 Poster: A snowHead
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Any on the ground feedback on the extent of open-ness at L2A? Has snow-making started?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Not on the ground but their Facebook said about two hours ago that the cannons had started going now due to cold conditions since the weekend
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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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Open down to 2100 now I believe. I would expect skiing down to 2600 should be reasonable, it usually is even when others are suffering.
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Hasn't been cold enough to run the guns until now, so there is no cover at all on the Vallee Blanche or anywhere below Cretes at 2100m. As of today, the Village chair and the Telepherique were open to get to Toura at 2600, but I don't know whether or not that means you can actually ski back to the Village chair, or if they are expecting people to go down in the lifts. Pistes are open from 2600 upwards, including parts of the snowpark, the two Lac Noir runs and the Toura, though there isn't a lot of snow on the latter. Conditions are becoming somewhat hard underfoot and stones are appearing in places which get high traffic or are susceptible to wind.
Bookmark this page http://www.skiplan.com/bulletin/bulletin.php?station=deux-alpes®ion=alpes&pays=france&lang=fr for real-time lift/piste opening information and this one http://www.2alpesnet.com/snow/ for snow reports.
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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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Cracking thread. 
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Just drove up tonight from Le bourg d'oisans. Snowing on the way up and lying a little on the road. Can't see the slopes but the resort is looking white!
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Great to hear a few freshies are in the air and that cannons are all fired up!
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One of my students thinks 20-30 cms on Saturday!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@howiet, the forecast is for 10cm max - let's not get over excited. Snow in the valley this morning though (tiny amount), which means it's cold enough that they will have no problem running the guns, so if nothing else the ground should start to freeze and we can get a bit of a base going on at the bottom.
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I'm leaving for L2A this saturday. The conditions don't look to promising though 
After our ski-days I will try to post some updates!
Meanwhile, I'm sad knowing that only 2600m and up is open so a lot of walking to the appartment will be our part since our appartment is next to the piste, but very far from the closest working telesiege...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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dries_v, don't worry too much, it can turn around in a matter of days. There is a tiny base now at resort level (only a few cms) but the good news is that it is very cold at the moment, and forecast to stay cold, so they can make snow consistently down to resort level. Plus, current predictions for around 10cms on Sat at valley level (obviously this could change) which will sit nicely on top of the artificial snow if it does show up.
Also don't forget a 6 day pass gives you 2 days at Alpe d'Huez, which currently has slightly more of a base than l2a at valley level. I don't think you will be stuck on the glacier all week and if Saturday's snow turns up it should be pretty nice 
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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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Live website feed for LDA shows skiing at 2600 and above. Coverage at 2600 on webcam looks patchy-OK. Dusting of snow at resort level and on Vallee Blanche (apologies if wrong spelling). LDA seems to have far more open than ADH. ADH currently has about 8 runs open based on the glacier. Look forward to receiving the reports. As @Lizzard says, Village Chair running (according to website) - doesn't look like you can ski down to Village Chair at the moment - presumably using it for uplift and downlift from and to LDA 1800. Snow may not be best, but wish I was going on Saturday.
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Up until yesterday I was pleased knowing that it 'd be very very cold so cannons could do their work.
Unfortunately, I don't see any snowmaking on the webcams
But a lot can happen between now and sunday (our first ski-day) so I'll be patient and won't despair too much.
Going to ADH is also a plausible alternative for 2days, thanks for the tip!
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You know it makes sense.
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@dries_v, good point re snowmaking. I've been to LDA a couple of times and never noticed many snow cannon (no doubt this is me being inattentive and dull) - too busy staring at my skis (I do that too much....)
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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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I'd be surprised if they opened Vallee Blanche anyway this early in the season, even if there was a good covering of snow - @Lizzard may be able to help on that one. They certainly don't appear to be running the cannon on Vallee Blanche today.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Cannons have definitely been working to some extent on (at least) Valentin and Lutins (could see the circles of snow on the webcams until the dusting yesterday/today)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It's not surprising that AdH doesn't have much open, it was always envisaged to have partial opening until 19th December. They fared a little better than l2a from yesterday's dump (7-10cm at valley level) so hopefully a bit more will open. Remember that the 13th is the first week of the season proper and so there's no reason to open more runs early and risk damaging a piste that hasn't got a solid base yet when it's quiet. I skied in Courmayeur last year around 6th December and there was lots that they could have opened but simply hadn't (and last year wasn't great up to Christmas either)
Re: cannons, I guess the pisteurs know best. If they don't run them constantly when it's cold enough to do so it's probably because they have faith that natural snow will come in time - they know how important the valley runs are to people and I expect they're doing everything they can to get them open. I'm not worried!
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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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Haha...just realised I referred to 7-10cms as a dump. Wishful thinking!
