Poster: A snowHead
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Just my experience with the resorts I like to support hence can't offer names.
Piste thin at place – parts of the piste has no snow
Runs broken at the bottom – runs not skiable and you have to take off the skis to walk.
Run closed at present due to ice, will open if softens – The snow has melt, frozen into a block of ice and is unsafe even for the best skiers.
Light dusting of snow on a hard base – a polite way to tell you that there are a lot of ice patches
Middle runs getting thin and narrow – You may not be able to ski down but with good skill you just may. In any case do service the skis after you finish.
The opening of ski tows is subject to demand – Excuse for non-attendance.
The tows will only open if the weather improves – the improvement needed is either there is snow on the ground, or the operator can find the tow himself/herself from the dense fog or the wind isn’t strong enough to blow skiers away.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That some most of them up quite well I think
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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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"Snow depth at 2200m is 120cm" - we got all the snow together that we could find and made a pile out of it. The pile measured ca 120cm high (+/- 50cm)
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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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It's not just ski resort owners who are less than frank -it also applies to the SCGB reps who supply the snow reports for UK newspapers. They are hosted by the resorts and it's hardly in their interests to antagonise their hosts if they want to be invited back next year. I recall a thread sometime ago headed "the best skiing is to be found on the upper slopes", which is a euphemism for crap conditions lower down.
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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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SCGB reps tend to post the local resort reports as their own anyway, the only thing they might add is a little comment like "10 cm of extra snow this afternoon" or "fantastic off piste skiing today" which wouldn't be in the resorts own report
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hmmm,saikee, are those from Sc****nd ?
Best I heard was 'Today we have Indian Skiing.....................it's Apache here and Apache there'. OK it's not quite a snow report, but it made us laugh.
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I've said this one before, but my Danish mate points out that if you see anyone measuring the depth in a drift or on a roof, he's measuring the depths for the snow reports. He mentioned about some Danish rep who got thrown off the pistes for measuring the piste depth himself...e.g. on the piste.
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Good point, skanky, . I wonder how far down a pisted run you would get before you come to soil or rock. My guess would be around 15-20 cm most times. Any body tried it?
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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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Chris, it's probably a bit more, I was told that the piste basher drivers in La Rosiere won't bash a piste if there's less than 40 cms depth, apparently it can cause damage to the machine.
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Chris Bish,
I have a good look at a piste basher recently and the tracks were made up of metal strips of about 5" to 6" (or 10 to 15cm) deep. Below that depth the snow would have to support the weight of the machine. Thus David@traxvax is likely to be right with 40cm blanket of snow so that after the ripping layer of 15cm there is still a layer of 25cm of snow to "smooth" the profile of the slope (accommodating rocks, stones, vegetation, tree stumps, changes of slope etc). 15-20cm is unlikely to work unless the piste is founded on pure peat.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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rockyrobin,
The bit "Good cover on Summit" is spot on when I visited Nevis and I bet it is still the case. It was simply as good as any where in the Alps. I believe we can do with more web cams. The web cam can't lie. Cairnggorm web cam is definitely giving us a lot of confidence.
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You know it makes sense.
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The cameras don't have to be equiped with wipers, one of my favorite webcams is behind a window looking out, but I wish more webcams would actually show you the piste areas rather than village centers or lift buildings
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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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Chris Bish, I think that the minimum usable snow depth depends on the underlying terrain. If it's rocky more snow is needed than on alpine meadows. In Kitzbuhel, for example, the lower runs can function OK on 6" (can't we all?), which is probably just as well.
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