notsosmart

I'll be coming home from a family visit to Prague on the 25th, and I thought that I could squeeze in a couple of days of skiing he 26th and 27th. Where am I likely to find he best snow this late in the season?

Thanks for any input you can give me.


Gaetano

0524

Pls divert to Killington. The snow is great in late April, and we need your money.

Boraxo

try disneyland in Paris. you won't find real snow in europe at that late date, except perhaps on a glacier in austria.

magexpect

There are plenty of places where you'll find skiing in Europe. To list them all would take too long. Best chances are Switzerland, Austria and France. Right now there is plenty of snow and glaciers will be there as well... The season however is going to be over so some places might be open others not.

Once you have decided which country you want to stop in, you can PM me for more info.

53flyer

You gotta go high! In late April the conditions in Ischgl, Austria should still be fine. Go here for more information: http://is0.info/portal/content/2001/index.php?lang=ENG

Helena Handbaskets

I once chose Les Arcs, in France, for a late April ski weekend. In fact it was the last weekend they were open, and much had already shut down. I chose it for its combination of intermediate runs and its elevation, as well as the elevation of the resort itself.

French resorts are typically built up high with the slopes, so in poor conditions the ski-in/ski-out possibilities remain longer than at resorts based in towns in the valley, as in Austria or some in Switzerland. On the other side of the coin, French resorts tend to be concrete cube architectural blights upon the face of the majestic beauty of the Alps.

The year I was at Les Arcs had been one of plentiful snow, so there were no bare spots, but the snow was a bit slushy in the lower 200 ft or so of elevation. It was easy to stay in the good snow, though, until the final run home, and I had a blast as long as I wasn't looking at the resort itself.

I also remember once finding good snow after trekking over to the Stubai glacier just south of Innsbruck, Austria earlier in a different ski season when snow conditions were poor at the lower-elevation Austrian resort where I was staying.

stimpy

In the Alps, traditionally it seems, the last week of skiing is the first week of April. However different weather can change the dates at some of the more progressive slopes.

graraps

Up-and-coming resort in the South of Poland. Cold and touristy enough for most people to have language skills but not enough for prices to shoot up.
Currently the temperature in KRK-closest major city- is close enough to 0C...and KRK isn't on the mountain

Peregrine415

Since you'll be in Prague, take an overnight train to Poprad, Slovakia (or fly to Kosice) and ski in the High Tatras Mountains (2,000+ meters). This was where John Paul II used to ski when he was archbishop of Krakow.

Ski conditions right now are from very good to excellent.

graraps

Zakopane is on the Tatras, too, just across the border. FWIW I've been to the border itself too.

isi

The indoor skiing in the Netherlands can be a lot of fun if you are with the right crowd. I don't know if there are places elsewhere in Europe.

In case there is no snow in the places other folks have mentioned, this might be worth checking out -- more for a general amusement factor than hard-core skiing though.

For instance:

http://www.snowworld.nl/index.aspx?SetLanguage=2

notsosmart

For all those of you suggesting Zakopane. I am of Polish origin, and speak the language, so it would be a great fit. But I did not think that it would be high enough to allow for late-spring skiing, and the web is not very forthcoming with info. Has anyone actually been there late in the season and experienced it in its full glory?

(It's at a much higher latitude than Killington, or Whistler, or any other N. American resort south of Valdez, so maybe it is the answer...)