 Poster: A snowHead
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Evening peeps.
I'm recently back from a two week holiday - we flew into Germany but skied in Risoul/Vars for a week before a second week in Kitzbuhel. The drive through Germany/Austria/Switzerland/Italy/France and back worked out very well. A bit of an adventure and not as difficult as I thought. Thanks to everyone who offered their advice.
In not willing to accept our 2009/10 season is over I've come up with a cunning plan to go away Easter weekend. There seems to be loads of operators (and DIY options) to fly Thurs 1 April and come back late Mon 5 April, to squeeze in 4 days skiing.
Question is where to? Ideally we'd like somewhere 2 hours or under from an airport and preferably ski in/out or at least near a chair or two so we're out and skiing without too much commuting (given we've only got four days).
Can I have your tips/recommendations for resorts or tour operators/DIY itineries please?
I'm clinging on to this - this ski season is NOT over! 
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Mon 22-02-10 21:59; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Flaine-one hour from Genva. Ignore operators completely and do it yourself.
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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 will be posting a TR sometime next week from my 4 day trip (including travel days) to Bayrischzell in Bavaria, Germany.
Cannot speak highly enough of the area.
Fairly low altitude, so have to keep an eye on the snow that late in the season.
Stay tuned.
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Mike Pow, probably a high risk at Easter - only a wee bit of higher piste at Sudelfeld. The Wendelstein is not having a very good season. The warnings on the web site were for bare patches today and the pistes are closed below the Mittleralm I believe. It is very warm here currently as we have a strong Föhn situation
There's no significant snow forecast in the week as far as I can see, despite what is appearing on some of the snow forecast sites.
Sudelfeld is good - really nice long black at Rosengasse but the infrastructure is more than a bit antiquated. It is being upgraded but the effects will probably not be seen before the beginning of the next season.
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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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DIY Flaine looks the way to go - but I've hit a snag with accommodation.
As it's a holiday week in France from Sat 3 April - lots of places are only taking Sat-Sat bookings and I need Thurs-Mon.
Any ideas while I keep googling and calling around?
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Farry, you might have better luck much nearer the time, as it's very unlikely all accommodation will be full and some people will eventually accept a short booking even if it messes up two whole weeks. I did this about 10 years ago in Courchevel 1650. Nothing was available until very shortly before, then we got an apartment (through the tourist office - might be worth giving them a ring if you haven't already).
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We had a weekend trip to Flaine back in January - early Easyjet Geneva flight out of Luton & on the slopes by 12:00 lunchtime on the Friday
Had a full day until the lifts shut on the Saturday, Sunday & Monday - back home to Leicester by midnight Monday night - 3 and a half full days with no hassle
Stayed at the Intrawest Montsoliel apartments - probably the best in Flaine - where you could book a room by the night
Not sure if P&V now offer this service (but try www.booking.com) but would recommend the accommodation & direct access to the slopes - it even has a pool.
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Thanks - I've strangely got attached to the idea of Flaine now and the Monsoliel apartments look lovely.
I've missed the boat with the cheaper flights - and as I couldn't get any accommodation in Flaine I've booked in on a group trip to Davos instead.
Thanks for all your suggestions everyone.
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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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Farry, good decision. I've just got back from Flaine, and if anyone's going this weekend they'd do well to leave their skis and take umbrellas instead. The TO's 400 guests for Easter are being shipped elsewhere instead.
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hyweljenkins, you're having a bit of a downer on Flaine at present judging by your last few posts... ok, so it's slushy out there at the moment as I can confirm having come back from the Maurienne Valley yesterday. However many French resorts are open until late April/Early May and there is almost always (I hesitate to say just "always") a big late fall of snow or two, it just happens. I'd be flipping amazed, even judging by the current faintly discouraging charts, if there wasn't snowfall to well below 2000m towards the end of this week. This covers a significant portion of many french resorts, including Flaine. OK, so the runs low down will be wet, but that's what you get with spring skiing and as long as you don't expect dry champagne powder then its still possible to enjoy late season holidays.
Those TO's shipping people elsewhere... where to? The Himalayas? Where are they taking people that gives them significant extra altitude? If the FL is 3000m then there are few places indeed with extended skiing available above that, so what's the point in committing to shipping people elsewhere with 2 weeks still to go? Also most TOs "snow guarantees" kick in at less than 20% of lifts runing or something so I have to say I find your claims that TOs are already committing to pulling people out to be somewhat surprising, shall we say? Sure it's not just idle rep talk?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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janner, Good post. Apartments by the day or part week are something I have been looking for here. Thanks.
