Latest posts for the topic "Snow last season..."

Snow last season...

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:41:41 GMT

Today I received a brochure from a small ski chalet company in which they said last season was the "least snowy season in the Alps for 60 years".

Are they correct? My recollection is there was a splendid start with lots of snow, an extremely dry January and February and the end of the season tailed off quickly as it was very mild across Europe.

Re:Snow last season...

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:21:04 GMT

I have to say my worst week for conditions was end of Feb/early March last season, and I also know of lots and lots of people who said January was a disaster, especially in France.
I think it is fair to say that those I know who skied last season said it was the worst they've ever had for conditions.

Having said that, I had the best conditions in the world ever mid Jan in St Moritz.

Note to self: keep choosing the high altitude resorts for guaranteed skiing.

Re:Snow last season...

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:40:30 GMT

My recollection is that it was not an epic season. I was still skiing off piste in the last week of April, and I started with some powdery stuff in December. There are always patchy winters, makes for better skiers IMHO :D

Re:Snow last season...

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:19:56 GMT

Poor snow season but agree with bandit poor snow years does make for better skiers

Re:Snow last season...

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:03:01 GMT

Depends where. Northern France and Switzerland were badly affected as the bad weather never made it north over the Frejus / Mont Blanc ranges. So where Chamonix suffered badly, Courmayeur did well, as did the Milky Way and Montgenevre where I am based. We were blessed with a dump every 2 weeks or so. The April heatwave wasn't great, the south facing and lower slopes suffered but luckily we had more base. Still with temperatures of 20c the snow didn't last long.

For lowers resorts in northern france is was the worst for 60 years with high temperatures and no precipitation in January and the heatwave in April. In some resorts it didn't snow from Christmas eve through until end February.

Re:Snow last season...

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:04:19 GMT

Volf wrote:Depends where. Northern France and Switzerland were badly affected as the bad weather never made it north over the Frejus / Mont Blanc ranges. So where Chamonix suffered badly, Courmayeur did well, as did the Milky Way and Montgenevre where I am based. We were blessed with a dump every 2 weeks or so. The April heatwave wasn't great, the south facing and lower slopes suffered but luckily we had more base. Still with temperatures of 20c the snow didn't last long.

For lowers resorts in northern france is was the worst for 60 years with high temperatures and no precipitation in January and the heatwave in April. In some resorts it didn't snow from Christmas eve through until end February.

Southern Switzerland had some fantastic snowfall, we were in St Moritz early Jan and the conditions were as good as I have ever had it in terms of snow base and piste conditions.

Re:Snow last season...

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 23:45:55 GMT

I had six and a half weeks, all in Austria. On all barring two days, I had really good skiing. OK, I accept that I find joy where others find misery, but people are different. I enjoy skiing on ice, slush and in the rain, it just varies the challenge.
Certainly, I have experienced several seasons with worse conditions, although I can only account for the last 43 years of ski conditions.
I didn't catch any evidence of bussing to different resorts, unlike 2007, where high resorts were turned into lift queues.

Re:Snow last season...

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 07:01:25 GMT

We got really lucky, skied in Tignes in early December and had superb conditions. We ran a trip in Jan to St Anton (I wasn't on that one) which benefited from a well timed dump.
Then in March I was in Val Thorens, when I got there the conditions were very poor (god knows how bad it was in the lower resorts), then it dumped it down for the first time in 6 weeks and we had 5 great days, though by the end of the week they were needing snow again.

Re:Snow last season...

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 08:54:33 GMT

I think it was, generally speaking, a very bad season in parts of France but there was plenty of snow in other places - like the U.S.

We were very lucky. We went ski-ing on the glacier at Tignes on Monday 25th October, for half-term, and it snowed masses just as we were driving up to Tignes from Geneva on the Sunday - so much so in fact that the mini-bus nearly got stuck in the snow because they didn't have their snow chains. There was about a foot of snow that night so there was plenty for the three days we were there. I think that was the first heavy snowfall of the season.

And then we went to Courchevel for Feb half-term and I was getting quite worried about the snow conditions - doing a snow dance and threatening the snow gods with a shot gun. However, we were lucky again and it snowed a tiny bit before we went and then loads when we were there. One day, I can remember, I was ski-ing the whole 3 Valleys with the Ski Club of Great Britain and I could hardly see where I was going because it was snowing so much and there were great lumps of powder everywhere. But later on in the week there were a few signs up warning of thin snow and I think they kept the black Jockeys piste in Courchevel closed all week. But we had a great time - there was plenty of snow for us :D

Ally

Re:Snow last season...

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 13:57:56 GMT

I felt it was a poor season in general, but with some epic moments. Big snow abover Cervina in November, empty slopes and 60cm of powder on Christmas Day in Zermatt, waterskiing in Mayrhofen in April, out of bounds in heavy snow in Engelberg in Feb, rock hard moguls on le Grand Montet in Chamonix in April and picking rock down from the Rote Nase in May here in my back yard. I even learnt how to ride grass and mud as a means to an end. Bought a new board in Feb and killed it by May. I get upset when people complain about conditions, a little adversity teaches a huge amount, improvisation is the name of the game.