Snow for the Euros.

[subtle plague]

dry anf warmm.. dry and warm...
rather make that boxing day new year before any change might take place.

ill spend my time bouldering and, if it's warm enough, climbing. I still got that 7c trav project open. (bouldering)
and i want to do my first 8a

btw. plague films have ordered (well ok the female rich half of plague filsm did ) a 520 TV lines helmet cam and a new HDV cam(old one doesn't work anymore). they arrive somewhat after christmas id guess. sooo it won't start snowing before that

[powslut]

So happy i'm heading over to Europe on January 2nd. Maybe I'll bring some snow over from Canada with me.

[wildstyle]

Hey powslut, where are you going to be ?

I'll be doing a snow safari from the 1st of Jan. I'll probably be hooking up with mulletizer as well.

[comish]

I will also be in St. Anton from the 30th - 6th of Jan. Would be cool to meet up with some mags while over there. Looks like we might be doing more bozing at the Mooserwirt than skiing at the rate the snow is going...

[Arno]

Props to Idris for:

1. finding some nice pow in not very promising circumstances
2. being prepared to share it with someone looking quite so lime green as i did on sunday

[wildstyle]

I will also be in St. Anton from the 30th - 6th of Jan. Would be cool to meet up with some mags while over there. Looks like we might be doing more bozing at the Mooserwirt than skiing at the rate the snow is going...

I'm keeping my options open regarding location but i will be very mobile so I may appear in St anton. I will definitely look you up if i am in the area.

PM sent with contact details.

[Mulletizer]

I was going to head out to the Alps at the weekend but it just doesn't look worth it. I think I'll stay here until after Xmas...

[Hicks]

I will also be in St. Anton from the 30th - 6th of Jan. Would be cool to meet up with some mags while over there. Looks like we might be doing more bozing at the Mooserwirt than skiing at the rate the snow is going...

10 days may be enough for some snow to come but right now it's high pressure eastern flow pattern from Russia - cold but sunny and dry.


Plans for Stanton are late January as per now so sorry .... too early for me.

[Franz Klammer]

Alright, I'm boarding the plane to Europe in 18 hours. Sölden until December 26, then completely flexible (car available) until January 5 and again after January 10.

Gear is all packed up. Bringing MoJo 90 and Head Monster AT Setup. If worst comes to worst, I'll be jibbing round in the park since I also just received this:

661 Bomber Combo Shorts


and my trusted Six Six One Pressure Suit



Wildstyle: I think I have your digits, I'll try to show this time.

Powslut: Bring some snow from Canada.

Subtle: If it snows, don't give me any shit about being broke.

klar: We're on regardless of the conditions. I'll give you a call.

keksie: Are you around for some Stubai action?

Verbier61: If there is some snow I'll swing by Verbier.

Ripz & TeleAl: If I'm heading west I hope to get out a day with you guys.

Anyone else who wants to meet up: PM me for my number.

[Toby]

Anyone else who wants to meet up: PM me for my number.

PM on the way.

[Ripzalot]

SNOOOOW MUTHAFUKKER SNOOOOW!!!
SNOOOOW MUTHAFUKKER SNOOOOW!!!
SNOOOOW MUTHAFUKKER SNOOOOW!!!

[geo039]

Go Al...likes it's your birthday....Go Al!

SNOOOOW MUTHAFUKKER SNOOOOW!!!
SNOOOOW MUTHAFUKKER SNOOOOW!!!
SNOOOOW MUTHAFUKKER SNOOOOW!!!

[subtle plague]

im not broke.
well copnsidering the stuff i bought: technically yes. but christmas should solve the problem.

and if it snows im SO there. wherever that may be.

[keksie]

franz, i'll be flying to finland tomorrow and wont be back in ibk until 4th of jan.. then i'm going to get some extra electrical pathways in my heart burrrned and will be out of action at least from 8th till 13th or so. maybe i'll join you and klar after that, we'll see :] bring some snow with you..

[davidof]

That was a nice power-eject-from-the-turn digger at 1:47 Davidof.

Yeah, that was Bruno, he's a good skier but he hit an enormous rock that was just a few cm below the surface.

Any advice/hunches on a target for a week's time? On the basis of your report I was planning on just trying to find somewhere high. I booked my holiday from work but am totally at a loss as to where might be decent beyond that... Nice report BTW, very useful.

The best snow seems to be in the Oisans/Ecrins area. At the moment most of the off-piste is crusty but if it gets cold or hot and cold that could either destructure into loud powder or erm, turn into spring like conditions.... well maybe!

Here are some snowfall figures for the last couple of years. The figure on the left is total accumulation from 1 Oct to 18 Dec and the figure on the right is the current snow depth on the ground. These are from the Meteo France monitoring stations not the resort figures so give an idea of "off-piste" snow.