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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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carled, I'm not having "a downer on Flaine" at all - I'm just stating the facts. I've just come back (yesterday) from an excellent week there. Even if there is snowfall down to 2,000 that gives nothing below the Col du Plate chair, or even down to it, so runs back to La Foret will be more than just wet. As I've said before, Tourmaline is brown at the top with large patches (3x3m) of bare ground within 100m of the Grand Vans chair showing through. The same thing is happening on other runs across the resort. Les Carroz, Samoens and Morillon are pretty much no-go areas.
There's a difference between "spring snow" (that's what you'll get until about 11am on any run in Flaine at the moment) and "slush" (that's what you'll get from 12pm onwards).
If FL is 3,000m, then head for resorts like Tigne, Val d'Isere, La Plagne, or head to Austria, where the overall temperatures are lower.
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hyweljenkins, come on... as I said, there are only a handful of runs above 3,000m in any of those resorts! I find it hard to believe that any TO, 2/3 weeks out is going to commit to taking hundreds of guests to any of those resorts mentioned over staying in Flaine. I'm not starting a "which resort is better" slanging match here (I've never even been to Flaine), I'm just pointing out that writing off the season with more than a month to go is a little premature. Just because it's slushy now does NOT mean it's going to be slushy even next week. It was minus 10 where we were on Monday and +10 2 days later. That can happen in reverse very easily, a few feet of snow falling then makes a huge difference. Your resent posts have been along the lines of, "give up on skiing", "take an umbrella and a book" and so on. It's all a bit disingenuous as far as I'm concerned.
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You know it makes sense.
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Oh and:
a) the temperatures are not lower (significantly anyway) in Austria at present and
b) the altitude in most Austrian resorts tops out at very little above 2,000m (if it even gets there) so there's not much point in heading there anyway!
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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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carled, look, you're arguing with someone who knows more about the conditions in Flaine than you do, and other people who've been there recently echo my points, so just quit. I spoke with reps from two major TOs on Friday, and both of them are redirecting guests due at Easter.
Temperatures in Austria are lower than they are in Flaine (for the next seven days, at least). A resort's altitude isn't the only factor that needs consideration - Voss is at just 90m.
A change of -20 (C or F?) is far less likely to happen in reverse at this time of year.
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Poster: A snowHead
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hyweljenkins, which TOs, or are you not at liberty to say? Metcheck reckons a fair dump Friday/Saturday/Sunday, so fingers crossed it's cold enough and there's still some base left by then.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| hyweljenkins wrote: |
| carled, look, you're arguing with someone who knows more about the conditions in Flaine than you do, and other people who've been there recently echo my points, so just quit. |
And you're arguing with someone that *probably* (hey look, I'm not being as arrogant or condescending as you!) knows more about the upcoming weather in the next couple of weeks. But that's beside the point. You know naff all about what is going to happen in weather terms in the next couple of weeks and so do I. Ditto the tour ops. Sod the pussyfooting around here if this is going to be your attitude, you're coming across like an arrogant tosser and I'm calling bullshit on your TO claim. You may be right and I'll happily eat humble pie if that's the case, but knowing how TOs operate (and I do) I cannot see them committing to the huge expense that you claim they are at this point. Prove me wrong or "quit" yourself.
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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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carled, Jesus frikkin' Christ. I spoke with reps from Crystal and Inghams (not in the same conversation) on Friday morning, and both told me that guests due to arrive for Easter will be sent to other resorts. I don't see why either would have any reason to lie about that, so call bullshit on it if you like, I don't particularly care.
No one knows what the weather is going to be like tomorrow - that's why it's called a forecast. The OP was talking about going to Flaine, and I told him he's made a good decision to go elsewhere based on what I saw there yesterday. In his position he should be looking at resorts that have better snow cover now, not gambling on one that hasn't getting better snow cover in the next couple of weeks.
As for me being arrogant, just re-read this thread and listen to yourself. You said that you've never been to Flaine. I have - I was there last week, and I watched the rain washing the snow from all of the pistes that arrive in the Forum while waiting for the transfer coach to arrive. At 7am on Saturday morning, after the piste bashers had gone home, Jade and Almandine still had bare patches. As you're such a genius I'm sure it won't take much thinking for you to realise that once bare ground starts to show through it doesn't take long for the melt to spread.
As a simple comparison, temperatures in Flaine for the next seven days range from -10 to +3. In Kaprun they range from -13 to -2.
