Calling Switzerland---do you have snow yet?
 

Our newspapers reported snow in the Alps right around New Year's, bringing much joy to the ski areas. But I have been contacting various hotels in the central region for our summer reservations, and they all come back signed with Grüsse from "sunny" or "green" Rigi, Oeschinensee, etc. What gives?

I am going to Flumserberg tomorrow - the snow conditions are reported as "hard, wet" or "powder/wet". It has snowed this night so I hope for at least half a day of decent skiing - the temperature is going to get up to 5°C in the afternoon even at the top of the skiing area. After 12 skiing is going to become hard work...

5 degrees is pretty warm---ski hard in the morning! At least you'll have sunshine.

>5 degrees is pretty warm---ski hard in the morning!

I will! Train departure at 6:41. Yikes.

>At least you'll have sunshine.

Hope so - it is mostly a northern slope, where cloud bits can stay for quite a while...

Here's the report:-)

Arrived in Unterterzen (the rail station to Flumserberg)at roughly 8:00, sowe could do the first ski run at about 8:30. There was some (very little) fresh powder, but only above 1500 m. All slopes below that altitude are essentially not skiable. The slopes wern't too full, so at least one problem less.
At about noon, the sun reached almost all slopes (a few remain in the shadow all day, and these had the best skiing). At roughly 14:00 even the snow at the top of the skiing area (at 2200 m) had the consistence of not yet set concrete. This was the pont where we decided to call it a day and go back.

Nevertheless, a skiing trip to Flumserberg is highly recommendable - it is easy to reach from Zürich by train (in the morning and evening there are S2 trains directly to Unterterzen, otherwise a lot of connections with a change in Ziegelbrücke).

Thanks Altamiro! I was wondering how your day went! I've heard Lenzerheide is still quite good.

Here in Rothenthurm, things are very green. Lots of bike riders on the road. A local ski club went hiking today because of no snow.

Have you seen the weather forecast? Thirteen degrees celcius at the end of the week! It was 20 celcius in Lugano yesterday. Wahnsinn!

>Have you seen the weather forecast? Thirteen degrees celcius at the end of the week! It was 20 celcius in Lugano yesterday. Wahnsinn!

The weather is going mad. Before we went I discussed with my friend whether it would be better to do a bike trip instead of skiing :-). Next weekend, if the weather holds, we might do exactly that. There are still a few pass roads open in winter that we didn't go over :-)

The magnolia tree opposite to my window is going to bloom. In January. WTH?

Cherry Blossoms are blooming in Washington, DC. That normally occurs around April 1.

Schuler---it was the hotel in Rigi Kaltbad that sent me greetings from a "green" place---which I took to mean no snow there.


And it's snowing here again in Seattle. . .