 Poster: A snowHead
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@musehead, thanks - wow, that's changed a bit in the last month!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Wow, 60cm since yesterday afternoon @ 2000m in Engelberg and still coming down strong. Webcams look incredibly snowy - deep right down to town. Kind of wish I was still there...!
41cm @ 1000m in town according to SLF morning measurement. Quite a bit more than when I was there last week.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@musehead, heading down tomorrow 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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81cm since yesterday afternoon now 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Got back late on Friday night. Started snowing at noon on Tuesday, still chucking it down at 5pm on Friday! Great week if difficult visibility at times (on Friday, it was downright dangerous in places and very tough to tell which way was up or down!) Mountain was largely deserted, apart from a couple of junior race training groups and the obligatory Indian and Chinese coach parties. It felt, at times, like having a private mountain!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Mountain was largely deserted, apart from a couple of junior race training groups and the obligatory Indian and Chinese coach parties. It felt, at times, like having a private mountain!
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Saturday was a completely different story. Lovely and sunny, but huge numbers of people trying to get up the mountain. Not helped by them closing the gondola shortly after 9am whilst we were still queuing at the base station. Took us 2.5 hours to get to Stand via the old funicular/ cable car route.
I'm reliably informed that this isn't normal for Engelberg since the new gondola went in, and I am just incredibly unlucky that the unusual occurrences coincide with my visits. Nevertheless, it was the final straw for me - as I'm clearly a bad omen, it's better for everyone else if I stay away!
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Had a great day on Glacier 3000 while the sun was still shinning! The lifts closed today, Pity! Although I was told that it is still possible to use the main Cable Cars if you want to go Freeriding or skinning off the top during the coming weeks. With more snow forecast this might be a good option. But nothing else will be open. So not cheap!
If you are interested in seeing what conditions are like at Glacier 3000. I have posted some photos of my day out over on the Les Arcs Winter facebook page. Use this link. https://www.facebook.com/LesArcsWinter/
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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A little bit late, but here's a very short trip report.
A sneaky late trip - April 24 to April 28 - to Engelberg for some late season turns and I was not expecting the amount of snow that fell during the week. It started snowing around noon on Tuesday and was still pouring down when I caught the 17.01 train on Friday afternoon! Here is a short trip summary.
Logistics: caught the 6am flight from Heathrow to Zurich with the excellent Swiss airline. No quibble about my large Dakine coffin bag (the check-in attendant didn't even weigh it, just asked how heavy it was! Around 20kg was my honest reply!). My transfer driver was waiting in arrivals and we were in Engelberg by 10.45 and I was checked in to my hotel, changed into ski gear and buying my lift pass by 11.15. On the slopes soon after. The return trip was equally painless. Finished skiing about 3.30, quick shower and caught the 17.01 train to the airport. Plenty of time to enjoy the business lounge at Zurich and back in London by 9.45pm!
Accommodation/resort facilities: Stayed at the centrally-located Hotel Crystal which is also very handy for the railway station and free ski bus. The hotel was very quiet, in common with the rest of the resort, and the restaurant was closed. However, breakfast was adequate and the staff friendly and helpful. Much of the resort was on a weekend-only footing with popular watering holes like the Yucatan and the Chalet closed. However, the Old Monk bar and the Core Irish pub were still going strong. Prices of food and drink are typically steep Swiss although the quality of the offerings are pretty decent.
Skiing: The resort was deserted and although the number of open lifts and slopes were limited (it was like having a private mountain at times, conditions were excellent. Snow on the glacier slopes was excellent and on the first day, spring conditions prevailed lower down with wettish snow close to Trubsee. Downloading at the end of each day was by the new Titlis Express gondola. It started snowing around noon on Tuesday and conditions made a dramatic change. It snowed, snowed and snowed all the way down to the village level. This meant visibility could be a little difficult at times, but there was skiing on fresh powder everywhere. The ride down the Rotegg itinerary was different on all three days - hard pack, soft snow and knee-deep powder! There were a few Scandinavian freeriders around on the Friday, despite the poor visibility; needless to say, there was no queuing anywhere and lap after lap was the order of the day. Engelberg is a magnet for organised tour groups from India, China, Korea etc and it was quite common to be stopped on the way to the glacier slopes to be asked to pose for a photo with one of these visitors!
It was something of a gamble to book so late in the season, but it was a gamble that paid off in great style with, what the locals said, was the very best snow of the whole winter! Fantastic!!!
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Awesome. Had the same myself a few years ago.
How much was the transfer from Zurich airport to Engelberg please?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Normally, it is £165 but I was able to obtain a considerable discount thanks to knowing some people who know some other people (and you used the dreaded 'A' word!!!) 
It's 80 CHF return on the train.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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FWIW.... am in sunny Andermatt for a week of Freshtracks.
It dumped yesterday, but apparently vis was poor. Didn’t get onto the mountain until about 11am, and played on the newly linked Sedrun area. Felt quite warm, and the pistes were quite mogulled - also, most of the pistes seem to be on an angle, some of the ‘blues’ were really red, and some of the reds were black.
The o/p varied, it was quite skied out (for the stuff in between pistes), and as we don’t know Sedrun, and we have a guided week, we stuck mostly to the pistes - in parts, the o/p is nice, but only on the north facing. T-shirt weather at lunchtime above Sedrun, but upper pistes quieter and seeme flatter on the run back to Andermatt.
Still not sure I’d bother for a week onpiste here, it feels very ‘liner’ going from Andermatt to Sedrun, and the return leg has a few mountain road blues which are quite boring. Maybe if all the more interesting reds and blacks were open.... or we’d got here in time for the fresh snow?
Runs down to the valley were distinctly slushy by 3pm, and some areas low down had been rained on.
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... and now it's snowing....
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You know it makes sense.
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Off to Andermatt and poss Engelberg after getting cheap ‘too worried about brexit’ flts on 29th . Going Into BSL Fri eve to Mon pm. One day likely heading towards Sedrun and maybe apres ski train back, and other day exploring Gemsstock on and off piste before deciding on snow/weather etc about Monday in Andermatt again or doing Engelberg before finishing c14:30 to head back to airport. Snow seems to be holding up well at altitude with an extra top up earlier this week so fingers crossed for few pockets of powder or spring conditions as sun forecast for weekend (though expecting low level slush after lunch in mild temps).
Any tips on the above (eg whether Gemsstock busier on Sat or Sun, whether new lift linked area towards Sedrun/Disentis worth exploring inc few itineraries in these conditions, if worth doing Monday in Engelberg for quiet and adventurous 2/3rds of day at end etc)?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Quick shout for Meiringen Haslital, definitely the rest of Switzerland. The area is known as a small family friendly resort located east of Grindelwald in the Jungfrau region. We ski there regularly as it is on the Top 4 lift pass. Based in Lauterbrunnen it takes 35 mins to drive over.
We have friends in Grindelwald who had never skied the area until last week.
Quite simply they were blown away with the size of the area and the gnarly nature of the terrain. There is skiing on all aspects of the compass and massive areas of lift accessed offpiste. The area is interesting as it has not linked to its neighbour, Melchsee Frutt and that area has not linked to Engleberg.
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FAQ
