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Skunked by whiteout conditions

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I've had a few one-off days where I've found myself in atrocious conditions and can't see, but never continuous.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Quote:

as long as they are close enough together you will have reference.

well yes, if the trees are a metre or two apart, that would work. But few of us have the skills to ski off piste through close packed trees especially when we can't see our feet. Shocked
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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?
We had a whiteout for about 30 hours in Andorra one year but we all went to the pub and then had a blackout !
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
Got stuck at Cime Bianco (??) at the top of Cervinia in a whiteout late afternoon - by the time I could see anything I realised I was in Zermatt (for our US visitors, I found myself in Switzerland when I should've been in Italy) - I'd missed the last cable car back up and had to take the 3/4 (?)km tow-rope. I'd just about lost all hope when I got to the top and then my saviour arrived... a Canadian man appeared out of the mist and we managed to get over the brink of the hill back on to the Italian side. I was absolutely exhausted.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Had a whole week in Tignes where there was only one ski-able day. The week started with 11 hrs on a bus due to roads being blocked by avalanches, and got worse from there. Most of the resort was closed and our entertainment consisted of drinking Margueritas, or looking out of the apartment window watching French blokes pushing snow off their rooves to stop them caving in.

I had a very amusing white-out in Andorra once with best friend. I told her there was a hump in the piste (couldn't see anything, but I knew the piste like the back of my hand.) Because the snow was coming down fast we would have to straight-line to get over the hump. We belted down the piste in zero viz only to hit a snow bank and get wedged in it. Laughing I thought best friend might not be my best friend for much longer at that point.

You get days of white-outs, but it is rare to get weeks of it. That week in Tignes was 'the week of too much snow.' and put me off the place for life. Not just the snow, but the attitude to it.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
pam w wrote:
Quote:

as long as they are close enough together you will have reference.

well yes, if the trees are a metre or two apart, that would work. But few of us have the skills to ski off piste through close packed trees especially when we can't see our feet. Shocked

Am I right in saying the whiteout conditions lessen to a certain extent in a dense forest? Not sure why this would be, and haven't been in too many whiteouts so it may have just been chance that when going into the trees I happened to move into an area where the whiteout wasn't as severe!
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Was in a 2-day one in L2A in Jan 2008. It cleared up after that and the next four days were sunny, all was good with the world.

It was hard work what with lumps and bumps coming at me at highish speed with no warning. Did wonders for the balance skills!

I also had one of my major magic moments in a decade's skiing. We were up on the very top of the glacier, just skiing down from the top of the funicular, and it was maybe 5m viz max. Then suddenly, two great shafts of blistering orangey sunlight beamed down, cutting out a swathe in front so I could make out the next 250m or so. It was so sudden and glorious all that was missing was choral music and Charlton Heston in robes banging a big stick on the floor. Awesome.

Then as quickly as the piste lit up, the sun was obscured once more, and it was a long ski back to the crest over the town before I could see further than 10-20m.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Quote:

Am I right in saying the whiteout conditions lessen to a certain extent in a dense forest? Not sure why this would be, and haven't been in too many whiteouts so it may have just been chance that when going into the trees I happened to move into an area where the whiteout wasn't as severe!

In clear air conditions,diffuse lighting from overcast may cause all surface definition to dissappear.It becomes impossible to tell how far away the snow surface is. IT IS ONLY WHEN A CONTRASTING OBJECT IS PLACED ON SNOW that that the surface can be detected. Thats why in the trees it is much better.When it is still possible to detect snow surface it is called " flat light" or "sector whiteout."
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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.
I've had some poor vis. conditions. Once notable in Val D I could understand why I was accelerating going up hill. Answer because I wasn't. It was that disorientating.

Had those cond. in Europe, notably Val D, Verbier and US - JH. What is great is you get used to the conditions and then, when the sun comes out, your confidence goes through the roof. Obviously followed by the inevitable comedy high speed crash under a chair lift.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I've been at Alpe d'Huez in conditions so bad that at one point the only way to establish whether you were moving was to crouch low and inspect the snow at your feet.

A couple of friends fell over and said the first they knew of the fall was when they hit the ground - their gyros were that shot by the lack of vis.

This day in Happo One in Japan only got worse. Fortunately Happo has tress lower down the hill but getting there was interesting
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
I haven't read all of this thread but I would only encourage you to not come skiing with me in France. Anywhere else, the weather seems to treat me OK, but I've had a number of whiteouts in the French Alps. Admittedly they have been in places with significant areas of terrain abover the treeline, but the cloud does have a habit of following me.

Strangely, skiing in a complete whiteout makes me feel ever so slightly seasick - must be something to do with a lack of horizon, I guess.
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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.
Winterhighland, Very Happy Very good.

I remember going the first time from Villeneuve to Monetier, and only being able to see the one piste marker at a time at the right hand side of what seemed to be a narrow path. After a nice lunch, and the mist had cleared, we were shocked later to see what a drop was over the left edge...

And there was one day in Whistler Blackcombe where we renamed it 7th Hell as you could hardly see your ski tips. Just like Winterhighland photos.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I've only had a REAL white out once when i was only 8 or 9 years old, but remember it well. Although skiing at a snails pace I managed to crash into some one knocking him and myself over. Visibility was so bad that when I got up I had no sense of which direction the slope was angled. I kept attempting to either ski up the slope, into people, or into the thick snow at the side of the piste - of course all of these resulted in spending most of the time on my a*se, either on the piste or on top of some poor sod that i had flattened.

One of the people who I had managed to knock over started angrily shouting at me (i think i was lying on top of him at this stage), although as he was screaming in German I couldn't understand a word. Once in the safety of a mountain restaurant, my Dad who had over heard this tirade was able to translate. He told me that the angry German had been asking how i had managed to knocked him over three times in the space of 5 minutes!!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
queen bodecia wrote:
I can only remember one day in Passo Tonale March 2006. Tonale is high and when the cloud came in I was right in the thick of it. Wasn't so bad that I couldn't make out other skiers and piste markers though. However, it was a good day to ski down to Ponte di Legno amongst the trees, much better visibility down there. The following day I had glorious sunshine and fresh snow and took the bus to Madonna Di Campiglio, brilliant!


Funnily enough the only time I had a whole week of whiteout was at Passo Tonale and we went to Ponte di Legno for a day where we could see. It was a bluebird day on the day we left and we could see the mountains around us while waiting for the bus at the hotel.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
7th-14th feb austria - soll, about 4 days in the week were so bad, took younger brother 1sttime skiing lost in an absolute storm, had to keep hold of him so he didnt dissappear. however the benefits the next day were amazing. powder piste every day. lucky
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Getting back to the original question, I don't really recall how many days I have lost to poor visibility prolonged whiteouts are indeed rare, but I have lost a number of days decent skiing down the years due to the mountain being 'storm bound'and all the lifts or all the lifts bar one or two short low ones being closed.
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