Messages posted by : admin
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Oooh, the old *blank* fine...
S'ok, they'll just need you to send them a blank cheque then. Smooth Criminal! 8) |
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J2Ski Snow Report - March 17th 2016
Plenty of snow, plenty of sun, in Les Arcs today... picture courtesy of the Tourist Office This Week's Snow Headlines - Mammoth blast through 5m snow depth mark. - A snowy week in the Pyrenees with up to a foot of fresh snow. - Whistler reports 140cm (nearly five feet) of fresh snow this week. - Chamonix claims 7m lying on upper slopes. - Resorts in New England begin closing early at the premature end of a season to forget. Snowfall in the Alps has slowed dramatically over the past week with most areas reporting no more than 10cm of new snow. Chamonix however claims its upper slope base has now reached an amazing 7m after the latest snow. However in the last 24 hours some big falls have been reported in one small corner of the mountains down between Grenoble and Turin with the small southerly Italian area of Limone getting an 80cm accumulation they say. There's not been a great deal of fresh snow reported in Scandinavia, and there's been a bit of a thaw in Scotland but new snow has been welcomed in Bulgaria and the Pyrenees. Across the Atlantic there have been huge snowfalls once again on the West Coast with Mammoth breaking the 5m base depth as a result and whistler reporting nearly 1.4m of fresh snow this week. The dismal season in the East is grinding to a halt with areas starting to close early. In The Alpine Forecast There doesn't look to be much fresh snow in the forecast for next week, with temperatures around their seasonal averages as we edge into Spring, and generally clear conditions forecast. There is a possibility of snow in the last week of March, but that's way beyond the reliable timeframe of the forecasts at present. With deep bases just about everywhere now, late season and Spring skiing options for Europe are looking great! The Alps Austria The snowy weather seems to have come to an end for the time being in Austria – most areas have had between 5 and 15cm (2-6 inches) of snow in the past week and similar accumulations are expected next week as well. Bases are, on the whole, fairly good; even lower elevation ski areas have 50-60cm (two feet) on upper runs and most have snow down to valley level. A few of the lowest, such as Mayrhofen, say they're snowless again in the village, though with a metre up top. The deepest bases are, as always, up on the glaciers, with over 3m, at Solden, Kaunertal and Pitztal and 2.5m at the Stubai. France Little fresh snow reported in France this week with the biggest accumulations down in the Pyrenees where some resorts got 30cm or more of new snow. In the Southern Alps, resorts like Serre Chevalier claimed 10cm of fresh. Chamonix says it got another 40cm up top however and that the base there is 7m – the first in the world to claim such a base depth this season. Elsewhere bases remain good across most French resorts with many areas reporting 2-3m on upper slopes (3.5m at Flaine) and base depths at lower levels pretty good too – over 50cm in most cases although 25cm for Chamonix and at the very base of La Plagne. Italy Not much snow for Italy either, with the exception of the West of the country reporting 60-80cm accumulations in the past 24 hours. However for the past week as a whole the Dolomites have seen the most snow, marginally, with Arabba reporting 20cm of snow – most other areas got 5-10cm of snow. Most Italian ski areas have at least a metre on upper runs now and those over 2m are divided between Dolomites (Eg Madonna di Campiglio or Passo Tonale) and Alps (eg Cervinia and La Thuile). The latter is currently claiming the deepest base in the country at just under 3m. Of the big four Alpine nations Italy looks most likely to receive some significant snowfall – possible 2-3 feet (60-90cm), in the coming week. Switzerland Very little snow in Switzerland over the past week with Adelboden and St Moritz getting 10cm each the biggest accumulations reported – for most it was 2-6cm. Base depths are generally fairly good although getting thin in a few valleys – 10cm at Grindelwald and 20cm at Wengen for example but on the whole up at 30cm or more. Up top it's a different story with most areas having at least a metre on their higher runs and some areas including Murren, Saas Fee, Crans Montana and Andermatt more than three metres. Engelberg has the biggest Swiss base at 3.8m. Similar conditions but with possibly slightly bigger snowfalls, are expected in the coming week. Scandinavia A fairly snowless week in Scandinavia for the first time