Snow for the Euros.

[Tryingtostaywarm]

Jan 23-25 Andermatt

Ugh, How I miss this place so bad. Spent the entire 14/15 season there essentially. Was fantastic.

[summit]

Buster gonna hit it right!

[PNWbrit]

Saw a report from highly credible source that they observed 9 feet of storm snow at higher elevations around Chamonix today.

Flying out the 19th.

[subtle plague]

Well with that wind 10m further its 0.9 feet. And in this thread we use SI units, yank.
@buster
We might be around from the 16th onward depending on conditions.

[subtle plague]

the next storm will bring 2+m to western italy ,monte rosa area. wild winter this year.
the whole alps now have an average or above average base (or will have after this storm.)

[klar]

Chaos has a name : Eleanor.

The montafon chairlift video has been making the rounds (it turned out fine).

[Rossymcg]

The montafon chairlift video has been making the rounds (it turned out fine).

wooooow fuck a duck. I wonder what them 2 are saying to each other

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[PNWbrit]

Well with that wind 10m further its 0.9 feet. And in this thread we use SI units, yank..

I'll trust his judgement, but yeah 0.9' in places probably too.

And I converted from his credible metric.



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[Glomstulen]

Some advice from the experts here on where to fly in for the weekend 19/22 jan? Looking at flight to either Geneva, Zurich or Milan. See that the Piemonte is the place to be now, but unsure abt the next potential storm... Usually just fly to zurich and go to amatt, but been looking at alagna/gressoney area as a tempting alternative. Hmm, those though life choices....
How are the conditions i Amatt now? What abt conditions in Monterosa area? Have to find something for piste lovers/easy off piste as well as myself who is not so concerned abt pistes....

[subtle plague]

the next pattern seems to be favouring west/northwest patterns, so fly to zurich and join your fellow scandis in engelberg.

Geneva would be the safest bet for the pattern because southerly flow should (who know) stop after the 17th.

[Rossymcg]

lifts closed till lunch time to day in VDI. lifts closed till 11 yesterday. avi rating 5. still more snow to come.

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[sf]

Heading to the Alps from Norway next week......20th-26th. Not really decided on which airport, where to ski, and how to get around.

As far as I can see the France/Italy border looks good and I know my way around Chamonix, so Geneve-Shuttle-Chamonix is one alternative. Pros: terrain, familiarity and logistics. Cons: tons of people.

Also considered getting a rental and visiting several resorts in the border area, or flying into Milan and getting to Courmayeur somehow.
But really, we're pretty much open for anything as long as there's good snow, good terrain and the logistics aren't too much of a hassle.

In exchange for advice I offer stoke from last years trip to Italy....

[subtle plague]

Huge snow coming in the west and north.
Another 2m in the Valais and France possible.
We're heading towards some records.
Snow line will also be a lot lower.

[sf]

Find a resort with good tree skiing then? Courmayeur, Alagna/Champoluc, La Plagne, Serre Chevalier, or Chamonix, if the snow line is lower?

[Rossymcg]

it's gone fucking nuke it down next week. you can choose anywhere in the West north or south of the main alpine ridge.

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[IridePow]

Bedretto valley was pretty good today.
Nicely settled pow.
Northerly aspects dry down to 1600 m, southerly aspects started to get wet somewhere under 2200 m.
(tomorrow you wanna chose the northerly aspects only)

Finally in the warming sun:



Our objective of the day "Poncione Cavagnolo" (seen from Poncione Val Piana).
Approached from the back, but unfortunately could not make to the top due to poor snow conditions on the top 40 m. (even with crampons and ice axe).


Bernese Alps


Close-up of Finsteraarhorn and Lauteraarhorn


Yeah.... pretty good snow conditions in the Bedretto valley (pic at 1600 m)

[peds]

Find a resort with good tree skiing then? Courmayeur, Alagna/Champoluc, La Plagne, Serre Chevalier, or Chamonix, if the snow line is lower?

I love Chamonix, but the tree skiing here isn't the best unless you know the way to a few select spots. You are better off going to an area with a bonafide reputation for decent trees.

Les Arcs 1600 and Peisey Vallandry have some great trees in my opinion, though I've not skied there for over a decade now.

[peds]

I love Chamonix, but...

I love Chamonix, so here's what the place actually is good at...

The sun sets behind the Aiguille Verte, and after an all-day battle to reach the summit, Michael Arnold and I are all alone on the Aiguille du Chardonnet. We were hoping to take a slightly more exciting route down, but after the arduous task of breaking trail from the Argentiere Glacier 1300m below us, we are running late, and we aren't keen on the fact that we'd be doing an awful lot of the inevitable ropework by torchlight.

No matter... after with one short rappel we are soon skiing back down the South Couloir, illuminated by a pinkish hue reflected off the north west face of the Aiguille d'Argentiere. As far as consolation prizes go, it's a pretty good one.

[rod9301]

Nice

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[Nevada29er]

Nice work.

When skiing the couloir, why are you so choked up on your poles?

[peds]

Cheers dudes,

When skiing the couloir, why are you so choked up on your poles?

You mean lower on the grip? Two reasons, upon completing a turn I (and just about everyone I've skied steeps with here in Cham) find it more stable to have your uphill hand closer to the slope, instead of raised to or above head height. It keeps the torso a bit more vertical, instead of pushing your chest away from the slope. Friend Mike shows a nice example at around 1:35 in the video.

Second reason, exclusive to today, my cheap work gloves are long overdue a waterproof treatment, had gotten soaked on the long climb, and had refrozen in the shade at the summit. I had to manually press them to roughly the correct grasping shape with the opposite hand just before skiing, and I had to make do with just about zero dynamic capability, so no hopping up and down the pole shifting hand positions (not a really big deal, the couloir is a straight 40-45 degrees for the most part, with just a couple of passages brushing 50). I had chosen not to bring any spare gloves that morning, just spare woolen liners, which were warmer than the soaked-through climbing liners and a most-welcome change for my hot-ache fingers, but they didn't help the frozen solid leather problem. Ah well, live and learn.
To add to my litany of failures, I also dropped my ski strap whilst removing skis from backpack after a rappel off the summit. Some call it littering, I call it contributing to the archeological record.

[subtle plague]

Bedretto valley was pretty good today.


Yeah.... pretty good snow conditions in the Bedretto valley (pic at 1600 m)

so you were there as well..
too bad everything had slid. I've never seen so many slides in the val cavagnolo and pian.
the depression on the way up was filled with debris and had become a hill (5-10m deep??)
The lines on the right side, which usually slide were all in pristine condition though...

[hafjell]

The sun sets behind the Aiguille Verte, and after an all-day battle to reach the summit, Michael Arnold and I are all alone on the Aiguille du Chardonnet. We were hoping to take a slightly more exciting route down, but after the arduous task of breaking trail from the Argentiere Glacier 1300m below us, we are running late, and we aren't keen on the fact that we'd be doing an awful lot of the inevitable ropework by torchlight.

No matter... after with one short rappel we are soon skiing back down the South Couloir, illuminated by a pinkish hue reflected off the north west face of the Aiguille d'Argentiere. As far as consolation prizes go, it's a pretty good one.

Fantastic video. Good day out. Well done. What rope are you carrying?

[peds]

Fantastic video. Good day out. Well done. What rope are you carrying?

Cheers dude. We were each carrying a single 30m glacier rope, which, when doubled, is more than enough to rap from the Chardonnet summit back down into the south east couloir.

[hafjell]

Cheers dude. We were each carrying a single 30m glacier rope, which, when doubled, is more than enough to rap from the Chardonnet summit back down into the south east couloir.

Dynamic or static? How many mm?