 Poster: A snowHead
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Snow on the mountains and a question posted in last season's thread prompted me to think about starting one for this season.
There's snow above about 1800m. It won't stay, but it's nice to see... And I'm sure it's very welcome on the glacier!
I work on Spieljoch in the summer and it's always nice to see the guys moving the snow cannons into position... I'm not really a fan of snow cannon snow but it's a sign that winter is coming!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@SaraJ, exciting to see the early snow even if we know it will melt away quickly…..
The glacier was looking shocking on the cams and with all the other European glaciers closed this summer was there calls for Hintertux to close too? Must be some pretty big crevices to fill!
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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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For the last few times I looked it seemed like even the T bars at the top weren't running. Probably only run 4 open to the chair back up to the top. The web site said 6km open but I can't see where that would have been unless they kept an ice track open to the Tuxerfernhaus.
Anyway it's looking much better now and we are booked for the 7-14 Jan in Mike's sports bar.
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@JimboS, I had a drink in Mike’s over the summer. Very impressed by the expansion of the property and always a warm welcome (they chopped down half the orchard to build the car park but I guess that’s the price of a bigger hotel…more cars). Great place to watch the rugby too.
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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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@SaraJ, any chat about electricity and lifts in the Valley? I assume much is generated from the hydro plant up The Valley. Any concerns?
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@Matrix,
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any chat about electricity and lifts in the Valley?
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Not really...
The concern is more about whether tourists will come. It seems that a lot of places are already pretty well booked out for the high season weeks, but low season has hardly any interest.
I suspect that will change once it starts to snow. And, if the snow is good then people will come, though with a tendency towards short (3-4 day) stays.
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@SaraJ, cheers for the reply in last season thread. I had visions of it being the the Tarentaise valley and if that's the case I'd work round the drive in to avoid
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My first trip to the valley coming up this winter, first week of December for a trip the Hintertux for my Level 2 instructor course. Looking forward to seeing the area, as i've wanted to visit for a while now
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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On the verge of booking for Dec. 17-24 in Mayrhofen - I know it's a gamble snow-wise, but what does history say about the third week of December, do we have a fair chance of good snow coverage on the pistes? Thanks!
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@chenav, I think it's likely that most, if not all, of the pistes will have snow cover - whether it's good cover? That depends on the weather 
Hintertux is not far away. I'd be very surprised if there wasn't good snow on the glacier by then. If the snow at Mayrhofen isn't awesome then a trip to the glacier would be worth it.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Gone from 6km to 18km opening at Hintertux. Lifts on the cams seem to be running again.
Really fancy a sneaky pre-season trip!
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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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| Quote: |
| Gone from 6km to 18km opening at Hintertux. Lifts on the cams seem to be running again |
It's snowed down to 2,000m in the Zillertal. Here's the Sommerberg webcam at Hintertux (2,000m) The glacier will be much improved. More snow forecast too.
Edit: Smmit cam looking good too, now the cloud has lifted a bit.
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Hintertux update: Tuxer Fernerhaus cam now up and running and things are looking rather good for the time of year
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You know it makes sense.
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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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| Compare and contrast June 2004...and now. |
Two points, notwithstanding the retreat of the Alps' glaciers:
1. Any June photo of Hintertux will have a lot more snow than an October photo - in fact a whole winter's worth.
2. Hintertux almost always has narrow runs down to Tuxer Fernerhaus in the autumn. That was certainly the case on my first trip there, which was as far back as September 1990.
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Poster: A snowHead
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However, I am sure the the rocks down the middle did not start to appear till the early 2000s. Have memories of riding down there in mid summer in the late 90s early 2000s when there was no snow left, just ice, but the ice sheet covered the full width.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I'm sure that will be right JimboS
Global Warming R Us... 
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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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A decent day in the sun at Hintertux today and always good to get in the first turns of the season
A mix of very hard (ie boiler plate) snow early doors on the shady runs and lovely soft snow in the sun. Snow everywhere softened nicely throughout the day in the wall to wall sun. It was 6C at the summit in the afternoon, so all very pleasant.
Fairly busy to get up the mountain at about 08.30 but otherwise no real queuing issues and the place was virtually deserted in the afternoon, once the racers went home.
By pure chance due to arriving today, we bagged three-day tickets on the last day of autumn prices (€140 pp for three days) - but prices go up to the winter rate of €65  a day from tomorrow.
There's not an awful lot of lifts/terrain open at the moment. IMO €65 a day is absolutely taking punters' eyes out...  Where's it gonna end?
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Glad the snow came in time for you, you must have been worried up till a couple of weeks ago.
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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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| Quote: |
| Glad the snow came in time for you, you must have been worried up till a couple of weeks ago |
Never been more relaxed
JimboS  - but that's because we only booked the trip on impulse last Tuesday when we saw the nice-looking conditions on the webcams Tomorrow is our third and final ski day.
