Based on photos and press, I can't imagine that any winter could be worse for DV snowmaking than 2025-26. The question is: how many more times will it happen as CC (I won't spell it out or former Admin will use his FTO back door to shut the site down) increases or was this season a once-in-a-generation outlier?
www.skiresort.info
Obviously La Clusaz are also very concerned by climate change but they do have one ace up their sleeve - the La Balme sector. In isolation this area is one of the most snow-sure in the Haute-Savoie, usually open until the end of April and a popular with ski tourers well into May, sometimes June.I am a little
I am a bit surprised by this sentiment. However, Where to Ski disparaged Megeve for not moving forward on its Cote 2000 lift upgrade in its France only book. I concur. The Surface Lifts were lengthy and backed up by no traffic and too many slow quads. Rochebrune is modern, and its interconnect.
It appears other low-lying Geneva-centric ski resorts are making upgrades (Grand Massif/Flaine, PdS, etc).
St. Gervais has put some money into its lift system, but Megeve less so.
Ski lifts Megève/Saint-Gervais
All lifts/cable cars at the ski resort Megève/Saint-Gervais, Total capacity, New ski lifts, Planned ski lifts, Aerial tramway/reversible ropeway (2), Circulating ropeway/gondola lift (7), Chairlift (19), T-bar lift/platter/button lift (27), Rope tow/baby lift (5), People mover (2), Sunkid Moving...
However, even La Clusaz seems to lack some investment on upper mountain lifts. Base lifts are all modern high-speed, but things get retro quickly above the base areas. Overall I did not mind. There is a detachable double that is a complete relic though! 1980! https://www.skiresort.info/ski-resort/la-clusaz-manigod/ski-lifts/l89776/
The Austrians have taken the polar opposite approach to its low-lying ski resorts. While they do not have Chamonix next door, there are sizable glacier ski resorts.
Crucially, the classic low austrian resorts are in a completely different league when it comes to snow-making. It helps that their climate ( lower temperatures and lower humidity) are more conducive to snow-making but they are also prepared to throw more money at it. For this reason, as well as the reasons Tony mentions above (slightly colder, lower risk of rain height for height) I would argue that somewhere like Kitzbuhel is a safer bet for your average piste skier than somewhere like Les Gets or La Clusaz. The latter get more snow, but are much more susceptible to rapid changes in air mass which = volatile snow conditions/quality.
Snowfall stats here are fairly irrelevant due to area's exposure to the warming effect of the Atlantic which = volatile temperatures and frequent rain. They probably see around 7m of snow around 2000m, which sounds a lot but it can rain to 2500m or higher, even in January, which can quickly screw things up. Compare to somewhere like Obergurgl which gets less than 5m of snow at 2000m yet never sees rain mid-winter and is on a totally different planet in terms of consistently "wintry" snow.
My parents sold long before we knew about financial difficulties but for me the writing was on the wall so I pushed them into making that decision.
Yes fat skis are essential in very heavy snow. But I thought the Nordstau snow was fairly low density until the spring sun got at it. And I wasn't skiing it at that high elevation. Ovrannaz, Chatel, Avoriaz, Flaine, all in the 1,800 - 2,300 meter range. I was not on fat skis at any of those places because I was not skiing immediately fresh snow so maybe 1/3 powder skiing at Ovrannaz and no more than 1/4 at Avoriaz. Unfortunately the fresh powder day was Tuesday, and we were severely limited by visibility in terms of going off piste that day. Liz, by the way, used her fat skis at Ovrannaz and all of the days at Chatel/Avoriaz.
That's a good definition for my 98 underfoot, rockered tip but stiff tail Blizzard Bonafides. In far flung areas in the Alps it's not practical to be switching up skis during the day. So I want something that decent in both powder and on hard packed groomers. Even on new snow days busy pistes get clumpy and bumpy in the afternoon, which I've seen on both trips to Portes du Soleil. I don't like skiing on a dedicated powder ski when I know well over half the day won't be in powder. Liz has the opposite view. She wants to be on her ON3P powder skis if she expects to be skiing even a modest amount of powder.
Liz had bad weather nearly her entire week in Chamonix in 2001. Her group skied Les Houches one day and Les Contamines one day. They also went to Verbier and that was the only decent weather day. The areas discussed in this thread are the most convenient bailouts from Chamonix on bad weather days.
I am not comfortable with lumping Les Contamines in with Megeve/Espace Diamant. Les Contamines is considerably more reliable for snow, all things considered. I have skied there numerous times, including in 2 of the worse seasons ever (late 80s, early 90s) and it has always punched above its weight - or should that be height!
Weathertoski and I both emphasize altitude/exposure more than most ski analysts, particularly those in North America. The exposure flaw is skewed toward mid-February and later, becoming increasingly more important every week thereafter. I'll hazard a guess that weathertoski's visits to Les Contamines may have been no later than that. The altitude flaw can be problematic any time in the NW Alps due to rain vulnerability. So that's the distinction between Les Contamines and Megeve/Espace Diamant. That doesn't change my view that the severe flaws of the latter, larger domains are a deterrent to spending $$$ on the connections.
Actually most of my visits have been in late March or April, and Les Contamine's reputation for good snow is well documented in France. As I say, it's in a league above Megeve and one of the key reasons is that you spend most of your time skiing between about 1600 and 2200m whereas in Megeve most of the skiing is between about 1200 and 1800m. Slightly closer to the Massif du Mont Blanc, it is also generally accepted that there is local snowfall enhancement (in Les Contamines).