J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by admin

Tony - you're right, there'll be no snow whatsoever in St.Anton and if I were you I'd offload your chalet place for whatever you can get for it (couple of tenners do you?).

Seriously? Get a grip man!

Snow (or lack of) on the 11th November is no indication of the season to come, whatsoever.

A few places got nearly two metres of snow last weekend; much of the Pyrenees got half a metre, and Warren's boys and girls have been skiing powder up in Saas Fee in the last few days. None of which means diddly-squat for the season as a whole.

Last year my lad and I were skiing freshies at 1,000 metres in Samoens before Xmas... bound to have been an epic season then... it barely snowed again until April.

You can guess at what the snow'll be like in a week's time, but everything can change completely in a fortnight.

(but if you're still worried, I don't mind taking your holiday off your hands)

OldAndy - the only time to panic is when you arrive and there's no snow; even then you should only panic if the bar is not open.

As widely forecast, last weekend was marked by some major snowfalls at altitude in the Southern French Alps, the Pyrenees and the Western Italian Alps. Accumulations of One and even Two metres of fresh snow were reported in places, with some torrential rain and flash floods at lower altitudes. The avalanche risk has been, and remains, extremely high in affected areas and large, spontaneous slides have been observed.

In Europe the weather quietened down as the week began, whilst in North America the last couple of days have seen a major snow storm hit the far North West (Alaska).

European Weather and Snow This Coming Week

Mild weather continues to prevail across much of The Alps at present, with temperatures noticeably above the seasonal average and little precipitation. Although we are approaching mid-November, mild spells at this time are not unusual and are no indication of the winter to come.

The forecast models are giving hints of a cooling off in a weeks time, and a possibility of further snows for the Southern Alps, but these indications are outside the reliable timeframe. Keep a weather eye, but remember it's early days yet.

Andi282 wrote:Looked at the past history and I should have nothing to worry about.

This.

It's all quiet on the Western Front for now, but an awful lot of snow can fall in a couple of weeks.

If the worst comes to the worst you could always hike up to Val Thorens and ski there... :wink:

Keep looking forward to your cheap week on the snow - it will happen!

It's a long-held ambition of ours to ski in Alaska one day, but we're definitely going to wait for the current snow storm to clear.

With the pressure equivalent of a Category 4 Hurricane, a 2 metre storm surge and structure-damaging winds, the storm is currently pounding Alaska.


Picture: The National Weather Service - Alaska, via Accuweather

Over at Accuweather they've christened this a "snowicane" and you can read more about it here.

A series of storms is predicted to follow this one into Alaska and down into North West America! :shock:

Meanwhile, over in Europe... all is quiet.

M. Tinsley wrote:Is your jacket still for sale?

Still for sale - have PMed you.

OldAndy wrote:why the helmet polarises people like nothing else?
:?:

Please step away from the dangerous polarisation... 8) :twisted:

Let's try and keep this thread cool (like our heads!).

For some excellent coverage of the research and stats regarding helmet use, I recommend a read of ski-injury.com.

Here are links to their pages on Helmets and some of the latest findings from statistical analysis presented at the International Society for Skiing Safety, 2011 conference

Pretty much what we all felt, but in summary...

To date research has shown that helmets are effective at protecting against the majority of mild/moderate head injuries but hard evidence has been lacking that helmets can protect against more serious injuries such as skull fractures.

FWIW I hope they don't become compulsory but I ran out of reasons not to wear one about five years ago. Modern helmets are light, ventilated and about a million times more comfortable than wearing a hat... and a good one costs about the same as a days skiing.

It's pretty much accepted that they reduce the chance of minor head injuries - which are just the sort of injury that can become very serious, very quickly when you're getting cold and a long way from a medic.

I think bandit has a lovely picture of a snowhead wearing a rock in their lid... :thumbup:

This weekend is looking interesting (at altitude anyway)...

Whilst there wasn't a huge amount of snow for Europe this past week, snow storms in North America were widely reported - with significant falls along the East Coast and in Colorado. La Nina conditions continue to influence the Americas, whilst Europe waits for the full onset of winter...

European Weather and Snow This Coming Week

Starting today, the European Alps and Pyrenees look set for some pretty unsettled weather which will last through the weekend. Although temperatures remain milder than the seasonal average, they should start to fall through the start of next week.

The major feature of the coming weather, particularly to the South and West of the Alpine area, will be the precipitation. Very heavy rain is forecast, which will fall as snow above around 2,500 metres - starting later today. The snow line will fall as we move into next week, perhaps to around 1,800 metres (in the West) by Tuesday. The Eastern Alps (Austria) will be much less affected, but will still see falling temperatures through the next seven days.

We expect major falls of snow above the freezing level throughout the next few days - with local accumulations at altitude well in excess of One Metre in many Western Alpine ski areas. Of note are the falls forecast for the early openers like Tignes and Zermatt. If you are in the mountains this next week, please take extra care - the avalanche risk will be very high in affected areas.

Roads above and around the snow line will experience major disruption, and lower levels are likely to be affected by very heavy rain at times.

If you're not familiar with them, our Country summary pages allow you to see a comparison of the snow forecast over the next 48 hours and include tables of the Top Ten forecasts (by snow depth). The J2Ski Snow Forecast pages for France and Italy are looking particularly fun today!

Remember you can now get regular (daily if you wish) snow forecast updates by e-mail - just visit Your Profile on J2Ski for the options.

This thread went off course and is now closed.

For the latest discussion of Ski Helmets - go to The Ski Helmet Thread - 2011