this season. Bases have held firm however and most areas still have a metre of snow lying, some (eg Voss in Norway) as much as 2.5m. A return to snowier conditions is expected in the week ahead with 10-15cm expected. Pyrenees Snowfall has been reported across the Pyrenees with up to 209cm of fresh snow report in Andorra, a foot on the French side (at Cauterets) and 40cm at Baqueira Beret (in Spain) Base depths are fairly healthy across the region – typically in the 1.5-2.35, bracket at the major ski areas. Down in Sierra Nevada in southern Spain which had almost no snow until February, there's now a 2m base on upper runs and most of the area's terrain has finally opened. Eastern Europe There's been fresh snow in Bulgaria at last – great news for the ski areas there with Bansko and Pamporovo particularly excited by the fresh cover. Poiana Brasov in Romania also reported 15cm of fresh cover. Elsewhere there's been little fresh snow further north with just a few inches on the slopes of Slovenia and the Czech and Slovak Republics but bases appear to be holding up. Scotland All five Scottish ski areas are open and all reporting 'spring skiing' conditions after some exceptionally warm days with temperatures in the valleys well in to double figures this week – the warmest in the UK at times. Most areas have around 60% of terrain open, although Glencoe is almost completely open. They all report better conditions high up and grassy patches appearing around lower runs. North America Canada Whistler has reported one of the biggest snowfalls in the world this past week – 1.4m or nearly five feet. It led the way for a snowy week in western Canada with Big White passing the 3m/10 feet base mark after 20cm joining Fernie who are already there. Whistler has the deepest base at 3.5m now though. There were smaller snowfalls in Alberta and over on the east virtually no fresh snow in Quebec although the snowfalls in late February and earlier this month have kept upper slope base depths up around the metre mark at Mont Sainte Anne and Tremblant. USA Mixed fortunes continue in the US with some huge snowfalls once again in the West but the sad end of a lacklustre season at some resorts in the east, including iconic Mad River Glen in Vermont which has no snowmaking and called it a day on winter 15-16 this week. The biggest destination areas like Killington remain open but with only limited terrain. Out West it's a very different story with up to 70cm accumulations in the last seven days in California, much of it coming in big snow storms at the start of this week when many resorts posted 40-50cm falls in 24 hours. Mammoth now has a 510cm (17 foot) base. The snow also fell again in Colorado and Utah in slightly smaller volumes. |
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Good write-up as always Tony; thank you!
Interesting; I didn't realise that Club Med had arrangements with restaurants on the mountain; was that the case at St.Moritz also? Certainly a good deal for what you got included. |
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J2Ski Snow Report - March 10th 2016
No shortage of snow in Alta Badia now... picture courtesy of the Tourist Office Well, it kept on snowing, and there's more coming... This Week's Snow Headlines - Up to 165cm of snowfall in the Dolomites, 195cm in the Alps and 120cm in Rockies. - World's snowiest resort this season nears 18m snowfall-to-date 15/16 total. - Resorts in Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland all post 1m+ snowfalls in the past week. - Deepest base passes 6m mark in Alps, 5m in North America. - Dolomites transformed by snowy deluge since Saturday. As the numbers above indicate, it has been a very snowy week in most of the world's leading ski areas as March continues as February left off. Areas like the Dolomites, which didn't do well for the first three months of the ski season, have reversed that trend and had the biggest of the big snowfalls over the last seven days. It has been snowing almost everywhere with bases building in the Alps, Pyrenees, Dolomites and in Western North America whilst the smallest accumulations have been in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, and New England continues to suffer. Generally though, bases are at the deepest they have been across the board and it's looking great for the remainder of the season almost everywhere now, even if no more snow falls. In The Alpine Forecast The major forecast models have been suffering a bit of indecisiveness this week as two competing potential weather systems slug it out in the virtual worlds (of the models). At this point, we're going to be really helpful and tell you there's a good chance of the weather turning colder from