Worldwide Mountain & Snow Sports Discussion 2023/24

[carinthian]

First run of the season yesterday after a pole.. Lifts open in Zauchensee on Friday. Looking good.

C

[DavidS]

10 hours ago, carinthian said:

First run of the season yesterday after a pole.. Lifts open in Zauchensee on Friday. Looking good.

C

Beautiful tracks Carinthian. Hope the stellar conditions hold until February.

[carinthian]

17 minutes ago, DavidS said:

Beautiful tracks Carinthian. Hope the stellar conditions hold until February.

Must be the nearest thing to paradise gliding through virgin snow with no one else in sight ! Where are you going to in Feb ?

C

[John Stevens]

What a fantastic start to the season, long may it continue…I am hopeful that Cesana Torino in Italy will be perfect in February

 

[DavidS]

41 minutes ago, carinthian said:

Must be the nearest thing to paradise gliding through virgin snow with no one else in sight ! Where are you going to in Feb ?

C

Normally Obrertauern, but this year we have a change is scenery and are going to Solden. 

[carinthian]

2 minutes ago, DavidS said:

Normally Obrertauern, but this year we have a change is scenery and are going to Solden. 

Obertauern over the valley from me, about 30min drive . Know it well. Never been to Solden but know its big ski-ing !

C

[Norrance]

4 hours ago, DavidS said:

Normally Obrertauern, but this year we have a change is scenery and are going to Solden. 

Obergurgl up the valley from Solden is my brother and his family's fav ski resort in Austria. They are heading there again at the beginning if February 2024. Have been to Solden once and enjoyed some good skiing and apres ski.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Norrance

[Blessed Weather]

I learnt to ski in Solden whilst on a school trip aged 14 - you can imagine the fun that was had. A great resort although spread out along the steep valley.

Another snow storm to hit the Alps later today and into Saturday and with tightly packed isobars it could be blowing about a bit. For lower level resorts and pistes this could start as rain today before colder air digs in tomorrow so turning to snow before dying out. Then a bit of a milder week ahead before maybe a repeat of today/tomorrow taking place in a week's time (i.e. 8th/9th Dec). Overall this is a great build-up to the new season.

Big picture (Sat): 

Precipitation (Fri):

850hPa (Sat): 

Freezing level (Fri):

Freezing level (Sat):

Sources: Meteociel and Netweather Alps Charts.

 

 

[carinthian]

Fantastic first Sunday of the new season . Lifts open and some early skiers taking advantage of deep powder snow and low temps. Down in the village -10c and -15c on the top run. A break in the  early Advent snowfall at the moment. Will get some photos later.

C

Edited December 3, 2023 by carinthian

[johnholmes]

This at the Lauberhorn start area, think there are 4 or 5 lifts open this weekend

https://www.jungfrau.ch/webcams/lauberhorn/#/

 

[carinthian]

8 hours ago, carinthian said:

Fantastic first Sunday of the new season . Lifts open and some early skiers taking advantage of deep powder snow and low temps. Down in the village -10c and -15c on the top run. A break in the  early Advent snowfall at the moment. Will get some photos later.

C

As promised some images from the village today.

C

[carinthian]

This picture taken in 1989. Defo not me on that drop. Anyone guess where it was taken ?

C

[DavidS]

40 minutes ago, carinthian said:

This picture taken in 1989. Defo not me on that drop. Anyone guess where it was taken ?

C

Corbets Couloir - Jackson Hole

[carinthian]

3 minutes ago, DavidS said:

Corbets Couloir - Jackson Hole

Spot on. Crazy gang 1

C

[carinthian]

Lovely day for a spot of lunch on the local mountain. Warm as well.

C

[carinthian]

Currently I am over in Skipton for . This is a picture this morning on my local mountain and my favourite spot the Hubertusalm, which is currently snowed in. A huge fall of snow during the past 24 hours but freezing level quite high around 1300. A lot of rain below 1000m. Not the best condition to be out in the moutains with a high avalanche  risk.

C

[Blessed Weather]

Driving to Val Cenis (1,450m - 2,800m) in the south of the Savoie Region of France tomorrow for a week's skiing and the trip looks well timed for the return of colder weather in that part of the Alps. Some decent snowfall forecast for the coming days too, so hopefully pistes will be nicely refreshed after the Christmas/New Year hammering. The downside will be the usual problem of poor visibility during any periods of snow, but better that than skiing with a lack of snow and icy conditions. For the curious, I've marked the location of Val Cenis on the map. It's right on the border with Italy and from the top station the viewing platform provides spectacular views.