More very hard snow first thing on the shady upper runs today. Everywhere else was still ok and the hard snow softened to nice and skiable in the early afternoon. Overall, it's still decent cover and very enjoyable skiing for the time of year.
The six person chair was running today but the draglifts to the right of it (as you ride up the chair) aren't running yet. From the chair, it looked like there is plenty of snow on the runs over there and 3 or 4 piste bashers were working in the area - shovelling snow about etc. Looking up from the bottom of the skiing, it may be that lack of snow at the bottom of the drag lifts and returning to Tuxer Fernerhaus might be the issue in the lifts not running...??
It stayed sunny for most of the day today, although surrounding valleys had a big build up of cloud, which made for some good photos.
By close of play, it had clouded over and we skied down through a couple of foggy patches. There might be some light snow at altitude tonight but the freezing level is quite high.
Today at Hintertux:
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Fog and heavy rain in the valley today and a freezing level around Hintertux top station level
The webcams didn't look promising (zero visibility just above Tuxer Fernerhaus) but we went up for a couple of hours this afternoon.
We enjoyed it more than we expected - poor visibility overall but soft, rather than soaking wet, snow. According to the Hintertux Channel on our TV, it's currently -5C at the top station. The refreeze will make for rather interesting conditions tomorrow...
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Looks deserted! Is the Tux bar at the bottom of the slope busy??
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| Looks deserted! Is the Tux bar at the bottom of the slope busy?? |
It was all very quiet after about 12.30pm but there were queues of a few minutes at the 2 stages of the Gletscherbus first thing on a morning. Queues for the two parallel T-bars at the top were bigger (2-7 minutes) but were generally well managed. But why they allow singles when people have been queuing a while is beyond me...
The runs never felt very busy, although at racers going home time in the early afternoon, there were the obligatory high speed nutters weaving between the more normal-speed skiers
I was driving so we didn't do après drinks at the bottom. I don't know which one is Tux Bar - but the Hohenhaus looked quite lively on the Friday and Saturday, with people on the outside terrace.
Bottom station - approx. 09.00 on Fri 8.10.22:
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Just cancelled my Crystal package for 7th Jan and rebooked it £31 cheaper despite losing the original deposit. You win some and you lose some.
Anyone else with a Crystal holiday booked for the 7th Jan will be coming up to paying the balance so its worthwhile checking to see if a saving can be made using the discount code PISTE.
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Weather looking like it's cooling down this week, and some snow forecast.
4.5 weeks until I set off to Hintertux.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| SaraJ wrote: |
The concern is more about whether tourists will come. It seems that a lot of places are already pretty well booked out for the high season weeks, but low season has hardly any interest.
I suspect that will change once it starts to snow. And, if the snow is good then people will come, though with a tendency towards short (3-4 day) stays. |
We’ve decided to bury our heads in the sand Re: the cost of living crisis and buy a Snow Card Tirol regardless.
Anecdotally - our friends are planning the same amount (or more) skiing than last year.
Maybe a lot of British skiers are still trying to make up for the Covid year?
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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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@Oceanic, where you going to be using you SCT?
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| Mother hucker wrote: |
| @Oceanic, where you going to be using you SCT? |
Dec One week Hintertux.
Jan One week Hochfügen.
Feb One week Niederau (don’t ask).
March Two weeks Hochfügen.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Oceanic, I expect that we'll be seeing you around then
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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Blizzard like conditions on the Tux at the moment.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Looks like the whole area has had a few centimetres of snow at least
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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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| Quote: |
| Looks like the whole area has had a few centimetres of snow at least |
Excitement mounts! This morning's view towards Hintertux Glacier (in the distance, top left).
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@mountainaddict, yes it looks like decent early season coverage
Hopefully it will stay cold I think there’s some more snow coming 18th 19th ish.
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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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It looks warm through mid month with daily temps above zero up to 2500m.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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The snow was great yesterday at Hintertux and today it's snowing down to the valley... So that's nice
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@SaraJ, plenty of footage on FB from Zillertal Arena and Finkenberg where it’s shown the lovely snow down to village level.
Off out on 10th Dec will be great without having to think about Covid regulations this year.
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I see the opening date for Zillertal Arena has been pushed back to 8th Dec from 3rd Dec ‘due to current snow conditions’
That surprised me as there seemed to be plenty on the webcams, cold enough to make snow and I’m sure I’ve seen them open with less in past seasons 
Hoch Zillertal and Mayrhofen are right next door and opening on 3rd Dec as planned so I don’t really understand how the ski area right in the middle of them can have not enough snow?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I'll be skiing at Hintertux on my own on Saturday (3rd Dec), prior to my L2 course starting Sunday if anyone is around and fancies a ski.
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Hochfügen was open last weekend, closed for the week and then will be open again, and for the rest of the season, from Saturday.
We didn't go up at the weekend. Apparently, Saturday was quiet due to the weather, but Sunday was very busy with lots of ski tourers.
It's snowing above 1000m today which means it's prettty wet and dismal in the valley!
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