Win a ski holiday to Switzerland for 2 people

[ozpain]

http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/suggestions/wintervacation/the-sunniest-winter-in-the-alps.html

1st prize

6 nights for 2 people at the Hotel Post sports and wellness hotel in Samnaun, including half board, 6-day lift pass, private tuition at the Swiss Ski and Snowboard School, Samnaun - and return international flights with SWISS. The prize is valid until 1 May 2013.

2nd prize
3 nights for 2 people at the Panorama Hotel & Restaurant, Bettmeralp, including half board and 4-day lift pass for the Aletsch Arena (excluding cable car). Travel to and from the resort is not included. The prize is valid until 31 March 2013, during low season at the Panorama Hotel.

 

3rd prize

2 nights (Friday-Sunday) for 2 people at the Sporthotel Wildstrubel in Lenk, including buffet breakfast, 5-course Wildstrubel dinner, free entry to the spa area and Lenk lift pass. Travel to and from the resort is not included. The prize is valid until the end of the winter season 2013.

27 runner-up prizes
A ski hat from Mammut. Fine-knit unisize hat with fleece inner.

This competition is open online until 31.12.2011.
The draw will take place on 16 January 2012. Entry in the competition is free of charge and is not contingent upon the entrant's subscription to the newsletter. Any person may participate if over eighteen and fully competent. Minors may participate with the permission of their legal representative. Entries are limited to one per person. Entries from employees of Switzerland Tourism or its associates and their family members are excluded. The prizes are not transferable and there is no cash alternative. The winner(s) will be drawn at random from the correct answers and notified by e-mail. The draw is final. No correspondence will be entered into and legal proceedings are barred. In case of technical manipulations or non-compliance with these terms, Switzerland Tourism reserves the right to exclude participants from the competition, delete multiple entries or abort the entire competition.
All travel prizes will be provided to the winner by Switzerland Tourism's corresponding associate. Switzerland Tourism accepts no liability or warranty. The prize-winner shall bear the cost of travel to and from the point of departure (airport, railway station, etc.) unless otherwise expressly stated in the competition. The same applies for all out-of-pocket expenses (minibar etc.) incurred during the holiday. If the prize consists of accommodation only, the winner shall bear the entire travel and out-of-pocket expenses.
Provided that you have agreed to receive tourist information, your e-mail address will be stored and used by Switzerland Tourism only to periodically send you a newsletter, from which you may unsubscribe at any time. Your personal data will be treated confidentially and not be disclosed to any third party. The legal relationship between Switzerland Tourism and the entrants is exclusively governed by Swiss law. Switzerland Tourism, Tödistrasse 7, CH-8002 Zurich.

[calpot]

There's a measure of snow depth on the right hand side.  When I'd entered it confirmed my predictions of the depth on 15 January 2012 - I imagine lots of people will just have the default as there don't seem to be many instructions as to what we should do.  I guess they'll make their draw from correct answers as the draw is the day after, ie. 16 Jan.

[ozpain]

or you can probabaly google the snow stations records from last year and use that measurement

[rowanfoto]

There was no snow on the ground at the weather station on Jan 15 2011

http://www.geodata.us/weather/show.php?usaf=067800&uban=99999&m=1&c=Switzerland&y=2011

Or the year before!!!!!

http://www.geodata.us/weather/show.php?usaf=067800&uban=99999&m=1&c=Switzerland&y=2010

Most strange.

[rowanfoto]

Or it could mean no measurements were taken that day, either year. 

Do you think that's why they chose that date - so smart so-and-so's like us can't google a good estimate?

[ozpain]

interesting no snow i would not have guessed that

[rowanfoto]

Hi, Ozpain.

I thought googling the data was a great idea.  So, I dug a little deeper.  It seems that, for some reason, snow depth data isn't collected at the station until the 24th of January each year at the earliest.  No idea why.

I went back through ten years of January data and it was only collected in 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007 and 2004 - and only for the end of the month.  All very very strange.

The lowest snow depth was 46.1 inches (117cm)  in 2011 and the deepest was 61.4 inches (156 cm) in 2009.  That's not a huge range considering the scale on the contest goes up to 5 metres!

Anyway, averaging the data over five years available, we end up with a mean of 128cm. 

I'm going to place my answer somewhere around 125 cm (in my wife's name because I don't ski...and she can use the trip to take her mum to visit her brother in Switzerland).

As you can see, I was bored and looking for something to do yesterday!