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The season is ending better than it started:
Whistler has had about 1m of snow in the last few days, which it needed. Mind you there’s a heatwave coming next weekend with temps in the village set to hit 14.
The Alps reached a new record low for the amount of snow on the ground in February
Any recommendations for a shop in Les Gets or Morzine where I can get snowboard bindings?
Plenty of shops in Les Gets will have bindings, walk through town and you see them in the windows, but I wouldn’t really recommend any of them. The resort is mainly set up around rentals, maintenance and the occasional distress purchase.
Are you there now? Because if not I’d buy away from the resorts if possible.
The shop I trust most is Pure Experience down a Les Perrières - great friendly owner, decent workmanship etc, but even then he’s really rental and maintenance.
@WEJ try The Woods in Morzine, I bought a board from them last month. I couldn’t really find anywhere else decent.
Back last night from a week in Passo Tonale. I wasn't expecting much as I picked it as a beginner resort for the missus. This is my 30th season of snowboarding so I'd kind of written it off before I got there and just wanted then missus to progress.
I ended up absolutely loving it. Did way more riding than I expected and the terrain was great. Helped by about 2m of snow the week before we arrived plus another 50cm over the week we were there.
Really efficient lifts. Nice wide open pistes. Huge descent from 3000m down to 1200m.
The town itself is just a street at the top of a mountain pass but it was much nicer than I expected. Brilliant Apres ski and the prices were insanely cheap even for Italy. A pint of Moretti AND a glass of wine was £7 in total.
Just back from La Thuile yesterday, mostly a good week.
Friday and Saturday conditions higher up the mountain were challenging with very little visibility.
It was also snowing from Saturday lunchtime and was still chucking it down when we left yesterday.
On a side note looking for a bit of advice.
My daughter bought a pair of ski boots last year from Craigdon Sports Edinburgh.
She had them fitted by one of the guys in store.
She commented to him at the time that they were a bit tight around the toes and he assured her they would bed in when she wore them.
First day of the holiday was pretty much ruined for her as they were so uncomfortable looking at the boots later we removed the liner and her big toe was pretty much jammed into the toe box.
So WWSTD and where do I stand with returns etc?
Has your daughter grown since last year? Junior needed new boots every year when growing, exceptionally they laster two seasons.
If not clearly missold but after a year I doubt you can do much apart from slag them off online 🙂
Her shoe size has not changed in the last 4 years at least.
I have mailed them will wait on a response failing that it'll be a visit to the store!
Great to hear all that. We are going on the 23rd for my first ever winter skiing holiday.
We are off to Paradiski on 30 March for 1 week based at Les Coaches for easy access to Les Arcs and wider La Plagne.
After much deliberation we have just booked for the following week, 6 April, at St Sorlin d'Arves, for the princely sum of £700, all in, accomodation in a 6 bed appt with an indoor pool, and lift passes for 4 of us. It could be a disaster of late season speculation, or it could be the bargain holiday that we bang on about for years.
2 years ago we paid £536 for 4, appt and liftpasses in Valfrejus, and had a brilliant time in the Haute Maurienne. Here's hoping that Les Sybelles deliver. Paradiski is a hard act to follow, so expectations are tempered.
@Giant Scum, Most good ski shops will have some sort of fit guarantee. (Ellis Brigham & Snow & Rock do) Check what the shop you bought from has to offer, go back to the shop and see what they can do.
MrsDTS did exactly this with EB in Bristol, they couldn't have been more helpful.
Buying and selling ski boots is quite a tricky thing to get right. Lots of variables and lots of room for error with little scope for correction.
I've done Stubai, Ski Welt and St Anton but looking for a family friendly ski area in Austria? I really don't know it that well as I've always aimed for 2hrs from Geneva airport.
We'll be a group of 6 adults and 5 kids who are all comfortable on Blues. Adults might need a bigger area to not be bored!
We prefer sole occupancy of a Chalet foe the group.
Check out the Hochkoenig Area, Maria Alm in particular. I’m biased as we have a place there but it fits your brief.
If it’s for this season though you might want to head somewhere higher as it’s not a great year for snow in a lot of Austria.
2 years ago we paid £536 for 4, appt and liftpasses
I mean, at that price..... surely lift passes for 4 alone are more than that?! Hell of a deal!
We're heading out in the motorhome again on 20th of this month. Looking like we'll head to Montgenevre again to start with. Quite fancy Serre Che again, not sure what conditions are like there currently?