                     2006          2005          2004
la Grave (3100m)     155cm/30cm    60cm/20cm
la Plagne (3000m)    90cm/50cm     80cm/50cm     90cm/55cm
Bonneval (2790m)     95cm/30cm     60cm/10cm
Aiguilles (2330)     95cm/20cm     50cm/40cm
- Rouges
Les Saisies (1660m)  40cm/15cm     80cm/70cm
Vercors (1600m)      20cm/0cm      70cm/60cm

As you can see the total snowfall is not bad above 2000m. The big difference with the last few years is virtually no snowfall below 2000m. So unlike say 2005 and 2006 the message has to be to go high. The only fly in the ointment is that you need more so than is currently present to ski off-piste without hitting rocks. You can find deeper accumulations than those shown above by skiing carefully, selecting bowls and hollows.

Bonneval is at the top of the Maurienne valley behind Val d'Isere and the Aiguilles Rouges are opposite Mont Blanc.

No snow is forecast before New Year so whichever way you cut it this going to be one of the poorest starts to the season for a decade.

[greg]

Idris, or anybody else..

how is cham looking. what does the demi lune underneath petit aig verte look like? is there snow sticking to it or is it aper?

what about the aiguille rouges has there been any touring going on? and what about the glaciers. is for example aig. d'argentiere doable? and what about the exit of rond and cosmique. is there a passage on glacier de bosson? has envers du plan been skied?

damn it, I'm desperate. I'll either get some skiing untill the 2nd of january or i'll have to wait untill mid february...

[Franz Klammer]

greg: What are your exact plans? I might be heading to Andermatt/Engelberg if the snow is "better".

[greg]

my plans are heading to chamonix as i've heard there's supposed to be the best coverage in the alps.

I'm scared though, it might not be enough for touring in the aiguilles rouges and although it's supposed to be sticking to the ice quite well as opposed to last year, I'm afraid coverage of the glaciers up high isn't good enough to cover up the crevasses and touring up high isn't an option either. i haven't been paying attention to the developement of snowpack up high this winter, so I don't have a clue of what is possible. sorry for the rembling I'll check out www.ohm-chamonix.com/ now.

edit: Poursuite des conditions anticycloniques. first thing I read on that page..

edit2: according to the cahier des courses en haute montange we should rather stay home..

[subtle plague]

you should
the snow is the best in the FRENCH alps. but not good.

south/southeast of andermatt and disentis (airollo, Tessin area or lukmaier pass )would be my bet.
if i had touring gear...... because there is no skiarea.


and davidof: interesting figures. you can see that it snowed quite alot compared to the last few years, but it must have been so warm afterwards that it all melted away.

[greg]

well if it's not getting too cold i guess i'm desperate enough to try some touring taking aiguille du midi as starting point. if aig. d'argentiere is possible that would make some decent touring for a few days.

[Idris]

Idris, or anybody else..

how is cham looking. what does the demi lune underneath petit aig verte look like? is there snow sticking to it or is it aper?

what about the aiguille rouges has there been any touring going on? and what about the glaciers. is for example aig. d'argentiere doable? and what about the exit of rond and cosmique. is there a passage on glacier de bosson? has envers du plan been skied?

damn it, I'm desperate. I'll either get some skiing untill the 2nd of january or i'll have to wait untill mid february...

As far as I know, noone has skied anything off the midi yet, and tthe flegere and brevent are still closed. Next week will be aiguilles rouges time. There will be enough to skin on and ski but its a bit patch and scratchy

[Idris]

Skinned up the Grand montets, from the top of the Bochard and over the shoulder.

Halfway up the skintrack



Some post holing retard wrecking the skintrack behind me. All the skiers explained to the 3 snowboarders they overtook why they shouldn't posthole up the skintrack but they just mumbled and kept ploding. This one had snowshoes at least, but was still making my life 50% harder if I had to follow



Over the shoulder there was lovely untouched snow



but as soon as I dropped between the rocks it was windfucked, some hard, some not, som nasty crust.

[Mulletizer]

Thanks Davidof, that was just the excuse I needed. I booked a flight to Grenoble on Boxing Day.

[Hayduke]

i do remember ripz saying that to me, 1st time riding in his car. he just picked me up at Lavaux gas stop and we were roundin' the big bend at Chexbres over Lac Leman before dropping down to Vevey. On our way to...???
i think i wrote that up in a TR, or a response to one...

I remember reading what you wrote & it's stuck in my head ever since. How many years ago was that - got to be 3 or 4?

Thanks for the Saas Fee update. Work have kindly as good as cancelled Christmas/new year for me so the first weekend I'll get will be 7th/8th Jan. It's still depressing to see the snow like this though.

[jskierpx]

Theyre saying the general outlook is

"We will still remain for one week under the influence of the powerful anticyclone located for the moment at the north of our areas, which will move slowly towards the east of Europe the next week. No new fall of snow is to be hoped before the last two days of the month, it will thus be necessary to be satisfied with openings forts partial of the skiables fields for Christmas."


At least there is sight of this clear weather moving out of here!!!!!

Keep up the stoke, it will come.



This waiting will pay off eventually. I am moving to CH in 10 days, when I get there it will start to dump, then puke, and then nuke.



(Hopefullly...)