Season Plans: 2022-23

Base depths all over look like far from what's needed at places like La Grave, Zermatt and Chamonix. We should be looking for more intermediate slopes that have some base now and hopefully get a layer of new snow next week. In that respect Val Thorens might have more skiable off piste than Val d'Isere.

Got this generic email from Skier's Lodge La Grave. When Pele admits that only the top gondola is skiable....it's not good. The valley is just too low. Likely better at other Southern Alps (Serre Che/2Alpes/dHuez) where you can stay high.

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I meant driving/access logistics. That's an out-of-the-way corner of the Alps so I'm not going to Saas Fee unless it's worthwhile skiing Zermatt (and specifically Hohtalli) on the same trip.

Agree. Although Saas-Fee is not super remote. It's only 2+ hours from the Jungfrau (by a very cool car/train tunnel) or Gstaad, and 1 hour to Crans-Montana. However, if you want to ski Hohtalli in its prime - likely later in the season. Last year should have been optimal.

When I first skied Zermatt in the summer of 2004, I looked around and just saw a ton of rock - and A LOT of snowmaking on pistes. My thoughts were: this mountain must always be very boney/rocky. Likely avoid .....outside of views. But obviously not the case in late season or a super-season like 2017/18.
 
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I agree with James that all posts related to sbooker's current week in Val d'Isere/Tignes should be split out and are moved here.

A new thread should be opened when sbooker and family move to Les Arcs.
When I first skied Zermatt in the summer of 2004, I looked around and just saw a ton of rock - and A LOT of snowmaking on pistes. My thoughts were: this mountain must always be very boney/rocky. Likely avoid .....outside of views. But obviously not the case in late season or a super-season like 2017/18.
It IS very rocky. Even in late season you probably need close to average snowfall to cover the prime terrain. Fraser encouraged me to sign up for that fabulous February 2014 week but said not to bother with Zermatt last spring.
 
Zermatt is difficult to figure out what is going on:

Glacier/Summit - 200 cm base
Town - 20 cm

Does that tell you anything? Not really. Most glacier areas always report 100-200 cm at any month.

I think the best indicator of Zermatt's conditions is how many (yellow) itineraries are open.
 
I think our trip is moderately well defined at this point. Southern limit is Serre Chevalier and the nearby areas James is targeting. Northern limit is the Tarantaise, where higher elevation off piste is now in play after the recent storms. Milky Way (Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx, Montgenevre) and Maurienne Valley are in between.

Bad weather non-ski diversion would be Nice/Monaco. If Liz' knee acts up she may want to go there for a few days anyway. I could ski Auron/Isola 2000 if we go that far south.
 
My Euro trip has exploded.... generally I like to control things. But always knew it was going to be a mess.

I cannot get away from Courmayeur - it's a social obligation. But now I'm going to Southern Alpes ... pre - trip.

And I'm annoyed/overjoyed ...my partner seems to want to Val d'Isere. So I'm going to be there Feb 7-11th.
 
I'm going to be there Feb 7-11th.
Not that I'd ever want to be there to actually find out, but I'm curious to know how crowded it is at a French megaplex during the winter school holidays. At least you'll be avoiding the week of Feb 11, when the British hordes arrive in addition to two of the three French zones. :eusa-sick:

04/02 during 11/02/23 France Zone AGermany, Czech Republic, Poland
11/02 during 18/02/23 France Zones A & BGermany, Denmark, Great Britain, Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland
 
My Euro trip has exploded.... generally I like to control things. But always knew it was going to be a mess.

I cannot get away from Courmayeur - it's a social obligation. But now I'm going to Southern Alpes ... pre - trip.

And I'm annoyed/overjoyed ...my partner seems to want to Val d'Isere. So I'm going to be there Feb 7-11th.

This Euro trip has always been about other people in my life.....just getting back out there!

If the planning is not perfect - so be it.

If I really cared and be totally selfish - I'd be skiing with the Selkirks with my MBA friend.
 
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Not that I'd ever want to be there to actually find out, but I'm curious to know how crowded it is at a French megaplex during the winter school holidays. At least you'll be avoiding the week of Feb 11, when the British hordes arrive in addition to two of the three French zones. :eusa-sick:

04/02 during 11/02/23France Zone AGermany, Czech Republic, Poland
11/02 during 18/02/23France Zones A & BGermany, Denmark, Great Britain, Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland

I cannot hear or see this post.

Think I'm avoiding the worst.

I would rather deal with crowds versus no snow......
 
Yes, Spokane. That's where I flew in 2012 for 4 days at White Grizzly in adjacent terrain.

I had not thought that school holidays might affect the tail end of our trip., We fly home from Geneva Feb. 9. The Brits aren't on school holiday until Feb. 11, so I think French resorts will be manageable. This chart does not raise alarm for the week of Feb. 4-11.
alps_holidays_2022-23-png.32541

In fact this chart suggests the French holiday weeks run from Feb. 11 - Mar. 4.
 
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