Thanks for all the links. During the off-season, we should combine this type of info into one thread (probably this) and tack it at the top of the Europe/Asia forum so we don't have to go searching for it.
Europe 24/25
- Thread starter Sbooker
- Start date
ChrisC
Well-known member
Agree. Milan has so much overcapacity that flights remain $500-600 base fare the entire winter, even 48 hours out sometimes. It is the most economical of any gateway city, especially if no fare/FF sales are going on.
Courmayeur can service freeriders well:
- Skyway Monte Banco
- Courmayeur Off-piste
- Heli-ski Courmayeur
- Chamonix nearby
ChrisC
Well-known member
The current storm caused snow levels on the Northside of the Alps to rise to nearly 2000+m. Although the Christmas holidays were good for the lower resorts, a month without much snow and recent rain is taking its toll. This is all changing over to snow on Monday PM. I think even the base areas of Andermatt and Verbier got some rain. Meanwhile, on the south side of the Alps, there are low snow levels at 1200m.
Weathertoski: Ahead of this storm, the air is very mild with Foehn conditions across some central/northern parts of the Alps. The first precipitation has already reached some western and southern parts of the Alps but with a highly variable rain/snow limit. This morning it will rain to 2000m or higher in the more exposed parts of the western and southern Alps, but lower in some sheltered internal valleys – especially the upper Aosta (e.g Courmayeur).
The Italian resort of Crevacol on St. Bernard Pass received 50cm by this morning, while Courmayeur and La Thuile received 30cm and 40cm, respectively, at their base areas. Plus, tonight's accumulation. It looks like all these areas will receive 80cm to almost 1meter of snow at elevation
It looks like I will be spending some time in Northern Italy; not expected, but it is the clear winner snow-wise. And I will be mostly skiing my 'greatest hits' (old reliable places I like), but a few new ones.
So I will pass on all the lower elevation Swiss resorts like Gstaad (50/30 cm bases), and Les Diablerets/Glacier3000, and either stay high (>2000m) or south of the Alps divide.
The final itinerary is looking like Engelberg (4)->Zinal/Grimentz(1)->Courmayeur (3)(Skyway, Crevacol, Courmayeur or La Thuile off-piste day)->Verbier(1)->Andermatt(2).
Watch if Monterosa areas get in on any of this action by the end.
Here's the most intense part of the disturbance: in La Thuile and Courmayeur, the snowfall is raging, and the maximum ground accumulations are reaching: 87 cm in La Thuiles and 60 in Courmayeur 35-40 fresh around
Live from Courmayeur, Val Veny side, Warning: Picture not suitable for the faint of heart... this is the situation in Val Veny at 1600 m, on the ground you travel towards an altitude of 140/150 cm of snow, 60 fresh.
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Seeing that much snow on top of relatively small structures, I always wonder how much weight/stress that puts on the roof. Good thing the house is made of stone!
ChrisC
Well-known member
IDK, but they were built to last - centuries. Longer than an American home-builder like Lennar contemplates.
Lots of snow down low in Courmayeur/Enteves: 60-70cm.
ChrisC
Well-known member
Of course, the French resorts are doing well with W to NW flows, I just have not found any good graphical maps.
I was worried that Engelberg was too far north to catch this storm. That is not the case (below).
From the Skier's Lodge Engelberg (This run is Steinberg (glaciated with crevasses), one of the Big 5. I skied this with Tony and Liz (and guide)- almost 6 years ago now).
I was worried that Engelberg was too far north to catch this storm. That is not the case (below).
From the Skier's Lodge Engelberg (This run is Steinberg (glaciated with crevasses), one of the Big 5. I skied this with Tony and Liz (and guide)- almost 6 years ago now).
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ChrisC
Well-known member
La Grave is essentially closed for the season.
They were supposed to replace the cable on the first stage of its telepherique by the end of January, but it looks like there was a construction accident, and the opening date is now pushed to mid-March.
They were supposed to replace the cable on the first stage of its telepherique by the end of January, but it looks like there was a construction accident, and the opening date is now pushed to mid-March.
