Snow Sports Thread 2017-18

hellarda · 10 Dec 2017 at 20:56

Just come back from a week in Tignes (out repping with NUCO), snow was great for the first few days and it was perfect bluebird. Was getting a bit rocky and icey towards the end though. Left resort Friday eve in a blizzard. Forecast for this week is promising - I'm back out there on Saturday so should hopefully be really good conditions after the ~1.2m forecast for this week!!

Got a week in VT in January aswell and then in San Anton 4th March. So excited.

Amp34 · 18 Dec 2017 at 01:55

Conditions are a bit scratchy here at the moment. Almost record amounts of early season snow, but the last two weeks have been warm with no new snow so lots of ice/hardback on lower slopes and no powder and fairly hard further up. Still good coverage though and there’s supposed to be a foot or so of snow in the next few days so hopefully that’s going to liven things up a lot!

D3K · 23 Dec 2017 at 12:31

Anyone had experience of French resorts when trying to communicate in English only? Last few interactions in France with the locals have put me off the entire country. Saying in French that I speak little French, and would it be ok to speak English isn't enough it seems.

On another note, are there any gear sale events in the UK? I used to get really great cheap gear at events in Osaka when they would pitch up stalls in the hanshin tigers baseball stadium. Would be great if something similar here.

Jokester · 23 Dec 2017 at 12:38

Aye, I’ve found a couple of times people could be a bit arsey but wouldn’t be enough to put me off going back. Don’t really expect it in touristy places. This was in Les Menuires/Val Thorens.

DereksDontRun · 31 Dec 2017 at 17:37

weird, anytime I've been in France and tried some pigeon french they've been generally quite happy (and then they usually reply in English). Anyone that doesn't speak English usually gets by with finger pointing and some Google translate app, but I'm genuinely yet to find many rude people.

anyway, just got back from a week in Pila, Italy and was good snow, but sod's law the heavens opened on the last night and the transfer day back home looked epic. oh well, there's next time...

D.P. · 2 Jan 2018 at 07:18

Alps having a wild time, huge dumps of snow but freezing level swinging form valley floor to 2400m at times giving rain to the summits followed by sudden re-freezes, all accompanied by storm to hurricane force winds at times and very changeable and dangerous snow conditions. This set to continue for at least the next week.

I got out sunday afternoon for a short tour up Leysin, snow changed from slurpy mush, to crunchy crust to blue ice as I ascended. Large glide cracks everywhere form the heavy rain event the day before. Coverage is still exceptional for the time of year above 1500m Off to by my 3yo some skis this evening, so cool to see ow excited she is. She is even more insistent than I am on hitting the slopes ASAP! Weather looks fair this weekend so hopefully we will get out. Biggest issue is it is hard to book a single day/half day lesson for our kids. You can book every saturday for the entire ski season for only 270CHF though, so might just do that.

DereksDontRun · 2 Jan 2018 at 22:45

D.P. said:
Alps having a wild time, huge dumps of snow but freezing level swinging form valley floor to 2400m at times giving rain to the summits followed by sudden re-freezes, all accompanied by storm to hurricane force winds at times and very changeable and dangerous snow conditions. This set to continue for at least the next week.

sounds rife for potential avalanches - freeze/thaw creating a solid icy layer for any new snow to slip off easily, compounded by high winds, meaning loose snow will be blown and caught in terrain traps, so far greater volume of snow in a small area than just normal snowfall. Add to the mix giddy punters rushing to the hills thinking it's amazing as it's the most snow this early in the season for years, plus the trend of people wanting to go off piste carefree with split/powder boards. I hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't sound amazingly safe.

Maccy · 3 Jan 2018 at 05:14

Beautiful day’s skiing in Lake Tahoe today, shame I’m only here for the one day. Will have to come back and check out more of the resorts in the area!