I covered 100km (lifts and pistes) on both Thursday and Friday and the snow loss is happening across the resort. The facts are simple: pistes in Flaine are losing snow faster than you come in your pants when Ruby Wax is on TV.
Sideshow_Bob, depends where you head. Stay high from Col du Plate (on the world's slowest chairlift) or Pedrix upwards and you'll get the best. Metcheck is only predicting snow for Friday and very little snow on Saturday - the black lines are rain. Temperatures are forecast to be above 10C until Friday, though forecasts beyond 3 days are almost pointless.
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hyweljenkins, beg to differ, thankfully the black lines represent snow. Seen another few encouraging indicators that the weather may get colder by the weekend, even tho I agree can't really tell anything and it is variable with temps etc... gotta maintain hope 
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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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Sideshow_Bob, with the lack of legend, I guessed. However, comparing the colours of the lines with the table below the chart on the left, the first and second blue lines (on Monday) corresponds with Monday's snowforecast.
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| hyweljenkins wrote: |
| carled, Jesus frikkin' Christ. etc... |
Nice work. Pick out one of Austria's highest resorts with glacier and summer skiing available and compare it to one of the middle-of-the-range French resorts... arguably therefore, he could have been directed to Zermatt? Or Chamonix? Or Cervinia? Or any number of other high places as opposed to simply saying that "Austria is colder than France so head there"?
My simple point with you is that (and not just in this thread) you've come back from Flaine and you're reporting the slopes are getting bare in places and on that basis, anyone going out now is doomed to rain and no skiing basically and all I'm doing is telling you that you're wrong to come to that conclusion based on the currently-available weather charts. I don't have to have set foot in Flaine to know what conditions are like at between 1600 and 3000m as I've just spent a week there myself, albeit it a few km away. I doubt that Flaine is much different to the several resorts I've visited in the past week, which also had many bare patches. Therefore I think I'm reasonably well qualified to pour a little ice water on your near-hysterical suggestions that Flaine among all french alpine resorts is now simply brown and muddy.
As to the TOs already committing to moving people to another resort... well, like I say. I reckon that's BS due to insider knowledge on how TOs do their trade... Also, with Inghams and Crystal being somewhere near as reputable as ski TOs get, I'd have thought that allowing people to continue booking ski hols to Flaine on their websites (as of 30 seconds ago) is somewhat flagrantly misrepresenting their holidays SHOULD it be true that they have already decided that none of their guests will be in Flaine at Easter?
To any would-be Flaine visitors at Easter reading this thread and feeling somewhat anxious due to hyweljenkins's diatribe, you don't need to panic basically. There is still a lot of snow about, Flaine is supposed to be good at piste management and snow conservation (not that I'd know not having been there, apparently) and you will get a ski holiday in, most likely, classic spring ski conditions. Don't go there expecting icy temperatures and fresh powder and you shouldn't be disappointed. Enjoy the spring warmth and lap up some sunshine (hopefully) and you should have a blast, even if (and there probably will be) there are a few piste closures. Historically there has been late snow right through April and into May so there is still a chance you could benefit from some fresh snow. Indeed, as hyweljenkins has somewhat unfortunately failed to spot in his first go, there is a good chance of snow down to resort level (and lower, although obviously this matters little once you're in the resort) up to and over the coming weekend and that's before looking into the relatively promising synoptics the following week.
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Good post carled. Flaine has been holding up well under the heatwave, and there's a while to go yet before the resort closes. Has been some glorious skiing there. If the Cascades run can still be open last week (which it was) then there's a way to go yet before the snow disappears completely. Flaine will be no better or worse than any of the other resorts nearby, excepting of course any which have access to glaciers.
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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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pam w, Hope you're right. I have an option on a Samoens apartment at Easter and my son is expecting to go with me. As you say, you can't expect good snow lower down but I wouldn't want to be water skiing at 2500m  Well, we'll see. Enjoy what's left.
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billb, other than the very few, very very high, resorts, I reckon you've got as good a chance in the Flaine bowl as in most resorts. Not sure I'd stay as low down as Samoens, but I suppose at Easter you'd just expect to be lifting up and down each day anyway.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Farry wrote: |
Evening peeps.
I'm recently back from a two week holiday - we flew into Germany but skied in Risoul/Vars for a week before a second week in Kitzbuhel. The drive through Germany/Austria/Switzerland/Italy/France and back worked out very well. A bit of an adventure and not as difficult as I thought. Thanks to everyone who offered their advice.
In not willing to accept our 2009/10 season is over I've come up with a cunning plan to go away Easter weekend. There seems to be loads of operators (and DIY options) to fly Thurs 1 April and come back late Mon 5 April, to squeeze in 4 days skiing.