ChrisC
Well-known member
It looks like the French Tarentaise Valley resorts got nailed by the storm yesterday:
Val Thorens and Tignes report about 80cm+ from the storm at the summit/glaciers. With the 30-40 cm from the preceding days, both complexes received nearly 1.25 meters+. Bases are approaching 250cm/100 inches. That's quite good.
Val Thorens (or any 3 Vallee sector) - Snow and Weather https://www.les3vallees.com/en/live/weather/val-thorens
Tignes - Snow and Weather https://en.tignes.net/tignes-weather
It looks like the St Moritz area received about 1.25 meters.
And Mont Blanc on all sides received about 1.25 meters at elevation.
Almost all areas did well in the Alps from this last storm.
Switzerland Snow Reports - Bases, New Snow, and Forecasted Snow https://www.schneehoehen.ch/schneehoehen/schweiz?sort=snow_freshSnowfall-desc
White Risk https://whiterisk.ch/en/conditions/snow-maps/new_snow
This Comparison Chart to average dramatically improved - lots of areas are now above average!
Time to go soon!
Val Thorens and Tignes report about 80cm+ from the storm at the summit/glaciers. With the 30-40 cm from the preceding days, both complexes received nearly 1.25 meters+. Bases are approaching 250cm/100 inches. That's quite good.
Val Thorens (or any 3 Vallee sector) - Snow and Weather https://www.les3vallees.com/en/live/weather/val-thorens
Tignes - Snow and Weather https://en.tignes.net/tignes-weather
It looks like the St Moritz area received about 1.25 meters.
And Mont Blanc on all sides received about 1.25 meters at elevation.
Almost all areas did well in the Alps from this last storm.
Switzerland Snow Reports - Bases, New Snow, and Forecasted Snow https://www.schneehoehen.ch/schneehoehen/schweiz?sort=snow_freshSnowfall-desc
White Risk https://whiterisk.ch/en/conditions/snow-maps/new_snow
This Comparison Chart to average dramatically improved - lots of areas are now above average!
Time to go soon!
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ChrisC
Well-known member
There is lots of snow at altitude in Engelberg: 50-60cm/2ft above mid-mountain Trubsee.
We spent most of the day exploring parts of the Big 5 Freeride Routes. LINK
Specifically, we spent time on Laub, Sulz, and Steinberg. The Laub had many fresh, unskied areas - perhaps Europe's best, consistent, steep, open face. I was a little annoyed to play dodge the crevasses on the Steinberg glacier from Titlis summit, but I knew if you stayed near the cliffs on either skier's right or left, you would avoid them. Fun UK friends
- but they know Engelberg quite well. However, the snow base is only 150cm - not the deepest for snow bridges to be well-formed, etc. Not bad, though. It's not Mont Blanc.
Tomorrow is our Guide and Galtiberg - the 6k decent off the backside. Snow is a bit thin in town at 1000m. There is a decent snow base at 1300m. The runout from Galtiberg to the bus stop will be 'interesting.'
Skiing the Big 5 in Jan. 2018 with Tony & Liz:
Engelberg has one of the weirdest lift layouts, but it works! 6000 ft of freeride fun. Like Courmayeur, an intermediate can ski the place in a day.
There were high clouds today at times. Another **A Retour d’Est with Potential** might be in store for Friday/Saturday for the Southern Alps.
Meteo Morris - founder of wePowder.
We spent most of the day exploring parts of the Big 5 Freeride Routes. LINK
Specifically, we spent time on Laub, Sulz, and Steinberg. The Laub had many fresh, unskied areas - perhaps Europe's best, consistent, steep, open face. I was a little annoyed to play dodge the crevasses on the Steinberg glacier from Titlis summit, but I knew if you stayed near the cliffs on either skier's right or left, you would avoid them. Fun UK friends
- but they know Engelberg quite well. However, the snow base is only 150cm - not the deepest for snow bridges to be well-formed, etc. Not bad, though. It's not Mont Blanc.Tomorrow is our Guide and Galtiberg - the 6k decent off the backside. Snow is a bit thin in town at 1000m. There is a decent snow base at 1300m. The runout from Galtiberg to the bus stop will be 'interesting.'
