 Poster: A snowHead
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| Redwine wrote: |
| @comish, another 20-30 cm and that ice is a distant memory? |
@Redwine Sadly, I think that ice underneath will remind people that it's still there. Especially for the off-piste.... 
Unless that recent snow came in wet and sticky, and bonded well, which is why I'm curious to the off-piste conditions. Will have to keep an eye on the Avi bulletins for the region to see how things are progressing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It was snowing on Sunday...as i left, never mind, had an excellent two weeks. The first was quite challenging skiing with Horizon and son.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Definitely need more than 20 to 30cm's to cover up the ice.
Was off-piste most of the day, but trying to find the mellower pitches. Surprisingly didn't see too much evidence of slide activity, at least compared to last week in Serfaus. That ice layer is so solid that It seemed to almost bridge the shitty snow underneath? Not sure if that is reality, but seemed as such. The wind was the big determinator on whether you hit bullet proof or fluff today. The fluff stuck OK, where the wind either left it alone (rare) or had drifted it in.
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BTW, I still think it's pretty sketchy out there, just wasn't hit in the head w the instability like last week where there was slide evidence everywhere...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| comish wrote: |
| BTW, I still think it's pretty sketchy out there, just wasn't hit in the head w the instability like last week where there was slide evidence everywhere... |
Thanks comish for the report.
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Folks.
Relax, less than 3 weeks ago they could
not even fire up the snow cannons!
Enjoy what is out there 
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One month and a few days left for me. Plenty of time!!
Really hope I get to experience the legendary pow that the Alberg is famous for.
Conditions are sketchy in Colorado also, so even with a lot of snow it can change fast.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Given the St Anton snow/weather pattern of the past month, I think this experience may be of interest ... going back to events c.50 years ago in my skiing life ... and a serious shortage of snow ...
I'd have to check the exact year, but it must have been early 1960s (possibly 1962). It was definitely New Year. So I was about 9 years old.
My late father Rudy Goldsmith was doing very well in business (market research - he was a post-WW2 specialist in this new trade). He was about 37 when we hit St Anton, and we'd already skied Kitzbuhel in 1959 and a wonderful Swiss place near Zermatt called Graechen (attracts very few Brits - worth checking out - has an interesting mountain, and is quite high altitude).
The problem was that there was very little snow in St Anton at that New Year (maybe someone check the historical records for the exact year? I should be able to corroborate this in due course). The snow was so bad that my Dad (who'd clearly had a very good preceding year) decided to check us out of the hotel (Hotel Valluga, I think) call a cab, and got the driver to take us to St Moritz! I don't know what networking he'd done to suss out the snow in St Moritz - remember that this was an era when telegrams or phone calls were about the only ways that information could be exchanged - but we got to St Moritz and there was tons of snow.
It's OK - I've been back to St Anton numerous times since then (mainly immediately after the Ispo ski/sports trade fair in Munich, which has traditionally been early Feb), and have usually experienced fabulous conditions. And if you want a tip, this is the best one I know: if the set-up is the same as it was last time I did this, ski in the top ski school classes if you're good enough - they ski off-piste all day. You'll be in a group of about 8-10, and the instructor will be almost as good as a guide - you'll be taken down great stuff, by a local who knows the terrain inside-out. It'll cost you significantly less than a guide.
I'm afraid the recent situation in St Anton is simply another - yet another - important reminder that snow is a cumulative substance. Check the snow records of any ski resort on earth and it's always the case that average snow depths are at their best 3 to 4 months into the winter (for a resort with reasonably high-altitude slopes). Pre-book for Christmas, New Year, January and even up to mid-Feb and you take some element of risk. People have short memories - for instance, the snow situation in French resorts etc. was very bad in several winters of the late 1980s (and, from memory, into 1990).
For St Anton I'd guess that the very optimum conditions are typically around mid-March. Let's see how it pans out this winter. Have a good one, and good luck.
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@sparky you can also get a ski service up on the mountain..go to jennewein at top of Galzig they can sometimes do for you while you have lunch or a coffee...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I have been skiing over 35 years, 13 of them in St Anton. Doing the maths, that suggests more 50 regular seasons, if the northern and southern seasons are counted separately.
If there is one thing I have learned over those seasons is that making predictions about the snow is a fairly sure way of making a monkey out of you. The best time for a "prediction" is at the end of the season, ie hindsight. One significant dump can totally transform a resort and even small ones can make a big difference.
We did not get any really big dumps last Feb in St Anton, temps were generally on the warm side, yet every now and then a small fall would arrive and there was good powder to be had for days afterwards. If you knew where to look. Three(?) years ago, we had close to 6 metres on the Galzig in that epic season. What will I find this Feb? No idea beyond there will be snow and there will be weather. I will have a great time. What you make of it is up to you.
I guess the other thing I have learned, to paraphrase Warren Miller, is... a poor day on the mountain is still miles better than a good day in the office.
This is a long-winded way of saying no point in stressing about what might be the conditions next week, or the month after.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@David Goldsmith,
upto Xmas when the snowfall we finally got saved the New Year Holidays according to my local sources it was the worst start
to the season since 1964!
The problem this season has been the
temperature. We have not had a sustained period
of negative C .
The bonus was that all the pistes down were
regraded to Itinery Routes. Reminded me of St Anton
Old days when they didnt groom the hell out of the hill.
That is what set St Anton apart & it was great to
get back some of those runs as they used to be
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@David Goldsmith,
Just curious. All those years ago when you started to ski, did they have electricity back then?
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You know it makes sense.
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Yes, I distinctly remember cablecar stations with electric motors in St Anton in 1962/3/4 (as I say, the exact year needs checking). I also seem to recall the buzz of my father's electric shaver in the hotel.