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Not that past experience is any indicator for THIS year, but I skied a day in each of L2A and AdH on 15/16 Dec last year on very good snow, with blue skies and sunshine. There wasn't much, if any, at town level in both places, and it was literally walking-without-a-coat weather there, but (as I keep telling my slightly nervous family and friends who are obsessively looking at webcams and forecasts), we don't ski in the town! 
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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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Bit more snow overnight (about 10cm) and -18°C at 3600, -6°C in town, which is more like it. The guns were running on the Valentin for most of the day. There has been wind at the top and a lot of the pistes were a bit scoured this afternoon. Still nothing open below 2600m, though I saw thrtee people skiing back to Cretes along the track. I don't fancy it though, very thin from the look of it.
@dries_v, I wouldn't bank on skiing ADH if I were you - I very much doubt that the Grande Galaxie (or parts thereof) will operate until we all get some serious snowfall.
@dobby, Vallee Blanche usually opens the week before Christmas, but since there is no snow whatsoever up there I'd say it's looking increasingly unlikely. Ditto Fee and Thuit. Boo. I think I may take my friends up on their Chrizbit party invite and push off to Burgundy for the festive whatsit. Wonder what the snow in the Jura is like.
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Hey up.
Re the snow cannons.
How much snow, let's say in cm depth, can they produce in 24 hours?
Do they just have to run them for 1 night, or does it take 168 hours before anything decent is created?
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| Quote: |
How much snow, let's say in cm depth, can they produce in 24 hours?
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depends how far they have to spread it out......  takes some days, starting from scratch, to make much difference. And not all runs are cannoned, of course. Some of the snow created will be needed for lifts too. And there's a bit of mild weather round in the forecasts for the weekend, unfortunately.
Still, in Les Deux Alpes, the best skiing is higher up - there's really not a big loss in riding down in a lift, is there? And the resort is much better off than most, with some very high altitude skiing and a glacier.
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If you look at the webcams, you can see the snowmaking going on.
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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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We need to stop obsessing about snowmaking, people - a rise in temp forecast next week will make it impossible, and it's not going to generate enough snow on its own to open everything anyway.
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Lutin looks okay to me (must be mainly artificial). http://www.snoweye.com/?resort=fr_deuxalpes
There is indeed a big mound of snow building up from the cannon. Hopefully they will open Lutin and Valentin next week to permit skiing to resort.
Still living in hope of some big snow to open up some of the itineraries! (coming Christmas week). Not counting on it though, would need more than one.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Lizzard wrote: |
| We need to stop obsessing about snowmaking, people - a rise in temp forecast next week will make it impossible, and it's not going to generate enough snow on its own to open everything anyway. |
We don't need everything, just more than the current % of pistes open.
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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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Unfortunately it is now officially a bit rubbish.
Pistes are icy, wind-scoured and beginning to be strewn with stones. Still nothing open below 2600, though I suppose they may open Bellecombe for Christmas week. Glacier is OK, more hardpack than ice, though the wind isn't doing it any good. Everything is bashed as flat as the M1 and therefore not very interesting. Boo.
Unfortunately resort is likely to be crowded over Christmas and New Year, as the smaller/lower resorts won't be open, and the added traffic isn't going to do us any favours either.
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks for the (very depressing) update.
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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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@Lizzard, "a bit rubbish", love it! The phrase, not the fact it's a bit rubbish
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Poster: A snowHead
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But, but, but I haven't repaired the gouges from the last couple of weeks of last season there being a bit rubbish Won't spend too much time on them, another 3 weeks until I arrive though.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@dries_v, it's probably marginally less poor if you're skiing. I shall test this theory when the Venosc telecabin opens, but I'm not wasting diesel on driving all the way up the hill for the conditions we're seeing at the moment.
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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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Well, we're arriving this saturday and we'll ski in whatever conditions are present.
If that means only on the gletcher, so be it. Could have been better, but after all, it's a holiday so I'll enjoy it
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| dries_v wrote: |
| Could have been better, but after all, it's a holiday so I'll enjoy it |
PMA - love it
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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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They are planning on opening part of the cretes and bellecombe sector tomorrow!
http://www.skiplan.pro/flash/2alpes/plan2alpes.html
Good news for leaving tomorrow at 5am. I'm hitting the sack with a smile . Tomorrow 5am will be a different story.
(PS: I'm from Belgium so "only" a ten hour drive)
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Bellecombe and Cretes open today despite reported 10cm at 2100m. High winds from the south today, predicted to persist into tomorrow morning.
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At the top very windy and a lot of clouds in general. A lot of pistes open though! A 30ish...
The quality of the high pistes was very good although could use some more snow. Pistes belows 2500m had a lot of bad patches (ice, stone or waterish).
In general: okay skiing, a few centimeters extra of show would make it lots better!
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Forecast is for 4cm tonight followed by gale force winds tomorrow and a significant rise in temperature later in the week.
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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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I read the report as well, that's not good especially for later this week and next week...
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FAQ