Skiing the Big 5 in Jan. 2018 with Tony & Liz:
- Engelberg, CH, Jan. 24, 2019 Steinberg, Laub, Galtiberg
- Engelberg: Titlis & Brunni, CH, Jan. 25, 2019 Laub, Steintäli, Sulz
Engelberg has one of the weirdest lift layouts, but it works! 6000 ft of freeride fun. Like Courmayeur, an intermediate can ski the place in a day.
There were high clouds today at times. Another **A Retour d’Est with Potential** might be in store for Friday/Saturday for the Southern Alps.
Meteo Morris - founder of wePowder.
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ChrisC
Well-known member
Due to no visibility, we canceled our guided day for Friday, January 31st. The guide office let us move it to today, Saturday, February 1st - especially since most of the Big 5 Off-piste runs would be unskiable/a bit dangerous.
This was not just a storm day with flat light. It was a dense layer of valley fog, low clouds, and high clouds. I thought storms/clouds would be more confined to the southern Alps, but this was not the case - unfortunately, there were plenty on the north side, too.
Nevertheless, we went out on Friday for some runs since we purchased a 4-day ticket (dynamic pricing, lower prices when bought 1-2 weeks out). Only the top 250 ft of the Titlis summit broke through the fog/clouds. Otherwise, it was pea soup. We tried a one-off-piste zone - Sulz LINK - but one of the group accidentally skied off a minor cliff he could not see. There were no injuries, but we called it a day after 1.5 hours.
This was my first pure Alps "bad weather day" since 2017. I skied in Europe every year from 2017-2025 (except for 2021 and 2022 (COVID)) and never had an issue. Most storm days (at Val d'Isere, Zermatt, Arosa/Lenzerheide, Laax/Flims, St. Anton/Lech, Andermatt) had breaks or the ability to ski in the woods or tree-lined slopes -- not at Engelberg.
I decided to try Brunni in the afternoon out of curiosity; it's the other resort in the Engleberg Valley - smaller, much less vertical, and south-facing. It was still unpleasantly foggy with low clouds, and my adventure there lasted for about two runs: skied pistes 1, 2, and 3. No valley runs were open, so you needed to download on the cable car. Our Apres-ski started early on Friday.
Piste Maps of Engelberg Resorts: Titlis and Brunni. However, when people speak of Engelberg, they mostly ignore Brunni's existence.
Big 5 Freeride Zones are highlighted in Yellow:
Today, Saturday was beautiful above the valley fog. Only the bottom 500 vertical feet of 6000 were impacted. We did all the Big 5 Off-piste areas. The guide took us on some new routes: skier's far left of Steinberg - called "Never Sun," almost a couloir on skier's far left of Laub, typical Galtiberg run with glaciers and 500 ft cliff walls for 6,000 vertical feet, and some hikes above Jochstock for about 10-20 minutes into high remote sections of Steintäli. We were able to find powder in these less obvious places still.
Big 5 LINK
I will add some more pics later:
Lkein Titlus Summit 3028m - panorama
Near 2/3 way up the mountain - at station Stand 2428m
Looking up to Steinberg freeride zone/glacier to Klein Titlis summit
This was not just a storm day with flat light. It was a dense layer of valley fog, low clouds, and high clouds. I thought storms/clouds would be more confined to the southern Alps, but this was not the case - unfortunately, there were plenty on the north side, too.
Nevertheless, we went out on Friday for some runs since we purchased a 4-day ticket (dynamic pricing, lower prices when bought 1-2 weeks out). Only the top 250 ft of the Titlis summit broke through the fog/clouds. Otherwise, it was pea soup. We tried a one-off-piste zone - Sulz LINK - but one of the group accidentally skied off a minor cliff he could not see. There were no injuries, but we called it a day after 1.5 hours.
This was my first pure Alps "bad weather day" since 2017. I skied in Europe every year from 2017-2025 (except for 2021 and 2022 (COVID)) and never had an issue. Most storm days (at Val d'Isere, Zermatt, Arosa/Lenzerheide, Laax/Flims, St. Anton/Lech, Andermatt) had breaks or the ability to ski in the woods or tree-lined slopes -- not at Engelberg.
