Best Christmas snowfall?

Hi all,

I've been to France now for the last two Christmases and both times
there's been very little snow there. While I was watching the reports
across Europe last year I noticed that Austria seemed to get a lot of
good early snow and tailed off a little early, whereas France was
exactly the opposite.

What regions, traditionally, have a better chance of snowfall over the
Christmas week? I'm back to St. Anton in January anyway, so would
rather go somewhere else - although other Austrian resorts wouldn't be
out of the question.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Last year here in Austria we had plenty of snow- it started on the 18th of
November and virtually snowed every day until the first in January!! - well
we only ever had 2 days max without any snowfall in that period. So
Christmas was excellent skiing!!

I don't know about 'tailed off' It certainly did not here. The skiing was
great until the lifts shut in April, it did get a bit slushy on the run back
to the gondola but our total last winter was 1 and a half metre of snow in
the village and 3 metres up on the skiing mountain!!

So as with all weather - nothing is guaranteed but Austria does seem to get
snow at Christmas and if the weather pattern keeps developing as it is doing
with more northerly winds Austria does get a lot of snow form that
direction!!!

Nigel
--

Winter and Summer holidays in the alps!!!
www.austrianfamilyholidays.co.uk

On 19 Sep 2006 12:50:38 -0700, "mydigitalself"
wrote:

What regions, traditionally, have a better chance of snowfall over the
Christmas week?

It's not something that can be predicted this far off, unless you know
of a reliable crystal ball retailer. The normal advice is best - go
high if you want to ensure the skiing conditions are best. Last year,
for example, we were in Tignes which had no fresh snow until Dec 29th,
but at least all the pistes were well covered and open, albeit rock
hard and icy in places.

But really, any of the higher resorts is equally likely to have fresh
snow, so I'd take that out of the equation if I were you.

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
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.

"Ace" wrote in message
...
| On 19 Sep 2006 12:50:38 -0700, "mydigitalself"
| wrote:
|
| What regions, traditionally, have a better chance of snowfall over
the
| Christmas week?
|
| It's not something that can be predicted this far off, unless you know
| of a reliable crystal ball retailer. The normal advice is best - go
| high if you want to ensure the skiing conditions are best. Last year,
| for example, we were in Tignes which had no fresh snow until Dec 29th,
| but at least all the pistes were well covered and open, albeit rock
| hard and icy in places.
|
| But really, any of the higher resorts is equally likely to have fresh
| snow, so I'd take that out of the equation if I were you.

Yes rock hard and icy at times, but at least, unlike the previous early
season, northern French equipment hire shopowners weren't tearing their
hair out over the damage being done to skis with all the loose rocks
everywhere.

There wasn't a lot of snow around until the end of December, but then on
New Year's Day, it was like this:

http://mysnowsports.com/webcams/0601...%20038_800.jpg

Taken over at La Rosière, Jan 1st. We'd had about 40 cm overnight.

But as Ace says, that dump could just have easily come the week before.

In Tignes/Val with the artificial snow cover conditions were perfectly
adequate, as it had been very cold for some time. The likes of Les Arcs
suffered slightly - but the massive and long overdue project for
improving cover by snow cannon - including up in the Arc 2000 bowl - is
well under way, and it hould be much better this Christmas up there -
ironically it was up at 2000 that cover was worse, with high winds at
altitude taking off what little snow there was. Come New Year's Eve
though, it was deep powder skiing, fantastic fun, particularly down in
the forests of the Arc 1600 domain, Villaroger and Peisey.

Pete
http://mysnowsports.com

pg wrote:
"Ace" wrote in message
...
| On 19 Sep 2006 12:50:38 -0700, "mydigitalself"
| wrote:
|
| What regions, traditionally, have a better chance of snowfall over
the
| Christmas week?
|
| It's not something that can be predicted this far off, unless you know
| of a reliable crystal ball retailer. The normal advice is best - go
| high if you want to ensure the skiing conditions are best. Last year,
| for example, we were in Tignes which had no fresh snow until Dec 29th,
| but at least all the pistes were well covered and open, albeit rock
| hard and icy in places.
|
| But really, any of the higher resorts is equally likely to have fresh
| snow, so I'd take that out of the equation if I were you.

Yes rock hard and icy at times, but at least, unlike the previous early
season, northern French equipment hire shopowners weren't tearing their
hair out over the damage being done to skis with all the loose rocks
everywhere.

There wasn't a lot of snow around until the end of December, but then on
New Year's Day, it was like this:

http://mysnowsports.com/webcams/0601...%20038_800.jpg

Taken over at La Rosière, Jan 1st. We'd had about 40 cm overnight.

But as Ace says, that dump could just have easily come the week before.

In Tignes/Val with the artificial snow cover conditions were perfectly
adequate, as it had been very cold for some time. The likes of Les Arcs
suffered slightly - but the massive and long overdue project for
improving cover by snow cannon - including up in the Arc 2000 bowl - is
well under way, and it hould be much better this Christmas up there -
ironically it was up at 2000 that cover was worse, with high winds at
altitude taking off what little snow there was. Come New Year's Eve
though, it was deep powder skiing, fantastic fun, particularly down in
the forests of the Arc 1600 domain, Villaroger and Peisey.

Pete
http://mysnowsports.com


Just before that dump it was incredibly cold - the coldest I can recall
a ski resort - ever. Good news about the almost doubling of the snow
making and the replacement of the plangnettes lift, but it did mess up
the mountain biking this summer a bit.

John

mydigitalself wrote:
Hi all,

I've been to France now for the last two Christmases and both times
there's been very little snow there.

Erm, which bit? It is a very large country. The Pyrenees (mountains
between France and Spain) have had very good starts for the last two
seasons. Where I live in the Chartreuse we had snow throughout late
November and December.

The Haute-Tarentaise seems to be drying out - according to the Meteo
France website there is only 70% of the annual precipitation compared to
1970 and instructors in Val d'Isere tell me that the snowfall
accumulations are around half their 1970 levels. But there can be big
differences between even Tignes and Val d'Isere which can benefit from
weather systems blowing in from Italy.

However to talk big generalizations Autumn is marked by a lot of lows
over the Mediterranean. These sweep up moisture over the sea and carry
it northwards. This means that the Southern French Alps, Italy, South
Switzerland and Austria as well as Corsica and Greece can be blessed
with prodigous early season snow. Last year we were skiing in the
Southern French Alpes at the start of October.

The Atlantic weather systems that bring snow to the Haute-Savoie and
Savoie don't get active until the winter and then often don't have the
strength to reach the Haute-Tarentaise until late December, January
time.... on the other hand they can stay active until late spring.

Another factor, beyond a certain point, say around 800 meters in winter,
altitude can be a negative factor. It is just too cold to snow. You
should take a look at this article:-

http://pistehors.com/news/ski/commen...tional-wisdom/

Hi, thanks for the response.

Chamonix 2 yrs ago, Val D'Isere last year.

But I'm actually quite keen to check out the Pyrenees - what resort
would you recommend for a group of begginer and intermediate
snowboarders? Preferably one with a lot of slope variety.

Cheers
Mike

davidof wrote:
mydigitalself wrote:
Hi all,

I've been to France now for the last two Christmases and both times
there's been very little snow there.

Erm, which bit? It is a very large country. The Pyrenees (mountains
between France and Spain) have had very good starts for the last two
seasons. Where I live in the Chartreuse we had snow throughout late
November and December.

The Haute-Tarentaise seems to be drying out - according to the Meteo
France website there is only 70% of the annual precipitation compared to
1970 and instructors in Val d'Isere tell me that the snowfall
accumulations are around half their 1970 levels. But there can be big
differences between even Tignes and Val d'Isere which can benefit from
weather systems blowing in from Italy.

However to talk big generalizations Autumn is marked by a lot of lows
over the Mediterranean. These sweep up moisture over the sea and carry
it northwards. This means that the Southern French Alps, Italy, South
Switzerland and Austria as well as Corsica and Greece can be blessed
with prodigous early season snow. Last year we were skiing in the
Southern French Alpes at the start of October.

The Atlantic weather systems that bring snow to the Haute-Savoie and
Savoie don't get active until the winter and then often don't have the
strength to reach the Haute-Tarentaise until late December, January
time.... on the other hand they can stay active until late spring.

Another factor, beyond a certain point, say around 800 meters in winter,
altitude can be a negative factor. It is just too cold to snow. You
should take a look at this article:-

http://pistehors.com/news/ski/commen...tional-wisdom/

"mydigitalself" wrote in message
snip
I've been to France now for the last two Christmases and both times
there's been very little snow there.
snip
It's impossible to generalise/predict as France is a very large country.
My experience over last 2 Christmas hols has been totally the opposite to yours.
I skiied the Portes des Soleil area in Haute Savoie (i.e. North West of French Alps).
Area is generally regarded as rather low-altitude but we got loads of snow both times.
e.g. knee-deep powder on 18th Dec 2005.

The issue isn't the snowfall. The issue is the base.
And the base depends on the weather.

Good or bad if you want to ski at that time of year even with a little snow
then select some place which has a glacier and you can ignore the base,
otherwise be prepared to fix your bases.


Ambiguity is wonderful.

--

In message 45142781$1@darkstar, Eugene Miya
writes
The issue isn't the snowfall. The issue is the base.
And the base depends on the weather.

Good or bad if you want to ski at that time of year even with a little snow
then select some place which has a glacier and you can ignore the base,
otherwise be prepared to fix your bases.


Ambiguity is wonderful.

All your base are belong to us.
--
Devs
"Punchdown Pete the old Kroner"