Worldwide Mountain & Snow Sports Discussion 2016/17

[johnholmes]

7 hours ago, carinthian said:

This is on Cypress Mountain taken yesterday. Vancouvers local mountain and only 30 min drive from downtown. What a place to live ! My son who lives there reports snow cover in the city one of the best for quite some winters now.

 C

fabulous cloud scape as well

[Blessed Weather]

Google "street view" is coming to the pistes of the Alps! What a great development - I've often wondered what the pistes (runs) are like when I'm considering visiting a new resort. With this development we'll soon be able to go to Google maps, select the resort and "street view" and move around the pistes from our armchair! I bet the resorts will be wanting conditions to be perfect when Google visits them, with no brown patches in sight! 

This from the French media: http://www.ledauphine.com/hautes-alpes/2017/02/09/le-google-street-view-trekker-sur-les-pistes

The "Google street view trekker" on the slopes
In the near future, the virtual tour of most of the Hautes-Alpes ski areas will be accessible from Google maps. A first for the Department. This technology was reserved until now for the great historical sites of the country (the castles of the Loire Valley or Versailles) or abroad. In connection with Google and on the initiative of the Agency of Development of the Hautes-Alpes, the tracks and snowy landscapes of the stations will be digitized thanks to a "Trekker". A 23 kg mobile camera with fifteen lenses that allow 360 ° shots to offer users the possibility of wandering from their computer through the stations. This tool to promote territories was tested this week by the resort of Ancelle using a snowmobile specially equipped for these shots.

 

Back to the here and now, and it continues to be a very reasonable season for resorts in the southern Alps of France and Italy with another moderate fall of snow in the next 48 hours, e.g. Val D'Isere (France) 12 cms and Gran Sasso (Italy) 15 cms.

Arpege snow accumulation 48 hrs to Sat 11th Feb

[carinthian]

Nice cloud picture taken the other day. "Flames across our local mountain, The Aineck"

C

[Typhoon John]

I am off to Austria in a weeks time.  I'm not particularly thrilled by the current modelling which is looking warm and probably a bit Spring like conditions.  It's a shame since in late January it was looking pretty good.

[Reefseeker]

On 08/02/2017 at 13:11, Reefseeker said:

As Les Arcs gets busy for half term, the snow has been falling steadily since yesterday:

My goodness, Les Arcs is absolutely packed on the cameras, hoards of people in the resort. I see what you chaps and chapesses mean about queues for lifts; compared to one week ago the resort is unrecognisable it is so full. You are quite right to hope for more snow, as despite the good snowfalls a few days ago, this lot will soon get it well worn down. @Blessed Weather Google and the local authorities may wish to hold off those piste pics for a while and hope for the white stuff to come down again soon!

 

[Blessed Weather]

1 hour ago, Jonathan F. said:

I am off to Austria in a weeks time.  I'm not particularly thrilled by the current modelling which is looking warm and probably a bit Spring like conditions.  It's a shame since in late January it was looking pretty good.

Which resort are you going to Jonathan?

[Typhoon John]

5 hours ago, Blessed Weather said:

Which resort are you going to Jonathan?

Zell am See with the family.  I've not been there before so looking forward to trying somewhere new.  I think the good thing is you can go up onto the Kaprun Glacier if necessary so we should be able to find some good skiing regardless.  But I do like it when it's wintery in the village, back in January I saw on Twitter the lake was frozen enough to walk across the other side.

[Reefseeker]

1 hour ago, Jonathan F. said:

Zell am See with the family.  I've not been there before so looking forward to trying somewhere new.  I think the good thing is you can go up onto the Kaprun Glacier if necessary so we should be able to find some good skiing regardless.  But I do like it when it's wintery in the village, back in January I saw on Twitter the lake was frozen enough to walk across the other side.