mid-March... and there's also a good chance of it running milder. If we had to choose then we'd probably back the colder option for the end of the month but it really is a case of wait and see. There does, however, look to be a little more snow in the forecast over the weekend, for many areas, and into next week; with temperatures generally around the seasonal average. Generally, we're expecting next week to be less snowy and more settled than this but with some exceptions and the good chance of a return to heavy snow for the following week. The Alps Austria Austrian ski centres are in the best condition they've been all winter after another snowy week. Most ski areas received one to two feet (30-60cm) of fresh snow over the last seven days but at the upper end Obertauern reported a huge 107cm accumulation. The big snow was of the biggest advantage to low lying resorts that have struggled with warmer-than-average temperatures at lower elevations all season. Talking of which, Mayrhofen got 60cm of snow and has 25cm of cover at resort level now, one of its deepest bases all season, as is the 125cm now up top, so the Snowbombing Festival in April may be perfectly timed for snow cover despite being right at the end of the season. At the other end of the Austrian ski areas altitude scale the Kaunertal glacier is back on top of the snow depth table with a 353cm base. France Chamonix reported that its base depth had leapt a couple of metres to over 6.5m a week back. We weren't sure if this was an error (as it was a sudden 2m jump) but they are still reporting it and ongoing huge snowfalls – around 2m in the past week. That huge base of more than 22 feet at present (665cm) is right up top, down in resort it's still 25cm – so a bit of a gap. Although Chamonix's figures are exceptional the numbers for the rest of France are also very good. Avoriaz and Val Thorens both posted over a metre of snowfall and most other areas 40-80cm. Many of the altitude resorts now have well above 3m at their bases and 3m or so on upper runs, so again they're well set for the rest of the season – still more than two months at some centres. Resorts below about 1200m are less well endowed with the white stuff, as all season, but at last have 20-40cm of snow in most cases now down at resort level. Italy The trend for the Dolomites to get more snow than the Italian Alps which began last week has accelerated this with some huge snowfall totals in the past seven days. Cortina d'Ampezzo leads the way with 1.65m (five and a half feet) of fresh snow this week, followed by Arabba with 125cm (just over four feet) but it's only marginally ahead of many other areas in the region, some of which (including San Martino) reported 60cm and even 80cm accumulations in 24 hours last weekend. There was plenty of some snow in the Alps too on the Western side of the country and La Thuile on the French border in the Aosta Valley has the deepest base in the country at 290cm (just under 10 feet) but has had only 10cm of fresh snow. Switzerland Switzerland has had a very snowy week in common with the other big four Alpine nations. Although it's been a pretty good season all winter here, and particularly since New Year, some areas in the West (Leysin, Villars, Crans Montana) got less of the early season snow as did resorts in the East, but for a second week these have been the leading beneficiaries of all the fresh snow with a metre of fresh at Leysin, 90cm at Gstaad, 70cm for Villars and 60cm for Arosa and St Moritz. Andermatt has the deepest snow in Switzerland now at 390cm, Crans Montana has 360cm. Scandinavia Not much snow reported this week in Scandinavia but conditions remain good across the country. Norway got the most new snow with 20-40cm and bases are near the 1m mark at most areas there but up at 2.5m at Voss, although it only got 5cm fresh this week. Ski areas in Sweden got 10-20cm of new snow but there was none reported in Finland no new snow. Again most have about 1m bases. Pyrenees The Pyrenees didn't get quite the big accumulations that some forecasters expected last weekend with 5-25cm of fresh cover the norm in Andorra over the last seven days. Bases in the principality remain around 1m, with the deepest base at Arcalis 1.5m. On the French side though some huge falls of 60-80cm have just been reported in the past 24 hours at Cauterets and St Lary. Eastern Europe A similar story to that of recent weeks (and in some cases months now) in Eastern Europe with not much fresh snow reported. Bulgaria appears to be having a particularly lacklustre winter with not much fresh snow since the start of the New Year; with 20-30cm Pamporovo seems to be faring worst with Bansko and Borovets still claiming 1m bases. Further