 Poster: A snowHead
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@DanMcDan, where are you meant to be skiing/staying?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@hollando, pistes are ok and holding up well at Les Menuires. Snow is great on Combe Saulire!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Supposed to be skiing valmeinier/valliore
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@DanMcDan Which resort are you going to? VT is getting pretty crowded with so little open in the 3 valleys and people coming over from other resorts as well..
@hollando I'm based in Les Menuires but there is really not much to do here. There are a few open slopes you can ride but you definitely don't want to spend all your time here. Let's just say there is a reason why there is a 5-10 minutes queue each morning for the Bruyeres gondola 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Not much we can do about it now guys. Make the most of it. At least there is something to play on! Some resorts are still rock
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@bigimot, i think everyone would be delighted with a 10 min wait during new year wait.
No snow forecast and the warm weather during next week in the day as well. Might be cold for the cannons during the night though.
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saw on the latania page that if the temps drop enough la tania and la praz snow cannons will be on full whack to try get ski back pistes ready, hope some of the snow from the other day is staying to help things a long there.
Possibility of a small snow fall sat eve too down to there too.
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Saturday 20 December - Provisional Openings for next week
[Updated 11:00 Fri 19 Dec 2014]
Today sees 76 lifts and 112 pistes open across The 3 Valleys - the most skiing available in France (Tignes / Val d'Isere is next with 45 runs open). To date in the Savoie / Haute Savoie, only 6 resorts outside the 3 Valleys are open: La Plagne / Les Arcs / Tignes / Val d ' Isère / Valloire and Avoriaz.
More is set to open next week including a link from 1650 via Ariondaz and the new Aiguille du Fruit to link to 1850 with Suisses chair also open. Creux Noirs chair will also open and access to Plantrey from Praz plus access from Méribel Village via Golf will be available. Return to 1650 will be via free shuttle bus and to Méribel Village via Golf lift downloading or Meribus shuttle.
Night skiing every night on Verdons above Courchevel until 7pm will also be available while there is partial opening, and shared lift pass arrangements with local Tarantaise ski areas & ski clubs from other resorts will be suspended to focus on local customers.
3V passes stay at the normal rate (in part to discourage people being shipped in from other areas) but Courchevel will be €192 for 6 days and the day pass €39.30 instead of €49. Note off piste skiing is strongly not advised and everyone needs to be aware of the conditions and adjust their speed accordingly.
Snow! The 3 Valleys has 69 Lifts and 111 Pistes Open
Around 15cm of fresh snow yesterday afternoon and overnight down to below St Bonn at 1100m has made things look a whole lot better this morning. Temperatures have risen though, maybe not as much as forecast but there is rain in resort this morning and temperatures remaining above freezing at resort level until Saturday - hopefully colder weather coming in and time for some consolidation of the groomed base up top.
Pralong to access Biollay-Verdons link and the new Foret lift from Le Praz opened for the first time today and there will be some more hard work for pisteurs in planning to get as much open as possible for next week. The main Biollay run and Suisses look complete for example but look like they are being saved for next week.
Access from La Tania is via the La Tania Gondola and the short path to the Lanches chairlift which leads to the Col de la Loze piste towards the top of Chenus - narrow at the start but ok for say a week 2 skier.
With Lac Bleu still closed a bit of skating and poling is required to get to the top of the Bouc Blanc chair (going left at the big rock on Loze Est) leading to the red Loze piste down to 1850 - note that the last section is a little steeper, so some skiers might prefer the short walk up to the Chenus Gondola to download to 1850 from the end of the Col de la Loze piste. Easy skiing is currently available on the Jardin Alpin / Bellecote piste and on Verdons.
The route back to La Tania is via Chenus or Plantrey lifts and the blue Arolles piste down to the La Tania gondola for downloading. Fairly good cover and almost full width down this run - our week 2 skiers managed this ok on Wednesday.
We're hearing that if the forecasted 48 hours dip in temperatures from Saturday night goes as planned then La Tania and Le Praz may have priority on the snow making system to attempt to open up lower runs. More on this when it gets clarified over the next day or so.
Skiing down to Méribel on both sides of the valley is now possible but some narrow and sketchy spots low down as you approach La Chaudanne area. Top of Saulire down to the Folie Douce at the Saulire Express mid-station has good cover and not many people are on it this week at least. Remarkably even the green Truite run between Mottaret and Méribel at the bottom of the valley is now scheduled to open - again some great work by snow cannons and pisteurs here.
Finally, one of the best runs for snow we discovered this week was Grand Lac down below the Granges chairlift above Les Menuires - just great snow on a fast roller coaster blue run.
There could be some more snow due on Saturday too but snow/rain level will still be critical. Off Piste Avalanche Risk is raised up to Considerable Risk 3/5 this morning although obviously not advised due to overall snow depths. |
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MEGA icy across the 3Vs today, on the majority of runs - and it remained icy all day. A few were in nice condition; notably Saulire which had the cannons going this afternoon, and the short black taking you over into VT from LM.
Seriously it was the iciest ski day I've ever experienced. It ranged from scratchy to proper ice. People sliding everywhere and blood wagons aplenty. Lots of collisions I suspect.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@HoneyBunny, i expect it was all the rain from yesterday on thin snow?
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hope the piste bashers can do something about it, although I'm glad I had some practice on the glacier in tignes now 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Little Martin, the forecasted warm temps will sort out any hard pistes if it happens
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Looks like sunny blue skies this week, next weekend looks interesting, be nice for that to change to come forward a bit
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For those needing some good news to hold on to snow-forecast is showing temps dropping from Friday and some white stuff falling. All fantasy island at this stage but hope springs eternal.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
Provisional Openings for next week [Updated 11:00 Sat 10 Dec 2014]
La Masse area over in Les Menuires will open for skiing from Sunday and St Martin 1&2 will open for uploading and access to the rest of the ski area but return will be by shuttle bus from Les Menuires. |
123 pistes and 89 lifts opening
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Little Martin wrote: |
| 123 pistes and 89 lifts opening |
Sounds a good effort under the circumstances
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Poster: A snowHead
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Pistes back in nice condition today, and it's sunny!
