To ski or not to ski - just had big row

[msmatcha]

Ridiculous first world problems row but still...

I want to book a last minute ski holiday in the Easter holidays. Maybe Courchevel or similar. DH says conditions are awful, everyone is cancelling, would be an insane thing to do. I looked at webcams and I see snow! But he is insisting that there is no frozen base so the snow will be gone in days. Says he's spoken to people who have recently returned but won't say which people! Arghghghgh!

So I'm asking you lovely lot - please anyone who has recently been skiing - what are conditions like where you are?

Oh yes you're right snowballer - eBay will hopefully be my friend. Never tried vinted but will have a look.

Thanks skigirl- will check out Decathlon too.

We will drag the ski gear boxes from the garage this weekend and see what lies therein.

I love La Rosiere!
We've been numerous times!
Skiing over to Italy is so much fun for a pizza/gelato lunch. Your beginners might be able to do it by the end of the week!
L'Antigel was always a lovely mountain restaurant for lunch - hopefully still is! Have a fab time!

@msmatcha
I've sold all mine and kids old ski gear on Vinted at exceptionally cheap prices!
Make sure they can send it to you promptly though!

There is a lot of snow forecast for Tignes / Val d'Isere in the coming week. We got back from there last weekend, having had awesome snow across the whole resort. It's high enough that you can always find something decent to ski on. And if the snow there isn't great, you can pretty much guarantee everywhere else will be worse!

Oh really? That's sooo exciting stringbean, thanks for telling me! One end of lounge now covered with ski gear including four giant plastic boxes, one each. I can't open these till I clean all the dust off the top.

Keep an eye on the webcams @msmatcha - we watch them obsessively . Snowing as I type www.tignes.co.uk/webcam.htm

If you're staying in Val d'Isere the snow can get soft at resort level in the afternoons, but you have the option of returning via ski lifts - there are cabins from Bellevarde and Solaise so you're not forced to ski. The runs from Bellevarde in particular are challenging - Face is a steep black, and don't be seduced by Santons - it's graded blue but is a narrow gully and best avoided if it's busy. You can always ski to La Daille if the snow is good and hop on the ftee shuttle bus back to Val d'Isere.

Santons sensibly got reclassified Red a few years ago and consequently I’ve found it’s a bit less hectic. Also I was there in Feb and the L (the only blue back from the Solaise side) also seemed to have completely disappeared, it’s still on the piste map but on the mountain all signage and posts had been removed so not sure what’s going on there. But great resort you’ll have a fab time!

Completely missed that about Santons this year @FlounderingFruitcake - makes sense though. It was closed for most of the week we were there due to avalanche risk. Noticed a few of the runs have been re-graded this year: the top part of Crocus in Tignes is now a black (many years ago it was part of the main run into Val Claret and was a blue): Melezes into Tignes 1800 was a blue for many years and is now red. I know their piste grading is often considered harsh compared to other resorts, so maybe they have different standards to adhere to now?

Yup that’s the other thing about the Santons, it’s very often closed. I also noticed that the Signal is now a black rather than a red (not that that leads anywhere). There’s still some odd grading going on though, like the OK is a ski racing downhill piste (just for the ladies these days because the men now use the Face) and somehow it’s a red 🤷‍♀️

Thanks so much for the tips about the runs. I am totally unfamiliar with the area and we will have a wobbly young blue skier with us.

Current picture from our balcony in La Rosiere which is just down the valley from Val d'Isere and has very similar conditions at the moment! We had about 30-40cm yesterday and it's still snowing now.

Wowwwwww snowballer!!! That is soooooo wonderful to see! I can hear the beautiful crunch of fresh snow.

Was skiing untracked powder^^ on the piste this morning. Was ridiculous! Beautiful.

Oh I'm so jealous @snowballer ! Looks amazing.

For anyone watching the thread and thinking of going to Austria in the next 2 weeks, conditions are similarly excellent in Zell am See, Saalbach and Hinterglemm, with plenty of new snow and very few people around.

DD off to Via Lattea for her school trip tomorrow. DH has already been 3 times this season but I'm getting twitchy..

We had the same discussion!!!!! We've ended up booking Portugal! But only last night.

Try Italy maybe and do a bit of both???

Currently in Tignes and there’s tonnes of snow and about 40cm dropping in the next 24 hours! The most I’ve ever seen this late in the season, we’ve got friends staying in our place from the 22nd April for a late trip and I’m confident there’s going to be more than enough snow, even then.

We are here and the conditions are fabulous! The row seems a long long time ago now. Soooo grateful for the encouragement I found on this post.

Wonderful to hear! Has your DH conceded you were right?

Yes Rhubarb he did several times!

Oh and to the PP who introduced me to downloading, I mentioned this at least once a day. Should we or shouldn't we download. Got a kick out of it. Once we raced - I downloaded and he pelted down the slope. I watched him from the bubble.

That was me!

Who won?! Has to be the skier, surely?

Also, this is exactly what skiing is all about! Finding the fun!

A highlight of our trip was getting the last lift up, which meant we had the slopes completely to ourselves on the run down.

This, in turn, meant that we could say yes when the DC announced that they wanted to ski backwards, as there was no one else around to bother. That whole final run down was spent being playful, with them skiing backwards and us keeping an eye on them, laughing and weaving around each other. It was glorious.