Worldwide Mountain & Snow Sports Discussion 2023/24

[carinthian]

This was the beautiful ski village of Rauris in the valley of the Golden Eagle close to the border of Salzburgerland/ Carinthia and over looked by the Gross Glockner Massive. I have been here a few times and it is certainly worth the visit. Generally quiet and can be booked from the UK with Crystal Ski who have some really good hotels on offer.

C

 

[carinthian]

Zauchensee yesterday. Ski -in/ Ski out to the pub !

C

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 carinthian Haha I see a snow man!

[Metwatch]

Nice fall of snow at last for the higher regions of Navarra and Pyrenees, northen Spain in recent days. Snow line down to 800-700m, up to 30-40cm around 1000m, 2 feet at and above 1200m, and a meter deep above 1500m. More to come tonight and Saturday for similar elevation.

Edited February 29 by Metwatch

[Metwatch]

One of the best falls of snow for the southern most ski resort in Spain of recent years following the recent storm Monica

[Blessed Weather]

Enjoying lovely weather here in Val Cenis, French Alps. Typical Spring conditions with the best skiing in the morning but very slushy on lower slopes by the afternoon. There's a suitable approach to the conditions - get on the slopes early for a long morning's skiing and then sit on the restaurant terrace enjoying a long lunch and beers in the sun. 

View up to the end of the valley where in the summer you can drive up and over the col into Val D'Isere:

Lots of snow at the top:

La Fema restaurant terrace, lunchtime today:

 

 

[carinthian]

Warm sunshine, fohn winds and desert dust has brought an abrupt end to the ski-ing season in these parts. Very little snow left above 1500m. Any ski-ing on offer is hard work with very soft snow piste and not that enjoyable. Overall, the past 3 months have been incredibly mild with record temps recorded in the mountains. The piste workers have worked wonders to keep the season going as long as it has. An early Easter was expected to provide an end of season bonus for the ski-ing business but sadly the punters have decided to stay away for the most part as a picnic in the forests sounds more attractive. I have postponed my trip back to blighty as the prospect of wind, rain and chill not my cup of tea. So hopefully early June for a visit ? I do miss the Great British pub, tv and food ( the best in the world by a country mile ). So boys and girls, thats me signing out on this thread until next season.

C

[Blessed Weather]

Wow! And there were skiers on some of those chairs! Cervinia, Italy, on the 30th March. What a nightmare.

 

[carinthian]

@Blessed Weather  Malcolm, I think this has been the warmest season in the Austrian Alps generally since I came out here in 2005. Locals think the warmest ever ! Sure France has done a lot better this season going by reports ? It has been hard to tap into any cold air source this season for the Eastern Alps Spring very early here with snow line beyond 1500m this morning. Cattle coming out as well to grass.

 

 

 

[Blessed Weather]

 carinthian

Hi carinthian, I hope you're well. Yes, the Copernicus Climate Change Service report confirms that Europe has been mild this winter, and guess what? Yep, the Alps suffered the biggest anomaly versus the longer term average:

"During the boreal winter of 2023/2024, there was a striking contrast across Europe. Above-average temperatures occurred over most of the continent, with the largest anomalies over the Alps and in southeast Europe."

Source: https://climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-temperature-february-2024

I was lucky to go skiing to the French Alps twice over the season and can confirm that pistes below around 1,800m have been frequently impacted by milder spells and periods of rain. Lots of snow to be had higher up, but as you say, the pisting teams have done a great job over the season keeping lower pistes open. Unfortunately the future looks bleak for lower level resorts, which is a great shame as it's the lower resorts that are usually the prettiest, with their beautiful buildings and delightful skiing through the trees.

 

[johnholmes]

Pretty similar in the Swiss resorts, if the Jungfrau region is typical. Plenty of snow about about 5500ft and surprisingly the runs into the village seemed to stay open. The area shut due to strong winds much of Easter, open now but clothed in cloud.

Slope data | jungfrau.ch

WWW.JUNGFRAU.CH

 

[carinthian]

The Sahara wind made the sky milky on Saturday over much of the Austrian Alps.Warm as well 18c at 4 pm . Snow melt gushing down the mountain streams currently. This is not right !

