Worldwide Mountain & Snow Sports Discussion 2023/24

[WINTRY WALES]

On 10/01/2024 at 17:44, Staffordshire said:

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?

I wouldnt mind knowing the answer to this.

Travelling to Morzine and Avoriaz next week and would like to keep an eye on the forecast for snow and cold  

[carinthian]

11 minutes ago, WINTRY WALES said:

I wouldnt mind knowing the answer to this.

Travelling to Morzine and Avoriaz next week and would like to keep an eye on the forecast for snow and cold  

@Blessed Weather knows these parts of the Alps well. Sure he will be able to give you some sort of indication. However, we all know winter charts can change very quickly. Hope you have a great ski-ing holiday.

C

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

I ski’d Val D’Isere last year, when you get flat light it makes skiing so much tougher.  We went by train too, recommend it.

20/1 i’m returning to Austria, my favourite ski country.  Going to Kaprun.  Looks very cold first 36 hrs then a reasonable warm up….could be Spring like….but it’s difficult to tell up the mountains , wind direction can make huge differences

 

BFTP

[WINTRY WALES]

1 hour ago, BLAST FROM THE PAST said:

I ski’d Val D’Isere last year, when you get flat light it makes skiing so much tougher.  We went by train too, recommend it.

20/1 i’m returning to Austria, my favourite ski country.  Going to Kaprun.  Looks very cold first 36 hrs then a reasonable warm up….could be Spring like….but it’s difficult to tell up the mountains , wind direction can make huge differences

 

BFTP

Love Austria too! Mayerhofen my favorite ski resort to date

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

1 hour ago, WINTRY WALES said:

Love Austria too! Mayerhofen my favorite ski resort to date

Mine was Kitzbuhel, beautiful village and great Apres…..but Saalbach for skiing….micro climate giving incredible ski conditions 

 

BFTP

 

BFTO

[WINTRY WALES]

9 minutes ago, BLAST FROM THE PAST said:

Mine was Kitzbuhel, beautiful village and great Apres…..but Saalbach for skiing….micro climate giving incredible ski conditions 

 

BFTP

 

BFTO

Will try it Blast! Spring like conditions look to be spreading from the end of the week through to end of Jan / early Feb....damn it!! Want to see snow falling from the sky  

[Blessed Weather]

On 10/01/2024 at 17:44, Staffordshire said:

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?

 

7 hours ago, WINTRY WALES said:

I wouldnt mind knowing the answer to this.

Travelling to Morzine and Avoriaz next week and would like to keep an eye on the forecast for snow and cold  

I use the full range of models we have available to check 'big picture' forecasts in the run up to my trips, so that includes the mains models such as GFS and ECM, but for more local forecasts also ICON (German model) and Arpege (French model) as they have as good a reputation as any for Alpine forecasts and show most of the Alps except far east of Austria.

Netweather uses GFS to produce its Alps charts, so that's a useful tool as it has detail such as freezing level, precipitation, etc.

The Alpine country met offices also worth a look. Here's the Meteo France 15 day forecast for Morzine and for Avoriaz.

I use the French newspaper Le Dauphine (online mountain edition) for resort snow depths. Here's the link and you need to look at the Haute-Savoie for Morzine and Avoriaz depths. The upper slopes looking good for both at 125 cms.

I can fully understand your disappoint that forecasts are currently suggesting a milder week for the Alps with the possibility of some precipitation on Mon/Tues but unfortunately freezing level an issue, followed by a sunny remainder of the week. Hopefully there's enough time for forecasts to adjust for the better. And looking on the positive side, with current depths there will be plenty of good skiing on upper slopes and skiing in sunshine always a pleasure. I hope you both enjoy your trips.

I didn't get around to posting these, but the sun was out for my last couple of days last week and I captured these views of 'up-top' and looking down the valley:

 

Edited January 15 by Blessed Weather
Removed spurious link.

[Frazzled]

On 15/01/2024 at 13:28, Blessed Weather said:

 

I use the full range of models we have available to check 'big picture' forecasts in the run up to my trips, so that includes the mains models such as GFS and ECM, but for more local forecasts also ICON (German model) and Arpege (French model) as they have as good a reputation as any for Alpine forecasts and show most of the Alps except far east of Austria.

Netweather uses GFS to produce its Alps charts, so that's a useful tool as it has detail such as freezing level, precipitation, etc.

The Alpine country met offices also worth a look. Here's the Meteo France 15 day forecast for Morzine and for Avoriaz.

I use the French newspaper Le Dauphine (online mountain edition) for resort snow depths. Here's the link and you need to look at the Haute-Savoie for Morzine and Avoriaz depths. The upper slopes looking good for both at 125 cms.

