 Poster: A snowHead
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Looking at the cams it's more like mid may than late March, the slopes in Pila look almost bare at 2400m. Unless there is a miraculous reversal, I'll be not taking my annual mid april drive down to the 3V either, although Salen in Sweden remains a possibility.
The 3V really has had a shocker, no snow of note until the last week of January and looking washed out 3 weeks into March. Not a sigh of things to come I hope.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well we have had 2 fantastic trips this season both with loads of fresh powder. Week before Christmas in Villaroger perfect timing for the first major dump and then half term week in La Rosiere for the next major dump. Luck of the draw I guess.
The season can't be dead yet, can it?
CP
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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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Ive had 2 kick back bottom trips with LOADS of snow - La Tania, late Jan and then Arinsal beginning of March - they were both ACE!
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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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"A bad day on the slopes is better than a good day in the office."
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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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RobW, I was about to disagree with you then, but realised I'd mis-read "office".
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Mrs H and I had an excellent trip to Obergurgl and looking forward to another in Val Thorens in a weeks time! 
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While it certainly hasn't been a good season snow-wise for most of France, it's been OK here. Skiable (other than the glacier) from mid-December and snowing again now. Certainly not one to tell tales about, but the next 5 weeks should be possible. It's worth noting, though, that the huge majority of our ski-ing is ABOVE the town at 1,650m!
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up4it, Commiserations! Like Nadenoodlee, I had a really great week Jan 29th - Feb 5th, but in Tignes - Espace Killy. Absolutely cracking conditions.
Have you been to Salen before? What is it like?
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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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We had wonderful skiing 1st week Marhc in the Dolomites before I broke my ankle... but that's another thread!
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Mid-Feb in the Mt Blanc region was fantastic. The beginning of January wasn't so great though. As for mid-April, I may be packing my walking boots!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| easiski wrote: |
| While it certainly hasn't been a good season snow-wise for most of France |
From mid January to mid-March it was a fantastic 8 weeks for most of France (with the exception of Les Deux Alpes and points south). But if the season is going to be summed up by two good months of snow it is very poor. The real worry is that most of the snow over the winter has fallen at mid-altitudes and the cover is thin above 2000 meters such as here at 2,400m on the entry to a north facing couloir on Sunday:
There is even less snow today as great chunks have sluffed off the mountains as the snowpack has got overloaded with rain. Maybe the current snowfall at 2,500 meters will improve things, such as up on the glacier at LdA but last year's mediocre season is starting to look like a vintage.
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=6367
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Thu 24-03-05 19:32; edited 1 time in total
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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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It is absolutely chucking it down right now - right up to 2,200m. At Meribel this morning it was bad enough for the Brit Champs GS - they managed to put the race on by add 10 tons of salt to harden up the piste - but by tomorrow morning if this keeps up through the night, they'll be struggling to stage tomorrow's slalom, scheduled for an 8am start. Resorts like Meribel at 1400m are a daft place to stage a late season national championships, but it's certainly convenient for the chairman of the main sponsors (British Land) - he's got a flat there 
Crazy really. Half the racers crashed out today.
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You know it makes sense.
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davidof, We had very good quality snow all season until the heatwave, (not much powder for most of it of course) I was talking about the quantity! The current avalanche-fest shows us a depth of about one foot. It's thanks to the prolonged cold spell that the quality remained so good for so long. We did have good powder in December and at the end of January with the dumps, but the sad thing here is that the huge number of freeriders mean that the fresh snow is tracked out very quickly. 
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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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| easiski wrote: |
| davidof, We had very good quality snow all season until the heatwave |
Have you been up today? We've had about 10cm above 1600 meters in the Sept Laux today and thing are much improved with a reasonable freeze overnight.
http://media.snowheads.com/data/500/a7laux.jpg
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I had decent snow in Switzerland - in Verbier, and when touring in the Furka Pass area. But it does look like the snow is heavy in that area (select Andermatt) now. There seems to have been smallish windows, generally, for good snow, this seaon. If not skiing in a large group, or at peak times, the moral of the story seems to be watch the snow reports, and book late if you can.
DB, good luck with your touring boots, something I am beginning to look into. Where did you get yours from?
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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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Wengen had really good conditions when I was out there, and we know there was lots arround Andora because the French wouldn't clear the road
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I had to cancel my canadian trip this year for several reasons and I'm so glad I did - we've had more snow here in Belgium than the great white north seems to have had!
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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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Hey guys i wouldn't write off the season yet! It's not even April yet, and the forecast is for f/l to get down to around 500m or lower by thursday, and considering there is usually a late dump around early April, i don't think this season is done yet. I've just looked at the webcam in Obergurgl where i'm going tomorrow and it is snowing down to around resort level, and it is due to get colder.
I've got a feeling that anyone heading out to the Alps in early April may get some good stuff!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Nick Zotov wrote: |
| DB, good luck with your touring boots, something I am beginning to look into. Where did you get yours from? |
Bought mine from a local sports superstore because I get 10% off through a company discount and I can take them back for a full refund once I have tried them for the first time (hopefully tomorrow) if they give me problems. These people offer good prices on AT/backcountry gear http://www.telemark-pyrenees.com/shop/index.php?language=en
here are their AT boots
http://www.telemark-pyrenees.com/shop/index.php?cPath=1_48_51&osCsid=e63f340277e8721c0bde10a5ffbaea0f
Looked into AT boots quite a lot and decided on the Garmont Adrenalin because
a) My feet are fairly narrow and the Garmont fits me the best (e.g. Scarpa was too wide)
b) It's the one of (if not) the stiffest AT boot currently on the market.
c) It has interchangeable soles (boot/alpine ski).
