J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by verbier_ski_bum

Too low, so there is a risk of no or almost no snow left by Easter, considering that it's very late this season. On the other hand due to no snow for so long, now there are talks of the late winter etc. which is a possiblity of course, but to be on a safe side go somewhere higher and North facing at this time. Chamonix would be a much better bet for end of April as most of the time there is no ski-able snow left below the tree level by end of April, so Megeve won't have any advantage.

I haven't been to too many places but overall I always found piste maps pretty accurate where the number of runs is concerned, though there is no guarantee that particular run will be open. i noticed some discrepancies in location of the runs - sometimes they are shown further or closer to each other than they actually are and it can be little bit confusing for people not familiar with the area. The number of runs is not the best indicator of the quality of skiing on offer anyway. Argentier only has three reds, three blacks and couple of blues, but that will keep most people occupied and entertained and leave them with a sence of achievement if they ski them all, because all blacks are real blacks and reds will be blacks in most other places, no cruisers there, once you can ski a black in Argentier you can ski a black anywhere. Terrain, things like vertical drop and pitch angle will be more important than number of runs. some resorts can be more oriented towards families who are learning to ski, runs are generally gentle and there would be less of them, but families with kids will like it - you can't get lost and you won't feel too intimidated. In Argerntier they simply won't be able to have a good time, it's a very unflattering area that asks for some skills and mileage that would give some confidence to ski it. If skiers are still at the stage when they ski across the hill and can't keep it down all the time they will struggle, on the other hand if they like a challenge, want to improve and invest in instruction, from this place they'll return head and shoulders above the skiers they were before - and all that on a handfull of runs. ON the piste, so you can imagine what the off-piste is like over there. In most resorts there would be some off-piste area so local guide should be able to help with the boredom. plus skiing only takes part of a day, and what's around resort and what's in it may play a role in a choice.

Looks OK, I would be more concerned of the altidute, too low IMHO, hit a warmer week and the snow between 1500-800 will be disappearing quickly.

It was so much snow everywhere around here at that time that it was difficult to get it wrong. Anyone could have made the same forecast for Christmas:) Fingers crossed some snow falls next week because the sky looks annoyingly clear so far.

I don't find J2J reports very reliable. For days when it was showing "verbier reports powder snow" verbier couldn't report powder snow and it was saying clearly on their website, no new snow and none so far is expected, though some clouds are coming. I find it quite curious that whenever you open a snow-forecast, if it shows snow, it will be showing it for the last two days shown. So on Monday it would be Friday and Saturday, on Tuesday it would be Saturday and Sunday, the next day you check they will move it to Sunday-Monday etc. Which can be interpreted that no snow is really expected, but it's OK to give people some hope - it's always 5 days ahead, no matter when you look:)

I can't see any problem with only one home run. I thought it was typical as a mountain would have one access point, even if there is two the second one would be on the other side. Plus there is no need to ski to the base. Lifts can do the job just fine:). But last time I checked there was no "beginners carnage" even when crowded. Ski bases were a bigger concern.

I have a luxury if skiing every weekend which means I don't have a spectacular choice of the resorts unless I want to spend too long in a car. Verbier is for me any time, great terrain and fun place. I like skiing in Chamonix too, but it has a more hardcore feel about it and is not a village but a proper town. The only other place I skied is Zermatt, it's spectacular but I found skiing a bit boring there.

Verbier is fairly high so it doesn't struggle as much as some lower altitude resorts. But off-piste is virtually non-existent now unless you are prepared to hike and hike far. We found some stashes not of powder but still of more or less decent snow in Gentianes area, but it got busy in the afternoon after we were spotted from the cable car and I don't think anything will be left by Saturday. Nendaz is not a good bet in the conditions, it's low and the freezing level is supposed to go up to 3000m this week. Most people that stay in 4 Vallees are skiing on a Verbier side now because snow is better here. So wherever you go, choose a higher resort preferably facing North - pistes would be still in good shape. Maybe even go to Chamonix. Off-piste is struglling as everywhere but black runs in the Argentier area should make up for the lack of off-piste. Facing North and high.