If you walk on the lake, and hear the ice making cracking noises underneath your feet, do NOT think of The Omen II! It is lovely there, I seem to remember little buses to take skiers up to the skiing area surrounded by snowy pine trees:)

[J10]

Looking at the snow totals, there has been a fair amount of snow across the Alps over the past week, with some part of Frane and Switzerland seeing over 50cm of snow, and most resorts across the Alps having excellent on-piste conditions.

http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/snowreports/snowconditions.aspx?sortby=Country#.WJ4OnTin7fA

The next ski blog will be updated tomorrow morning, 

[Blessed Weather]

2 hours ago, Jonathan F. said:

Zell am See with the family.  I've not been there before so looking forward to trying somewhere new.  I think the good thing is you can go up onto the Kaprun Glacier if necessary so we should be able to find some good skiing regardless.  But I do like it when it's wintery in the village, back in January I saw on Twitter the lake was frozen enough to walk across the other side.

A wonderful resort and a great choice for a family trip Jonathan. I'm sure they will enjoy it. I've been lucky enough to have skied there twice and had two summer holiday's there as well - and every trip has been thoroughly enjoyable! It's a lovely town, set on the lake with lots of shops, restaurants and bars. It's not a high altitude resort but it's got the fall-back of a short(ish) but often full ski bus ride to Kaprun and a fast cable car up onto the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier where there's plenty of skiing to be had and fabulous views from the restaurant at the top. You must take the family up there for a day, but make sure it's a sunny one to enjoy the views!

And talking of the weather, I suspect your week might be high pressure dominated, so maybe freeze/thaw conditions but plenty of sunshine to ski in? And with pistes currently in great shape, I would hope they would hold up OK for your trip.

Here's a photo from my 2010 trip, looking down on the fun park and a couple of the drag lifts/runs up on the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier. I hope you have a great holiday!

[J10]

Latest Ski Blog now up.

http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=news;storyid=7961;sess=

Sorry to harp on about high pressure but I think this is the story of the winter so far.

 

 

 

[Blessed Weather]

Whilst high pressure is keeping the Alps largely dry, low pressure off the coast of Portugal is providing some good snowfall over the next 48 hours for it's only ski resort - Serra da Estrela - as well as the 29 ski resorts of Spain.

Arpege accumulation to Mon 13th Feb  Spanish Si Resorts

Looks lovely at Spain's most southerly resort of Sierra Nevada Pradollano today. Lot's of people enjoying skiing on some good looking pistes!

Edit: Spanish Ski Resort Map courtesy of onthesnow.co.uk
http://www.onthesnow.co.uk/spain/map.html

 

Edited February 11, 2017 by Blessed Weather

[Paul]

Wow - an 863cm base at Mammoth in California. Can't say I can remember anywhere having a bigger base than that before now. Wonder what the world record is?

http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=ski;resort=S227~Mammoth Mountain Ski Area;sess=

I'm just contemplating taking a trip somewhere in March, thinking of doing somewhere different to the usual haunts, and only have time for a week so will stick to Europe. Anyone any views in terms of resorts in Spain, or Andorra? Or maybe any hidden gems in Austria or France?

[Blessed Weather]

1 hour ago, Paul said:

Wow - an 863cm base at Mammoth in California. Can't say I can remember anywhere having a bigger base than that before now. Wonder what the world record is?

http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=ski;resort=S227~Mammoth Mountain Ski Area;sess=

I'm just contemplating taking a trip somewhere in March, thinking of doing somewhere different to the usual haunts, and only have time for a week so will stick to Europe. Anyone any views in terms of resorts in Spain, or Andorra? Or maybe any hidden gems in Austria or France?

That is incredible Paul. Base (even upper) depths that Alpine resorts can only dream of.

With a mild high pressure setting up over Europe in the medium term, it might be prudent to hold your search for a destination until the next 10 days have played out?? But I too like to visit different haunts so will certainly give it some thought.

[Paul]

Thanks @Blessed Weather - that's probably not the worst idea. Have got an eye on Soldeu as they're doing well for snow at the moment, but will keep a watch on things over the next week or so. 

[carinthian]

Stunning morning in Katschberg. A good beer and ski day coming.

