White Christmas

[Scott]

<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]I know this isn't exactly a photographic question but it kind of is. My wife and I are looking for a real white Christmas, I mean a nice little town (cottages etc, not metro) where it is GUARANTEED to snow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"] We are prepared to travel to <st1:place><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Europe</st1:place><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"], the States, <st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Japan</st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"] or where ever and what better people to ask them your good selves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"] So if you know of a picturesque, photographic little place could you please let me know?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"]


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"]Thank you all so much.<o:p></o:p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"]Scott</o:p>

[Daniel Browning]

These are known for being Christmas towns:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavenworth,_Washington ("http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavenworth,_Washington)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistler,_British_Columbia ("http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistler,_British_Columbia)


The Winter Olympics are ~6 weeks after Christmas, in Vancouver BC.

[Cory]

I'll echo those two locations. I'm a Washingtonian and always tell people new to the state that they have to hit Leavenworth at least once during Christmas and once during Octoberfest. Whistler is just as fun and probably a more gaurentee for snow in general, but I think Leavenworth just has that Christmas "feel" almost down to a T.

[lculpin]

Whistler gets VERY Christmas-y, and there will definitely be snow. Having said that, I'd guess that the pre-Olympic crowd will be clogging up roads and resorts pretty heavily by then (I'm personally trying to figure a way to get out of the lower mainland entirely while they Olympics are here, the traffic is going to be ridiculous and our roads and transit are NOT going to handle it well :P)

[Scott]

<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Thanks for your replies, my bad I did not mention that I spent two weeks in Whistler last Christmas, well December. The season was late and we only got to see two days of snow, about a week or so before the Christmas day. Loved it, but yeah it really brought in the skiers and snow boarders (I don't ski [:(]), we&rsquo;re after some where quiet and I mean really quiet with hardly any people, picky I know but I know there is that little town / village 5 &ndash; 10000 people somewhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"] Hey thanks all I do greatly appreciate all your help.


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Cheers [:D]


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]


<span style="font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Scott<o:p></o:p>

[Scott]

Thanks Daniel, Leavenworth does look pretty good, appreciate the link mate. Do you know if it snows 100% of the time in December, money back guarantee so to speak ha ha [:P] All we get here over Christmas is bull dust, flies and drought. We need to have a true white Christmas once in our lives don't we.


Cheers


Scott

[WAFKT]

Just the other day I was discussing Iceland with a colleague who has friends that just returned and raved about it. Apparently Iceland has been particularly hard hit by the global economic situation and foreign visitors can benefit from great travel deals at the moment. Some awesome scenery to photograph (e.g. glaciers, geysers, natural geothermal swimming pools, etc...) and I think there should be snow for Christmas, but who knows - global climate change and all.


http://www.icelandtouristboard.com/


http://www.icelandair.com/





PS Even though I'm from Canada, I can't remember the last time I had a white christmas... Most of the snow doesn't seem to arrive until late January to February. I think eastern Canada usually get snot loads of snow over christmas - there's likely some nice places in Northern Ontario or Quebec for Christmas.

[Daniel Browning]

Do you know if it snows 100% of the time in December, money back guarantee so to speak ha ha


Check out the average weather stats for the last 60 years:


http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?waleav ("http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?waleav)


http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMONtsnf.pl?waleav ("http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMONtsnf.pl?waleav)

31.5 inches of snowfall in December
30.7 inches of snowfall in January
10 inches of snow on the ground in December
19 inches of snow on the ground in January.



Based on that I'd say your chances are very good.

[alex]

I'll echo the Leavenworth comments. It's a really pretty place. Drove through there once, it's nestled at the base of a few steep hills. It seems to come out of nowhere. I don't know how big it is, but it seemed really small. And it's like being transported into a small town in Austria, I would imagine. Great architecture, great surroundings. I would imagine it's GORGEOUS in the fall, I don't know anything about winter there, but since it's close to the Sierras that run between Seattle and the rest of Washington, it's gotta get snow.


According to Daniel's stats, it does. Goodness. 30+ inches in December is a lot. And ten inches on average on the ground in December is great. Enough to blanket everything, but not enough to make walking off trail insanely difficult.