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Just got back from kufstein in Austria. Really really warm there, down in the valley it felt warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt. Did some skiing on saturday in Scheffau in the rain.
On the way back today drove through the arlberg. Better coverage than the last time I was there but you see that everything had been hit by rain. It did look like people were putting down some decent tracks in Stuben though.
I just counted. I've had 17 days this season I'd call "great" including the one with you, Al, and Ripz at G3. I've had maybe 3-4 days where I thought "why did I bother" and the other 12 or so days have been good fun just not super epic.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lostinthetrees
But even that day at G3, which I thought was great fun, people were whinging about the conditions.
It's been hard to find and I'll admit I was depressed last week (high snow level, no viz) but the stuff is out there!!!
I was in Ischgl today and it was the tits.....30cm plus, some wind blown some not!! Crazy Avi conditions everywhere, but they did a great job blowing stuff up and then opening slopes and lifts. I have no idea where I was, but I skied untracked all day on the lookers right..and some in the main gut...the easy to get goods tracked quick, but there was still stashs in lifts site. Got mushy around 2000M today, but north facing was still good in the afternoon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stantonbum1
Ha! did we meet you, or actually one of your blonde female friends, on the way to cham, waiting for the tunnel to open ? (she told us they were 10+ norwegians searching for snow). Were some you driving a fiat ducato?Quote:
Originally Posted by Bzzzt
heavy pow conditions in super st bernard yesterday. bluebird skies. crowded with 20-30 minute lift queues. lots of avy activity everywhere. went over the top and skied the closed piste noir side (tunnel closed). plenty of untracked to be found.
also, heard on the radio that there were 3 avy deaths in switz over the weekend - chateau d'oex, klosters, and zermatt. 2 of 3 were touring. i really can't understand why anyone would be touring in such conditions. :nonono2:
lot of avalanches saturaday and yesterday in verbier.... FI, the whole entrance to the col de mines path had collapsed... despite it was clear that couloirs around creblet were at very high risk, lots of people went there.... some got cought and some others triggered avies that cought over people below... ouch!
on the good side of the coin, some safe areas (like the bottom of the mt gele facing la chaux) had very good snow, at least up to midday when the sun turned the powder into glue. As idris has said for cham, everything below 2200 was already fu@ked by rain
Would yesterday's warm weather have helped break down that rain crust?
yes but then most likely the crust was regenerated during the night :-(
Bastarding crustacea.
This is quite the weirdest season for European snowfall I have ever encountered.
Got to Grands Montets parking lot Saturday morning at 8am, and was told by security that the area was closed so we headed over to Les Contamines. A good day all things considered. Rained below 2000m all morning, so we were pretty soaked, but the skiing was good. Stopped raining around 1pm and sunny clear skies around 3:30. No one there and skied fun, untracked not quite mashed potatoes glop all day. Did not get out yesterday.
Never been in or seen any fights at the Grands Montets, but given the storms last week plus the closure on Saturday, not surprised people were anxious to get out on Sunday, especially given the good weather. Sorry you had to go through that, bbirtle.
a bowl near alagna.... really good that none was cought
http://www.gulliver.it/images_gite/blt_35620.jpg
dito...Quote:
Originally Posted by Roo
freak~http://freeskiers.x-skier.com/forum/...fault/fish.gif&http://freeskiers.x-skier.com/forum/...ault/ghost.gif]
Man, that reassures me given that Mrs Roo set off for a backcountry skiing course in Gressoney yesterday.Quote:
Originally Posted by verbier61
ouch I made a mistake!!! It's the italian side of gran san bernard, not alagna! 5 AT skinners where near by, but none was cought. it has been one of the biggest avi of the season, some 200 meters long starting at col serena, about 2400 meters
Skied Gd. St. Bernard yesterday, actually it was Super St. Bernard.
Wondering where it slid exactly.
Ripz and I were peering into the Italian side, and people were hiking along the ridge line
then jumping into a couloir that returns via the tunnel side to the parking lot.
Wondering if the next group set it off as there were some 6 people making way to do it.
It was obvious from the drive up that activity was everywhere.
I tortured Ripzalot with the repetition of, 'oh, there's another one, and another'...for about 5km.
This after days of Ripz sms'ing me in the morning for reports.
He called Saturday, ready to go, and I told him to stay home.
It was pouring all morning, and no tree had a snowflake on it.
Thus, snowline was above 1800m. Seems 2200m was the limit.
And viz wasn't available. No viz + no trees = no ski.
Another av death in the Alpes Vaudoises, between Les Mosses and Les Diablerets.
One person did survive that same slide.
Otherwise, I had a nice day at SSB Sunday.
As for the season, clearly the worst start to a season since my arrival.
Snow for the Euros, SVP.
Saturday was indeed a washout.indeed.Quote:
No viz + no trees = no ski
Sunday was a blast, as I've already spewed. Here's the photos:
TR: Chamonix "Making Lemonade" 2007.03.05 - Glaciar Rond
col serenaQuote:
Originally Posted by TeleAl
here from another perspective
http://www.fuorivia.com/forum/files/dsc04618_181.jpg
pic from crevacol (thanks to friends at skiforum who provided pics)
http://www.skiforum.it/skiforum/uplo...1172152045.jpg
From the posts above it still looks like the Euro mags are having fun. I am:D From Ischgl, AT this weekend. No (r word here) from 1800M up. Snow was sick and little comp for tracks. Pics are from around 1PM.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...39/Slopev2.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...s039/SkiG1.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...chglSlope1.jpg
Quote:
Originally Posted by TeleAl
Geo nice tracks! First I've heard of Ischgl (quite consonant to vowel ratio in that one) and bookmarked for a future road trip.
Did a run on the Envers du Plan today. Thinking it would be moguls turns out to be very good! We got a surprising amount of fresh overnight in Chamonix, up high, enough to bury the old tracks especially with the wind loading.
Another powder day in this "shit" season. :)
Any chance any mags will be in Chamonix the last week of March. I will be there the starting March 25 and was hoping someone might be able to show me around in exchange for some beers. I can't wait.
geo - shhhhhh theres no terrain there to ski ;)
the r word made its appearance out here from 2000m on down today, but Stubai was fun
la grave was amazing today. powder down to about 2000m (altho some was on top of crust). From 3600 to p2 was the :fmicon: