Never going skiing in March/April ever again.

Love , love skiing dont get me wrong. However, the amount of snow this late in the season is so poor nowadays. Its got worse and worse in the last 3 yrs.
Got back from France yesterday. Stayed at partners place in Megeve , Haute Savoie region, and had to drive to Les Contamines, Chamonix and round the mountain to Cote 2000 (a Megeve area) to ski.
Megeve itself, totally melted and looked like it was summer already. Last day skiing at Cote 2000 it was like a warm summers day. Chamonix , i must say is an awesome place to ski. Scenery amazing with Mont Blanc in the background.
Next ski trip will be Dec 28th - beg. January ....in great hope of good snow!!
Any thoughts ? ?

yep, the uk media seems to be fixed on the no snow issuess...but just look a little further afield, you could have goen throught the mont blanc tunnel to courmayeur or pila where the snow is still in great condition...austria has had some pretty good snow too

yes this has been a pretty poor season in terms of snow in SOME areas but the last 2 have been fantastic

alternatively get to the other side of the pond...Tahoe has had some 84" of snow in the past couple of weeks and there was 70+ " a few weeks earlier

had a varied time to ski over the years. have been lucky enough to be able to ski at both the good and bad times.

i have skied the grand massif area for 9 years now and the snow has constantly been impressive, ranging from over 1.5m overnight at new year last year to some of the best skiing in europe towards the end of the season this year. with flaine being so high it is pretty much guaranteed to be good snow at the top.

you do not get the buzz of places like megeve BUT numerous benefits (an hour from geneva, proper french villages, fantastic skiing) make it a fantastic alternative, and I've not had a bad trip there!

Hi Tropicana,

Please don't discount not going skiing in either March or April, this year has been one of the few odd snow years we seem to have. The weather in the Alps in Europe does depend on which direction the wind is heading etc, and the weather can vary from one valley to the next.

I have just come back from Les Arcs where although it was warm ( even hot some days) with soft spring skiing on the lower slopes , from about 1900 meters and higher we still had great snow, yet over the in the next valley which is in Italy and the resorts of La Thuile and Courmayeur they have had great snow all season.

I usually go out to ski ( Les Arcs) around the 2nd , 3rd or 4th week of April and over the last 8 - 9 years have had some excellent skiing right up to the end of the season ( even having 12 - 18inches of fresh snow some years on the Aiguille Rouge up above 2000 meters to 3226 meters).

Although Megeve is a wonderful place to be it is still quite low, so in warmer years can and does suffer lower down, along with many lower resorts.

In saying all that I would lay money on next season being much better ( call it a gut feeling) and if you look further afield as stated above at resorts with many North and North east facing slopes, with skiing up to and over 2400m and up to 3000m and above, also if you can throw in a glacier or two you wont go far wrong.

Again don't let a couple of bad experiences put you off , January is a good time to go weather wise and is a quite period after xmas , but again there are some amazing deals to be had later in the year especially after Easter.

All the best

Jon.

For some French & Swiss resorts in particular this was a poor snow year. Started well & simply stopped & then spring arrived early melting the remaining snow.

For some of the Austrian & Italian resorts it wasn't too bad at all. However it wasn't a vintage snow year for most European destinations.

The key thing with going later in the season is to watch the snow reposts & book late. (I guess this may not be an option for the peak demand of Easter and this year Easter is so late it's going past the season for many destinations.) It may be sensible to check snow reports (treat with caution as the snow depths can be optimistic) and look at as many webcams to see how much brown there is! Sites like this are also a good place to find out the current conditions from skiers who are out there or just returned.

I'd also be a little cautions about booking too early in the season - whilst December may be cold it can be dry - it's a relatively recent phenomena of ski resorts opening much before Xmas - I guess snow cannons have allowed earlier opening. So again leave booking until almost last minute if you can.

Tropicana ~ I understand what you mean and I can see your frustration. However I really have to agree with everyone else more. this yr has been really bad for snow in front and especially where you were and also where I went twice this yr. But like the others say the snow in other parts of Europe has been great.

I went to the 3 valleys this yr 1st week of feb and again on the 26th march. The snow in march was very sparse and in some parts of meribel slopes were closed due to lack of snow, however we did have new snow whilst there and 1 day was lucky enough to ski powder till lunch time. So rather than say your not going to ski again in march or April maybe the answer is to not pre book in march April and then go where the snow is?

As for skiing 28th dec I honestly don't think you will have a problem the snow is usually pretty good and 1 thing is for certain once it falls it won't be warm enough to go anywhere :wink:

Thanks for your iput Guys. I will bare all thoughts and posts in mind. Sadly though my only choice is partners place in Megeve, cant afford anywhere else, so have to pick a good wintry month I think !

Tropicana, I feel your pain. Yes, its been a fairly crappy year for snow generally in Europe, but as people have pointed out, its better to either choose somewhere higher (St Moritz in Jan at 1900m in resort was fantastic this year) or leave it late to see where snow is falling. I appreciate your situation re accommodation.

However, just to get some perspective on what you said about not going late season ever again, these 2 photos were taken last EASTER. Ok, we got lucky in as much as our resort (Serre Che) got a massive dump the 2nd night we were there, but it does go to show that you often get late season snowfall anywhere, and whilst this year has been a bit pooh, I do not think its fair to say that this is a trend for late season generally.

Look closely at the photos and you can see just how amazing the snow was. It dumped about 2 feet overnight and some of the morning, and the pistes were all covered in ankle deep powder.