J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by admin

Top choices would have to be Geneva, Zurich and Innsbruck I guess - each of which has a couple of hundred ski resorts within a couple of hours drive. How many did you want to ski at? :D

If the current snow conditions continue you'll have plenty of choice.

To give you an idea of the distances and options, take a look at our lists of Ski resorts near Geneva, Zurich, Innsbruck... and about 30 other ski airports in Europe. There are maps for each. 8)

Hope that's useful - you should be able to find several of those airports that you and all your mates can fly to.

We list a bunch of Chalets and Apartments in Chamonix - in case you're not sorted yet. 8)

Rossfra8 wrote:Jelous.

Ha - no sympathy from me... when are you off to Canada? :mrgreen:

(loads more snow overnight, and still chucking it down in La Clusaz this morning).

Morzine Webcams looking pretty white this morning.

It's been bucketing down overnight, at least 30cm down to around 1000m in La Clusaz - and there's more to come.

After that it's forecast to stay cold, so Xmas is looking very good indeed.

Mont Blanc - from the top of the Balme chair

The highest section of the La Clusaz ski area opened on the 8th December for the day (a week ahead of the official opening) - with several Red and Black runs, and the Balme bowl (off-piste) open.

Following overnight snowfall, boot deep powder on a firm base was on offer pretty much everywhere. Altough cloudy in the morning, the sky was pretty clear by early afternoon and visibility good.

Conditions were the best I've opened my season with for many years, and probably amongst the best the area has seen in early December.

Cover was complete in both Balme and Torchere sectors. The skiers on the mountain appeared to be almost entirely local (no surprise) and that was reflected in the speed with which the Balme bowl was tracked - which has all helped to pack down an excellent base both on and off the pistes.

Although a sign warned that "Prudence" was required, the run down to the bottom (of Balme) was well covered and made for a great run down in the morning - although thaw/freeze had hardened it by the afternoon.

The sector was closed due to bad weather on the Sunday, but considerable snow has fallen throughout the day and more is expected overnight, tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday - as per our Snow Forecast for La Clusaz.

We skiied today in Chinaillon (Grand Bornand) and although much of it was in poor visibility (falling snow) there was more good skiing both on the couple of open pistes and off-piste around the Maroly run. Although the base is evidently not as well developed as La Clusaz, conditions were still pretty exceptional for Grand Bornand at this time of year.


Off-piste - Torchere - La Clusaz

All in all an excellent and promising start to the season in the Aravis.

Same again this week! Last weekend brought significant snow across much of The Alps, and this weekend looks set to follow suit. Some fairly major snowfalls are expected, particularly on Sunday, with the total fresh snow likely to be around one metre through the course of the weekend - across most central and northern alpine areas.

In a similar pattern to the last storm, the initial snow line may be around 2,000 metres but will descend rapidly - to as low as 1,000 metres. Temperatures will vary through the weekend and should help to stabilise the new snow.

From Tuesday, temperatures should fall and stay cool for at least the next week or so... looking good for the rest of December.
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Hi Lisa, we ski in and around La Clusaz most seasons; you can rest assured last January was pretty unusual. This season has started well and the highest section (La Balme) will be open this weekend (a week early). Barring a heatwave, January should be good.

Reckon your mum will love the place. As for the pistes... the runs back down to the town from the Cret du Merle lift are not that steep; they're big, wide and (often) sunny and can be taken at a leisurely pace if she wishes.

The green down to La Balme, and the return, are snow-covered roads so not particularly wide - but they're not steep either. If the snow is slow or sticky there can be some walking and polling involved; so be aware - but they make for pleasant diversions through the forest!

Best place for gentler runs is on the Beauregard - your mum can ride the gondola up and down to return to the town.

Hi Gareth,

From the forum - click the Ski Europe tab above, then select a country from the Skiing Destinations (left-side menu). Each country page has a tab for WebCams.

Once in a "country webcam" tab you can switch countries with the left-side menu (e.g. if viewing the Andorran ski webcams, then clicking Austria... you get the idea).

Here are short-cuts to ski resort webcams for the big four :- Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland.

The country pages feature webcams for the most popular ski resorts - and there are links to the webcams for the other ski resorts lower down.

I'll add some short-cuts to the site drop-down menu shortly, and to the country-specific forums.

Quite a few of them appear to be covered in snow this morning! Nice. 8)

Enjoy the views!