It was in the same year that I visited Manchester, admiring the steam-powered cotton mills and horse-drawn canal boats.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Folks
A lot of websites predicting snow tomorrow. Dont pay much attention to these.
It will not amount to much just dandruff in the afternoon.
The Fohn is once again going to play havoc with the forecast upto th.e weekend so at this stage
it is not certain about the snow at the weekend.
IT looks as if a sustained cold front will follow on from Saturday Sunday
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Poster: A snowHead
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Was just looking at the Lech weather forecast, They are downplaying Mittwoch precip. so keeping my underwear dried and pressed. It seems they are also keeping the Friday/Saturday snow as uncertain due to the SW Fohn. At least St Anton has electricity from what I hear, so no need to worry about oil lamps, leather ski boots, and wooden skis! However, last time in Lech, I did see a horse drawn carriage. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Today was pretty dang fun on the Valluga and schindlergrat. Stuff was surprisingly stable. One of those blue bird days in the Arlberg you dream of, even with than annoying ice layer There is still the ice layer down there, but at elevation it was better. The wind has still moved the snow around in c razy amounts. It was out of the south today and then out of the west this afternoon.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| stanton wrote: |
Folks
A lot of websites predicting snow tomorrow. Dont pay much attention to these.
The Fohn is once again going to play havoc with the forecast
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WHAT !! FFS I've just booked for next week on the forecast this lunchtime .. Nearly 50cms on offer then 
And Mrs scarbski coming with me this time, promised her perfect conditions dammit . Oh well cant be worse than pre Christmas week,,,Can it ?
eta.. anyone recommend good company for lessons and guiding ?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| scarbski wrote: |
| stanton wrote: |
Folks
A lot of websites predicting snow tomorrow. Dont pay much attention to these.
The Fohn is once again going to play havoc with the forecast
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WHAT !! FFS I've just booked for next week on the forecast this lunchtime .. Nearly 50cms on offer then
And Mrs scarbski coming with me this time, promised her perfect conditions dammit . Oh well cant be worse than pre Christmas week,,,Can it ?
eta.. anyone recommend good company for lessons and guiding ? |
I guess waiting for the dinner forecast was out of the question? But you never know, the breakfast forecast tomorrow may bring more snow to Austria. We will all find out this weekend for sure though...
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Who knows. Maybe the jet stream and cold frigid weather can make it to the alps.
(Bloomberg) -- Winter weather is putting a kink in air travel plans as the North Atlantic jet stream hits peak intensity.
Stronger westerly headwinds for U.S.-bound flights are stretching out travel times, forcing some planes to stop for refueling. Trips such as London to New York, a busy business route, are running almost eight hours -- 45 minutes longer than voyages in September.
Two Philadelphia-bound American Airlines flights, one from Brussels and the other from Amsterdam, had to touch down on Jan. 11 to refuel in Bangor, Maine, said Scott Ramsay, the carrier’s managing director of its integrated operations center. The journey from Brussels took 9 hours and 16 minutes, about an hour more than three months earlier, according to industry data tracker FlightAware.
“You know you’re going to be in trouble on the way back,” Ramsay said. “You try to pick out ways that you can get around the headwind.”
If you’re headed in the opposite direction, you might catch one of the shortest flights on that route yet. A British Airways flight from New York to London earlier this week approached the speed of sound, buoyed by the jet stream, and the Boeing Co. 777-200 made the journey in just over 5 hours, according to FlightAware.
The headwinds caused by the winter jet stream, which is at its most intense during this season when the differences in temperature between the equator and the North Pole are the greatest, have been ratcheting up in recent years.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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We'll, I guess my BA flt Friday will be a short one ! 
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@Toadman, safe travels. Long day of fllying! Pstry and give us updates if u have time.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Big snow back on scgb forecast for this weekend
50cm
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Is it raining or snowing out there at the moment?
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You know it makes sense.
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think a big dump this weekend will take care of the lurking ice underneath off piste?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Redwine wrote: |
| think a big dump this weekend will take care of the lurking ice underneath off piste? |
I suspect not but who knows what kind of metamorphosis might go on. Temps are pretty mild, so it's possible new snow could bond quite well given enough time. Even if the new snow bonds you might still be worried about layers below. I don't think one storm event will lay down enough snow to resolve existing deep layers. Best to take a look at the Tirol Avalanche site for their reports, they do detailed analysis across the region, if there's a big dump they will certainly take a lot of time to check the snow pack.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Got a few inches this afternoon. Quite a bit in a short bit of time. It's mellowed since. Mostly snow. Very wet, borderline snow at bottom, but all good about heustadl.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| comish wrote: |
| Got a few inches this afternoon. Quite a bit in a short bit of time. It's mellowed since. Mostly snow. Very wet, borderline snow at bottom, but all good about heustadl. |
comish Thanks for the update. Some wet, sticky snow is good base material, and probably not bad for bonding hopefully and reducing the sketchy conditions for Austria these days.
@sah It will take time and snow to hopefully workout the weak layer(s). Snow and all its variables, just like the weather is a work in progress. But I'm hoping that this snow coming, along with many more to follow will work it all out in the end.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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About danger down to 2 up high and 1 down low today. Really didn't see much evidence Of slides yesterday things do seem a bit better... still pretty sure the deeper pack is still crap.
They have massively improved their grooming and snow making so are having some success covering some of the ice up. Happy valley is actually not 1/2 bad which is a huge surprise.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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5cm of Binding Polish
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Please can someone tell me the route from St.Anton to the top of Valfegehr. I always seem to get stuck in St.Christoph...............
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@stanton Vielen Dank!!
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Snow on Saturday
Friday night the Fohn will depart.
Saturday morning heavy snow expecting 30 maybe 40cm !
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FAQ