north there have been a few centimetres of snow in Slovakia and the base is 50-70cm at Kranjska Gora in Slovenia with 10cm fresh this week. Scotland Scottish centres have had another largely good week with mostly stable conditions, pretty much all terrain open at the five Highland centres. The Easter Holidays are now three weeks away so the hope is that the great weather continues and the good conditions make Easter the bumper period half term was rather than the write-off Christmas and New Year were. North America Canada Another not terribly snowy week in Canada with the biggest accumulations posted by ski areas on the East and West coasts once again. The biggest falls were in fact in Quebec in the East where ski areas continue to regain lost ground after the slow start to the season. There was 40cm of fresh snow at both Mont Ste Anne and at Tremblant which both have 1m bases now – the best of the winter so far. There was about a foot (30cm) of fresh at Whistler on the BC coast on the other side of the country, the largest snowfall in the West. Fernie, also BC, still has the deepest base in Canada at 318cm (10.5 feet) after another 10cm fresh. Most Alberta and BC areas got 10-25cm of fresh this week. USA The huge snow falls forecast for California a week ago pretty much lived up to expectations with around four feet of snow (1.2m) reported at Squaw Valley and Mammoth Mountain and similar falls across the region. The snow continued west in to Colorado and Utah although accumulation volumes diminished to nearer a foot with many areas reporting 30-40cm of snow there. Mammoth now has a base of 4.2m (14 feet) and is hopefully looking good for a return to the mid-late spring skiing in to May and June for which it is famous but hasn't been able to offer the past few winters. Alyeska in Alaska continues to 'out dump' the rest of the world with a 513cm base, the deepest on the continent and it recently passed the 700-inch season-sow-fall-to-date mark taking it near to the 18m mark at – 1788cm. It's still looking much less good on the East though with snow cover diminishing and only a 20-50cm base at Killington in Vermont. |
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Looking at the forecasts this morning it's a pretty clear choice if you want a high chance of freshies.
There does look like a lot of snow coming in for Zermatt BUT the forecast models have been having a bit of struggle this week working out which of two possible weather systems is going to dominate from mid-month. So expect some big changes in the forecasts as this (hopefully) settles down and becomes clearer over the next couple of days.
Well, you can't have lots of snow without a few blizzards so identify what it is that frustrates you and address it; if it's visibility then the right goggles can make a huge difference. And wearing the right kit (so you're warm without being wet, etc.) helps hugely.
Not necessarily typical but certainly not unusual; and can be the other way around of course... something to do with weather systems swirling around a rather large mountain or two.. 8) Nice choice to have though, and good snow at both... but Z the best bet for powder. |
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Hello Alexa,
Our partner for Ski Hire are SkiSet, who have several shops in Val Thorens. If you go to this page :- SkiSet Val Thorens Click where it says Shops and you can access a map of the resort. It looks like the shop "Goitschel Sports IV" is close to Club Med (assuming there is only one Club Med in VT!). Any good hire shop will happily swap your skis over for a different model if you find the ones they offer you are not wide enough for you. |
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Probably not Snowmageddon, as there'll likely be more traffic coming down than going up, BUT almost certain that the road up from Bourg will be snow covered and slow. Latest forecast is steady snow until about mid-day followed by a few clear spells but possible heavy snow showers for the afternoon. The ploughs will be busy, the supermarkets full of people looking for snow-chains, and someone, somewhere will wet themselves with excitement... Good book, a few snacks and enjoy the view from the queue! 8) Absolutely no sympathy whatsoever though; next week is looking pretty damn peachy! :mrgreen: |
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We were apparently a little premature in calling the end of the half-term hols, at least for some areas!
This update just in from Phil, currently in Flachau :-
Thanks for that, and FWIW, we're with you on the last point! Definitely time for Austria to move into the 21st Century there... 8) |
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