J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by verbier_ski_bum

^^Which customers? Those who are still in UK and won't be heading out for another 2-3 weeks at least? No-one from around the area will drive in this weather. A hundred tickets or so that resort can potentially sell to some abstract customers is not worth the hassle, especially since the season hasn't yet started. Also, securing pistes is a lot of work and takes time. Late opening is often the norm after the snow especially when there are steep slopes around. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with resorts making their decisions on what is most profitable, it's not like their customers are not looking for better deals for themselves too:)

They probably wouldn't be able to open with 1.5 metres of snow falling, and quite possibly were aware of arriving snow before they made this decision. It costs money to run lifts and especially to secure some skiable terrain from avalanches (and it will be very difficult if 1 m falls in 24 hours), and they wouldn't be able to make it worthwhile since most people won't be bothered to drive up in bad weather. Makes sense to wait a week.

Won't be back now until the 27th; but it's working fine - I have already tried turning it on in October when it was cold. Quite excited about all this expected snow!

Fingers crossed. Snow storm will be very welcome given that season officially opens in less than 2 weeks. Weather is balmy at the moment at least until the sun goes down, but very nice for hiking. I haven't even turned the heating on in Verbier yet .

Why is Verbier referred to as "glacier resort"? Whatever is left from the glacier there needs a good snow coverage to be skiable and I suspect in another 10 years or so even these leftovers will be gone. Even when they can open resort early (typically beginning of November) skiing is not offered on a glacier, but on upper slopes in the main area. And glaciers at the back of Mont Fort have even less relevance to resort opening.

^^^ You must have been lucky then. Not every December is the same and last December while certainly skiable was definitely not worth a trip, even higher resorts with glaciers struggled. This summer glaciers also took a big hit as it was too warm for overnight freeze. Over 12 years of living and skiing here from December to April I have seen all sorts of starts to the season, from amazing to dreadful. Sometimes some resorts do better than others, sometimes early season conditions are uniform across the Alps. But getting accommodation won't be difficult in any case as many people might be out of annual leave by December or saving themselves till Christmas. Makes sense to wait before booking.

Don't book now, wait till season actually starts and snow falls. I flew into GVA yesterday and Alps didn't look very white, only mountain tops, freezing line is currently close to 4000m. December is dead anyway, so you shouldn't have issues with finding accommodation anywhere.

When it comes to ski resorts I am not sure rankings make lot of sense, since people have different preferences. It's easier to rank restaurants and hotels, and these rankings would be less subjective. For example some people cannot care less if resort has any ski-in/ski-out accommodation, for others it would be prerequisite. Some would need a family-friendly atmosphere, some would prefer a party town. Some people like rustic, some prefer modern. Some people like wide cruisers, others prefer steep and narrow runs. All these will affect their impression of a particular resort and in the end may be misleading for someone else. And she is right that people often focus on negatives, again for them, but it may affect the overall ranking and won't be a true reflection.