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Xmas/New Year snow



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 27th 03, 01:52 PM
Sarah Eggleston
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Default Xmas/New Year snow



Ace wrote:
On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 13:39:00 +0100, Sarah Eggleston
wrote:


Failing a crystal ball for the 2003/4 and 2004/5 seasons (I wish!),
does anyone have anecdotal evidence of Christmas/New Year snow
reliability over the past few seasons?



Why not check out the historic snow reports on the Ski Club website?
surely better than mere 'anecdotal evidence'.

Mainly because I find it rather unusable. First you have to
select by resort rather than by region, and if you choose
"all years", you get the average of all years, rather than
a comparison between them. Of course, you can go through a
couple of resorts one year at a time, but it's a rather
user-unfriendly process.

On the other hand, I love the SCGB's online copy of the Which
Good Ski Guide :-)

-Sarah

Ads
  #2  
Old August 27th 03, 02:33 PM
Greg Hilton
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Default Xmas/New Year snow

I don't think history really helps plan pre-Xmas trips at all. Somewhere
could get tons of snow in November, that could melt 2 weeks later.

I would however say that in the US thanksgiving is a key day for them so
many resorts blow alot of snow to get many runs open in time for that.

Last year there was some amazing powder piccies floating around from Utah
in October! for example:

http://www.skistreak.com/2002/pics/oct/
http://www.thecanyons.com/skiing-riding/video.html

regards,

greg
  #3  
Old August 27th 03, 04:23 PM
Ivan Rafn
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Default Xmas/New Year snow

Cannot comment on Austria/France. I have one experience of Italy at
Christmas.

Was in Canazei 5 years ago during Christmas.

Lots of snow, however very cold, -28 in town, -32 on mountain. Italians
wore full face masks.
Long trips in lifts was a pain. I belive we saw the sun once during the
week. Days are short this time of the year.
Snow conditions were good though. However very unexciting.

Christmas eve at midnight, we went to the local church for midnight
ceremoni.
Of good memories from the trip this event is what comes to mind, - it was
fantastic, all locals where there, proud mothers and farthers watching there
sons in the corous. It was a full catholic ceremony, with lots of Ave Marias
and Halelujas, and all the gold and silver belonging to the church was in
use. Afterwards everyone lined up and was blessed individually. There was
torches outside, all over. Very beutifull and very memoriable.

(appoligies for bad english, didn't care for looking up all words)


"Sarah Eggleston" skrev i en meddelelse
...
Failing a crystal ball for the 2003/4 and 2004/5 seasons (I wish!),
does anyone have anecdotal evidence of Christmas/New Year snow
reliability over the past few seasons?

Is Austria (historically) better than France? Or vice versa?

If there's no snow at all, how busy are the glaciers?

Do snow cannons make a difference and which resorts have the most?

Is it worth the extra cost and jetlag of a trek across the Atlantic
for more reliable snow cover??

(We've skied the last 3 years at Easter and are getting fed up
with ice and slush.)

-Sarah

PS would anyone like to re-employ some teachers at a school
which has holidays in Jan/Feb??



  #4  
Old August 27th 03, 07:20 PM
David Off
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Default Xmas/New Year snow

Sarah Eggleston wrote:


Ace wrote:

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 13:39:00 +0100, Sarah Eggleston
wrote:


Failing a crystal ball for the 2003/4 and 2004/5 seasons (I wish!),
does anyone have anecdotal evidence of Christmas/New Year snow
reliability over the past few seasons?




Why not check out the historic snow reports on the Ski Club website?
surely better than mere 'anecdotal evidence'.


Mainly because I find it rather unusable.


FYI: If you can use a spreadsheet I've recently put Christian Gibert's
raw snow record data on-line on my site:

http://www.pistehors.com/resorts/christian-gibert/

There is French resort data going back to 1990, with Excel you could
plot your own graphs and averages. I've not looked at the Ski Club data
so can't tell you how much the formats vary but they do cover resorts
all over the planet which is useful.

I will also give you some anecdotal evidence based on the skiing I've
done. Over the last few years in the French Alps there has been
reasonable early season snow (late November) followed by a warm period
around Christmas with poor snow. The weather generally breaks around
New Year. In France, I would choose a resort with slopes between 2000 -
2750 meters. Can't tell you much about Austria, it is 10 years since
I've skied there and there always seemed to be grass on the last 100
meters of any slope!

But even in an awful year, like last Christmas, you can find snow to ski
on and have fun, even if you do spend most of boxing day squelching
around in driving rain!


  #5  
Old August 28th 03, 09:03 PM
Dominique Foucart
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Default Xmas/New Year snow

Sarah,

Over the last 5 years, I have been every year skiing in Haute-Savoie
(France) either for Xmas or New Year. In 2 occasions, we arrived with
the snow, (Xmas each time) but never ever we have been without snow.

But this is highly dependent of local conditions and the level of
equipment of the resorts. Where we ski ("Grand Massif" Area) we never
had any problem from Xmas till Eastern.

Dominique Foucart
www.loc-alpes.com

Sarah Eggleston wrote in message ...
Failing a crystal ball for the 2003/4 and 2004/5 seasons (I wish!),
does anyone have anecdotal evidence of Christmas/New Year snow
reliability over the past few seasons?