 C

[Blessed Weather]

Sadly an avalanche at Tignes today has killed 4 people with 5 still missing, presumed dead. Extracts from Le Dauphine:

An avalanche in an off-piste area of Tignes (Savoie) left at least four dead on Monday. Five people are still buried. The Courchevel CRS has "no hope of finding them" alive. The avalanche risk was 3 on a scale of five, described as "marked" by Météo France. According to the station, "today at the end of the morning at 10H35 a 400-meter-wide avalanche broke out in the off-piste sector of Tovière.
At 13 H 13: "Five people were still buried with a heavy accumulation of snow on them," says the Albertville CRS, pessimistic about the possibility of lifting them alive.
Since the beginning of the season, there have been 13 avalanche accidents in the Alps and the Pyrenees, which resulted in a total of three deaths. Last season, there were 45 accidents, resulting in a total of 21 fatalities.

The scene in Tignes this morning:

Report in French: http://www.ledauphine.com/savoie/2017/02/13/tignes-une-avalanche-en-hors-piste-emporte-plusieurs-skieurs

EDIT: It appears from later reports that early fears of 5 people missing were wrong. But tragically three of the four people who lost their lives have been confirmed as a 48-year-old pharmacist, his 15-year-old son and his 19-year-old son-in-law who lived in Aix-en-Provence.

Edited February 14, 2017 by Blessed Weather

[J10]

Terrible News.

[carinthian]

Dream morning on the Katchsberg.

C

[carinthian]

37 minutes ago, carinthian said:

Dream morning on the Katchsberg.

C

Some more pictures from this mornings run.

 C

[seaside 60]

On 1/18/2017 at 10:13, carinthian said:

Temp down to -19c last night in the nearby valley town of Tamsweg. Currently -10c on the mountain. Picture looking SSW with the Ankogel Group in the background. The runs you see are just one side of the mountain and we a total of 3 sides of mountains to ski. My location can just be seen next to the far run on the right side ,approx. half way up at 1750m asl.

 C

Just per chance is the Neilson hotel to be seen on here.

So you are in that group of buildings on the right run see out and in, not bad.

[carinthian]

13 minutes ago, seaside 60 said:

Just per chance is the Neilson hotel to be seen on here.

So you are in that group of buildings on the right run see out and in, not bad.

Yes, virtually ski to back door. The biggest building is The Cristallo Hotel, seen in the photo on the right next to the twin towers ( apartments owned by the hotel ) shaped like a cones. The blue run and most lifts just across the road from the hotel. You can almost ski right back to the locker room without a sweat. A great hotel, especially families.

 c

 C

[MattTarrant]

From viewing the snowfall records at Mammoth Mountain this year will likely be a record breaker. According to the 'Los Angeles Times' the first four months of the 2009/2010 season they received 307 inches of snow, that is 42 inches less than this current season. It must also be noted that the lower base depth is extremely high this season. According to Mammoth Mountain Twitter Page January was the snowiest month on record with 20 feet of snow falling....yikes!

Link to 'Los Angeles Times':    http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-mammoth-mountain-july-fourth-20170211-story.html

Link to Mammoth Mountain Historical Snow Records: http://www.onthesnow.co.uk/california/mammoth-mountain-ski-area/historical-snowfall.html?&y=2009&q=base

A lovely picture of a snow bank from 31st of Jan 

 

Edited February 16, 2017 by MattTarrant

[seaside 60]

2 hours ago, carinthian said:

Yes, virtually ski to back door. The biggest building is The Cristallo Hotel, seen in the photo on the right next to the twin towers ( apartments owned by the hotel ) shaped like a cones. The blue run and most lifts just across the road from the hotel. You can almost ski right back to the locker room without a sweat. A great hotel, especially families.

 c

 C

Sorry another question when is the last week snow permitting the lifts open until.

[carinthian]

7 minutes ago, seaside 60 said:

Sorry another question when is the last week snow permitting the lifts open until.

Its usually early April for the hotels, depends when Easter Falls. Because the resort is fairly high good snow can last well into April and the lifts will stay open for the first week at least.

C