Who is going skiing and where 2015?

[AOK]

Sacked today off too and currently sitting in a pub outdoors in the sun!

Can anyone comment on Verbier or Courmayeur? Determined to get at least one day of skiing in before Christmas eve festivities start

[prand]

//j17 said:

Les Gets is doing everything it can to get areas open for beginners, with the Piou Piou kinder garden open.

YouTube video...

Thanks, that's good to see, in fact this is the one thing that's stopping me from pulling the chute cord and getting the credit card out for Val Thorens.

This might interest people:

I've been watching the frustratingly accurate Meteox website, it has been depressingly correct over recent weeks. But all of a sudden, it has perked up and is forecasting some fairly decent snow by the end of the year. I won't write down what I am thinking in case I jinx anything but have a look yourselves:

http://www.meteox.com/forecastloop.aspx?type=1&amp...

As a taster, it shows a tantalising blob of snow on 25/26 Dec over Austria and Eastern Switzerland, but then set the show to 144 hours and watch for the storm come blowing in off the atlantic over the UK on the 27th, turning later that evening from blue (rain) into lovely red and orange over almost the whole of the Alps region (pretty much most of central Europe) for around 36hrs!

I will be watching how this develops this with interest...

[Leithen]

5potTurbo said:

Where are you, Liethen?

We are in Silver Star in British Columbia, Canada. Parents in Law own a house here.

It's a bit of a ball ache getting here from Scotland - currently three flights ranging from 16 to 24 hours travel. However, we always have great snow and the people are really friendly.

Have a look at the Ski it to Believe it website for details of all BC's ski hills.

[Mal001]

Is anyone out in Italy? The snow level on the webcams look good at various resorts.

Normally we go to Austria end of Jan but getting a little concerned so may look elsewhere.

[prand]

Fittster said:

With the collapse of the Rubble are there any cheap deals in Russia? Bit of skiing plus rebuild international relationships!

not really sure, but there may be a few less Russians in Courcheval this year.

[feef]

prand said:

Fittster said:

With the collapse of the Rubble are there any cheap deals in Russia? Bit of skiing plus rebuild international relationships!

not really sure, but there may be a few less Russians in Courcheval this year.

You might find more actually. Those that have the money are trying to get it out of Russia as quickly as possible before their domestic capital goes through the floor, the earth's crust and into the dense, molten core.

[T1berious]

I'm doing the daily snow watch on St Anton, go early Jan.

Fingers crossed they'll get a decent dump over the next few days...

[prand]

prand said:

Thanks, that's good to see, in fact this is the one thing that's stopping me from pulling the chute cord and getting the credit card out for Val Thorens.

This might interest people:

I've been watching the frustratingly accurate Meteox website, it has been depressingly correct over recent weeks. But all of a sudden, it has perked up and is forecasting some fairly decent snow by the end of the year. I won't write down what I am thinking in case I jinx anything but have a look yourselves:

http://www.meteox.com/forecastloop.aspx?type=1&amp...

As a taster, it shows a tantalising blob of snow on 25/26 Dec over Austria and Eastern Switzerland, but then set the show to 144 hours and watch for the storm come blowing in off the atlantic over the UK on the 27th, turning later that evening from blue (rain) into lovely red and orange over almost the whole of the Alps region (pretty much most of central Europe) for around 36hrs!

I will be watching how this develops this with interest...

Hmm, doesn't look so snowy in the geneva area now for 27/28 dec on the forecast today. I really have got to stop looking at these things, they just wind me up!

I know I said rhis before, but I'm going to try and enjoy christmas and have a peek before we leave. Hard not to

[brickwall]

feef said:

prand said:

Fittster said:

With the collapse of the Rubble are there any cheap deals in Russia? Bit of skiing plus rebuild international relationships!

not really sure, but there may be a few less Russians in Courcheval this year.

You might find more actually. Those that have the money are trying to get it out of Russia as quickly as possible before their domestic capital goes through the floor, the earth's crust and into the dense, molten core.

One of the reasons the Swiss have just put their interest rates negative was to try and stem the flow of Russian capital into the country (forcing up the value of the CHF).

[//j17]

At the moment it's generally just France struggling for snow. Italy has generally had a good start to the season with Austria not far behind.

A number of the forecasts for the Port du Soleil (Avoriaz/Chatel/Les Gets/Morzine) area are starting to show summer ending today (10/11°), autumn tomorrow/Christmas day (-7/4°) and winter starting on Boxing day (-9/0°).

Not going to help people out for Christmas but a ray of hope for those of us out in Jan.

[Asterix]

//j17 said:

At the moment it's generally just France struggling for snow. Italy has generally had a good start to the season with Austria not far behind.

A number of the forecasts for the Port du Soleil (Avoriaz/Chatel/Les Gets/Morzine) area are starting to show summer ending today (10/11°), autumn tomorrow/Christmas day (-7/4°) and winter starting on Boxing day (-9/0°).

Not going to help people out for Christmas but a ray of hope for those of us out in Jan.

Amen - I'm off to La Plagne on the 11th - looks like they will be getting the start of some decent snow (hopefully) before the New Year.

Also, we're staying at over 2,000m with most of the resort higher - the webcams look pretty good considering the lack of anything meaningful so far.

[SilverSixer]

My son is off to Pila (Italy) with his school on Saturday. How's it going there, does anyone know?