Is Austria (historically) better than France? Or vice versa?

If there's no snow at all, how busy are the glaciers?

Do snow cannons make a difference and which resorts have the most?

Is it worth the extra cost and jetlag of a trek across the Atlantic
for more reliable snow cover??

(We've skied the last 3 years at Easter and are getting fed up
with ice and slush.)

-Sarah

PS would anyone like to re-employ some teachers at a school
which has holidays in Jan/Feb??

  #6  
Old August 31st 03, 09:54 PM
Richard
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Default Xmas/New Year snow

Hi,

If you are looking for good snow at Christmas/New Year how about trying
Tignes. Tignes is at 2100m so is higher than almost all other European
resorts so it is as close to a snowsure resort as you can get. If you check
the Ski Club of Great Britain site it shows an average of 49cm (lower) and
136cm (upper) for Christmas week and 76cm and 152cm for the New Year week.
Linked with Val D'Isere it also offers some of the best skiing in the Alps.

We have a fabulous chalet in Tignes and would be happy to welcome you.
Please see www.snowstarholidays.com and also www.tignes.net.

Thanks,

Richard.

SNOWSTAR Holidays
Phone/Fax: 020 8686 6610
email:
web:
www.snowstarholidays.com

"Sarah Eggleston" wrote in message
...
Failing a crystal ball for the 2003/4 and 2004/5 seasons (I wish!),
does anyone have anecdotal evidence of Christmas/New Year snow
reliability over the past few seasons?

Is Austria (historically) better than France? Or vice versa?

If there's no snow at all, how busy are the glaciers?

Do snow cannons make a difference and which resorts have the most?

Is it worth the extra cost and jetlag of a trek across the Atlantic
for more reliable snow cover??

(We've skied the last 3 years at Easter and are getting fed up
with ice and slush.)

-Sarah

PS would anyone like to re-employ some teachers at a school
which has holidays in Jan/Feb??



  #7  
Old August 31st 03, 10:13 PM
Ace
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Posts: n/a
Default Xmas/New Year snow

On Sun, 31 Aug 2003 22:54:13 +0100, "Richard"
wrote:


snip

We have a fabulous chalet in Tignes and would be happy to welcome you.
Please see www.snowstarholidays.com and also www.tignes.net.


Now one commercial posting might be acceptable - many would regard two
as spam... but seeing as you're ski club affiliated I'll llet you off
:-)

--
Ace (bruce dot rogers at roche dot com)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.
  #8  
Old September 1st 03, 06:54 AM
The Older Gentleman
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Posts: n/a
Default Xmas/New Year snow

Ace wrote:

On Sun, 31 Aug 2003 22:54:13 +0100, "Richard"
wrote:


snip

We have a fabulous chalet in Tignes and would be happy to welcome you.
Please see www.snowstarholidays.com and also www.tignes.net.


Now one commercial posting might be acceptable - many would regard two
as spam... but seeing as you're ski club affiliated I'll llet you off
:-)


I feckin' won't....

abuse report filed ;-)


--
Trophy 1200 750SS CB400F TS150 ST70 YTC#3
GAGARPHOF#30 GHPOTHUF#1 IHABWTJ#1 BOTAFOT#60 ANORAK#06 OSOS#1
BOF#30 WUSS#5 "Worse than Timo" - Official
  #9  
Old September 1st 03, 08:01 AM
Ace
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Xmas/New Year snow

On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 07:54:14 +0100,
(The Older Gentleman) wrote:

Ace wrote:

On Sun, 31 Aug 2003 22:54:13 +0100, "Richard"
wrote:


snip

We have a fabulous chalet in Tignes and would be happy to welcome you.
Please see
www.snowstarholidays.com and also www.tignes.net.

Now one commercial posting might be acceptable - many would regard two
as spam... but seeing as you're ski club affiliated I'll llet you off
:-)


I feckin' won't....

abuse report filed ;-)


Actually, I don't think it's even off-charter...

--
Ace (bruce dot rogers at roche dot com)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.
  #10  
Old September 1st 03, 12:06 PM
InMyTree
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Posts: n/a
Default Xmas/New Year snow

I went to Livigno in Italy last Christmas.. really cheap, and really good
snow.. its all above 1800m and up to 3000m.. not anywhere near as big as
some of the french and other italian resorts, but plenty for one week..

I am even considering going back this year cause its so cheap!

"Sarah Eggleston" wrote in message
...
Failing a crystal ball for the 2003/4 and 2004/5 seasons (I wish!),
does anyone have anecdotal evidence of Christmas/New Year snow
reliability over the past few seasons?

Is Austria (historically) better than France? Or vice versa?

If there's no snow at all, how busy are the glaciers?

Do snow cannons make a difference and which resorts have the most?

Is it worth the extra cost and jetlag of a trek across the Atlantic
for more reliable snow cover??

(We've skied the last 3 years at Easter and are getting fed up
with ice and slush.)

-Sarah

PS would anyone like to re-employ some teachers at a school
which has holidays in Jan/Feb??



 




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