TK Maxx gloves were fine. In fact one of the coldest days was in April, perhaps it just felt colder because I was expecting it to be spring-like. Interesting that in much of the French Alps conditions were at their worst at the end of February and early March, which is peak season, and epic at the end of March and early April. I do think conditions seem to be becoming much more unpredictable, but possibly it was ever thus.
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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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In 5 of the 6 weeks skiing this winter spread quite evenly between Christmas until after Easter then we only saw the sun for a few days, and fresh snow (not always powder!) was the norm most days. This was in resorts in the Spanish Pyrenees, Italian Dolomites, Canada, Switzerland, and France. Certainly one of the best seasons (in terms of fresh snow) I've known in about 15 years of skiing.
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Over 3 trips
Warm and slushy in November at the PSB
Excellent conditions in La Ros at Christmas
Plenty of snow, but very warm in Livigno in March
So for me it was OK, but not epic.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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Axsman, similar - best season ever, but personally rather than conditions, although I have to admit Fernie was awesome.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Was a very good 'un for me.
October in Tignes, cold and hard packed but with new snow falling some nights - great for carving and on piste technique.
Xmas in Val D'Isere - decent snow and all over coverage but not much fresh.
January at Nevis and Cairngorm - good snow at the former, wild weather at the latter but great fun all the same.
February at Mammoth - loads of fresh but very strong winds and low visibility most days.
March again in Scotland, this time Nevis and Glencoe, and loads more snow. Good snow at Nevis, superb snow at Glencoe (which was a real revelation anyway - brilliant wee place)
April in Austria at Zell am Zee/Kaprun - soggy and sticky at Zell and melting fast, gorgeous on the glacier at Kaprun, including a genuine ski anywhere powder day, stunning stuff.
This weekend it'll be what is likely to be my last snow bash for a while at Cairngorm - fresh still falling at the top and the rest apparently nice spring snow (some of the nicest spring snow I've ever skied on has been in Scotland).
So, albeit with a few days still to go before I'm forced to ski plastic and domes for a while, I can say it was a pretty brilliant season with the best snow and conditions in Austria (Kaprun) in April and Glencoe in March (yup you heard that right!!). 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
to be honest i don't want to be skiing in -25.
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neither do I |
No, I agree but at least if you get the odd day like that through the season a) conditions hold up well and b) it's promising for white precipitation at all altitudes. The last 2 or 3 seasons have - overall - been warmer, the worst we had all season was about -10 on 2nd Jan
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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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One of the best in my 10 years of skiing, for Austria at least. Only one that was perhaps better was the year I lived in Austria (98/99), but that was also the year of the Galtur avalanche  , so that much snow is not good for everyone.
Worst was probably last year, but even then we still had three trips to three different places in low alti Austria and still found fab skiing.
D
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| Christopher wrote: |
| davidof, I'm talking about the Alps in general. |
Well for the French Alps - average December, below average jan/feb esp below 1800 meters - good conditions in March with an average April but the snow had already suffered during the winter which meant a poor base for the March powder.
Better than average conditions > 2000m probably due to the very warm winter (more precipitation at altitude).
In terms of skiing - very little in the conditions that was memorable. Definitely a below average season despite the length (I first skied in September !). It would have been better if Jan / Feb had been colder. At least it didn't rain during those months. Very similar to last year in the end (which also had good March conditions).
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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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I think the fact that most places had a good base of snow by at least early Decemeber and still had a good base by the end of the season, and the fact that this base stood up to the warmer months through out the season, must mean it was on the good side this year ? 
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it was an awesome season for me.
it didn't snow when i had to work and all the world was in resort.
it did snow when i finished work
i tried to list my top ten riding days this season and failed miserably as there were just so many top days.
if we have the exact same next year i will be a very happy lady
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Certainly one pf the best seasons for me, conditions before Xmas were superb, Xmas week was one of the best ever, it hardly snowed through Jan and Feb but there was such a good base it hardly mattered, then March and April, with fresh snow right up until the end of the season. I can't remember when I've skied as much fresh powder, the only downside was the lack of spring snow.
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| rayscoops wrote: |
| I think the fact that most places had a good base of snow by at least early Decemeber and still had a good base by the end of the season, and the fact that this base stood up to the warmer months through out the season, must mean it was on the good side this year ? |
but if you are talking about pistes then the base largely comes from a snow canon these days - even Val Thorens at 2300 meters has 40% of its runs covered by artificial snow. You may as well talk about the awesome conditions in the Castleford snowdome last season.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Its been a good season overall with an early start and a late finish. Still loads of snow high up. Its strange to think that it may be another 11 months until Chamonix has a similar depth on its upper slopes. It could well take five or more years !
Scotland in particular has had a good season. Down here in England there has been plenty of skiing in the Lakes this year, particularly during March but less cover at Yad Moss where, as ever frustrated, we only managed about 5 days.
Fo me the message is go late, go high (and consider going north!). By then the snow has arrived and there are none of those nervous times searching the weather models in January hoping for snowfall  .