I can fully understand your disappoint that forecasts are currently suggesting a milder week for the Alps with the possibility of some precipitation on Mon/Tues but unfortunately freezing level an issue, followed by a sunny remainder of the week. Hopefully there's enough time for forecasts to adjust for the better. And looking on the positive side, with current depths there will be plenty of good skiing on upper slopes and skiing in sunshine always a pleasure. I hope you both enjoy your trips.

I didn't get around to posting these, but the sun was out for my last couple of days last week and I captured these views of 'up-top' and looking down the valley:

 

Great set of links. For anyone going to the US, This is the best weather site I used to use. They have a great written forecast for each resort/ region. I see they also now have an app. 

Steamboat Daily Snow Forecasts | OpenSnow

OPENSNOW.COM

---

Steamboat snow forecast and ski conditions report, updated daily by expert forecasters.

 

[Staffordshire]

Does anyone have an updated idea on conditions in Avoriaz 1800 on Thursday? Meteoblue seems to show it as snow most of the day now.

[Norrance]

My daughter is arriving shortly in Chamonix this morning for a weeks skiing. Conditions looking perfect tomorrow with fresh snow yesterday and blue skies with temps just under freezing at town level. Some rather varying conditions to come in the next week with varying temperatures and some new snow but also rain and a possible high of up to 14C by later in the week. Anyway she has promised to send some pics.

[Norrance]

Well it looks like they have lovely conditions.

1.  Watching the hang gliders

2. Her partner in the usual snowboarding position.

Edited January 20 by Norrance

[Norrance]

High winds in Chamonix too. Blew my daughter off the side of a run and she thinks she has torn her acl. In hospital now. At least she wont have to wait as long over there before being seen.

[Blessed Weather]

5 minutes ago, Norrance said:

High winds in Chamonix too. Blew my daughter off the side of a run and she thinks she has torn her acl. In hospital now. At least she wont have to wait as long over there before being seen.

Oh no! What a bummer.

[Norrance]

@Blessed Weather

It can't be all that bad. She is in the pub with her pals right now albeit on crutches.

View to the glacier a little earlier.

 

edit. Hope she has good insurance. 590€ for ski mobile down the mountain, 50€ for the ambulance,200€ for crutches and knee splint plus whatever the hospital charged.

Edited January 23 by Norrance

[Ravelin]

@Norrance Ouch, don't know what'll hurt more, the injury or the bill. 

Booked channel tunnel crossings for start of April in the hope of getting the motorhome down to the Alps. If the snow holds out then we want to get skiing for the first time since the Xmas immediately before the first Covid lockdown. That seems a ridiculously long time for something I love doing so much. 

If the snow isn't looking good then we'll change plans. I'm finally getting my wife on board with the idea of going with the flow with the motorhome, and not having to have everything booked months in advance. 

Edited January 23 by Ravelin

[Typhoon John]

We are off to the Dolomites next week but it is looking very warm considering it's the end of Jan. Hopefully the snow holds up.

[carinthian]

Horrid conditions in the Austrian Alps today. Hair drier in full force. 11C in village today, 8c at 2000m , 16c in the valley. Drip drip . Locally , towards Vienna reports of 19c.

c

[Chasbrown]

  @carinthian are conditions likely to improve soon?

[John Stevens]

skiing in Cesana Torinese/ Sestriere in just over three weeks…first time since March 2019…. Taking a small school group from the UAE The conditions improve

[carinthian]

  @Chasbrown I think by weekend the wind will have dropped and night temps will fall below freezing  but day temp still on the mild side. Should be plenty of sunshine on offer over the Alps into next week. Therafter should see a return to colder conditions during early February and hopefully some fresh snowfall for the peak season.

C

[Norrance]

Sunny at 10.5C today in Chamonix. Was even warmer yesterday and all snow at town level has gone!

[Big Dave]

  @carinthian Oh my word!   8c at that altitude, late Jan   

I cant wait for my children to be older so that I can make skiing in Europe a more last minute affair, without having to plan and book a trip many months ahead. 

I personally prefer the lower villages within the treeline rather than those high exposed areas >2000m but to book snowsure well in advance, that's what it seems you have to do for now. 

[carinthian]

  @Big Dave Sad to say. Old traditional resorts at around 800m will go out of business. Cancellations coming in now thick and fast. No new snowfall for 10 days . Just hope Mid- Feb delivers some proper cold.

[johnholmes]

Much the same in Wengen, here by the village railway station; fine at altitude (by the start gate for the Lauberhorn

DHO Live Cameras and Weather - Downhill Only Ski Club

DOWNHILLONLY.COM

---

From Wengen and the surrounding area. Time to think about Insurance ? MPI brokers provide members with a discount, click on the link above to obtain a further online discount. […]

 

[Metwatch]

Over the Pyrenees today. 

Translation of the post: "Today I am returning from France, after spending two weeks there for work reasons, when crossing the Pyrenees you can see how little snow there is for January, ski resorts that are sad to see, let's hope that the situation changes soon with snow and rain.

 

Edited January 27 by Metwatch