UKH

After awful off piste conditions and lack of snow last season and with shrinking glaciers etc this summer, how optimistic are folk for committing significant time and cost for next season?

In reply to kevin stephens:

Were the piste conditions really that bad? I went to La Clusaz in March and Tignes in April and it was fine.

Tignes was a bit slushy, but then it was the third week in April so pretty late in the season but almost all the runs were open, even many of the lowest ones.

My brother in law did some touring around the Saas/Zermatt area, the Breithorn, Strahlhorn, Signalkuppe and so on. That was April time and although they had some bad weather he didn't report bad snow condtions.

In reply to pec: sure pistes were ok, my post was re Off Piste

In reply to kevin stephens:

It was pants last year, but despite climate change making things tend towards more pantsness in the future, I'm reluctant to use one year of particularly pants snow to be the predictor for another year. I don't think climate change works like that. Eg The year before last, during lockdowns, was apparently great for snow! 

I feel in all probability we'll probably have an average year rather than an extreme snow or extreme lack of snow year, so on that basis I'll book my trip as normal and not worry about it.

Some historic recent snow levels on this website in the snow planner section if you haven't already looked into it https://www.onthesnow.co.uk/northern-alps/alpe-dhuez/historical-snowfall

In reply to kevin stephens:

Here in the Écrins we had the worst season on record for snow fall. that said we still got quite a lot of touring in and some classic line. you just had to pick the lines carefully and be ok with turning round if they had dry sections on them, it kind of just felt like a shorter season. The off piste very was bad from what I head.

As others have said and from what I have read, it shouldn't be a continual downwards slide in the amount of snow because of global warming. it will vary each year with good and bad years but with a long term lowering of the annual amount of snow.

I think you can't predict next season snow levels, but it is maybe wise to plan around the chance of poor conditions. So if committing to a season having other things you can do. the rock climbing was great all winter here near Briançon, so it was easy to mix it up and do both. 

In reply to ecrinscollective:

Here in the Champsaur, as elsewhere in the southern Ecrins, it wasn't a great season for alpine skiing although most of the pistes were open for much of the season. Off piste was poor & touring limited and ended early. But oddly the XC skiing was pretty good in 2 of my 3 local resorts -  the mostly cold weather meant what little snow fell, remained till well into March.

I suspect, based on nothing very concrete, that we'll have an average season & I'll be buying season passes for our local alpine resort & for xc skiing again when they go on sale in September

In reply to kevin stephens:

Decision to be made in December regarding purchasing a season ticket after last season’s poor offpiste conditions in the Monterosa region.

The poor conditions last year were magnified undoubtedly by the amazing conditions experienced the year before whilst the lifts were closed, when the offpiste was amazing all the way to the valley floor for months.

No real expectations either way, it’s so unpredictable but after the last year of no off piste at all, I’m sure I’ll be itching at the bit to get out.

In reply to kevin stephens:

I presume you are referring to the European Alps? I didn't get chance to ski at all last winter sadly, but my friend who I ski with when I do get the chance seemed to have an amazing time for quite a few weeks touring in North Norway. 

In reply to kevin stephens:

Sorry, I was replying to your thread title.

"Next season of piste and touring etc?"

i.e. I thought you were asking about piste and touring conditions.

Presumably the "of piste" should have read "off piste"?

In reply to pec: thanks. I’ve been out pedanted

In reply to kevin stephens:

Wasn't trying to be a pedant, just a genuine misunderstanding of what was almost certainly a typo.

In reply to kevin stephens:

*out-pedanted

In reply to kevin stephens:

Whilst it very much depends on what happens at the beginning of the season, in terms of snow-fall, I'm broadly optimistic. 

I'm based in Salzburg and the snow conditions on the North side of the Tauern were way better last winter than in 2020/2021.  Due to heavy snowfall at the end of November, touring from the valley floor was possible in the Pongau from November 30th and I toured until early April.  Due to the COVID-induced closure of ski infrastructure over the last couple of winters, ski touring has undergone a transformation in the Eastern Alps and quite a few resorts have marked trails to follow that link up with piste descents.

If you fancied a trip to this part of the world, I'd recommend waiting until the first heavy snowfall has settled and then plan a trip.  The area around Lienz (to the South of the Tauern) was amazing in 2020/2021 but had comparatively little snowfall last winter, for example.

In reply to Gem:

I'm based in Innsbruck and will echo what Gem said, fully fully depends on where you are in the alps. Had some great tours over the last two seasons, but need to be very flexible with your goals and be prepared to turn around, change route midway through the tour.

On piste conditons were absolutely bomber, but disappeared real fast towards the end of the season.

But yeah, if possible, wait until end of Novemeber, or better, mid-Decemeber to get a handle on the snow base for the season first before planning anything.

In reply to kevin stephens:

Conditions in Andorra were great over last Christmas. Best skiing I've had for years.

In reply to kevin stephens: to avoid starting a new thread , we had a very pleasant evening chatting to the family from Munich who were next to us on the campsite last week . The chap was into his touring and said he has had a reasonable season and had made some progress on ticking the 4000 ers . Of more interest was his observation that one of the post lockdown bargains was touring  kit .he said the secondhand price had really dropped in Germany . Not sure how somebody based in the UK would take advantage of this but worth looking into ?  

In reply to kevin stephens:

One thing put in to the equation is fuel prices.  Ski resorts are being hit with this just like everywhere else.  Slowing the lifts down a bit probably won't matter but snow making may be affected and that's what keeps low level resorts going.  In a low snow year like last year where it stayed pretty cold early in the early part of the winter, snow making was a big part of the reason skiing on piste wasn't bad.

In reply to steve taylor:

We skied in Flaine over Christmas and conditions were good on and off piste. However conditions deteriorated for much of the rest of the season due to high temperatures and lack of fresh snow

In reply to philipjardine:

Agreed, factor in that a lot of electricity used for snow making comes from hydro power which may also be in short supply