 Poster: A snowHead
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First snow of the ‘winter’ up high today. It was 30c on Friday too!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I'm hoping to hike over the Col du Tourmalet mid-November (La Mongie->Bareges).
What's the likelihood there'll be snow up there?
I have snow-shoes, but is it all likely I'll actually need them?
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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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gotta say my expectations are low for this winter, but I really hope we get some decent snow!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Interesting to see if the "early dump in the Pyrenees" trend comes good this year. Memories of a hilarious journey up one early December after Covid, locals pulling the rentals out of the quagmire.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Incidentally, a friend and I did recently do that 5 day hike over the Col du Tourmalet, but on the 16th Nov the tarmac up top was completely dry. A week after we did it, there was about an inch of snow, so we did it just at the right mo. Rather than snow shoes, we carried Vibram Icers - just in case.
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| 8611 wrote: |
| Interesting to see if the "early dump in the Pyrenees" trend comes good this year. Memories of a hilarious journey up one early December after Covid, locals pulling the rentals out of the quagmire. |
I remember that. We’ve had snow up in the main ski villages but not down low yet. Temps forecast to drop next week just in time for Purisima - that could be interesting if it comes off and we have some precipitation. I’ve moved and I can see right out onto the main road. I might set up a camera and a YouTube channel because there may be some viral footage!
Arcalis opened early on Friday. I went on Saturday. Only two runs and three lifts open but it was nice to get put for a slide for a couple of hours.
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Love that. There’s an occasional spot on the automatic cameras here in Andorra and always reported with excitement in the local press.
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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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I got an email saying Grandvalira is opening on 5 December, with a tiny asterisk marked weather permitting. Check webcams for snow coverage.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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What's conditions normally like mid January?
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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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We don’t know “normally” these days! But normally they’re fine. They usually start to build a base to open at the start of December, so well established six weeks later.
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@Orange200, they opened by the skin of their teeth. It's pretty cold here (compared to recent weeks) so they've had a few days of snowmaking. It definitely saved things. That said, they've only opened one run in Pas, Grau and Encamp to ensure you can ski from one to the other. No connection to Soldeu/El Tarter open at the moment. Arcalis has re-opened with pretty much the same that opened up a week early.
Pal Arinsal is open too but the website needs updating with an interactive map/piste opening list to know exactly what. I'd imagine it's one run only in Arinsal and probably the Cubil open in Pal.
Snow due tomorrow evening and Friday so the weekend is looking promising. Hopefully a wider area can be opened.
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much  on Wed 6-12-23 17:22; edited 1 time in total
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You know it makes sense.
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@Maort, should be fine.
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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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Due to arrive at Pas end of next week so have been glued to the webcams. Only 39/215km of runs open at the moment, forecast heavy snow on Friday followed by rain and then warm weather! Will they be able to make enough snow in a week?
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Poster: A snowHead
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@puddingdo, 20ish cm forecast on Friday. The rain forecast after seems to have dwindled and changed to a bit milder so no snow making. The milder/sunny weather will make a difference in Canillo that gets a lot of sun exposure but it’ll probably not make a huge difference elsewhere with the sun so low in the sky this time of year.
39km of 215 was probably a cautious opening day. It’s a busy holiday week for Spanish tourists with a lot arriving today (huge amount of traffic to get through to get home tonight). I think a bit more will open tomorrow, Friday and again over the weekend - certainly given the amount of runs above El Tarter that weren’t open but have huge piles of cannoned snow on them.
Even years when we’ve had a huge dump of snow in the first week of the season they haven’t opened everything up.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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A couple of extra pistes open in Grandvalira today. Up to 47km still no link between Encamp and Soldeu/El Tarter though.
Whilst I moaned yesterday about Pal's website, it seems that all the piste information is available on the app. No idea why it isn't easy to navigate to it on the website.
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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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Thanks hamerite, the bit about no harm from warm weather is encouraging! There seems to be a bit of snow forecast next wed/thurs as well so hopefully that will help.
Pas looks busy! Especially the bit to the left, is that the gondola to the beginners area?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@puddingdo, this is one of the busiest weeks of the season on a good snow year. This year Andorra is busy but I think most will be shopping and not skiing.
Where the Pas webcam is, it always looks busy because you’ve got 4 lifts in a fairly small area.
As for the warm weather and piste damage, it should hopefully get cold-ish at night still. A bit of overnight freeze takes a while to begin to thaw and once the sun goes behind the mountain there shouldn’t be too much further thaw at the end of the day.
It’s currently 4c and raining where I live. Difficult to see if it’s rain or snow higher up the valley. If it’s not snow yet, it shouldn’t be too long before it turns given that I’m 400m below the lowest ski runs.
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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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Skied Friday and Saturday. There wasn’t a lot open and Friday was very busy, but once you avoided the thin stoney patches the snow wasn’t so bad.
Rained last night though and the pistes became very hard packed and fairly hazardous according to ski instructors.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Possibility of some badly needed snow late tonight and most of the day tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
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40cm predicted on some forecasts!
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Hopefully! The forecasts I'm looking at only around 20cm or so. Arriving Sunday so hopefully will be ok. Some snow second half of next week apparently/hopefully as well....
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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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Webcams looking very barren! 
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More predicted further west than here as this is coming in off the Atlantic.