I decided to try Brunni in the afternoon out of curiosity; it's the other resort in the Engleberg Valley - smaller, much less vertical, and south-facing. It was still unpleasantly foggy with low clouds, and my adventure there lasted for about two runs: skied pistes 1, 2, and 3. No valley runs were open, so you needed to download on the cable car. Our Apres-ski started early on Friday.
Piste Maps of Engelberg Resorts: Titlis and Brunni. However, when people speak of Engelberg, they mostly ignore Brunni's existence.
Big 5 Freeride Zones are highlighted in Yellow:
Today, Saturday was beautiful above the valley fog. Only the bottom 500 vertical feet of 6000 were impacted. We did all the Big 5 Off-piste areas. The guide took us on some new routes: skier's far left of Steinberg - called "Never Sun," almost a couloir on skier's far left of Laub, typical Galtiberg run with glaciers and 500 ft cliff walls for 6,000 vertical feet, and some hikes above Jochstock for about 10-20 minutes into high remote sections of Steintäli. We were able to find powder in these less obvious places still.
Big 5 LINK
I will add some more pics later:
Lkein Titlus Summit 3028m - panorama
Near 2/3 way up the mountain - at station Stand 2428m
Looking up to Steinberg freeride zone/glacier to Klein Titlis summit
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skiandgolfnut
Member
We had this same no light on Friday at Corviglia. The piste skiers in the group called it a day quick. Still had an amazing lunch though. Luckily our guide found me some tree skiing and I was able to eek out a solid day. Saturday we had the same experience you did, low clouds in the Engadin valley and perfect sunshine above mid mountain. Wound up being a great day.
This trip (avalanche excluded) reaffirmed my feeling that the one true loser of a scenario of an alps trip is storm skiing/flat light/no vis. I have now had several trips (4 days max) where I've been confined to the pistes but gotten sunshine and not left a disappointed customer. Friday with flat light really sucked. Wouldn't be as big a big deal if I had flexibility to take longer trips but on these short trips its definitely the worst possible outcome.
ChrisC
Well-known member
St. Moritz has decent trees at Corvatsch for storm skiing in the middle 1/3 of the mountain.
On Friday, we had a mixture of low valley fog, low clouds, and some high clouds. It was more akin to a Pacific/CA maritime layer, like a fog layer that requires heat in the pea soup fog of SF city proper during August since it's only 55F.
Usually, storm days have some breaks. And high-level clouds/some flat light I can somewhat deal with. However, Engelberg has no trees until nearly <1300m below the snowline on this trip.
I dislike the wind the most in the Alps. It compacts all the snow in the alpine and can shut down lifts or connections unexpectedly. Living in the Northwest, I became more tolerant/used to flat light, clouds, etc. However, dense fog is awful too!
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ChrisC
Well-known member
Sunday, February 2: Engelberg. Beautiful day. We just skied a few favorites and some groomed pistes. Big long lunch in the sun! And a 3+ hour drive to Zinal. So many tourists/pedestrians riding gondolas/cable cars to Klein Titlis summit - makes sense since Engelberg is a cheaper, closer option to Zurich/Lucerne than Jungfrau trains ($$$) or Zermatt.
Monday, February 3: Zinal & Gimentz. Excellent dual-mountain interconnected area! It's on par with Engelberg-Titlus and Andermatt-Gemsstock. It does not quite have the massive 5-6k vertical runs, but it has a lot of great off-piste zones (some areas not quite skied-out, and high elevation - highlighted in yellow)
Tuesday, February 4. Courmayeur - Skyway Monte Bianco / Pt. Helbronner with Guide.
A top 10 best day on skis! Sunny, bluebird epic descents:
The next days - more easygoing. Play around Courmayeur properly, eat well, and possibly ski La Thuile or Crévacol. Then onwards to Andermatt.
There is potential for a big Southern Alps storm for the weekend! Retour d'Est flow too fo Val d'Isere. This might impact Andermatt's operations; I will watch it play out.
Monday, February 3: Zinal & Gimentz. Excellent dual-mountain interconnected area! It's on par with Engelberg-Titlus and Andermatt-Gemsstock. It does not quite have the massive 5-6k vertical runs, but it has a lot of great off-piste zones (some areas not quite skied-out, and high elevation - highlighted in yellow)
- Tram (Grimentz-Weisshorn/Zinal). Big lines on Chamois and off-piste Lac de Moiry area: 4k+ verticals. LINK
- Zinal - Durand surface lift. Freeride avy controlled zone, and some couloirs.
