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International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Why would you go skiing in the European Alps?

What are American skiers looking for in the Alps?

  • Alpine charm, atmosphere, history, views

    Votes: 49 84.5%
  • Food, wellness, the good life

    Votes: 31 53.4%
  • Supreme groomer skiing, great tours (on-piste)

    Votes: 19 32.8%
  • (In)famous runs (Tofana, Saslong, Gran Risa, Erta, Orange Killy, Streif)

    Votes: 9 15.5%
  • The amount of vertical and off-piste possibilities

    Votes: 21 36.2%
  • Alpine touring, hut-to-hut trips etc.

    Votes: 14 24.1%
  • Skiing as part of a broader Europe trip (including sightseeing, etc.)

    Votes: 19 32.8%
  • Other, see comment

    Votes: 4 6.9%

  • Total voters
    58

crosscountry

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all over the place
Went into New York City for some business. Realized I could have had lunch in midtown Manhattan for ~$10, which wouldn't have gotten me even a bowl of soup at a few of the ski resort cafeteria!

Yep, time to go back to skiing in Europe, regardless of how "cheap" the mega-pass may seem...
 

James

Out There
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I'm counting maybe 10 skiers in this entire picture! Lol...this is what is was like when I was there.

Yeah, I didn’t take photos of the crowded parts. Keystone, CO like at times.
Even still, in that photo you have to be very alert at that trail intersection, because you can easily do 50mph coming in there from above, and there’s that merge.

This was one of the most crowded weeks of the season. It was hellish at times, there are places where almost everyone goes, and going off piste around the crowds wasn’t a great option because of snow. I had a guy blow up right next to me, the wreckage traveling downhill at my speed and I just watched the whole thing like a movie. It was such that you didn’t dare throw the brakes on or veer too much to the side lest you be hit.
First time ever I’ve downloaded multiple times instead of going through the Ben Hur race to the bottom in crappy snow.

haha ... we could tell relative prices from the cappucinos: 8 in CH, 4 in FR, and 1.50 in IT! We will probably go to Italy next trip ogsmile.
Hah. I remember going to Courmayeur through the tunnel from France. In the parking lot I went to the little restaurant and ordered three coffees, espressos. I misunderstood what she said, hearing 12 euro. Figured it’s ski prices.
Turns out it was 2 something!
 

SBrown

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Yeah, I didn’t take photos of the crowded parts. Keystone, CO like at times.
Even still, in that photo you have to be very alert at that trail intersection, because you can easily do 50mph coming in there from above, and there’s that merge.

This was one of the most crowded weeks of the season. It was hellish at times, there are places where almost everyone goes, and going off piste around the crowds wasn’t a great option because of snow. I had a guy blow up right next to me, the wreckage traveling downhill at my speed and I just watched the whole thing like a movie. It was such that you didn’t dare throw the brakes on or veer too much to the side lest you be hit.
First time ever I’ve downloaded multiple times instead of going through the Ben Hur race to the bottom in crappy snow.


Hah. I remember going to Courmayeur through the tunnel from France. In the parking lot I went to the little restaurant and ordered three coffees, espressos. I misunderstood what she said, hearing 12 euro. Figured it’s ski prices.
Turns out it was 2 something!
That’s where we had ours! and damn was it good
 

James

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That’s where we had ours! and damn was it good
DBCC2DA4-DB50-46DD-A2D0-3F6F535311BE.jpeg
^ Is that the place possibly seen from the snow side? Can’t remember what we did from the parking lot

Lucked out in Courmayeur. They had like 6 inches of new snow, while the French side had zero.
124C7F90-29BE-44A9-B4F6-6CD90AC25A16.jpeg
“How about Italy?” Indeed.
Taking this photo was good cover for some stealth coaching with one person here. Not that the instructor/guide was going to do any, but they don’t like it.

14EE9E66-03F8-431B-B315-054C4BAB6555.jpeg
Forgot about the trees.


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Some sort of pasta here for late lunch.


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About an hour and a half later.
A great day trip.
 

Bolder

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Dec 1, 2017
Posts
486
No, that was only Big Burn at Snowmass, which is a trail. Don’t know if it would still have the same effect. White outs are a different story, but nothing you can do.

Other than that it’s ridge traverses with plunges on one or both sides. The West Ridge at Taos was the first- you start questioning the ability to do a wedge turn. Eventually I got ok with it, sort of.

I’ll tell you what’s freaky, is non level steps going down from a tram at the top of a mountain. It looks like you’re going to plunge to your death, and the stairs don’t help.

Actually, the top of Lone Peak atIg Sky is awful and it’s without steps. Just non level, small, feels like you’ll get blown off. You need to get beyond that buried fence to feel normal, and ironically it’s steepish over there.

There's likely worse, but the worst steps I’ve been on was the top of the Grands Montets in Cham. Unlevel, rusty and sketchy steps with a shakey, questionable hand rail. The fire and reconstruction in the last five years will have eliminated them next season.

