Snow conditions 2011

[LIZS]

Just how bad is it at the moment ? Heading to French Southern Alps beginning of April -currently 60cm at 1850m and 140cm at top. Will it last ? Any snow due in the longer term forecast for next week ?

Mme do you think we'll be ok in VT?

Am thinking Birkenstocks rather than Uggs for an evening

It is a good bit higher, I think. If you compare webcams in Avoriaz which is 1800m, and VT at over 2300m, you can see the difference.

Chamonix, Avoriaz, Megeve, Chambery - the season is done, I would say.

But then anyone who books April in those places does take a risk, and the Easter break is particularly late this year.

And :o at Birkies statt Uggs.

Ach it's a break away child free so if we only manage skiing in the morning that's fine by me. Sunbathing drinking and reading in the afternoons!

In that case, neither Birkies nor Uggs, but sexy heels.

I live in heels but worried for ice.. Arse over tit is not a good look

Here in la Rosiere they are hoarding snow ready for the next two weeks and the lifts are running slower today do that we don't get as many runs in .

We skied in Italy this morning and the conditions were excellent still.

How do you "hoard" snow? If it melts, it melts. Surely?

Just back from Aosta, Pila has snow but as everyone else says stay high and get on the slopes early doors. Courmayeur has similar conditions as does Cervinia. it was 25 degrees in Aosta, bloody wierd coming down from the mountain in ski gear and stripping off the layers frantically. 13 degrees at resort level!

Leonie
Alpe d'Huez has slopes much higher than here in Morzine/Avoriaz area I think.

And yes, with Easter being so late this year it was always going to be a gamble. It must be so gutting to shell out so much money and then the conditions being so poor.

Tbh, the season has been so incredibly bad, it might not have been much better if you had managed to get here 2 or 3 weeks ago. From what I am hearing, the further south (towards Grenoble/Italian Alps) the better it gets.

You chose one of the higher areas, not much more you could do really. No one could have known that it would be this bad.

It was 23°C today here. We were sitting in tshirts in the garden.

Leonie
We were on one of the high mountain passes last summer and it was just 4°C so you will still need warm clothes for the mountain.

Flipflops and thermals. :o

Clam, they have put piles of snow at the side of some of the pistes but they are not spreading it yet. They are making us guys make do with what we have then do a nice fresh layer for the new guys arriving tomorrow.

Ah! That explains something that puzzled me at half term when we went. The cannons were busy all night, and there were piles at various points on the pistes that presumably the bashers hadn't spread.

hi

Just got back. Sorry to say what snow there was left was disappearing visibly before our eyes and coming past Alpe d' Huez this morning there was little in evidence from down below. We had plenty on piste but high risk of avalanche (one occurred on our first day, British skier lucky to be rescued with broken legs) and risk was 4 for rest of the week. A speed skiing event planned for next week has already been cancelled. Earlier in the week conditions were ok but by Friday a number of runs and lifts had been closed even above 2000m as bare patches and deep puddles appeared and it cut up very heavy going by 2pm. Waterfalls and fast flowing rivers are now order of the day. It is surreal skiing in 20 o c+ , blue skies with flowers blooming and birds singing. Funnily we really enjoyed the week. They plan to stay open for another 2 weeks but runs to resort will prove a struggle to maintain in any sort of reasonable condition.

As a resort Risoul is great for beginners/intermediates but less for the more advanced. We found no lift queues but it wasn't local holidays and felt like the end of season. Lift system itself is a bit slow, mainly long chairs with some very steep drags. Seemd to cater well for little kids as they even had an accessible nursery area up on the mountain and some nice green runs thorugh the trees once they progressed. Very compact village, with a few hotels, several apartment blocks and a few shops and bars but not much else. All year luge was a great hit !

We went to Megeve and came back last Thursday. Most lift closed there except the highest runs. We drove 45 mins away to Chamonix which was fabulous. We also drove to Les Contamines 25 mins away.
The warmest ski holiday I have had yet.. too warm really. Somewhat gutted that our local Megeve pistes were all closed.
TBH I dont plan to take a ski trip this late in the season again for risk of little snow. Plan to go next Xmas/Jan when wintry snow guaranteed.

Skifit
How disappointing. Not surprised though, we were down at the beach this weekend, and there even a few hardy souls in the water. It was 23°C.

Still another 10 days before we go.... Although did hear that they were forecasting a big dump his week..... Fingers crossed eh

In the Chamonix valley, only 1 black and 1 green open on Brévent and you have a walk uphill to the green, more open at les Grands Montets but 1 hour wait early morning for chair or cable car to mid-way point, very very busy, pistes quite dangerous and plenty of rocks hidden under snow, starts morning as ice and by 11am has turned very slushy. Prefer sitting by pool in the residence and going up cable cars as a tourist to the skiing, at least Chamonix valley has loads more to do than skiing, that's why we come here, apart from the cheap kis passes for large families. It really is quite weird being here with the temperature above 25C every day in the valley.

Just been looking at webcams where we were last week and conditions have signiificantly deteriorated since Friday. Think any snow now will be too little too late and very unstable.

Skiing a bit better today at Grands Montets, but only 4 runs still open, and just useless for beginners - the blue is red standard, reds are blacks and black is XXXX. If we had chosen a resort which had no alternatives to skiing, think I owuld have just not bothered coming. Thank God the Chamonix valley is spectacular and never at a loss for alternaitive activities - tomorrow morning skiing and in the afternoon climbing in the trees, evening in the pool.

Natation
If all else fails, you can pop into Geneva for the day. I blogged about city tour with DC recently, here if you fancy a bit of town life.

There has been snow in Val Thorens!!!

Hope it is more than where we were last week - it has made no difference at all and looks decidedly green and brown on webcams!