Poster: A snowHead
|
It's just a marketing gimmick, presumably?
They cover one or two short runs in snow-canon snow?
It's a pretty effective gimmick if indeed that's what it is.
Makes the average simple British skier thing, 'if they're already open in October, they're bound to have huge amounts of snow in the main ski season'.
Crafty!
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Too warm for cannons. They keep the snow from last winter under a huge blanket. A bit of a gimmick but it’s still skiing.
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
Les Saisies did that when the Tour de France came through a couple of years ago - in a warm mid-summer! Got them on the telly but yes, it's a gimmick.
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
@Neil Neige, it is a bit of a "pride" thing here, who can be the first resort to open.
Round this way it is usually Reiteralm (although only a couple of runs and usually reserved for the racing teams in the morning) or Obertauern. It looks good on their tourist pamphlets but the skiing is usually not all that tbh.
It is a gimmick, and if you chat to the locals a lot of them arent too impressed, citing the expence, waste of resorces and the fact we need to be patient as Mother Nature shouldnt be forced just to make a quick buck. It isnt "natural" that resorts open end October, but more and more people are expecting that now.
It is almost November here and we havent had a single proper ground frost yet, but the snow will fall when its supposed to.
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
In the past it has been a piste at Pass Thurn but this year there appears to be a small nursery slope at the top of the Hahnenkamm too. It does seem a pointless waste of resources to me, it gives about a minutes skiing (generally on very soft snow ) before getting the lift back up again, simply to allow the tourist office to claim that the resort is "open" from October to May. The reality is that despite all the snow cannons it is low and so does not have the best snow record. However like a number of others I do have a soft spot for the place and prefer it to most of the other eastern Tirol / Salzburgerland resorts.
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
I skied last year in Kitz and the instructor was laughing about how the snow covers at the top of the Hahenkamm caught fire during the summer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
There's a certain irony there as in the 1930s the Kitz council voted to NOT sell themselves as a winter sports venue for xmas as they couldn't guarantee snow.
That'll be "global warming" eh?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quote: |
it gives about a minutes skiing
|
So about 40-seconds more than a UK Snow Dome - I'd be up for it
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
It is no gimmick.
It is the future of skiing.
The glaciers are almost all gone.
Global warming is reducing the number of cold days for blowing fake snow at affordable levels.
Snowfarming allows low resorts, like Kitzbuhel, to open earlier and close later.
More snowdays = more skiers = more cash.
|
|
|
|
|
|
under a new name wrote: |
There's a certain irony there as in the 1930s the Kitz council voted to NOT sell themselves as a winter sports venue for xmas as they couldn't guarantee snow.
That'll be "global warming" eh? |
Source?
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
under a new name wrote: |
There's a certain irony there as in the 1930s the Kitz council voted to NOT sell themselves as a winter sports venue for xmas as they couldn't guarantee snow.
That'll be "global warming" eh? |
Source?
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
pam w wrote: |
Les Saisies did that when the Tour de France came through a couple of years ago - in a warm mid-summer! Got them on the telly but yes, it's a gimmick. |
La Rosiere did that this year when the tour visited too.
|
|
|
|
|
|