I don't know about Serre Che and Montgenevre but it has been dumping in Risoul, Vars and Les Orres.
Hi folks,
Driving up to Tignes le Lac on Saturday AM from Lyon. I know Saturdays can be hell for traffic (have previously gone on Sundays which are quieter) - does anyone have any useful insights about timing to minimize sitting in queues (I've got my bip and go in my pocket but suspect that will only be minimal benefit)
Coming home the following Saturday morning - same thoughts on timing.
Planning to stop in Albertville for the hypermarche - any alternative places worth stocking up?
Thanks
The bottleneck is Moutiers to Aime, so your choices are either get through early (traffic will start to build from about 9am) or late. If you can get there early, there's a massive LeClerc just off the autoroute at Aime (it has it's own slip), or there are a couple of big places just as you exit Bourg St Maurice. If you can;t get through early, tkae your time, have a look around, shop in Albertville then go up after the traffic.
Note, if you're on the autoroute when you leave Albertveill you can't get off it. I have no idea how busy the local roads are, but you might consider using those instead of the autoroute to get as far as Moutiers. You're still stuck with the main N90 to get through from Moutiers to Aime though, there's a tiny road that goes RIGHT up but I suspect that wil be closed and even if open, will not be any faster
We’re heading out in the motorhome again on 20th of this month.
I’ll give you a wave at the Eurotunnel if you’re on an early one? 🙂
I’m driving down with the dog, wife is flying down at the weekend. We’re probably going to head to Menuires again, with a day trip over the La Rosiere to see a friend.
The French school hols are over, there won't be bad queues heading up unless there's a lot of snow on the road or closures due to avalanche risk. It'll all be on traffic info sites.
Car and plane, well if your going on a high carbon holiday you may as well do it properly. No heliski in France but there is just over the border in Italy. 😉
Car and plane, well if your going on a high carbon holiday y
Like lots of us in the UK I suspect Edukator... 6 of us so no vehicle to drive all the way down. Picking up a 6 seater at Lyon airport is greener than getting a transfer that likely would need to do 4 legs instead of just 2.
Good to know about the French hols, last weekend looked horrible traffic wise.
Thanks NBT, will take a look at those options on the map and see how we go with traffic.
Holidays may be over but there will still be queues, count on it
Currently on Lago di Garda. Arrived on Sunday and it was pissing it down. Anything above ~1600m is white. Was half tempted to go to Andalo/Paganella with the snowboard rather than ride my bike, but 65€ for a day pass put me off.
Although it's not all good news, unless you want to shred the trails as opposed to the pistes.....
Via Euronews: ‘Ski season is over’: Snowless winter forces Austria’s resorts to turn to summer sports in March
They’ll still order another 20 million “Radfahren Verboten” signs to cover the next couple of years.
They’ll still order another 20 million “Radfahren Verboten” signs to cover the next couple of years.
Do I detect a hint of irony?
Grundsätzlich hat jede Person das Recht, Wald zu Erholungszwecken zu betreten und sich dort aufzuhalten. Das Fahren im Wald (einschließlich der Forststraßen und sonstigen Waldwege) ist jedoch grundsätzlich verboten, unabhängig davon, ob mit Kfz oder Fahrrädern gefahren wird.
"in principle everyone has the right to use the forest for recreational purposes. Driving in the forests is explicitly forbidden, whether with a car or bike."
@susepic, check this thread over on snowheads about Tarentaise traffic...
https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=168883&highlight=
Thanks @nbt, very useful. Had been thinking early start on Saturday, but reading that I might bring it up an hour.
It seems pretty busy here in Tignes for a mid March week, so the discussion about folks coming up because lower resorts have no snow seems reasonable.
Good snow here mostly, but getting heavy below 2400m pretty early in the day. Had a drink at the restaurant below the cable car to the Grande Motte yesterday and it was 6degrees at least in the sun.
@susepic, how was the journey up to resort? What time did you set off and how long did it take?
@nbt, we left Lyon close to midday after a bit of hire car faff (lots of England rugby fans going to the match and then off skiing). It was pretty clear (moving steadily but not stopped) until that moutiers to Aime section where they were controlling the flow with lights (can't remember if that's the Siaix tunnel) Once we were through there it was steady up to Tignes and we were here by 5pm, which doesn't sound too bad. We included a stop at the Albertville intermarche too.
