 Poster: A snowHead
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| JohnMo wrote: |
| Trisske wrote: |
| Zermatt missed the dump :/ |
? Not as much as NW Alps (to be expected given direction of storm) but still very good. More coming through this evening
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Quiet less than expected though. This pic is accumulation from past months ? Or from mid-high mountain?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Pretty much what was expected. Photo is from Furi, so low down in ski area - accumulation over last two days.
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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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@JohnMo, I think our friend might normally hide under a bridge
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| DCG wrote: |
| @JohnMo, I think our friend might normally hide under a bridge |
I did wonder.
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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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Still, less than expected. And Furi is 270m higher than Zermatt center 
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| Trisske wrote: |
| Still, less than expected. And Furi is 270m higher than Zermatt center |
Not sure what point you are trying to make and I imagine DCG is right. But it was what was expected. And we don’t ski in Zermatt, we ski in the mountains. It will be an awesome day skiing tomorrow.
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Good photo of a fairly small avalanche this evening just south of Täsch looking up towards Zermatt. It often slides there after a heavy snowfall. I have watched it happen from my balcony and while not usually big, it is dramatic to see. The railway line is on the right hand side but is covered at that point so should be fine. The road is on the other side of the river on the left and I doubt that will have been impacted (although the road has been closed a lot the last couple of days because of the avalanche risk).
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^ Good snap.
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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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Beautiful day but no ski possible to italy for the moment …
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Cervinia getting a top up tonight but not as much as its next door neighbour at Monte Rosa. Pretty much none of it making it over to the Swiss side. Beginning of next week looks canny – and decent temperatures. Lots of possibility for follow on snow the rest of the week. Not what the half term crowds want (they want bluebird days obviously) but good for the area generally.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@JohnMo, Thanks for that update. I will be out there in 5 weeks so hopefully this will help maintain the base
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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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| DCG wrote: |
| @JohnMo, Thanks for that update. I will be out there in 5 weeks so hopefully this will help maintain the base |
Hope so. Generally, because of the combination of: really good early snow; low temperatures; and snow making, the piste bases and general condition of the pistes has been great despite the relatively dry November and December (and to a lesser extent January). We really needed the recent snow and what looks like might be coming up next week to open up the itineraries and the lift served off piste. That is not very important in February as the vast bulk of the February half term crowds are piste only. It becomes more important for March skiers.
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Whoo-hoo, we have an itinerary open! OK it is a small one but at least it is a start (February 14! - got to be the latest in my time). You access it taking the long swooping red from Schwarzsee. It really is a very pleasant run. We crossed it walking a winter hiking trail a couple of weeks ago - inevitably it was well tracked despite not being officially open.
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You know it makes sense.
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Looking at the webcams it looks like heavy snow all the way down to Tasch (and beyond)
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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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Zermatt closed entirely today. Apparently mostly closed yesterday. Cervinia started with limited today but looks like it’s opened a bit. Valtournenche, where we are, is open. It’s showing that the mountain food options (space point of view) are limited in poor weather…
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Badbobby wrote: |
| Zermatt closed entirely today. Apparently mostly closed yesterday. Cervinia started with limited today but looks like it’s opened a bit. Valtournenche, where we are, is open. It’s showing that the mountain food options (space point of view) are limited in poor weather… |
Are you looking at the Italian side app. It will be showing Zermatt closed because the link is closed (not surprisingly given the storm). There is a limited amount of skiing open in the north down from Blauherd and Sunnegga. Yesterday Zermatt was almost all open.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yes, that might be partially true. The Zermatt website says 5 lifts open and 18km of piste… might as well be closed 
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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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What happened Sunday night? I took a look at Bahnofplatz webcam and saw a bunch of busses lined up... so I checked SBB app and saw that the train from Tasch to Zermatt was not operating as "line blocked" so I assume the busses were providing alternate service to Tasch?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| dak64 wrote: |
| What happened Sunday night? I took a look at Bahnofplatz webcam and saw a bunch of busses lined up... so I checked SBB app and saw that the train from Tasch to Zermatt was not operating as "line blocked" so I assume the busses were providing alternate service to Tasch? |
There was a small derailment - nothing serious and all up and running again by the evening (or so I read). Understandably big queues waiting for the buses
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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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| dak64 wrote: |
| What happened Sunday night? I took a look at Bahnofplatz webcam and saw a bunch of busses lined up... so I checked SBB app and saw that the train from Tasch to Zermatt was not operating as "line blocked" so I assume the busses were providing alternate service to Tasch? |
There was a derailment. I assume the heavy snow played a part in that. Fortunately the road was open (it has not been quite a lot of the time over the last few days) so they could put on replacement buses. At present the shuttle train is running to Täsch but beyond that there has been an avalanche so no service - and no indication as to when it might resume. Again fortunately the road is open so there are replacement buses.
