It’s that time of year again and this year the dude has nearly three full weeks off.  Time to get out of Dodge for at least one of them (16-23).  But where to go?

The wife and little guy have pretty much resigned themselves to the idea that the pistes--or at least pistes suitable for a six year-old--might be done for the year.  I’m a little less reluctant to give up the boards and would love to spend a week of solo (or not) morning tours and afternoons of family hikes, bike rides, fishing, and food & wine.

We’ve spent a lot of time in Gressoney/Monterosa but I’m worried the southern exposures and Italian heat are beating up on the snow.  Where else should we consider?  The Dolomites?  Maybe Ecrins or the Haute-Maurienne?  Further afield?  Utah?

Any and all ideas/tips/suggestions are welcome including recommends for specific apartments or anything else that pops in your mind.

Cheers people, and don’t give up the ship.  Keep skiing!

hey,
Utah is going off right now. We are already over 600 inches
for the year and its still snowing. We’ll have snow till
may easily. Most of the resorts close this week or next but
Snowbird stays open and the touring will still be really
easy access. Lodging is cheap now as it’s our “mud season”.
good luck. Feel free to contact me for anymore info. Subsequently
I’ll be in chamonix for the next 3 weeks, not sure why now, but
it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Anyways, have a good one.
B

Well, thanks for the input but the Utah bit wasn’t exactly serious.  Between Boise, ID; Elko, NV; and Montrose, CO, Utah is pretty much our home turf.  Spent many years in the SLC/Logan area.  Looking more for snow info in and around our current location. 

Have fun in Chamonix.  Bad snow year or not, you’ve not seen anything like the French Alps in the Rocky Mountains.

places to maybe consider:
* Queyras or Haute Ubaye
. . (strategy is to get further south and close to the France-Italy frontier).

place I hope to check out in the next few days:
* Haute-Maurienne
. . (variant on previous strategy)

place some of my favorite long-time partners (inclu fr Europe) are actually going around Easter:
* eastside Sierra around California
. . (snowpack 150-200% of long-term average)

Ken

Hey, Ken.  Is there anywhere is the U.S. that doesn’t have 100-150% of their snowpack?  Sheesh, what a year to be here.  But, yeah, the Sierra is not quite the arrondissement we were looking for.  It’s a bit of a haul with a six year-old and two dogs.  We, too, were looking at the Haute-Maurienne, somewhere around Bonneval Sur Arc.  Looks like the little dude can still ski and dad can go as high as he wants.  The weather forecast looks promising, too.

Fingers crossed.

Just in case it is any use for all the hordes of people who are looking at the Haute Maurienne .....

We were there last week ... As occasional participants limited more by jobs and families, as well as the resulting fitness than anything else, this was the limit of our capabilities in this kind of year.

What I would say is that this year it requires an early start and fast or short routes. The snow is being refrozen overnight but loosing more cold during the day than it gains overnight. The crust is around 2-3 cms with sugar underneath. This all adds up to being off the slopes by noon at the latest.

some photos
Day 1 Bonneval to Carro refuge
Day 2 Levanna Occidentale
Day 3 Carro to Evettes
Day 4 Descent top Bonneval

Hordes?

BlueSky - 12 April 2011 09:34 AM

Day 1 Bonneval to Carro refuge
Day 2 Levanna Occidentale
Day 3 Carro to Evettes
Day 4 Descent top Bonneval

thanks for posting the photos, that is a bit of a reality check

Yes, reality.  Hmm.  Maybe the Sierra Nevada after all.  If not the H-T then where?

steven hatcher - 12 April 2011 06:28 PM

Yes, reality.  Hmm.  Maybe the Sierra Nevada after all.  If not the H-T then where?

KenR seems to think the Haute-Maurienne is still the best bet now.

Certainly the mountains local to me look in a really bad state this morning.

Now that I’ve been out skiing in the Haute-Maurienne today, I wouldn’t bet on it for around Easter.

I think they lost too much snow in those hot days the first week of April. Before then the avalanche forecast for Savoie was saying H-M was one of the areas that was near long-term average snow-depth. After the heat, they’re not saying that any more. I wouldn’t either.

I’d bet on the eastside Sierra.

Ken

As our son says: Aw, freaks.  When in doubt, go trail running.  Or, drink wine.  One of the two.  At least we’ll eat and drink well.  Are the streams running clear yet?  Maybe I’ll bring my fly rod instead.

Col du Glandon… but keep this betwene ourselves.