The car hire faff probably saved us an hour sitting in traffic - not sure which is more boring
"They’ll still order another 20 million “Radfahren Verboten” signs to cover the next couple of years.
Do I detect a hint of irony?"
???. There's nothing ironic about that statement at all. Sadly
Dog was enjoying the sun today!
Spring mode fully activated in Les Menuires. The off piste under the Bruyeres lift was surprisingly good and not totally tracked out.
My wife is moaning her bag off that we've not bought our dog this year, that picture isn't helping Phil! We got to the Aire in Serre Che (Monetier le Bains) this afternoon.....17 degrees 😳 Not sure what to expect when we get on the mountain tomorrow, but im assuming slush! Probably heading to Montgenevre early next week, and I'm hoping to shake off a serious bout of manflu that started on Wednesday FFS.
Sorry! Just had a great walk all around resort with him, he’s having a great time 😁
2000m up there was some decent snow this morning, but it’s all very soft & wet by the afternoon, as expected really. I got a decent couple of runs up high in VT but wasn’t in a queueing mood so sacked off Cime Caron.
It’s supposed to be cooling down the next few days & there’s a little bit of snow in the forecast 🤞
Hope the man flu doesn't stop you riding, have a good one!
@phil never mind the hound, that your campy truck?
Afraid not! Mine’s nowhere near as exciting.
Been raining this morning 😢
Ha he's an absolute cracker Phil!
20degrees at 2100 metres in Serre Che today. We had rain in the night here too, beautiful sunshine now though. Never know it this warm before, pistes we're screwed by 10:30! I'll be taking a board not skis tomorrow!
Just back from a week in Flaine, mornings were ok for the first 2 hours, then village level turned to slush. Legs are more tired than normal from working through the slush. There's some really thin patches of snow and exposed rocks in places too. Good luck to anyone who's headed out to any resorts this week!
In Montriond now, first day up at Avoriaz today. Pistes in good shape above about 1600m though could do with a good freeze to set them up as was getting very choppy this afternoon. Looks like it’ll cool off tomorrow with some snow so hopeful for a good day.
@jamesmio just arrived in Tignes VC. Snowing gently and feels cold. Doesn’t feel enough for pow turns tomorrow but will likely mean good groomers.
Forecast is generally light snow and cold temps all week so you shouldn’t need to worry.
First day on the Les Gets slopes today.
On arrival yesterday it looked scarily green, but nice amount of snow overnight meant skiing to the village, even Les Perrières was fine.
Mixed snow low down made it interesting / challenging, but this morning higher up was 6-8” of fresh (reasonably powdery fresh) over piste.
Off piste was a low odds gamble - new board, interesting fall, or get away with it. But such is late season.
Not to bad so far.
PS - and quiet. There’s no one here. A lot of the time the only other people I could see were my wife and sons.
Yeah absolutely dead in Serre Che today. Better conditions than yesterday (there was an event on yesterday so pistes got cut up)
Above 1800m was great today, lower down a bit more hit and miss.
Mixed day in Menuires with a bit of fresh, plenty of cloud, wind and sun in the afternoon.
Small pockets of powder where the wind had blown the fresh snow were fun, but if you chose the wrong bit yesterdays tracks had frozen solid. Pistes held up better today than be last couple of days due to it being colder.
We’ve moved the van up to VT for the next few days 🙂
@creepers - ace, that's very positive sounding news indeed!
Well, my newbie experience at Passo Tonale is proving a challenge. Day one today and I just couldn’t get it. Took many tumbles and had the indignity of walking down the “steeper” sections of a blue run. Daughter tweaked her knee annd have a massive confidence meltdown and was skidood off the hill so I’m hoping she’s ok for the rest of the week. The only, and I mean only, consolation is that the rep said it has been the worst day this season for ice. So hoping it gets better or it could be a disaster. Day two of ski school tomorrow . Full of trepidation. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Not sure if it helps much, but steepness is relative, ski across the piste at an angle and you remove the 'fear' from it , that and do the opposite to your instincts, lean forward and downhill!
Hope your daughter gets past the injury ok too.
Oh no rockhopper. That sounds mince. Hope it improves.
