Ski Blog | Skiers - Advanced

New Year’s Day Snow and Ski Report

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We hope you had a great 2012 celebrated in style last night, are not suffering too much today and have a fantastic 2013 planned!!

We have not had any snow since Santa brought us some at Christmas - we must have been good!!  Maybe!! 

However the conditions have been superb - superb snow on piste for carving it up or learning and even off piste is holding up though you do have to hunt that out to find it!

Find out more by watching our snow report - we think he may have had a late night, see how many (deliberate?!) mistakes he makes!! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR - have a great 2013 we hope you get all the snow and ski and snowboard holidays you want!!

Christmas Eve Video snow report - HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Happy Christmas! 

There was a load of snow early on in December and some people even talked of the best conditons in 50 years!!  That has set up the season very nicely and the snow conditions are still great in spite of some very warm weather and even rain to about 3000m over the last couple of days. 

Conditions off piste aren't great but on piste they are superb - almost spring like, hard in the morning and then softening up and very grippy!

Santa is bringing some snow tomorrow which is great news!  

Watch our snow report to find out a bit more.....

END OF SEASON REVIEW - 30 April 2012

So most resorts are now closed for the winter and nearly all still have snow - what a season it has been!! Arguably the best in living memory!

How was this possible when the press who always love a negative story were writing doom and gloom stories about no snow at the beginning of December?

Fortunately the weather doesn’t read the press and nor do we!  We ignored them and got on with skiing and organising holidays across the Alps and were lucky enough to get in plenty of skiing ourselves.

We here at Altitude skied Courchevel, Le Grand Massif (Flaine, Les Carroz, Samoens, Morillon),  Morzine & Avoriaz in France and in Italy the Monterosa (Champuloc, Alagna & Gressoney) and all in amazing snow conditions from the powder of Courchevel at Christmas through to the spring snow in April!

The snow was amazing we had some great adventures including a very scary 50m abseil, watching friends jump off snow covered roofs and of course skiing some great runs both on and off piste!

Whilst we should remember the good times we can’t forget the sad news through the season the coach accident carrying children back from a ski holiday, the tragic loss of life in the Belgian coach accident, Sheffield Ski village burning down, the sad loss of life in accidents through the season all reminders that we should make the most of every minute we have on the slopes!

Hope you had some magical moments on the slopes this last winter – have a great summer!

And if you have snow withdrawl symptoms you can always check out our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts!

SKIING IN THE MONTEROSA, ITALY - 26 – 28 MARCH 2012

Destination Italy – we packed up the car and left France for a three day break in Champoluc part of the Monterosa ski area in Italy.

I had skied there several years before for just a weekend and have been keen to get back ever since.  Now was an opportunity to return with a couple of mates who were as keen as me to ski the area made up of Champoluc, Gressoney and Alagna which is a self proclaimed ‘Freeride Paradise’

So with180km of piste and 37 lifts and skiing at a maximum height of 3275 metres we were excited to be skiing somewhere we didn’t really know with so much potential.

Through the Mont Blanc tunnel and into Italy we were soon winding our way up alongside a river but as we got nearer there was still no sign of snow even in this one of the best seasons in living memory!  We arrived in Champoluc which is at 1570 metres and there was no snow anywhere to be seen – we had just come from Les Carroz which is at 1150 metres where you can ski back to the resort!

A little concerned we checked into the small B&B ‘Le Vieux Rascard’ we had booked online to a very warm friendly Italian welcome, sorted out our kit and headed towards the lifts.

Once up and on the way it was apparent that there was plenty of snow higher up!  We headed towards Alagna and found some great spring snow,the pisteswere empty, no queues for the lifts and the snow typically spring like – this was great! We managed to find our way back across the valleys to Champoluc for an après ski beer, shower and out for something to eat.

The resort is mainly centered around one main street with all the shops, bars and restaurants off this.  It was empty!  No one around! I know it’s getting to the end of the season but it’s still only March –there’s the best part of a month to go yet!  Where is everyone?

On our second day we headed to Gressoney and explored the slopes here in the middle valley of the Monterosa. We found some amazing off piste with perfect spring snow conditions, a lovely little restaurant with the most amazing collection of old ski and mountaineering paraphernalia I have ever seen. That evening we found a pizzeria and a local bar for a couple of beers that had a little more life than we had found the night before.

And all too soon it was our last day and we headed to the highest point of the ski area today the Punta Indren at 3275m - there is a telecabine that takes you to a the highest point and some off piste skiing. Lacking in local knowledge we had to be careful where went and following tracks is a recipe for disaster so we skirted round areas, watched other skiers and made our own way down finding some more fresh tracks in some spring snow! Half way down has to be the most up market refuge in the Alps!! Great Italian pasta and service once more!  By the time we got to the bottom the temperature was rising and the pistemap was showing 16 degrees at the end of the day! Very warm!

Thick viscous hot chocolates, strong Italian coffees at mountain restaurants, cold apres ski beers in the setting Italian sun, warm friendly Italian service this short trip was leaving us wanting more and more! 

We loved the skiing here and want to come back when there is a load of fresh snow to get even more from the off piste, there are some great flattering runs across the area and would be suitable for all levels of skiers and boarders. 

