TR CH - Saas-Fee: 17 - 20.Dec.05
The storm on 15th & 16th that smashed Western Austria barely glanced Haute Valais and left only 15 - 30cms depending on elevation.
Horrible winds on Saturday the 17th closed everything except tele-skis in the village. The winds plowed directly up the only entrance into this normally protected valley.
Sunday/Mon/Tues - bluebirds, some thin clouds. with no or light winds.
Vertical: 1700m total descent. 3500m at top station to 1800m at village.
Village view. Only electric mini-cars allowed in village.
Feegletscher (Fee Glacier) in background.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_49595.jpg
Up on Feegletscher. Peak in center is the Dom at 4545m. Highest in CH.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_49596.jpg
Descent towards mid-station. Village is down in that valley somewhere.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_49599.jpg
Higher up the glacier. Dom, again.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_49597.jpg
One of the many spectacular forms of this glacier to be photographed here.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_49598.jpg
One of the many posers to be photographed here.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_49600.jpg
The pistes on the glacier are like Wall-2-Wall carpeting. Some of the best grooming I have experienced on pistes that are often 100+m wide. I found plenty of courdory to shred until closing.
The Solstice Sun hits glacier ~ 10 AM and disappears around 2:15 PM. Combine that with the altitude, dry air, and cold temps, and glacier snow was always in great shape.
Mid-station to village: Sadly, only 1 red run is open. Machine-made snow/crystal. It is in excellent shape, though.
Off-Piste: Lots of potential, but all the scree & talus fields are very exposed right now. Glacier too dangerous. I never saw a guide (w/ or w/o a party) beyond the ropes.
Bottomline: Saas-Fee needs at least 80 - 100cms of new snow from at least 2 storms to open up off-piste terrain and the additional pistes from mid-station to village.
later, litt
