Who get's the most snow/most snowfall in Europe?

Has anyone seen any stats that can tell you how often a resort gets fresh
snow?

I read in the Daily Mail ski mag that if you want fresh snow, then
statistically the US (Utah/Colorado) is the place to go.

They reckon Europe runs the season on 3 big dumps a year, whilst the US
resorts almost get weekly or fortnightly fresh snow.

As someone who is always after freshies (and struck lucky this year in Val
after 5 barren years) this kind of info is key to where to ski!

cheers,

greg

Greg Hilton wrote:

Has anyone seen any stats that can tell you how often a resort gets fresh
snow?

I read in the Daily Mail ski mag that if you want fresh snow, then
statistically the US (Utah/Colorado) is the place to go.

They reckon Europe runs the season on 3 big dumps a year, whilst the US
resorts almost get weekly or fortnightly fresh snow.

As someone who is always after freshies (and struck lucky this year in Val
after 5 barren years) this kind of info is key to where to ski!

cheers,

greg

Completely unscientific and probably very biaised view, but I am sure St
Anton gets more fresh snow days than Cham or Val. It's completely
academic anyway because it gets tracked out instantly in any of these
resorts.

Steve Haigh wrote in news:3fd8d15f$0$7960
:

It's completely
academic anyway because it gets tracked out instantly in any of these
resorts.


that's the 2nd half of the formulae needed for weekend trips to powder!

Greg Hilton wrote
Has anyone seen any stats that can tell you how often a resort gets fresh
snow?

I read in the Daily Mail ski mag that if you want fresh snow, then
statistically the US (Utah/Colorado) is the place to go.

They reckon Europe runs the season on 3 big dumps a year, whilst the US
resorts almost get weekly or fortnightly fresh snow.

As someone who is always after freshies (and struck lucky this year in Val
after 5 barren years) this kind of info is key to where to ski!

I'm fairly sure that the West Coast of Canada (i.e. Whistler) gets fresh
show
more often than Utah and Colorado. It is also far more prone to torrential
rain at the base (even in high season) and zero visibility.

Nick

Greg Hilton wrote:

Has anyone seen any stats that can tell you how often a resort gets fresh
snow?

I read in the Daily Mail ski mag that if you want fresh snow, then
statistically the US (Utah/Colorado) is the place to go.

They reckon Europe runs the season on 3 big dumps a year, whilst the US
resorts almost get weekly or fortnightly fresh snow.

As someone who is always after freshies (and struck lucky this year in Val
after 5 barren years) this kind of info is key to where to ski!

I went to Val gardena in Feb and it hadnt snowed for 5 weeks.

InMyTree wrote:

I'm fairly sure that the West Coast of Canada (i.e. Whistler) gets fresh
show
more often than Utah and Colorado. It is also far more prone to

torrential

rain at the base (even in high season) and zero visibility.

Nick




Whistler doesn't get, on average, as much as Utah.. and the quality is
certainly not as good, and Whistler is often overcast, whereas a lot of
Utah/Colorado ski resorts report more than 300 days a year of sunshine..

Alta, Utah gets 517 inches a year (on average), where as Whistler gets 406..
still, both get a lot!

I don't doubt your figures for totals, but I have found you get a lot of
days with fresh snow at Whistler (never skied Utah so can't compare
really). As you say, there are a lot of sunny days in the southern
Rockies and a lot of overcast days at Whistler, so it is possible that
you would have more actual powder days at Whistler, and fewer but deeper
days in Utah etc. Whistler certainly does get a lot of heavy sludge as
well which is a pretty long way from champagne powder. It's all skiing
and it's all good, but many times I have wished Whistler could be a
little bit colder.

As for rain at the base of Whistler, that's not the big problem. How
about rain all the way to the top of Blackcomb glacier, in February. It
is a fantastic ski area and gets plenty of precipitation, sadly not
always snow though.

In message , pk
writes

I went to Val gardena in Feb and it hadnt snowed for 5 weeks.

I went to the 3Vs in March and it hadn't snowed for weeks. That was
booked months ahead, which makes you a hostage to the weather.
I went to the PdS in January at a week's notice, it snowed for two days
and I could ski below cloud level so not in a whiteout.

Moral: book at short notice and follow the snow.
--
Sue ];(

"InMyTree" wrote
I'm fairly sure that the West Coast of Canada (i.e. Whistler) gets fresh
show
more often than Utah and Colorado. It is also far more prone to
torrential
rain at the base (even in high season) and zero visibility.

Nick

Whistler doesn't get, on average, as much as Utah.. and the quality is
certainly not as good, and Whistler is often overcast, whereas a lot of
Utah/Colorado ski resorts report more than 300 days a year of sunshine..

Alta, Utah gets 517 inches a year (on average), where as Whistler gets
406..
still, both get a lot!

I wrote 'gets fresh snow more often' not gets more snow in total. (In any
case
the difference between 406 and 517 inches would be less than the difference
in moving the measurement point more than a few yards.)

Bet the actual amount of moisture falling at Whistler is far more than at
Alta.
I've had excellent powder at Whistler but it wasn't exactly 3% champagne :-(

Nick

Steve Haigh wrote in
:

Completely unscientific and probably very biaised view, but I am sure
St Anton gets more fresh snow days than Cham or Val. It's completely
academic anyway because it gets tracked out instantly in any of these
resorts.


In January we still could find good powed skiing four days after the 50cm
snowfall in S:t Anton. There are quite a lot more piste-only skiers there
than in Chamonix (of course) and many other French resorts.

/Tommy

I have studied this a bit over the past couple years. From what I have
found the best stats on snow in the alps are the skiclub's historical
stats. now this is base depth of snow, not snow fall which means its
tough to compare and they are definitely not as accurate as the link
previously posted for NA which has incredible stats. From looking at
that I would suggest St. Anton is probably the best place in the alps
if you had to bet. Its a bit frustrating that there isn't more info on
European snow fall.

I would also disagree with what a previous poster said about it being
all skied out in a day. Last year I was making first tracks around the
Arlberg 5 days after a storm. That is something that is mystical for
us "yanks" Having lived in Tahoe, Jackson Hole, and skied Alta a lot I
can tell you that things go a lot quicker on this side of the pond.

For example last week at Whistler there was 35cm fresh and people
started lining up for the Peak Chair at 8:30am and it didn't open
until noon. The front side was done in less than an hour.

Being from the US the debate on Whistler vs Utah is interesting. You
should also include Grand Targhee and Mt. Baker in the equation as
well. Alta does get far more snow and does a great job of managing the
area to preserve the pow experience. I think if you look at the US
site previously suggested you will see that actually Grand Targhee is
probably the best bet for light, consistent snow and it doesn't get
skied out tooo fast either. Just over the pass from Jackson.