How bad is this years snow.

I've been in Schladming and Bad Gastein last week and the snow was great, specially on the pistes.
It is warming up now but I think it will be good for another few days easily.

Just back from a week in Morzine, while they havn't had snow for quite some time they were doing there best to keep things going with the snow cannons hamering away all night. Thankfully it stayed cold during the week so while the conditions were not perfect most of the runs were open with only a few which catch lots of sun closed - mind you one that was totally shot had a dozen ponies grazing on what should have been a blue run!

Avoriaz had some good snow, especially on the highest runs, dropping over the border the south/east facing Swiss resorts had taken a hammering with white ribbons that were allegedly pistes coming down through the green mountains.

The temperature started rising dramtically later on Friday and by the time we came of the slopes in Les Gets at 2.30pm on Saturday 5th Feb the thermometer in the car was showing +19.5 degrees. OUCH!

Rustyinn

OMG :shock:

Join the J2Ski forum snow dance on Saturday!

Man made snow equals bad skiing conditions

Jabe444 wrote:Man made snow equals bad skiing conditions

That's true Jabe444 - but it's much better than having to walk (or graze ponies!). And I think it partly depends on the quality of the snowmaking equipment, as well as the environmental conditions at the time the snow was made.

If you see it as another challenge and a chance to practice one's technique ski-ing on a different type of snow it's not so bad - like icy snow, powder snow, slushy snow, corrugated concrete snow, and then manmade snow.

Ally

Jabe444 wrote:Man made snow equals bad skiing conditions

I used to agree with that statement but not anymore!


I am just back from a fantastic few days skiing in Soll, mainly on artificial snow. They had a modest fall of snow about 2 weeks ago but no really big dumps. They have also been hit with some high temperatures - we had 12C on the top of the mountain on Monday and glorious sunshine - a very pleasant change from a very damp and grey Dublin!.

Despite this, they are managing to keep virtually all runs open and in great shape with fantastic skiing to be had. If I can manage the technology, I will try to post a picture later on of the South-facing valley run down to Brixen. The piste is a line of white against a green mountain with virtually no snow other than on the piste itself but it was still in good condition. Thats not to say that there wasn't the occasional patch of ice about and some slushy bits but overall - brilliant.

From what I can gather, they have invested very heavily in cannons and equipment and it is paying off in spades. For a relatively low resort, it is able to deliver a super skiing experience with relatively little snow.

Of course, it would be even better with a good dump of snow.