I was up there one time. I had booked an instructor at the store I rented the skis for 1pm. It was mainly to go off piste. So it’s really foggy, and he cancels when I meet him at the tram station mid mountain. It’s too foggy. I decide it wiuldn’t be the best experience if I talk him into it. I skied a few runs from there down and up the shorter lifts, then eventually decide wth, I’ll go up and ski the piste down from the top.
I’ve posted at length about this, but this was the run I learned what the word “falaise” means in French- cliff.

View attachment 201694
The sketchy stairs. How bad could they be??- bad. Visibilty went in and out, mostly out. It could be nearly clear for a few minutes.

View attachment 201695
A brief clearing and a look down into a chute.

View attachment 201693
This is what you would see if you could. After this when I had skis on, a guy went under the rope and off. He held the rope and asked if I was coming. I mean it was tempting, and for all I know that was a top skier, but really a bad idea. If you get separated, you’re completely screwed. I stuck to the piste.

View attachment 201692
On the piste looking back up in a moment of partial clarity. That group would soon get ahead of me on the piste. Further down, when visibility was much less than one pole, 10m, I would be faced with a left/right and no time to decide before the group was gone. I follow the group, which turns out to be a guided English group from Jagged Globe. I am now apparently well off piste, but the guide let me join up. Very nice.



You want the croute.
Swiss mountain food is heavy on cheese. I’m ok not having raclette or fondue more than once a year.
What’s really good is the Vacherin Mont d’Or cheese, a soft, gooey, cheese which is exceptionally smelly. The French version is unpasteurized.I am told that one wants a vin jaune wine with that, but as that’s expensive, a white wine from the Jura region.
Mont d'Or is a Jura cheese, (https://www.jura-tourism.com/vivre-le-jura/deguster/produits-regionaux/mont-dor/) so a local wine is what you want anyway. Or a Gewurztraminer which can be cheap.

Mont d'Or is the most decadent food I've ever eaten. Normally you just slit the top of the cheese, add a bit of garlic and white wine, and bake in the wooden container (in foil). Schmear over a still-warm baguette tradition. Holy hell is that good.

Sadly recent heart troubles mean I've probably eaten my last Mont d'Or.
 

Bolder

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We were taken by the sheer beauty of the geologic formations, as well as the unique mid-mountain après ski entertainment. Val Gardena in the Dolomites in this case.
Ha, yeah, that's a "feature" of the Piz Seteur hutte! I've learned to be extra vigilant skiing past because sometimes someone will take an abrupt 90 degree turn...
 

az29okg

Booting up
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Oct 17, 2021
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Ontario
Any chance there will be enough snow in Zermatt on the first weekend of Dec 2023? Or would it be way too early for there to be enough snow on the groomed runs?
 

4ster

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
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Any chance there will be enough snow in Zermatt on the first weekend of Dec 2023? Or would it be way too early for there to be enough snow on the groomed runs?
I don't know how it will be in December but I've been watching video of race training on the glacier there & it looked pretty darn good last week after some fresh snow.
 

fatbob

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They'll probably blow some snow to be open & they might get early natural.
 

Zirbl

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Austria, Italy

Swiss Toni

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Any chance there will be enough snow in Zermatt on the first weekend of Dec 2023? Or would it be way too early for there to be enough snow on the groomed runs?

There should be enough snow in the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise sector as the pistes there are mainly on the glacier, they have already started to make snow to cover the stretch from the end of the glacier to the lift station at Trockener Steg.

Snow cover in the other sectors will largely depend whether the temperature is low enough to make snow, nearly all of the groomed runs in Zermatt are equipped with snow cannons, it’s unlikely that they will get all the runs covered by the 2nd Dec, which is the first day of the winter season. Zermatt and most other resorts in Canton Valais don’t actually get that much natural snow.

The Alps act as a climatic divider between north and south, and thus create an additional climatic region, namely the inner-Alpine valleys. These valleys are well-protected against moist air masses from the north and the south, and therefore don’t receive much precipitation. On average Zermatt receives about 750 mm of precipitation a year, some of the resorts outside the inner alpine valleys receive more than double that.

It’s been another hot summer in the Alps, the average temperature in Zermatt has so far been 1.6°C above the long-term average, hopefully it will start to cool down soon. You can keep an eye on natural snow accumulation via the SLF’s snow depth measuring stations https://whiterisk.ch/en/conditions/measurements/new-snow The German Alpine forum has recently opened a new thread the covers the current snow situation at Zermatt / Cervinia for the coming season https://www.alpinforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5410969#p5410969 it already has a few posts.
 

James

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Dec 2, 2015
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I did it because I didn’t want to be just a ski bum, I wanted to be an international ski bum.
img_3370-jpeg.211049

^ Photo= (1995(Ron Darling + Jerry Seinfeld)
 

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