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| JohnMo wrote: |
| At present the shuttle train is running to Täsch but beyond that there has been an avalanche so no service - and no indication as to when it might resume. Again fortunately the road is open so there are replacement buses. |
Well they got the train line open - then this happened very close to the first one. Line closed again and replacement buses again.
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@JohnMo, Wow! That looks like a lot of snow has fallen recently
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Valtournenche gondola only opened at around 10.15, to a huge cheer! Only the 3 and 4 man chairs open above. Didn't look like much was open in Cervinia.
Another lovely day of lapping the main run down, dabbling in (safe) off piste. Kids playing in snow etc.
Three days in and three days in Valtournenche. However, it shows that when you have a decent run and no crowds, you take decent snow over km.
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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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The last of the storm is now making its way over Zermatt. This was probably the storm of the season. It came from the North West, which is a much better direction for Zermatt as storms from the direct west have a lot of high mountains to get over before reaching Zermatt. There should continue to be top ups during the week and into the weekend with the first one hitting tomorrow (Wednesday morning).
Very welcome for the area generally. However, I do feel sorry for the people out there this week. Nothing much opened yesterday and even less opened today. The avalanche risk is at 4 and likely to continue to be so for a while. Such a huge dump of snow on sugar snow (which a lot of the area had) is one of the worst combinations for avalanches – and there have been quite a few already.
Anyone out there next week looks to be in for a treat.
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| JohnMo wrote: |
The last of the storm is now making its way over Zermatt. This was probably the storm of the season. It came from the North West, which is a much better direction for Zermatt as storms from the direct west have a lot of high mountains to get over before reaching Zermatt. There should continue to be top ups during the week and into the weekend with the first one hitting tomorrow (Wednesday morning).
Very welcome for the area generally. However, I do feel sorry for the people out there this week. Nothing much opened yesterday and even less opened today. The avalanche risk is at 4 and likely to continue to be so for a while. Such a huge dump of snow on sugar snow (which a lot of the area had) is one of the worst combinations for avalanches – and there have been quite a few already.
Anyone out there next week looks to be in for a treat. |
I'll be out there next week. I see it's supposed to warm up a bit, with high temps of 8C/45F during the day in town, but lows of -1C/30F at night. What do you think conditions on the mountain will be like? Hopefully not too slushy.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Kairos wrote: |
I'll be out there next week. I see it's supposed to warm up a bit, with high temps of 8C/45F during the day in town, but lows of -1C/30F at night. What do you think conditions on the mountain will be like? Hopefully not too slushy. |
I wouldn’t worry re temperatures. Yes, there will be some melt but there should be little slush. Temps could be hitting 8 degrees in Zermatt late in the afternoon. But Zermatt is at 1600m. Almost all of the ski area (with the exception of the home runs) are above 2000m going up to over 3000m (or almost 4000m in the case of Klein Matterhorn but that is an exception). So the air temperature in the ski areas should be 3-7 degrees colder than Zermatt. It is barely going to get over freezing until after lunch.
It looks really sunny next week (which with the massive fresh snow is making it look as though it will be so good). Therefore softening from radiation is going to be an issue. Most of the Swiss side ski area is north facing so I wouldn’t expect significant softening (and definitely not slush) in most areas. The exceptions will be the south facing beginner blues from Blauherd down to Sunnegga and to a lesser extent those from (not quite as south facing) Gifthittli down to Riffelberg. Even there they will be fine for most of the day and again it will be soft rather than slush. The big reds down from Rothorn to Gant are completely south facing. However, they start at 3,100m so the top should be OK but there could be soft patches near the bottom (which is at 2,200m).
