It's hammering down in Val D'Isere, snow line dropped to the village around 4pm and it just keeps coming. Goodness knows how it will be up the mountain, it was really deep earlier but very poor viz, so didn't do much!
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
In Sölden at the moment. Today a considerable part of the resort was closed due to wind (as well as all of Gurgl, which was great to hear after driving all the way there). There was light precipitation on and off throughout the day, with wet snow turning to rain somewhere around 2500m I think, and the sun coming off every now and again.
On puste, typical spring conditions, a bit icy-ish at 3000m and slushy from ~2700m down.
Till yesterday I was in Pitztal and had the impression the snow was holding up slightly better there (and there was less apparent grass/rocks next to the slope), though it might be just the height difference
Now at village level it's raining consistently, but the forecast for tomorrow is still strong winds, which begs the question, will my wider skis be allowed to smell some powder up the glacier, or will it all be closed again.
All in all, here in the East we haven't really noticed the storm the rest of the Alpes are seeing, except for the wind.
Still chucking down the wet flocons in cervinia. Sticking for the last couple of hours so presumably temps have dropped a bit.
Relentless. Entire resort closed tomorrow, no real surprise.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Hammering down in Verbier, to about 1200m.
Tomorrow be vintage
After all it is free
After all it is free
Monte Rosa also
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
An inch of soggy snow in my garden in Les Chosalets and it hasn’t really got going yet. The sodding dog has just come in looking like something out of Call of the Wild
Can’t see the Grands Montets opening on time tomorrow.
Think I’ll stay in bed and save my limited energy for Friday and Saturday.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Whitegold wrote:
Hammering down in Verbier, to about 1200m.
Tomorrow be vintage
It was hammering it down with some of the biggest snowflakes I’ve ever seen down in Sembrancher at 700m
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
It’s already at 50cm and supposed to get heavier tonight and snow all day tomorrow!
Can’t believe they’ll open the lifts. Well just have to ski to le Chable!
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.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@BobinCH, my terrace hasn’t looked like this since january. 23-30cms
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Mayhem in Tarentaise Valley this morning
25cm @ 900m
50cm plus @1800m
and towards 90cm up top
More intense snowfall till late morning .
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Mid thigh-waist deep in val thorens town this morning - at least 80cm. Just watched a husky being taken for a walk, and disappearing entirely in the snow.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
And it’s still chucking it down
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?
Same in Chatel around 15-20kms overnight at village level which has been quiet all week. Driving may be interesting for some punters as we are now out of the mandatory winter equipment period.
A meter overnight in Tignes VC and predicted to dump for the rest of the day. Everything is locked down including the road down the valley.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@HammondR, same here, dogs just went out, and thought bug%ger that and came back in, and we all went back to bed.
No actual snow laying on our terrace @ 1400m 2.5° though very windy so should imagine up top will be grim.
Would seem like SAGA ski-touring low angle with nothing above to come down would be a sensible option tomorrow can't see too many lifts at altitude opening now with this wind.
Just heard from a mate no electricity in Chamomix ?
After all it is free
After all it is free
The European Alps today have received one of their biggest Easter snowfalls in years.
Over 1 metre in 24hrs.
Zermatt, Verbier, Chamonix, and Val Thorens in the eye of the storm.
Drop everything.
Fly to the Alps.
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.
It's like this is the big dump you wait for at the start of the season except it is the very end of the season!
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Whitegold wrote:
The European Alps today have received one of their biggest Easter snowfalls in years.
Over 1 metre in 24hrs.
Zermatt, Verbier, Chamonix, and Val Thorens in the eye of the storm.
Drop everything.
Fly to the Alps.
Will be gone in 24 hours
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
BobinCH wrote:
Whitegold wrote:
The European Alps today have received one of their biggest Easter snowfalls in years.
Over 1 metre in 24hrs.
Zermatt, Verbier, Chamonix, and Val Thorens in the eye of the storm.
Drop everything.
Fly to the Alps.
Will be gone in 24 hours
Suspect anything below 2,500 will be concrete as well, if my little sortie just now was anything to go by
But envious of getting above 3,000m etc
And the piste bashers are going to have a big job to flatten it all down for the piste skiers, and then if it softens up there are going to be some huge slushy bumps to deal with.
Lots of things to think about when considering routes and lines over the next few days, OH is already breaking my cojones over tomorrow's options
LG closed today, no big surprise there and a big call to be made to open tomorrow I suspect.
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.
I think this just shows the futility of discussing what snow conditions will be like at certain times of the season.
Or looking at forecasts more than a couple of days before.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So the best storms of the “winter” were… September and April
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:
So the best storms of the “winter” were… September and April
Indeed @michebiche! Absolutely incredible. We cancelled a hut to hut walking trip in the Tirol due to the September storm Off to Tignes next Wednesday, so hoping to see the benefit of the latest one (though the weather outlook doesn't look great...).
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Weathercam wrote:
LG closed today, no big surprise there and a big call to be made to open tomorrow I suspect.
Surely LG will be closed with risk 4 ? Have you seen La Grave opening before on a risk 4 day ? Would need a snorkel and a new pair of fat skis to make it worth the trip
Avalanche bulletin : "60 to 80cm at 2500m, over 1m at 3000m, even 1m30 to 1m50 at the top of the La Grave ski area."