Question is where to? Ideally we'd like somewhere 2 hours or under from an airport and preferably ski in/out or at least near a chair or two so we're out and skiing without too much commuting (given we've only got four days).
Can I have your tips/recommendations for resorts or tour operators/DIY itineries please?
I'm clinging on to this - this ski season is NOT over! |
Hi - It looks as though you have lots of experience in the Flaine area - we are staying in Morillon from 4th April one week - and know that with the GM ski pass we get one days skiing in Les Gets - but how to you get there if you do not have a car??? Any suggestions - is there a ski bus that runs round?
Thanks
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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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LorraineR, I don't know of a direct bus to get from Morillon to Les Gets. You might be able to change at Tanninges though? There has been the much rumoured lift from Verchaix in the Grand Massif up to join with the Les Gets ski region but it is still little more than that - a rumour.
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thanks very much for info
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You know it makes sense.
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Is it just me or is it the flames from this post that are causing a loss of snow on the slopes of the Flaine bowl?
They look to be well down on their average snow depths this year but Looks like they had a good dump of 25cms or so last night and the groomers have had plenty to work with.
Good luck to those heading out for Easter you lucky so and so's
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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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I'm going To Samoens next Sunday. Have been there several times at Easter, always had good snow. Ok, it gets soft in the afternoons, but we expect that.
What we don't want is rain.
Billb - Did you book that apartment?
If you did I don't reckon you'll be disappointed, it's a great little village and at 700m you wouldn't expect snow in resort in Easter (though we had it in 2006).
You have to get a gondola down to the village anyway, there aren't runs back to resort.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Lorraine R - There are transfer companies that would take you to Les Gets.
If you are thinking of going to Portes de Soleil for a day you have to go to Prodains lift in Morzine to get the pass for the day. You must take your GM pass with you.
From there, if you take the Prodains lift, you'll arrive in Avoriaz. We skied back down to the car park in Feb 2007 (the year of poor snow) and it was very rocky.
Our skis took a hammering.
If we go this time we'll probably get our passes at Prodains and then drive to another lift to start our skiing - but we do have a car.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Good advice on the Prodains lift dimple. I'm impressed you managed to ski down to the car park - when we did the same thing last year in March that wasn't an option! However it had been quite a time since I had skiied the Portes du Soleil, and it did remind us of what a good thing we have in the Grand Massif. Avoriaz was absolutely packed with people on the slopes, far too busy to enjoy.
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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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| mfj197 wrote: |
| Good advice on the Prodains lift dimple. I'm impressed you managed to ski down to the car park - when we did the same thing last year in March that wasn't an option! However it had been quite a time since I had skiied the Portes du Soleil, and it did remind us of what a good thing we have in the Grand Massif. Avoriaz was absolutely packed with people on the slopes, far too busy to enjoy. |
You're right about Avoriaz being busy. It was also the scene of the most dangerous skiing I've seen. An older skier (won't say elderly!) was slowing down to go to a restaurant and a chap came at full speed down the slope. It was clearly a busy point He knocked the poor lady down and just kept going flat out.
Of course no one had a chance to do anymore than shout at him.
That could happen anywhere though - but I do remember it being very crowded.
I find the GM quite quiet at Easter really.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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We are looking to do this too.... The weather forecast for Flaine looks OK with some snow later this week, even low down max temp is 4 degrees, so similar to the beginning of our week in Serre Che last week.
Anyone have any other ideas for this weekend - will be driving from Calais probably, flights will not be convenient or available this late I guess.
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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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Quck update having spent the last week in Flaine where it actually rained on Sunday 21st which was pretty horrible and the first time Ive seen rain in the Grand Massif in March in 7 years. Thankfully the snow held out with spring snow conditions and quiet pistes in wall to wall sunshine up to Friday when there was a massive dump of snow and it was still going strong when we left on Saturday evening. Off piste conditions were excellent and more is expected this week. Enjoy!
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Easter Sunday in Flaine - looks like we had 15-20cm of snow overnight down to the village, cloud cover to c. 2200. so there you have it!
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hyweljenkins - ****** be my personal weather forecaster - I'll go wherever you say not!
Just back from a week in Flaine and had snow 6 days out of 7 - probably way over a foot if you add it all up.
Thought of you as I stood at the top of Les Grandes Platieres in 6 inches of fresh and untracked powder at 9:30 on Thursday morning.
More snow was one its way yesterday and the slopes were very quiet - so should be good for the rest of Easter
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