A few more runs open but not much. We managed the blue Arolles halfway to La Tania.
If you're coming to the 3 Valleys this week, you'll find enough to ski on.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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130 pistes and 101 lifts open from tomorrow.
Looks like plenty to ski 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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It's ok at the mo. In fact we had another epic day. Mostly in LM & VT
See how the pistes hold up under the onslaught we saw driving up this eve for Xmas week.
Bon Ski 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Hey guys, just done our first day in VT. Conditions were really good. No lift ques, slopes in good condition in my opinion. Our rep told us that VT has stopped the day trip buses from other resorts coming in for this week which will help with ques etc
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Great news, @chrisrawles, did you stick to VT or did you venture further afield? Look forward to more reports during the week
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Handy Turnip, Stuck to VT today as we were finding our bearings. But we intend get around as much of the 3V as possible.
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will report on 1850 tomorrow, will be there for a couple of hours in the afternoon, there may be a snowheads imposter as my brother in law now has my white helmet which has lots of snowhead stickers on, so if you are in the area and see someone with that helmet feel free to confuse him. My helmet is now black and has a few stickers on (my daughter stole the rest!)
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Courchevel was in reasonable shape today considering...
Combe de Saulire was in great shape - bottom half of Creux was good as well, though with a lot more texture than normal. Getting back to 1850 from the new Aig du Fruit chair (or the Bd des Creux) involves a fairly narrow bit of path with some rock/grass dodging.
Worst piste was Loze, mostly because of the crowds failing to cope with the icier patches on the steep section.
Crowds generally not too bad as long as you avoid traditional ski school setting off times, though there were big queues for the ticket office from what I saw, so tomorrow could be busier...
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I know I'll jinx it but forecasts of dropping temperatures from the 26th to the 29th (freezing level down to 300m!), with lots of snow forecast for the whole of the 3 Vallees (Val Thorens - 47cm, Courchevel - 37cm, Meribel - 37cm).
No doubt this will have changed within minutes of me posting!!!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@chrisb, He would have been better to not have had that muddy field as the backdrop to his rather unconvincingly enthusiastic report.
Fair play to the geezer though, the reports are valuable and appreciated. If anyone knows him please send him my regards
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Didn't get out yesterday arrived a bit later than we wanted. La tania had snow cannons on last night they are trying to get the blue to the village open. Temps was lower than forecast allowing them on. There is a bit of snow lying around and they seem to be stockpiling it by the bubble. We walked up and down the red to our chalet which a bit disappointing to see frozen mud.... today I would think it's just mud with warmer temps. My daughter's lessons are in 1850 not surprisingly.
Everyone in our chalet have gone for 3v passes. Chalet co will take us to Meribel so we can get to Val t easily.
Had a quick chat with Mr wall he said the same as yesterday's snow report. More runs seem to be opening everyday.
My plan is to ski 1850 today do some drills on the greens before heading up to the higher runs this afternoon.
grreens
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You know it makes sense.
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Have a goodun Martin. Get up high the snow is nice in places
Don't forget the sunscreen though
Might see ya in Courch I'm in my blue cosi n droid in red on my heels
Ciao
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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The Meribel webcams do not appear to have been working for some time. No doubt they will be switched on when more snow arrives or am I being too cynical?
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Poster: A snowHead
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@handyman,
They have a couple of screenshots from a Meribel webcam posted up on Skynews website. Pretty grim viewing. Would be hard to blame a resort manager if he/she "accidently" hit the off button on a few of the webcams!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Hi guys, we ventured over to Meribel from VT today just to see what was happening. Meribel is looking pretty brown. They do seem to have the lifts taking you up higher but we did not do that today. Tomorrow we will go again and get to the top and report back.
VT still the best by far but very busy.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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VT in good shape given the situation in other resorts. Doesn't seem particularly busy ..... Except to try and get lunch on the slopes.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Very warm today. Managed 4 runs before I had to stop. Verdons was good early afternoon. But most of what I did was hard pack. A few small rocks to avoid and the odd ice patch. Will prob head up higher tomorrow and do some steeper runs.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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My son had two weeks cooking in courchevel at new year but the second has been cancelled allegedly because of the rouble. He,s disappointed as he's skint but the staffing agent has paid him 500 euros cancellation having wisely taken a hefty deposit.
Apparently there are lots of cancellations what with the weak rouble and the weak snow. So if the snow arrives new year could be quite good!
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Staying in Meribel (Les Allues) this week. Skied on Sunday and found it better than we expected. Got straight over to VT and nice snow there especially in Orelle valley. Very few queues so why everyone was queuing for Peclet I don't know. Also got straight up Caron which is rare. Meribel snow much worse than VT. Also ventured into Courchevel and snow at the top was good. Didn't ski today as we had shopping for Xmas to do. Will be out tomorrow and expect to go to VT again. We don't bother going out every day as we have 5 weeks planned out here over the season.
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I have read that VT is thinking about restricting the area to only those staying in VT. It is not clear if that will mean those staying in other resorts in 3v will be unable to ski across to VT. Or will they just stop day trippers buying passes in VT?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@chrisb, They'd have to erect barriers on the pistes down from Col de la Chambre to stop other 3V punters getting in. Or perhaps have snipers in the Folie Duce to pick them off as they slither down Plein sud 
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@red 27, they could stop selling 3v passes?
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