Almost all Cervinia side skiing (which is more south – or rather south west - facing) is above 2,500m and that stuff almost always seems to stay in good condition. The runs from there down to town (at 2000m) can get very soft and might even be slushy at the bottom. Valtournenche is mainly above 2,200m so again should be fine. The home run (the only really good home run in the whole area!) goes down to 1,500m so could be very soft/slushy at the bottom.
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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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@JohnMo, thanks - travelling to Zermatt on Sunday so hopefully great timing.
@Kairos I've skied in April in Zermatt where it has been t-shirt weather in town and great up top, so no concerns about much slush/soft snow other than a small handful of low runs around Findeln and the very lowest parts of Cervinia, and a few late afternoon bumps in busy areas
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@DavidYacht, just as a follow up we have an appointment with Tim at Julen Sport on Sunday, thanks for the recommendation 
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You know it makes sense.
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Hope it goes well, will be interested in your feedback
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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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Slow opening of lifts again dow shown on the app/website. Late start - we got to the ticket office at 10.45 and told that the link from VT to Cervinia would open in an hour. So bought a ticket for Cervinia. Then the link didn’t open!
The ticket office resolved at the end of the day by giving a credit note for a day of Cervinia skiing and then charging me for the day of VT only that I should have paid for. It’s valid for 12 months.
I’ve been buying day tickets as the weather has been impossible. Yesterday was very cheap as VT is €28.50 if you only pay for the gondola and the two slow lifts, which was all that was open. Small mercies and all that!!
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Poster: A snowHead
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If you want to know why the black run 62 from Furgg to Furi wasn’t open today I think the photo below gives a satisfactory explanation. That might have been triggered deliberately as they do bomb the area alongside the piste.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Does the main station parking in Tasch ever get full? I've always found a space before but I'm sure it can vary significantly in occupancy
I know I can book in advance but I'm a bit reluctant to in case plans change (later than planned arrival or early departure), and it also helps a bit with cash flow to pay after!
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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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| Whitters wrote: |
Does the main station parking in Tasch ever get full? I've always found a space before but I'm sure it can vary significantly in occupancy
I know I can book in advance but I'm a bit reluctant to in case plans change (later than planned arrival or early departure), and it also helps a bit with cash flow to pay after! |
Never seen it full and I walk through it a lot (never park there - I have my own spot). There are three floors so you might have to go up or down if the ground floor is full. Worst comes to the worst there are several private car parks on the other side of the road (really don’t think you’ll need to do that).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@JohnMo, thanks for the expert inside knowledge as always!
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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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All the links open today then a wind warning “return to home base” from 2pm. Kids were too knackered, so another excellent day in VT. Wind looks bad tomorrow so it might be 6 from 6 days without leaving VT!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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VT lift closed due to wind. Blue skies above!
Cervinia is open. Is it windy as hell or a slightly different climate??
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| Badbobby wrote: |
VT lift closed due to wind. Blue skies above!
Cervinia is open. Is it windy as hell or a slightly different climate?? |
The wind on the Italian side is really extreme. Even at Salette in the Valtournenche sector it is almost 50 km/h and gusting over 120 km/h. Cervinia is as bad so I am surprised they have managed to get as much open. They haven’t opened the top lifts.
The winds are having an effect on the Swiss side as well. The two southern sectors are closed (except for the standby cable car to Trockener Steg). However the two northern sectors (Gornegrat and Rothorn) are both open with hardly any wind. It is strange how you get that but it does happen. A couple of weeks ago I could barely ski through the wind coming down from Trockener Steg but I moved one mountain down to Gornegrat and it was completely still.
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I’m at the Salette! It’s very windy even at river level. Next update midday.
Glad to know it’s probably horrible in Cervinia too. We don’t have a hire car and thought about the bus or a taxi? But the kids would have killed me if we got to the top and it was biblically windy…
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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're driving from our base in Aosta to Gressoney tomorrow. I'm hoping to detour to Cervinia/Valtourneche on route.
Any chance that the link to Zermatt will be open?
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You won’t know until you’re there… imho. But you need the wind to be lower than last 2 days for a start.
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FAQ