Finished up a leisurely three days skiing Avoriaz. The new snow yesterday definitely helped and conditions high up today have been great. But get lower down and it’s getting scrappy again. I think some of the lower runs will not last out to the end of the season unless there’s more snow and it stays cool. The Super Morzine to Avoriaz link is looking especially fragile (from my two hours in a deck chair at the top of Zore chair today). Anyway, the wife has had a great time and it’s improved her confidence lots which can only be a good thing.
Les Gets fantastic this morning (mainly off the Ranfolly and Chamoissiere lifts). Yesterday’s snow had stayed cold enough to piste into firm not hard pistes that ran well and gripped superbly. Much coaching of variations on carving ensued.
Got soft in the afternoon and to be fair some slopes are not even good enough to be described as bad - but overall a good day.
Weather a bit hit and miss for the rest of the week, but I’ve seen worse.
Day two done. Twas light night and day. I was ready to throw the towel in after a disastrous attempt on a kiddie slope first thing then spoke to our instructor and we got back to basics, which clearly I needed notwithstanding what was learnt at Xscape. Bizarrely, and with a complete lack of any sort of coolness, I interpreted the teaching and adopted a “I’m a kettle teapot short and stout” posture to get the hips and leaning in check and was able to (in my opinion) absolutely tear up the lower blue runs! 😂😂😂. And the daughter was able to ski through the knee tweak. And there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky so that ticked off my bucket list. It was a great day, absolutely buzzing with even getting down, even with a degree of carving. It got a bit slushy after lunch which was a little difficult to ski, and I had one “ohh sh!t” moment but managed to recover ok. Snow forecast for tomorrow.
Also took the cable car up to the glacier at 3,000m. They ski down from that, which appears insane.
A great day. Knackered. Even if I had to leave tomorrow, I’d be satisfied.
Well done Rockhopper 🤟
Replied in the other thread, but YASSS @rockhopper70!
I'm not out today, bad nosebleed has meant I'll probably hide in the van for the day. Wife's gone out, hideously windy, hard scoured pistes apparently so I don't feel like I'm missing much.
She's heading to Meribel to get lower to try and get out the worst of the wind, hopefully the link back over stays open...
I’m fine now cheers, used to it tbh.
Looks like we might’ve made a bad decision this trip, not snowing properly here yet although 10cm+ forecast for tomorrow 🤞 and no wind.
So... your educated thoughts for Scottish skiing over Easter weekend and beyond? Keen to get out for something before the end of the season but the current snowfall doesn't look to have made any significant changes (yet). Forecast is borderline into next week, but given the starting point is this just wishful thinking? (touring/similar at the usual suspects east or west FWIW).
We have snow. Not much but it’s a start!
Vis not so good 🙈
So… your educated thoughts for Scottish skiing over Easter weekend and beyond? Keen to get out for something before the end of the season but the current snowfall doesn’t look to have made any significant changes (yet). Forecast is borderline into next week, but given the starting point is this just wishful thinking? (touring/similar at the usual suspects east or west FWIW).
Glencoe has got battered with fresh snow. As always with Scotland you've got to play it by ear and forget planning ahead.
Yes Glencoe looking great at the moment, but as Bob says it’s difficult to plan.
Keep an eye on the Facebook pages for updates the day before you want to ski.
"your educated thoughts for Scottish skiing over Easter weekend and beyond? Keen to get out for something before the end of the season but the current snowfall doesn’t look to have made any significant changes (yet). Forecast is borderline into next week, but given the starting point is this just wishful thinking? (touring/similar at the usual suspects east or west FWIW)."
The problem is, that on top of the normal problems, such as:
Will there be snow? ,(yes)
Will there be too much wind? ( no)
You also have to contend with the Cairngorm bit of a mess, which screws up the lift/ capacity situation.
DOH, just remembered that you said touring....
Hmmm. I think it would be worth it this weekend or next. Seems to be a lot of snow forecast and not too much wind. Dodgy Vis as well though.
If you would be up for meeting for a tour, I'm thinking of heading up from Manchester either this weekend or next.
Are you on the FB backcountry conditions group,?
I’d be keen to hear how the lower slopes are coping in Deux Alpes @BoardinBob, thinking of heading there for a last gasp weekend at the end of April. I get that the stuff up towards the glacier will be absolutely fine but it would be nice that the runs back to the resort are likely to hold up and stay open for a few weeks (I’m looking at 18-22 April).
I went out somewhat under-skied yesterday. I normally quite like being in the powder rather than on the top but yesterday was deep heavy fresh snow so I kept grinding to a halt with snow over the knees. This morning I went out and tramped around in the stuff for a few minutes which was enough to make the decision to go ride a col on the roadie instead.
