J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by SwingBeep

Dorsaz Sport http://www.dorsaz-sport.ch/en/rental-centre/rental-in-winter.html next to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise gondola station. You can leave your equipment there overnight free of charge. Useful if it's just you and the kids.

Altibus, https://www.altibus.com/index.aspx or train to Bourg St Maurice and Navette to Tignes.

Dave Mac wrote:It might just be considered relevant that all the hire shops in the Arlberg are owned by one family....
That, at least was the case three years ago.

This is highly unlikely, all the shops in Lech have different owners.
http://www.firmenabc.at/strolz-gesellschaft-m-b-h_lGP
http://www.firmenabc.at/sportalp-gmbh_BQyU#crefo
http://www.firmenabc.at/johann-pfefferkorn-gesellschaft-m-b-h-co-kg_FDvX#crefo
http://skibex.at/warum-skibex/ (sole trader, only opened this season)

Strolz is by far the biggest outfit with an estimated turnover of almost €12 million.

It would be interesting to find out how and by whom the "suggested" rental prices were determined
http://www.lechzuers.com/rental?_ga=1.96952351.1068645385.1457272713

The cheapest place will likely be Sporthaus Pfefferkorn as they are member of the Sport 2000 purchasing association.

Admin wrote:Saas Fee has now joined Engelberg, which got a foot of fresh snow this week, with the deepest base depth in the country at 90cm.

Doesn't sound like your having a good day Admin, maybe you're coming down with cabin fever.

I think you meant to say 350cm. The Swiss resort reporting the deepest snow depth at the moment is Lauchernalp in the Lötschental, which is reporting 372cm http://www.infosnow.ch/~apgmontagne/?sid=17fb18af41d2823c4e695000ddfb8ed1&lang=en&pid=43&tab=web-wi

They probably take the depth from the SLF's automatic snow depth measurement station at Gandegg, which is showing 401cm at the moment (45cm fell today) http://www.slf.ch/schneeinfo/messwerte/stationsdaten/rk42_sd_c_EN it's located directly above the d in Leukerbad

To take your mind of all that powder you might like to watch this documentary about the place https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO0aQSK76Z4 it was made in 1974 and is narrated by Jack De Manio, bet you don't remember him. No fat skis or avalanche transceivers back then.

Ranchero_1979 wrote:Some reports are now having 90" of snow in Chamonix over next week. Should be more than enough to put us back on top.

You're already back on top! The Compagnie du Mont-Blanc is currently reporting 625cm at the Aiguille du Midi, they received 1.5m overnight, but as the wind is blowing at 100km/h I suspect a lot of it didn't fall from the sky.

http://www.compagniedumontblanc.fr/fr/presentation-des-sites/aiguille-du-midi

The other areas didn't do anywhere near as well http://www.chamonet.com/snow/

The piste map shows a car park next to the lift http://www.dovesciare.it/sites/default/files/cartina-carona.jpg It's impossible to say what the road conditions will be like, the current forecast for Sunday (Sabato) doesn't indicate that there will be heavy snowfall before early evening. http://www.centrometeolombardo.com/content.asp?contentid=1150&ContentType=Previsioni , but this could change.
If you're in a hire car make sure the chains are the right size and are not broken before you set off. You can keep an eye on the road conditions by looking at the local webcams http://www.centrometeolombardo.com/content.asp?CatId=367&ContentType=NowCasting

Patrick Nairz has now posted a detailed analysis of the avalanche on the Tyrolean avalanche warning service blog http://lawinenwarndienst.blogspot.ch/2016/02/detailanalyse-des-lawinenunfalls.html

A total of 20 people were involved, a party of 12 divided into 2 groups of 6 and a group of 8, the first 2 groups completed the tour without problems and had assembled at the point marked by the red circle on the 6th photo. The group of 8 were at the point marked by the red x when the avalanche happened, 4 of the dead were swept into the black ellipse and the 5th was found at the point marked by the black cross.

A snowpack analysis including stability test confirmed the known problem of a ground-level weak layer. It is to be found on shady slopes above about 2300m throughout the region and no improvement is in sight.

The nationality of the guides hasn't been confirmed yet as the Alpine police are still interviewing the survivors.

"Lawine war gewaltig"

"Die Lawine in der Wattener Lizum war gewaltig, und sie löste parallel dazu weitere größere Schneebretter in der Umgebung aus", so Patrick Nairz vom Lawinenwarndienst Tirol. Demnach war der Lawinenkegel zwei Kilometer breit und fünf Meter hoch.

"Avalanche was huge"

"The avalanche at Wattener Lizum was huge, and it triggered several other large slab avalanches," said Patrick Nairz from the Tyrolean avalanche warning service. The resulting avalanche deposit was two kilometres wide and five metres high.



http://lawinenwarndienst.blogspot.ch/2016/02/lawinenabgang-unterhalb-des-geiers.html

These guys don't make this stuff up!

Guides usually have liability insurance. It's usually organised via the guides association, the Tyrolean guides policy covers them for € 8 million, providing they aren't found to have been negligent. http://www.bergfuehrer.at/tirol/aktuelles/polizze_haftpflichtversicherung.php?navanchor=2110015

As the people involved in this accident were from the Czech Republic they might well have employed Czech guides, in which case their insurance cover probably won't be as high.

Your right about the problems of booking trips well in advance and the weather not playing ball. There are lots or instances of pre-booked trips taking place in sub optimal conditions, if the guide cancels he doesn't get paid.