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I'll remind James again that French is the primary second language in Aosta. Ski trail signs and restaurant menus are routinely printed in French below the Italian. This goes back to Aosta being part of the Kingdom of Savoy from 1032 until Italian unification in 1861.

I scanned pics from my day in 1997 and posted here. I'm inclined to agree that should be the presumption for this thread though I think that bell at Thredbo is a worthy exception. North American areas often have signs, but the block lettering style copied from the Euros is a recent development...

Not the dramatic spire measures of those three, but skiing within the glacial features is similar to Vallee Blanche or Schwarztor. So it’s the best glacier skiing experience for those who won’t ski off piste.

Our track record with Alps travel continues despite that award presentation. The plane was a bit late leaving the gate in Milan. Then we got an announcement that it weighed too much to take off and would burn fuel for 15 minutes to lighten the load. That's a new one to me! We arrived in...

From 2014 - 2023 Delta had Medallion Qualification Miles which were calculated as miles flown. I would get 20-30K extra of these every year as a bonus for Amex card spending. These were also added to miles flown and thus are probably responsible for a quarter of those million miles. I have...

Getting out of Zermatt was a bit of a logistics challenge. You need to pack up like for the airport to take the train down to Tasch. Then we wound up with all the luggage on the wrong floor from where the car was parked with no internal ramps between parking floors. I managed to change floors...

We opted for ski-in ski-out at the Totem Hotel in Flaine, recommended by Fraser. We were disappointed that its spa facilities closed at 7:30PM when we arrived at 7:40 Friday. But the villages in Grand Massif are very low and I was concerned about logistics being based down there. We got out...

I was surprised about the airport recognition only because flown miles don’t usually show up in my account until 2-3 weeks after the flight. Obviously the system calculated this trip would put me over and alerted the agents when we checked in. So they didn’t complain about Liz’ 58lb ski bag.

That morning at Zermatt was sunny; the afternoon was getting progressively cloudier.

Yes, happened to most but not all US citizens.

Lake not mountain. Recent trip: I’m sure there must be one in Grand Massif but we didn’t see it. One of the first US copycats;

Not air travel but from time to time one must travel through the Frejus, Mont Blanc, St.Bernard or Gotthard tunnels. Only Mont Blanc seems subject to queues, typically 15-25 minutes. But we arrived about 6PM on April 3 and had to wait 75 minutes. Departure from Milan Malpensa had its moments...

The low Austrian resorts are colder and get less rain than the low French resorts. However most of them also get less snow. Again I don’t know the quantities of any of the above to say which are more reliable and or vulnerable to rising temperatures. I’d say more vulnerable than the low PNW...

We finally got a break in the weather on our departure day from Portes du Soleil. We drove 55 minutes to Ardent, which has the most efficient access to Avoriaz' alpine terrain and also gave us a half hour head start on our relocation drive to Flaine. We ascended Les Cases with a nicer view this...

On Tuesday we saw 6 inches new snow on patio furniture outside breakfast, but no sun. We got on the 9:45 shuttle to La Linga. Once on the mountain visibility was like Sunday: clouds were mainly on top of the ridgelines but light was still flat. Nonetheless we had to try some next-to-the-piste...

It faces south. When we are there in February it's often so cold that doesn't matter much. In late March it's more likely. I wasn't there, but Tseeb's Whitehorn chute runs with Jimk (and therefore all of LL's north side) sounded like 100% excellent winter snow to me. Jimk's recent post has...

I wonder which is the least reliable, Megeve or Deer Valley East Village. It’s apples and oranges. The East Village is close to being desert, but I guess OK for snowmaking. Megeve is all about the proportion of rain vs. snow, like the lowest places in the PNW.

I was deterred by that wind report 3/26. And the Miami couple in the spa did not like conditions that day, though I'm sure they did not venture off piste. I had already aggravated my knee with the short Hohtalli off piste pitch on 3/24, so we decided to leave Zermatt, ski an on-piste day at at...

We stayed at Hotel Macchi in Chatel, which sprawls over a couple miles. At the south end of town the La Linga lift connects into the Plain Dranse terrain and then to Avoriaz. In the other direction is Super Chatel, in general mellower terrain with connections to Morclon, Tronchey and Torgon...

How much wind effect/sastrugi on Zermatt's off-piste? Report said only 8 inches new snow and a lot of wind.