D.P. · 3 Jan 2018 at 07:03

DereksDontRun said:
sounds rife for potential avalanches - freeze/thaw creating a solid icy layer for any new snow to slip off easily, compounded by high winds, meaning loose snow will be blown and caught in terrain traps, so far greater volume of snow in a small area than just normal snowfall. Add to the mix giddy punters rushing to the hills thinking it's amazing as it's the most snow this early in the season for years, plus the trend of people wanting to go off piste carefree with split/powder boards. I hope I'm wrong, but it doesn't sound amazingly safe.

Avy risk is also swinging about wildly. Full depth wet slabs, powder and dry slab all at different altitudes, aspects and times of day depending on if you were in a mild sector or not.

Back to warm and wet currently; snow level at 2300m - above many top lifts, but will drop to 900m tonight, back to 2300m tomorrow morning before drying out. A mild and calm weekend.

Django x2 · 3 Jan 2018 at 10:28

Quick Ski Pass question. If we're planning on staying close to Moriond (Courcheval 1650), what, if any, benefit is there in having the 3valleys ski pass? Are they all interconnected by gondolas?

Bazzards · 3 Jan 2018 at 10:32

Yup all connected. Had a great trip last year skied from Val Thoren through Meribel and onto Courcheval before returning. Massive ski area.

Django x2 · 3 Jan 2018 at 10:34

So worth the extra few coins? Is there a best place to get passes? Actual CHV want EUR290pp for 3V passes

Bazzards · 3 Jan 2018 at 10:44

Not sure about best place to get passes. I was staying in Val Thoren, so didn't spend much time in Courcheval/Meribel so may be worth the extra coin to get higher up the mountain also don't think there is a huge cost implication for an all in pass. I would say do it.

Jokester · 4 Jan 2018 at 10:17

Val Thorens looks to have been buried overnight again with fresh snow.

McBain · 4 Jan 2018 at 10:22

Deux Alpes this Saturday, looks like they've had a lovely bit of snow in the past week and some more forecast, should be good! :cool:

D.P. · 4 Jan 2018 at 13:29

McBain said:
Deux Alpes this Saturday, looks like they've had a lovely bit of snow in the past week and some more forecast, should be good!

Rain down low though, also hurricane force winds throughout the alps. Trees getting blown over at low level, not helped by completely water logged soil.

poosemon · 4 Jan 2018 at 13:35

Django x2 said:
Quick Ski Pass question. If we're planning on staying close to Moriond (Courcheval 1650), what, if any, benefit is there in having the 3valleys ski pass? Are they all interconnected by gondolas?

Purely depends on your ability, if a beginner wouldn't think you would get massive value for money out the extra outlay (could spend on some 1 to 1 extra tuition ontop of lessons to get your standard up quicker). If you ski most grades of slopes and arent particulary fussed if you have to go down blacks then the full 3V pass is definitely worth, an awesome ski area. Stayed in Val T a couple of years back and we were over to Courcheval etc quite frequently and could easily get over there mid morning and then work our way back later on the way back.

Meribel is a PITA to pass through if conditions are sketchy as lower then the other resorts so gets mushy and a lot of traffic.

Were off to Les Arcs in March this year, one of the remaining larger areas in France i haven't been to yet so looking forward to that!

McBain · 4 Jan 2018 at 15:44

D.P. said:
Rain down low though, also hurricane force winds throughout the alps. Trees getting blown over at low level, not helped by completely water logged soil.

I did see yesterday and today that quite a few of the runs/lifts were closed, did look windy! Hopefully that'll be long gone by the time I get there.

D.P. · 5 Jan 2018 at 12:22

Just a tad windy:
https://www.facebook.com/severeweatherEU/videos/2146587888897634/

poosemon · 6 Jan 2018 at 16:15

D.P. said:
Just a tad windy:
https://www.facebook.com/severeweatherEU/videos/2146587888897634/

Saw that yesterday! better them than me, very suprised lift was running with those conditions. When in tignes/Val D last year lifts closed in significantly better weather then that, meant we needed to be a bit creative with our route/piste map reading to return back without dropping to resort and bus...