- Grimentz - Roc d'Orzival surface lift (front and backside). Becs de Bosson. Its black pistes had untouched snow nearby if you were willing to traverse.
Tuesday, February 4. Courmayeur - Skyway Monte Bianco / Pt. Helbronner with Guide.
A top 10 best day on skis! Sunny, bluebird epic descents:
- Two runs on Toula Glacier - From the top station: one rappel (near the old staircase) and one couloir entrance to access the glacier. Lots of high-speed turns. We once stopped at mid-station (5k vertical) and once back to base (7k vertical). Snow started warming up at 1800-2000m / 12 noon, so no Marbree (too risky, exposed, etc.)
- One run into Chamonix. It is not the traditional Vallee Blanche, but instead the Vallee Blanche Noire (located on the far east side of the Vallee Blanche glaciers). Chamonix skies cannot access it, and it's blocked from the sun by mountains on the East side and faces almost due north. Steeper is in places other than the classic route, and there are not as many crevasses. The snow was amazingly light! Altitude. And relatively unskied. We took a new gondola to train and bus back to Courmayeur. About an 8k vertical run).
The next days - more easygoing. Play around Courmayeur properly, eat well, and possibly ski La Thuile or Crévacol. Then onwards to Andermatt.
There is potential for a big Southern Alps storm for the weekend! Retour d'Est flow too fo Val d'Isere. This might impact Andermatt's operations; I will watch it play out.
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I see Zermatt and the Monterosa in the bulls eye of that forecast!
No problems navigating the Lac de Moiry off piste first time at the area without a guide?
Sadly we never made it to Zinal. It was our first day in the Alps last year, we got a late start and got all of 17K at Grimentz despite good conditions.
No problems navigating the Lac de Moiry off piste first time at the area without a guide?
Sadly we never made it to Zinal. It was our first day in the Alps last year, we got a late start and got all of 17K at Grimentz despite good conditions.
ChrisC
Well-known member
No. It's very popular, and you can see Lake Moiry off the backside of Zinal - maybe a 2000 ft vertical. The open itinerary faces mainly West, so you want to ski closer to some south rock walls that shade and preserve snow. (Note: some couloirs also drop to the lake, but I was not going to venture into any - why bother when you have a high elevation (~3000m) slope that has remained below freezing? There were also a few other skiers - it's decently popular and well-known.
After this, you will be on a summer road/hiking trail to Grimentz. There is no actual steepness/exposed areas after the dam/lake. Also, there are winter hikers out, too.
It looks like wePowder ran their model wrong or something yesterday. Did they add a number 1 in front of every snowfall number? Anyway, it is still a decent storm, but not epic. OpenSnow is showing similar snowfall totals.
EMSC
Well-known member
New question for my March trip. While I've been to Europe a bunch over the years for business I've done the taxi, subway, walk around the city thing and not had to rent a vehicle. So one of the new questions from my group is does it really require an international license? Last time I drove ~10 years ago I never even had a second thought and just showed up with my US license and away I went. But all the internet info now says you better have an international permit or some such. Sounds like just thing the EU would implement in recent years to create hassle for non-EU citizens and probably to try to make a buck off them too.
What say yee, Euro rental car regulars?? Needed or not?
What say yee, Euro rental car regulars?? Needed or not?
I’ve always got one just in case (extortion at $50 for some shitty bit of paper) but have never been asked to produce it. The one time I don’t have it I’ll be asked I suppose.
Thanks for reminding me. I’ll go get one for next month.
By the way I’ve never been asked in the US or Canada either but have been asked two times in Japan.
We were told that the International Driving license was a very big deal in Japan, so I got one in 2016. I’m not the person who picked up the car rental, which is presumably where it might be required.
I have never been asked for that license Europe or Chile, South Africa, Oz/NZ. They are all satisfied with passport + US license.
I have never been asked for that license Europe or Chile, South Africa, Oz/NZ. They are all satisfied with passport + US license.