How bad is this years snow.

Has anyone been out to Les Saisies recently ? Does anyone know what the conditions are like, we have a trip booked 5th March and I'm panicing cos looking at recent reports there has been no new snow for ages

Thats 4 weeks away yet, good grief!!! Plenty of time for snow to fall if conditions aren't great right now, and it looks ok to me:
http://www.trinum.com/ibox/saisies/images/webcamISDN1.jpg

But the thing to remember guys is that it can all change in the space of a day ! So if all hope goes out the window, put faith in mother nature to have a hissy fit and rage snow on the slopes !

I'm in Vicenza. Last ski fo rme was 13 Jan, Paganella, two days after a snow of about 6 cm, which did good to cover up the ice. I've been waiting for a dump to go again, but keep waiting....and waiting. I had friends go to San Martino di Catrozza this past Saturday...lots of ice, freeze/thaw conditions. Last snow there was a slight dusting in Mid January. The snow park was well maintained but pretty bleak overall. It has to turn around soon! Dolomites are a great area for a ski trip, just not a good year for snow. Check out: dolomitisuperski.com

OK - my prediction :)
Second half of February will see a hug dump in the Western Alpes!
But resorts will shut lifts etc etc etc
Access will be difficult etc etc
Beer will run out !!!!!
:thumbup:

Im just back from les saisies on saturday. pistes around saisies were in fantastic condition, piste bashers and snow machines doing a fantastic job. we skied across to crest voland were there were quite a few bad icy and bare patches on the routes that were not cannoned, but on the routes that were cannoned, they were great. we also skied to notre dame too and the slopes again that were cannoned were in good shape but the some were quite icy. we didnt get to praz sur arly because the blue route linking back to les saisies side looked quite bare and muddy and it is quite narrow and we are only 3rd week skiers so gave it a miss, but there was plenty to ski on in les saisies. had a great time. dont worry.

It's hard to tell yet whether this year will go down as a bad year for snow. It's only beginning of February so plenty time to go. I know that Western Swiss Alps didn't see much snow since Christmas and the same goes for France. There was some snow in January, but not that much and it was during the warmer weeks so was gone very quickly. Basically what everyone is skiing now on are leftovers from November-December snow and artificial snow that resorts managed to make during cold weeks. Bad news is that warmer temperatures are back. Tortin in Verbier was officially closed last weekend due to lack of snow cover - there is almost no way now to negotiate rocks at the top, and too many rocks are showing under and between moguls if you can make it there, two major accidents there on Saturday so Sunday morning it was closed. Couple other off-piste itineraries are also closed. On Saturday on piste at 2900 m I saw grass sticking through snow cover - this is how thin it is. Avalanche danger is at 1, which is quite ridiculous. On the other hand, given how long a decent dumpage may last, 2-3 good dumps will make conditions skiable well into April and it will be just an average season for this part of the world (last 2 years were exceptionally good). So far no snow is expected in the next 10 days, locals talk more about end of the month. With warmer temperatures this means that some runs might be closed and no off-piste will be available. But it's still early so good chance that the year won't make history books.

Thanks Verbier_ski_bum and Karen72 :D

I really appreciate hearing about the condition of the pistes from people who have recently been there. As someone else said, in another thread, saying 'hardpack' or whatever doesn't really give enough of a description.

Ally