C

[carinthian]

After an unprecedented warm end to the season, the new trend to snow farming is now in full force at the moment. Remaining precious snow is ploughed into quite large piles and taken to about 2000m level where it is insulated for the rest of the summer with a layer of saw dust or wood chippings. Currently, that is happening right now on the mountain above the village. Its jut amazing what the piste workers can achieve. Its a growing practice to help preserve the ski-ing business against the fast growing temperature rises. Wood chip in abundance in these parts as well. Hopefully, a lot of snowfall coming towards weekend with much welcome lower temps to add to the piles .

C

C

Edited April 15 by carinthian

[ANYWEATHER]

 carinthian between 1940 and 1960 there was an unprecedented lack of snow in the Alps ,worse than today's  fiasco! 

[Arch Stanton]

 ANYWEATHER

Can you provide the source for your claim "between 1940 and 1960 there was an unprecedented lack of snow in the Alps ,worse than today's  fiasco! " please?

This piece of research doesn't substantiate your claim:

Recent Alps snow cover decline ‘unprecedented’ in past 600 years - Carbon Brief

WWW.CARBONBRIEF.ORG

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The duration of snow cover in the Alps is now 36 days shorter than the long-term average – an “unprecedented” decline over the past 600 years – according to recent research.

"They identified episodes over the past 600 years with notably long and short snow cover duration. Some of the longest include the 1440-1460 and 1780-1800 periods, while some of the shortest occur in the low-snowy decades of 1940-1960"

[Methuselah]

 ANYWEATHER What on Earth are you on about?

[ANYWEATHER]

Point being made ,its happened before ,I'm not going into a big debate over it as the climate thread not here. ☺

[Methuselah]

Thank Christ for small mercies! 

[Arch Stanton]

 ANYWEATHER

You made no point, what you did do is choose to deliberately misquote and mislead - behaviour more suited to the Sun or Daily Express comments section, not here.

 

Edited April 15 by Arch Stanton

[Metwatch]

Snow Cover duration in the Alps is on the decrease, even more so than the mid 19th century, A paper on the topic:

Recent waning snowpack in the Alps is unprecedented in the last six centuries

WWW.NATURE.COM

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Snow is an important component of the environment and climate of mountain regions, but providing a long-term historical context for recent changes is challenging. Here, the authors use ring-width data from...

 

The 1950 anomaly might be related to the winter of terror in 1950-51 with a lot of avalanches due to too much snow in a short amount of time.

Winter of Terror - Wikipedia

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

 

 

Edited April 15 by Metwatch

[carinthian]

Found this wonderful photo taken in the snowy 50s in Lech. Definitely old school Apre ! Love it.

 C

[Blessed Weather]

You have to admire the small resorts around Europe who have the flexibility to make decisions about opening and closing based on current snow conditions. The small resort of Feldberg, Black Forest, Germany, 1,450m asl, that I've skied several times, was well and truly shut last Sunday 14th April. One week later with arctic air and heavy snow on the northerly wind and bingo, they're open again for skiing this weekend.

Webcam stills of the nursery slope:

14th  20th

[seaside 60]

 Blessed Weather

Persoanally that is how it should be in these present times.

They had loads snow well early this season and no skiing.

Resort esp small ones should have the option of extra opening early and late.

They pretty much know if its a def cold and snow event so that would attract all the locals not the tourists.

 

[Blessed Weather]

34 minutes ago, seaside 60 said:

They pretty much know if its a def cold and snow event so that would attract all the locals not the tourists.

Hit the nail on the head there seaside. Feldberg has the university town of Freiburg, with a population 240,000, just 40 mins away by car. The resort gets very busy on the weekends with local skiers. It'd be wonderful to live near a resort and be able to do that!

[carinthian]

A period of heavy snowfall has set in this afternoon. Max temp today was 2c but currently below freezing mark. Quite a dramatic change over the past 10 days , from almost barren slopes to deep cover. Even at 800m there is a general good cover. Most resorts now deserted with the season closed. Hotels having a spring clean and staff a well deserved break. The high obital resort of Obertauren over in nearby valley still in operation with wonderful ski-ing to be had but visibility not good in these conditions. Spring warmth expected to return next weekend, so best bet to put the ski- boots to bed for a few more months ! My thoughts are just a waste of snow falling at this time of year but hopefully some will be preserved over the cause of the coming summer heat.

C