From what I understand there's a balance between weight/comfort/stiffness with AT boots. Some people are more interested in being comfortable on the way up with the least effort and they choose something like a light, soft, low cut 3 buckle boot. I am considering using the boots for alpine skiing as well so opted for the other end of the scale. Just hope they don't crucify me on the way up, only time will tell.
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DB, thanks. I did a week's introduction to ski-touring recently, in downhill boots. I have a bulky old achilles tendon scar. No problem in normal downhill skiing, but the skin over it rubbed away during a week's touring. Not good. Must sort if I am to do it again. The guide suggested I getting a pair of touring boots with conformable linings. So, if I am do get on with touring, I will have to go to a specialist shop, I think. Profeet in London, and Lockwoods at Leamington Spa have been suggested to me.
I noticed Denali boots were worn by several in my party.
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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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Sorry I didn't reply to this thread earlier, but I was making fresh tracks in deep powder in Vail, Beaver Creek and Copper last week...
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Boothy, it was pouring with rain in the resort last night. Prepare yourself for more drinking and dancing than fun in the white stuff.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Great year for me as I have had new snow in LP and Engelberg. Only had to ski on-piste one day in Jan and then it dumped all week.
I consider this year I have been lucky but both resorts had masses of snow, particuarly Engelberg.
Friends in La P say it is raining at resort level now and expect fresh snow higher up...
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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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I have just come back from 12 weeks in La Plagne Montalbert and other than first 2 weeks in Jan have had a geat time with some good powder days and 25 cm on the glacier last thursday night .As long as you stay high no probs and I could ski back to Monalbert at 1350 with no probs up to leaving on Sat -don't worry it's bound to snow again now I've come home
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Wear The Fox Hat, Hope you DID enjoy the rugby results as well!
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You know it makes sense.
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Bernard Condon,
But not the footie tho..!!!
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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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Rubbish season? What are you talking about man? Admittedly we got off to a slightly iffy start in December. But then again we ALWAYS get off to a slightly iffy start in December, when everyone wails about how it didn't use to be like this and if only we would only all stop driving cars then things would return to the way they used to be. Anyway as far as I am concerned this has been an absolutely shitkickin season. This has been the heads down, non nonsense, mindless boogie of ski seasons. Just like last year was as well in fact. Come to think of it the year before that wasn'so bad either. And as for 1999, now if it hadn't been for the ridiculous amount of snow and all those damn avalanches...
P.S the snow here (in Austria) is about what you would expect for late March. It's been raining down in the valleys, and snowing up on top. Alles paletti.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Mike Lawrie wrote: |
| This has been the heads down, non nonsense, mindless boogie of ski seasons. Just like last year was as well in fact. Come to think of it the year before that wasn'so bad either. |
Arf, you should write the snow reports for the Ski Club.
I've skied some great snow this year but few figures to put things back into perspective. These are cumulative snowfalls taken at 2000m for France.
| Code: |
35 year average 2004/5
Val Thorens 7 m 3.2 m
Tignes 6.7 m 2.8 m
Isola 2000 4.6 m 1 m
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Worst snowfall for 35 years above 2000 meters according to Météo France and seeing as there is not much snow left below 2000 meters that is a bad thing for April.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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davidof, sorry to hear that things have been so bad in France. Can't find any general statistics for Austria, but these figures for Gosau give you some idea of just how outstanding a winter it has been here. Unfortunately the figures only go up to the end of Feb, but got even better in March!
See http://www.gosaunet.at/index.html?gosau/schneedaten/schneedaten.html~botFr
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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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Well, for me at Whistler it has been a bit of a rubish season for most of the season, but it's certainly not over! The past 2 weeks have been excellent, and it's still dumping, hopefully for quite some time. I expect to still have good boarding for quite some time, a few weeks at least.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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davidof, I agree with you. We're off for a week on the 11th April. Its not a nice feeling to read stuff like this. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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If you want to compare snow cover over the last few years:
http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/
Notice that this year has lots of snow, but most of it is/was further east and south-east (esp. the Balkans).
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| tomski01 wrote: |
davidof
wish people wouldnt start threads with titles like this at this time |
No you are right anything could happen. It has snowed today above 1600 meters in the Northern Alps and conditions above 2000 meters were pretty good with a covering of about 15cm of fresh snow (even the piste bashers had left it alone on the piste). So lets stay optimistic. Jan/Feb/early March were great.
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skanky, also interestingly is the little blue blob over Scotland, compared to diddly squat last year...may that trend continue!!!
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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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tomski01, I *think* it only does gren and yellow over Scotland as the "blue" (and indeed it does look blue) bit seems to stay constant as you cycle back through the months. I think that's just the poor resolution of the western isles on the map. But I could be wrong, and wouldn't argue too much if you disagreed. It's splitting hairs really, anyway. 
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FAQ
First time in proper touring boots hope I break the boots in before they break me.