Off the slopes we loved the service and friendliness at the B&B, in the restaurants and the bars.  We are intrigued as to why it was so quiet in the evenings and whilst we aren’t looking for a different nightclub each night a bit more atmosphere in the bars would have been good – oh well we’ll have to come back at a busier time to compare! That’s a shame!

You can see photos of our trip on our Facebook page here.

SPRING SKIING -19th – 20th MARCH 2012

I love spring skiing - the days are longer and tend to be warmer, the base of snow is down, you usually get great snow that can sometimes be a bit hard in the morning so you can take a little longer over your morning coffee and then a bit soft in the late afternoon so you have the ideal excuse to stop a little earlier for a beer!

And then there are days like these!

The snow just dumps, you have to head for the trees to get any sort of visibility, the snow flies around your head with any sort of turn, wipeouts are just fun, no danger of hurting yourself as you get buried in a pile of light fluffy powder snow!

See the photos on Facebook here!

And then there are days like these!

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better than yesterday it does! The sun comes out, the snow is deeper than yesterday and it is simply amazing!

See the photos on Facebook here

And when you think this really is it and it can’t get any better your mate skis into a tree!! Even better – the video is running!!   Oh… yes he was ok!  Watch it on YouTube here

What a couple of days!

January Ski Trip

So the snow has been falling nearly all season and I haven’t been out since Christmas which was, admittedly, fantastic – is it going to last?  What will it be like when I get out there?

I was a bit concerned that maybe I had missed the best of the snow for the winter but I love skiing whatever so was sure I was going to have a good time.

I was off to Les Carroz for a couple of weeks! What was the snow going to be like?  Had I missed the best of the snow? Not at all! There was such a good base down already that it felt as if it would last for the rest of the year let alone the season!

Middle of January and the snow was great, the sky was blue - what a great couple of days!

But where was the snow?  I have been accused by some of being demanding, can’t think why?  I want to ski some powder!

My fears were soon to be put to rest as overnight on the 20th January it just dumped! What a day! There was so much snow that they were clearing snow off restaurant roofs!

The rest of the stay was just fantastic with a mixture of snow and sunshine – when the weather closes in Les Carroz has some fabulous trees to ski and board so that’s where we headed!  When the weather clears there is some amazing off-piste skiing in Samoens and Flaine. 

One particularly memorable day we had was the off piste skiing down through the Gers bowl, rewarded with a coffee at the bottom at the wonderful Gites du Gers and then down the bottom of the 14km Cascades Blue Piste which runs from the top of Flaine all the way down through the trees to Sixt.  Lunch at the top of Sixt, always quiet, is so picturesque and worth a trip!  You then take a bus back to Samoens to ski back into wherever in Le Grand Massif you are staying.  Well worth doing whatever your level of skiing!

You can see some photos from this trip on our Facebook page.

GITES DE GERS - JUMPING OFF A ROOF!  19th JANUARY 2012

I love the Gites du Gers – it’s a great little restaurant that is on the edge of a lake that I have only ever seen frozen.

Set at the bottom of the Gers bowls which is one of my favourite places to ski when there is fresh snow – just amazing off piste skiing! Or if off piste skiing is not your thing then take the blue Cascades run from the top of Flaine – a 14km run all the way down to Sixt, a stunning run through trees, past frozen waterfalls! Beautiful.

Half way down you can pick up a phone and call the restaurant who send someone to come and tow you up to the restaurant behind a ski do! 

I have been taken up to the Gers lift (a very long and in places steep drag lift!) in the back of a converted piste basher, I have seen a helicopter pick people up, I have even stayed the night there and often you can see Chamois’ grazing on the slopes above it.

It’s a tranquil beautiful place unless you have friends like me who will disturb the peace by jumping off a nearby chalet roof – see the video here!

Our First Blog….Is it Going to Snow?

What’s the seaweed you having hanging on your back gate telling you?

The berries are plentiful, the onion skins are thicker, the marmottes are doing something or other and so that means that another winter is on the way!

We were wearing shorts & t-shirts just a couple of weeks ago in record temperatures for October and now there is snow down to 1300m this weekend!

Who knows what is going to happen this coming winter – last winter started with record snow falls at the end of November.  Altitude’s first day skiing was on Saturday 4th December – it was an amazing powder day!  I was heard to shout more than once that day something on the lines of “WOOO HOOO!  If this is what Verbier has to offer bring it on!!”  It was going to be a fantastic ski season!

Hmmm.....Except it wasn’t!!

After Christmas there was a serious lack of snow across most of the Alps through the rest of the season and that powder day turned into one of only two truly great days for me – the other for the record was on March 12th.

Oh well, we had three good seasons before this one, so a ratio of one not so good season to three good isn’t so bad!

Altitude was based in Verbier last winter and was fortunate to ski the legendary resorts of St Anton, Zermatt and Chamonix as well as La Plagne, Le Grand Massif and Les Portes du Soleil.

This year we hope to ski more resorts visit more chalets, speak to more owners and holiday makers and hopefully over the next five months or so we can give you some idea of what it is like working in a ski resort, some helpful tips on how to book the best ski holidays, information about ski & snowboard equipment, updates on ski resorts, reports on great day trips, amazing powder days and more.

So with the first ski magazines arriving on my door mat, the nights drawing in and the ski show in just a couple of weeks I’m off to look at the berries, the onion skins and the Marmottes of West Sussex to see if we are going to have a great season. I can't wait!