[Jarcy]

//j17 said:

At the moment it's generally just France struggling for snow. Italy has generally had a good start to the season with Austria not far behind.

A number of the forecasts for the Port du Soleil (Avoriaz/Chatel/Les Gets/Morzine) area are starting to show summer ending today (10/11°), autumn tomorrow/Christmas day (-7/4°) and winter starting on Boxing day (-9/0°).

Not going to help people out for Christmas but a ray of hope for those of us out in Jan.

I leave for Chatel on Boxing Day evening. My fingers have never been so tightly crossed. Chatel is open, but very limited. I'm hoping the conditions improve enough at least to open the link to Avoriaz. Need to get some altitude. Or there's a 75 minute drive to get to Avoriaz, to achieve the short hop accross the mountatin.

[brickwall]

Jarcy said:

I leave for Chatel on Boxing Day evening. My fingers have never been so tightly crossed. Chatel is open, but very limited. I'm hoping the conditions improve enough at least to open the link to Avoriaz. Need to get some altitude. Or there's a 75 minute drive to get to Avoriaz, to achieve the short hop accross the mountatin.

I'm in Morgins at the moment, and there's absolutely nothing right now. There's snow due Thursday-Saturday, but at best it'll be 20cm, which won't make a world of difference. Might be enough to get the links open from Pre la joux to Avoriaz though.

[The Moose]

Where is currently best within driving distance of Geneva?!

[a311]

The Moose said:

Where is currently best within driving distance of Geneva?!

Depends what you class as driving distance but from what I've gathered, Cervina/Zermatt looking about the best, Val Thorens, Tignes and Val d'Isere are getting more and more opened and have friends working out there and they've reported on piste conditions are absolutely fine.

//j17 said:

At the moment it's generally just France struggling for snow. Italy has generally had a good start to the season with Austria not far behind.

Not so sure about this. St Anton for example is really sturglling with a very limited area open, a lot of people are heading to Ischgl who seem to have the majority of the resort open.

Head anywhere with a glacier and you'll be able to ski, like wise areas with pistes above 2000m have at least some skiing availible.

If the weather patterns and models are to be believed a decent dump is on it's way but not until the weekend.

SilverSixer said:

My son is off to Pila (Italy) with his school on Saturday. How's it going there, does anyone know?

Is he going with Interski by any chance? Worked for them for a few seasons. Pila looks decent on the webcams. Most of the skiing is in a large bowl so holds the snow it gets very well. In my experiene it's pretty snowsure throughout the season and a cracking area to ski in.

[SilverSixer]

a311 said:

Is he going with Interski by any chance? Worked for them for a few seasons. Pila looks decent on the webcams. Most of the skiing is in a large bowl so holds the snow it gets very well. In my experiene it's pretty snowsure throughout the season and a cracking area to ski in.

Brilliant, thanks for that. Yes, Interski. Coach trip from Reading. 10 yrs old, Mrs SS is cacking herself, first trip away from home. He'll be fine.

[//j17]

SilverSixer said:

Brilliant, thanks for that. Yes, Interski. Coach trip from Reading. 10 yrs old, Mrs SS is cacking herself, first trip away from home. He'll be fine.

A coach. From Reading. To Italy. Ughghgh!

Pack him with tons of snacks and drinks and instructions (that he'll ignore) to buy loads for the trip back.

[a311]

SilverSixer said:

Brilliant, thanks for that. Yes, Interski. Coach trip from Reading. 10 yrs old, Mrs SS is cacking herself, first trip away from home. He'll be fine.

Interski are very good at what they do IMO. I guess for a parent it’s an attractive proposition as everything is included, meals, hire (inc clothes if required) transport. They also have a non ski activities planned for the evenings. The bus from Reading will be fine, however I would get on at the depot not far from Carlisle and generally be at least 2 hours ahead of schedule so as a rule would take 10 hours plus to get to Dover! For kids it’s a huge adventure, getting on the ferry etc. You then get breakfast in France with about 4-5hrs left to go. I’m pretty sure all the accommodation Interski use based down in the valley and would bus the kids up each day whilst the instructors opt for the 10-15 gondola ride from Aosta.

TBH who you get as an instructor is very luck of the draw and generally most are level 2 BASI equivalent which is to say they are proficient enough to teach on piste. There are plenty of youngsters wanting weeks after doing gap years but plenty of older and more experienced heads too. The Interski model essentially allows them to have Lv 2 instructors teach up to 4 weeks per season, and unlike the French the Italians seem to realise which side their bread is buttered as they bring in a huge amount of business to Aosta.
I used to really enjoy teaching in Pila Vs the other resorts in Aosta as it has plenty of pistes which offer good progression.

[brickwall]

a311 said:

TBH who you get as an instructor is very luck of the draw and generally most are level 2 BASI equivalent which is to say they are proficient enough to teach on piste. There are plenty of youngsters wanting weeks after doing gap years but plenty of older and more experienced heads too. The Interski model essentially allows them to have Lv 2 instructors teach up to 4 weeks per season, and unlike the French the Italians seem to realise which side their bread is buttered as they bring in a huge amount of business to Aosta.
I used to really enjoy teaching in Pila Vs the other resorts in Aosta as it has plenty of pistes which offer good progression.

A whole bunch from my BASI 2 course went to work for InterSki. I think if I was a parent I'd have been happy with about ~50% of them!