Apart from school groups the place is almost deserted, the locals have hung up their skis for the year.
I’d be keen to hear how the lower slopes are coping in Deux Alpes
I'd say it'll probably be best to download rather than do anything at the end of the day below the cretes. Going for an end of season jolly ourselves, but we'll also bring bikes because they're opening the Venosc DH on the 13th.
@BoardinBob, @phil5556, yeah Glencoe is as usual best bet for lift assisted, not quite classic late season cover though.
@thegeneralist - cheers, I now can't get out in the next few days but I'll keep an eye on the usual places for reports this weekend. Reading between the lines of the SAIS blogs don't suggest there has been significant changes on overall cover thus far. The forecast suggests some useful snowfall next week so I'm hoping i might get either a skive late next week or get out next weekend instead. Fingers crossed everything aligns for then. Post up if you manage to get out, and shout if you're up for future trips.
snow day today in Tignes ( again!)
Pretty hard to see at times but some really deep turns to be had.
So 3 days out of 5 in Les Gets in late March I’ve left fresh tracks. So far (but I don’t think there’ll be any more tomorrow).
Some of it was fairly heavy new snow, but some just about qualified as powder.
One slushy day and the other one was nicely pisted from the day before’s fresh.
Not bad, though they could have done with a lot more weeks like this this year I think.
Toying with North America in April next year (school breaks up on 5th).
Any recommendations for a family of 4? Banff looks a possibility, but it’s not cheap. What are the pluses and minuses over just heading back to somewhere in Europe? How do we maximise the value? Book everything separately? And good tour operators? Any hints / tips welcome..
Choose a resort and buy early bird season passes in the summer. Way cheaper than buying once you are there.
You're at one of the lowest resorts, igm, try a higher European one. Heavy damp snow at 1500m is nice powder beyond 2500m.
@tuboflard if you've booked accommodation through the L2A website, lift passes are currently reduced 40%.
@ceepers - thanks, I shall cost in on that basis
@edukator - indeed, but I like the village, we know folk here, and we drive over so it’s easy to nip to other places. (And I like tree lined runs.) Tomorrow will be a little higher in Avoriaz. But to be honest, the snow has been good this week - I’ve sat in the rain in Courcheval in February and this week has been the antithesis of that.
PS - @edukator and others, feel free to recommend me a good high choice in Europe for a family with mixed snow needs - father competent but not expert on a board, elder teenager pretty good on skis or board, younger teenager pretty good on skis, mother gone back to skis and competent in good conditions, gets by in poor conditions.
And I hate riding open areas in flat light. My eyes let me down and I tense up. Tree lined far easier.
Another powder day in Montgenevre, essentially zero visibility though unfortunately today, and much of the mountain was closed. Got a few nice powder turns in before managing to put a 10cm core shot in my board! 9 years old now, and I don't ride freestyle really these days, so a new board may well be purchased for next season. That's it for us for this season, my wife is suggesting trying to do a month next winter, which sounds pretty awesome to me!
Similar to Tom; a nearly powder day in Montgenevre Les Menuires, essentially zero visibility though unfortunately today, and much of the mountain was closed. Mega windy, and some heavy snow in places.
Was having mega boot issues today - my old boots are shot, too soft now and slightly too short. The new ones have too much volume, so had really sore feet today from them flapping about 🙁 Will be in the old boots for the last day of our season tomorrow I think.
That's a difficult one, igm, trees don't grow at altitudes with better snow in theAlps. Though the tree line is rising locally (Pyrénées) as the climate warms. Tignes and Val Thorens are my usual suggestions for high resorts with a personal preference for Tignes as I like doing a bit of X-C sking and having a swim. There are many resorts with high pistes but not many with good snow out of the door.
Thanks @ocrider, not booked accommodation yet so worth knowing.
@igm, some places stateside do spring lift passes. Timberline for example are a complete bargain at under $200 for unlimited skiing for about two months. Other option is to buy very early (early bird deals) but check out blackout days which aren’t included on the cheapest tickets.
@igm worth also remembering that many North American resorts don’t have much accommodation at the lifts and you often stay in the closest local town and drive up each day.
In My dated experience this was generally no problem but I am hearing reports of big queues for lifts and parking at some of the bigger resorts so worth lots of research!