@puddingdo, 20cm at village level isn’t too bad. It’ll open up a lot of the areas.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Snowing now currently, not sure how much is predicted for today.
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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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We had a sprinkling during the day, enough to turn the pistes from grey/brown to white. In the higher villages it’s been snowing heavily since about 17-18:00. I’m low down at 1,300m and it’s just started snowing here in the last 30 mins.
I think we might be getting towards 20-30cm higher up. Probably around 5cm around my way.
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Looking quite white today! Still snowing a bit and I can see some of the canons firing away. Hopefully will continue! Looks like will be getting a bit warmer sun-tues so no canons,, will that be ok and any chance they will open more runs?
Crystal just mailed yesterday saying I can change elsewhere (and pay the difference) if I want, but Austria is raining and like spring next week, and Italy is a bit of a gamble too...
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You know it makes sense.
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I'd imagine more runs will be opening in the next day or two. There's been around 50km open all week and that's before the snow that fell overnight.
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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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Jnr was up in Pas last night he said snow depth in town when he headed down this morning was about 30-45cm.
I don't think the milder temps will make much difference to the snow. The sun is low in the sky and days are short. I think apart from one/two nights it's still forecast to drop below freezing so that will firm up the pistes and give the ability for snow cannons to keep running.
I'd imagine they'll open more up tomorrow/Saturday. Snow cannons are running on some pistes that haven't had them on all season. They never rush to open up more after a decent snowfall because the lifties don't get paid overtime plus it's very quiet at the moment. I think they'll be spending today preparing the chairs that haven't been used yet and pisting new runs. The other thing is that it's really quite windy today too so that will slow down the opening of anything extra.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| puddingdo wrote: |
Looking quite white today! Still snowing a bit and I can see some of the canons firing away. Hopefully will continue! Looks like will be getting a bit warmer sun-tues so no canons,, will that be ok and any chance they will open more runs?
Crystal just mailed yesterday saying I can change elsewhere (and pay the difference) if I want, but Austria is raining and like spring next week, and Italy is a bit of a gamble too... |
That's interesting, so Crystal Ski offer you an alternative location if there is not enough snow to ski?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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So I chickened out and switched to Sestriere lol. We went to Pas in Easter already so I figured can go somewhere else instead. Sadly it looks like some of the links in the Milky Way may be closed but at least looking forward to the food!
Thanks so much for the insights, I know where to check next time for weather updates!
@Theo yes I was quite surprised. I think you can pay extra up to a certain point which allows you to change if half the runs aren't open or something like that. I didn't pay for that but it seems like there is a lesser rule that applies to all saying that if there are fewer than 2 of any colour run, then you can switch. There's only 1 black run open so can switch free of charge. I'm surprised I can change at such short notice, so I guess that's an advantage of a package!
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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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| puddingdo wrote: |
So I chickened out and switched to Sestriere lol. We went to Pas in Easter already so I figured can go somewhere else instead. Sadly it looks like some of the links in the Milky Way may be closed but at least looking forward to the food!
Thanks so much for the insights, I know where to check next time for weather updates!
@Theo yes I was quite surprised. I think you can pay extra up to a certain point which allows you to change if half the runs aren't open or something like that. I didn't pay for that but it seems like there is a lesser rule that applies to all saying that if there are fewer than 2 of any colour run, then you can switch. There's only 1 black run open so can switch free of charge. I'm surprised I can change at such short notice, so I guess that's an advantage of a package! |
I like Sestriere, nice runs there and of course as you mentioned the food there is amazing.
Heading to Soldeu in late March (paddys week) so I am hoping we have decent snow by then.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Wow that's good to know! It seems like the left half (Pragelato) is closed but most of the bits directly over Sestriere is open. Will that be enough?
Soldeu sounds good. Loved Andorra, booze is so cheap, will definitely be back!
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| puddingdo wrote: |
Wow that's good to know! It seems like the left half (Pragelato) is closed but most of the bits directly over Sestriere is open. Will that be enough?
Soldeu sounds good. Loved Andorra, booze is so cheap, will definitely be back! |
The Sestriere-to-Sauze links may open this weekend.
Can see them bashing the upper linkage trails on the webcam.
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Hi SH's can anyone help??? I'm off to Sestriere on Sunday and like everyone I've been checking the snow conditions and run info! At present there are only a couple of lifts open even tho they've had a good amount of snow. My question is the week before Christmas are they guna open more runs and lifts or will it be the same as it is now? If that's the case have anyone been this time and can you still get between resorts? Any advice would be great that's Mike 
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| Jackford1976 wrote: |
| Hi SH's can anyone help??? I'm off to Sestriere on Sunday and like everyone I've been checking the snow conditions and run info! At present there are only a couple of lifts open even tho they've had a good amount of snow. My question is the week before Christmas are they guna open more runs and lifts or will it be the same as it is now? If that's the case have anyone been this time and can you still get between resorts? Any advice would be great that's Mike |
Welcome.
The Sestriere thread is here.
Around 15-20% of the whole Milky Way system is open today.
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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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What's the thoughts out there this week? Snow due tomorrow and over the next few days but how much?
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Only a few cm forecast. Once again with really strong winds which ends up blowing anything from the tops of the lifts.
People I know who have been out skiing this week say that the snow is pretty good it's just there isn't coverage everywhere yet.
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FAQ