Here's a comparison of the freezing level at midday today Thur 4th versus midday next Tues 9th:

 

Source: https://www.netweather.tv/charts-and-data/alps

Snowfall accumulation over the same period:

Source: https://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/arpege.php?ech=3&mode=45&map=300

Hopefully I'll get some nice pics to post during the week.

[J10]

Looking forward to the snow pics Malcolm. It does look as if the the weather is set to turn very much colder over the Alps into next week

Plenty of snow expected over the next 72 hrs, but then turning much drier and hopefully brighter to follow.

[Norrance]

My daughter and her partner are off to Chamonix in a week or so and are hoping that there is a fresh fall just before they go as from experience that area can be a bit of a bugger if it is icy. Looking good for some snow right now then dry and cold.

[Frazzled]

Currently skiing in La Rosiere in France. My first ski trip in 4 years. Great snow conditions, but amazing weather contrast between the French and Italian side (La Thuile). Cloud and snow banked up on the west side in France, fog and tough flat light skiing. But sunny, mostly clear on the eastern, Italian side, great conditions to find the ski legs after a 4 year hiatus. Looks like it’s going to get sunnier/ drier but stay cold this week. Couple of pictures to show the weather contrast.

[Blessed Weather]

On 07/01/2024 at 15:37, Frazzled said:

Currently skiing in La Rosiere in France. My first ski trip in 4 years. Great snow conditions, but amazing weather contrast between the French and Italian side (La Thuile). Cloud and snow banked up on the west side in France, fog and tough flat light skiing. But sunny, mostly clear on the eastern, Italian side, great conditions to find the ski legs after a 4 year hiatus. Looks like it’s going to get sunnier/ drier but stay cold this week. Couple of pictures to show the weather contrast.

Hope you're having a great week Frazzled. You hit the nail on the head with conditions in France (your comment in bold). Here in Val Cenis the wonderful snow conditions are difficult to enjoy when most of the time the 'clag' has settled over the mountain and you end up skiing blind through the murk. The forecast here is for much of the same up to mid-week with Weds seeing some very cold air giving -6C in the village and -16C at the top. Then the sun comes out later this week, so hopefully some fantastic conditions to enjoy before heading home. Some pics from today showing the view from the telecabin up the mountain into the murk, and the view towards the top of the telecabin and top restaurant during a brief clearer spell.

[Frazzled]

40 minutes ago, Blessed Weather said:

Hope you're having a great week Frazzled. You hit the nail on the head with conditions in France (your comment in bold). Here in Val Cenis the wonderful snow conditions are difficult to enjoy when most of the time the 'clag' has settled over the mountain and you end up skiing blind through the murk. The forecast here is for much of the same up to mid-week with Weds seeing some very cold air giving -6C in the village and -16C at the top. Then the sun comes out later this week, so hopefully some fantastic conditions to enjoy before heading home. Some pics from today showing the view from the telecabin up the mountain into the murk, and the view towards the top of the telecabin and top restaurant during a brief clearer spell.

Similar day in La Rosiere today. Some very thick fog, but a very distinct top to the cloud at about 2000m above this the views were stunning but real ‘pea soup’ on the French side. Attached a couple of pictures looking south towards Val D’Isere/ Tignes and the poor visibility when you disappear in the fog. Looking forward to the rest of the week with the big European pattern change and hopefully some clearer weather for the rest of our week.

[johnholmes]

First practice day for the Lauberhorn races taking place today; nice backdrop!

https://www.jungfrau.ch/webcams/lauberhorn/#/

 

[Frazzled]

Another mixed day in La Rosiere, France, La Thuile, Italy. Weak cloudy sunshine and strong winds made skiing difficult in France, with the pistes getting quite wind blown and icy with flattish light. Took the decision to take the long buutton tow through the Petit St Bernard Pass to La Thuile. This was brutally windy and very few other skiers making the link today. La Thuile was cloudy with some nice fresh snow but zero visibility so went down through the trees to the village before making the long  trek back to France. Pictures show the good conditions in the Italian trees and the week sunshine looking SW through the Isere valley to Bourg St Maurice and Les Arcs (on the left) . An interesting place to ski with the option to cross the main spine of the Alps into Italy for some different weather. Highly recommended. Looking forward to some winter sunshine tomorrow and the views of Mt Blanc.

[Staffordshire]

How would the GFS/UKMO/GEM look for snow chances in the French Alps would anybody know?

I will be at 1800m in Avoriaz and a little concerned at some of the charts showing warm uppers hanging around.

Is the trend in the past 24hrs constructive for my chances out there?