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| Quote: |
the base largely comes from a snow canon
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A demonstration of the power of prayer, presumably.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Courchevel locals i spoke to said it was the best in 10 years. This is from a workers perspective though as the early and late snows making a great season for people who are too busy to ski during the high season.
for me a week of huge powder in November, epic two weeks in Jan with fresh snow virtually ever night and a fantastic spring with deep base and freshies.
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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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| Christopher wrote: |
Conclusions I have drawn from this season on conditions is that it an excellent start and finish. The mid season was alright.
Not having much experience of ski seasons. Was 2007-8 in one of the top seasons for snow conditions? |
Nov was way above-average for the Alps.
Dec was someway above-average.
Jan was average.
Feb was below-average.
Mar was slightly above-average.
Apr was above-average.
May is, so far, above-average.
It was a rollercoaster season.
Austria, Switzerland, France and Bulgaria did reasonably well.
Germany did ok.
Italy, Andorra and Spain did relatively badly.
Overall, it was slightly above-average this year.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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| snowangel. wrote: |
and lets me honest. Here in serre che we finished the season with 240cm of snow up the top, that is nigh on unheard of!
even in feb we had more than 100cm all over the moutnain. that is certainly more than last year
i dont know there is just no pleasing some people
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yup - Poms love a good whinge (I lived in Australia for a long time - indoctrinated!)
I need to visit Serre Che again. Had one fun day there in 2001, and it sure whetted my taste buds ....
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Poster: A snowHead
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I had a really good season. Lots of time on snow.
Dumped on in December (Whistler); decent base and fresh snow, though not loads, in March (Wengen); fresh snow upon arrival and lovely groomers and good vis all week in mid-April (Soldeu); and cracking amount of snow at the end of April (Val T).
Including my first two Bashes, they certainly won't be the last!
Having said that, perhaps this season does seem better than it really is, simply because last season is in the front of everyone's minds. So perhaps an average or even a good season, but definitely not great.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Hmmm... interesting question. I guess if you had skied Austria from start to finish, then you would probably say sensational season. We however only get 1 shot of 3 weeks in St Anton each year and that happened in Feb/Mar. Sure, we had a heaps of sunny, blue-sky days, but no powder. Hell's bells, one day the temp hit 16 degrees at Seekopf (2200m). In Feb! Insane. Conclusion: great trip, loved the sunshine, but the snow was "below average" for those 3 weeks.
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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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| snowangel. wrote: |
and lets me honest. Here in serre che we finished the season with 240cm of snow up the top, that is nigh on unheard of!
even in feb we had more than 100cm all over the moutnain. that is certainly more than last year |
my Ecrins ski mountaineering TR shows Le Monetier on 21 April last year. lovely green pastures and the wild flowers were out!
this year, i got my timing a little bit wrong but it looks like the 3 or 4 weeks after easter were pretty epic. still, i was able to ski down to 1200m earlier this week and i had a few powder days so definitely in the above average category for me
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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We skied Ischgl early January, plenty of snow, but changeable weather, a bit on the mild side so pistes cut up a bit easily - but, much better than in February 2007.
Serre Chevalier (plus Milky Way and Alp d'Huez) in early February (before the heatwave!) - fantastic, loads of snow, fresh powder early in the week, superb weather afterwards - can't really imagine anything better!
Cervinia / Zermatt (plus la Thuile/la Rosiere) in mid March (after the heatwave!) - again, excellent snow, spell of good powder, generally good weather.
So for us a first class season conditions wise - but we were lucky and missed the less good mid-season spell!
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Helen Beaumont, link for moon phases http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.php
but be warned. There was a reason that feb was dry of snow. It didn't snow on the new moon (like it did the other months) this is why the whole of feb was so dry and sunny.
I know there are the non believers out there, and admittedly i gave up with my chart, but every snow day was logged in the serre che thread and i think it does confirm that it snows on or before the new moon and full moon, but if it doesn't snow on the new moon the next full moon will be an unsnowy one as will the weeks leading up to it!
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I can vouch for mid season being pretty poor in Switzerland and France at least - no snow for a month in La Grave and Serre Che at the beginning of March was how I'd have expected late April to be. In fact people weren't even skiing the Briancon side on a Sunday it was so heavy.
So certainly no epic in my book.
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Scotland has (IMHO) had its best season since 2001. Overall verdict - good but not spectacular. The start of the season was amazing, with the full area open at Glenshee for the first time in a while. February was disappointing to say the least - savage thaws, and high winds closed the lifts quite regularly. It really picked up in March and has kept going till then.
I also had a lovely time in the 3 valleys in mid-March, and an entertaining trip to Jasna, Slovakia in mid Feb. Snow could've been better there but it was still fully open and good fun.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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fatbob, and march and feb make the season??? it didn't snow from 6th feb to 9th march, it puked with snow just before and just after, if you were unlucky enough to be here when all the school holidays were on, well, tough. it chucked it down in nov/dec/jan/most of march/april., thats a pretty bumper season if you ask me
oha nd for the two months you were talking about we still had more than 100cm which is more than there was the whole of last seasaon
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This thread appears to be almost entirely populated by the sort of people who go on holiday with the aim of complaining about something.
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FAQ
some of the best jan conditions ever. It started on the 7th (i think) and finished on about the 18th.
