Skiing in April?

conno16

hey - i'm in the process of trying to book a skiing break prob for the first week of april
normally i ski in jan/feb so this is pushing it out bigtime
any suggestions for where i might have the best chance of catching some quality snow?
ideally france would prob my destination but at this stage its all down to the snow
thanks a mil

EileenG

Try Tignes. It is very snowsure, even in a hot April. I skied there one April where it was hitting 30 degrees every afternoon and I got shocking sunburn, but it was still skiable. Tignes also has a good glacier that provides skiing all summer long.

There is a youth hostel in Tignes (one of the lower villages but with a good free shuttle bus) which is affordable with with good food and craic.

You can fly to any French airport, including Paris or Geneva and get fairly easy access to Tignes.

mal_1

Just back from St Anton in Austria and as far snowsure, its just had an amazing 1.5m new snow over the last week, hence the conditions will remain good right into April.

rn

Myself and the missus are going to meribel, part of the three valleys in 1st week in april. Hoping the weather will stay cold enough up there to keep a bit of snow on the ground.

EileenG

You'll be fine. Lots of high skiing there. Just learn to read the piste map, so that you can follow the sun round the mountain. Ski the South-facing runs that get early sun in the morning, moving round to North facing in the afternoon which will be good while the south facing ones are slushy.

conno16

eileen - any suggestions for acc in tignes? dont suppose you recall the name/location of a decent hostel/apt?

cnocbui

We are off to Laax at Easter. Ski resorts with glaciers are a sensible bet for later in the season.

EileenG

conno16 wrote: »

eileen - any suggestions for acc in tignes? dont suppose you recall the name/location of a decent hostel/apt?

I stayed here a couple of times. www.fuaj.org/Tignes?var_recherche=Tignes and had no problems. Not central but easy access with navette to glacier etc. Good craic, cheap bar, lots of food. It used to be a hotel, so each room has its own bathroom.

I've also stayed in Hotel Arbina in Tignes Le Lac, great location, good food, sauna/jacuzzi etc, but better for a romantic getaway than a gang.

RATM

Good hostel here http://www.chaletchardons.com/ Its in a satellite town of Tignes called Le Breviers. It has its own pistes 200m from the hostel but most likely you'd take a lift then a 5 min bus ride to the main area of Tignes le Lac.

They do bed, brekkie and 3 course evening meal with wine for around £30pppn, possibly cheaper or a good lift pass deal available for April. Great atmosphere in the hostel, even has an underground bar where lots of wild antics go on

EileenG

RATM wrote: »

Good hostel here http://www.chaletchardons.com/ Its in a satellite town of Tignes called Le Breviers. It has its own pistes 200m from the hostel but most likely you'd take a lift then a 5 min bus ride to the main area of Tignes le Lac.

They do bed, brekkie and 3 course evening meal with wine for around £30pppn, possibly cheaper or a good lift pass deal available for April. Great atmosphere in the hostel, even has an underground bar where lots of wild antics go on

Have you stayed there? Would it be suitable for a family with girls aged 8, 11, and 12?

Snowie

People so oh go here or go there...

But its luck of the draw really Some times in april you can get a meter dump which refreash's the piste and sets everything up for tha last few weeks some time the day before the piste get closed they get a meter dump


it depends on the snow the pisteairs and ther ebashing grooming skills frash cordory ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ...

sheesh

just back from westendorf good load of snow the blue run from mittlestation to the bottom had some mud but the red runs looked ok got a bit slushy in the evening. higher up runs had plenty of snow and not too icy. very quiet though.

Snowie

sheesh wrote: »

just back from westendorf good load of snow the blue run from mittlestation to the bottom had some mud but the red runs looked ok got a bit slushy in the evening. higher up runs had plenty of snow and not too icy. very quiet though.

well it is spring man its horrible having to sit over mud and rocks

olaola

Just back from Switzerland and it was getting VERY slushy on Tuesday afternoon. And it only got hotter as the day went on. That was at over 2000m. So I'd say the season is drawing to a close fairly quickly unless there is a sudden cold snap.

W.B. Yeats

olaola wrote: »

Just back from Switzerland and it was getting VERY slushy on Tuesday afternoon. And it only got hotter as the day went on. That was at over 2000m. So I'd say the season is drawing to a close fairly quickly unless there is a sudden cold snap.

My sis did the Vallee BLanche Cham-Cour off piste on Sunday. Had to hike a good bit at the end due to no snow