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Think I asked this before but can they forecast the moisture content of snow as well? So you know if it's going to be a dump of really light stuff or wet stuff?
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I follow Avalanche Geeks/Shepherd and his updates from Cham is extremely wet snow below 2,300m getting significantly worse with solar radiation from today
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?
Gigantic amounts of rain fell on the Southern Alps
What fell in 72 hours. If compared to Berlin 600 l/m² average in 1 year – fell here 3 days !!!
Check this out ...with sound !
Rima, 1400 m asl (Upper Val Sarmenza, Piemonte, IT)
(306 mm at Boccioleto, 600 m asl lower in the same valley), the water held back by a burst snow avalanche dam breaks out!
Same in Chatel around 15-20kms overnight at village level.
That's quite some depth of snow (around 10 miles depth)!
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Alastair Pink wrote:
Red Leon wrote:
Ozboy wrote:
Same in Chatel around 15-20kms overnight at village level.
That's quite some depth of snow (around 10 miles depth)!
Always the optimist. I have big feet!
After all it is free
After all it is free
8611 wrote:
Think I asked this before but can they forecast the moisture content of snow as well? So you know if it's going to be a dump of really light stuff or wet stuff?
Any reports i've read have been of heavy snow. Was there a way of predicting that in advance? I'm not sure it's as simple as saying "april" as there's been good dumps of light powder in april too. Temps were low enough to snow and sun couldn't have affected it so badly yet. Maybe the falling snowline meant very wet stuff at first, maybe the way to front came in it was always going to be wet? I thought I read one forecast referring to moist air getting pushed into cold air or something.
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.
Weather down in this part of the world (Hautes Alpes) quickly settled down after Thursday's storm, and yesterday morning after a clear night there was not a cloud in the sky, but what to do, with Risk 4?
We opted to go take a look up in the Granon sector which is low gradient and not overshadowed by anything that might come down from above, and we can drive up to the snowline.
Drive up as we hit the snow which had frozen hard was a tad gnarly and on the stretches of black ice my 4x4 was doing strange things with the anit traction control along with the ruts of snow.
We parked up at 1,950 and started skinning and called it a day after 100m or so as it became obvious the snowpack was awful, even with a melt that it was not going to be good, it looked at least for another 300-400m+ to be rain & wind affected.
Once back down I then later when out on my road bike up to the Col du Lautaret to see what it was like up there, fully expecting to see many people touring up there even though it was risk 4.
Riding up the number of natural slides and purges was huge, and on a couple of routes we often tour. I was most surprised to see hardly any cars at one parking area that gives access to many routes but put that down to a long approach from 1,750m where there was no snow, and thought people would take the low hanging fruit of the Pic Blanc / Galibier / Combeynot sectors.
But again, surprisingly where there would be many cars it was nigh on empty, I could not quite believe it, the only thought was that the Grenoble / Lyon hordes must be elsewhere.
The only people that were out in any numbers were the snow-kiters playing around on the less dangerous aspects, though when I was up there I did see a couple of groups on the Laurichard.
The snow pack was totally different to what we encountered in the morning on the Granon, and I'm not sure why, maybe the wind and an inversion with rain, I don't know?
But I've said this before on big days and this photo demonstrates it, the mountains can be both beautiful, tempting and dangerous.
This is the Combeynot face and not one track, however a couple of years ago that whole face slid!
However, the biggest wake-up call was later, after I returned to see this image on FB of a massive slide above the new Refuge, Clot des Vaches, down from the Chardonnet ridge.
This was the same climb/line @KenX, skied a couple of months ago.
So not too sure what will happen from now, today there's more cloud around and now Risk 3, I'm opting for some Sky Running
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
BobinCH wrote:
Weathercam wrote:
Best-case scenario is that this will ensure a good covering at altitude for Spring touring whilst you're stuck mid-week in the office
Happy to slay the pow this weekend and leave the dust on crust next week for Saga ski tours
Well I'm not too sure how much powder got slayed this past weekend, from what I saw it quickly went to shite, with the high temps and then the wind, but everywhere you looked on any steeps there had been a lot of activity.
Today I went touring easy SAGA* terrain up on the Italian French frontier hoping for Spring snow on more W'ly facing aspects, but really not too sure what I might encounter.
The snow was rock hard boiler plate as I was climbing up nigh on needing crampons, but as the morning wore on, so snow on more E'ly aspects started to transform and then even with a hazy sky it all started to go quite quickly.
As I neared one high point along the ridge I saw two guys on the N side and as I suspected, they were digging snow pits to analyse the snowpack, turned out they were two Italian Mountain Carabinier carrying out research, though they did agree that things had settled down a lot since Friday when it was all sliding just below where they were digging.
I certainly would not have fancied skiing down the N side as it was 5-10cm of crust over the recent fresh snow.
But I did strike lucky with some beautiful lines in lovely Spring snow, this is just looking across from where I transitioned to a higher point along the Crête de Dormillouse at just under 3,000m, and hopefully will be going back up in the next couple of days.
Now it's the time of the year when we tend to wake up and look out of the window at the weather and thermometer to see what the temps dropped to overnight before making the call when the forecasts are varied as they currently are.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
Off to Tignes next Wednesday, so hoping to see the benefit of the latest one (though the weather outlook doesn't look great...).
