The view from............ Val d'Isere and the Espace Killy

A snowHead

@mooney058,

Layer 1 - Thong
Layer 2 - Merino boxer over thong
Layer 3 - sexy string vest
Layer 4 - .......... You get the picture Toofy Grin

A snowHead

For anyone going tomorrow, it looks like they've opened the Olympic today judging by the extra pistes that are open on the Val website. Can't get across to Tignes yet though.

So 30 pistes now open which is 10 more than St Foy has when they're fully open! And they still have zero snow down there, so let's count ourselves lucky to be going to Espace Killy this season

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Simply Val D'Isere have tweeted "Top of Bellevarde opens today with #tignes link opening tomorrow! "

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@kitenski, great news there, will be good to get a bit of a spread over the field.. im 8 days away and hoping for snow

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Yep - good news - at least that should help kill the queues Steve's been talking about. Out Sunday.

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Great news indeed. They've done a great job!

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trainee snowboard jedi - the link to Tignes via the Col de Fresse is opening tomorrow apparently!
nu2ski - thanks. Re getting busier... well it will get a little busier from this weekend but nothing mega busy yet..... plenty of apres options - this is Val d'Isere after all! Yes the Folie will be running as soon as you can ski down to it - tomorrow perhaps?
mooney058 - yes 7 layers - occasionally down to 6 and in the Spring perhaps as low as 4 but never less than that - in the depths of Winter normally up to 10 layers. Yes main reason for so many layers is that generally when you are teaching you don't really work up a sweat properly... unless teaching kids or ski touring!

Anyway back to today.

Well it started sunny and gradually clouded over but the vis never really went flat which was a godsend. It was a lot warmer today than yesterday - a few below zero up the mountain so no snow melt - fear not. There was once again a funnelled wind up high and especially up the Col area and as we headed up there I was worried that we would be out of options up on the glacier but for some reason it really was OK up there apart from the odd gust. The best thing was the no-one was up on the glacier and the snow was awesome.

We worked on moguls and did lots of laps on the t-bar and had some good giggles with a couple of double ejections! There was pockets of infilled areas of snow due to the wind overnight but it was great snow. Later in the session we decided to try and find some more moguls lower down under the Cascades chair but all we found was (I'm not complaining) some lovely light and fresh new powder which was great!

A quick swap of sectors at lunchtime (the Lesisieres 'Up and over / Scare Chair' Express was altering between open and closed because of the wind all day) and I was at the Solaise Express to meet Poppy for her final session of the two weeks. We again decided to work on shorts and got some footage of her showing how much she has come on in the last couple of of weeks - well done Poppy.

As has been mentioned before the plan is for the Espace Killy (linked area) to open tomorrow via Tommeuses! Today the big news was that Bellevarde opened up... you could only ski down to the Marmottes lift and back up or up Borsat and around the Zone Tranquille loop with the Grand Pre - but with the Tommeuse option tomorrow the whole resort will be up to about 50%+ open and growing all the time. We are lucky that we are a high resort with good reservoirs for artificial snow!

Ohhh I forgot to mention (should have taken a photo)... but we saw MANY rainbows yesterday on the hill, including a double rainbow and then (due to a depression in the snow (a large river bed up above the Signal restaurant) a COMPLETE and full circle rainbow - it was amazing! Anyway just remembered that from yesterday - it just goes to show how the beautiful mountains keep giving!

Back to today.... we downloaded and I noticed the new and improved Doudoone (sp?) club with its outside decking was going off aka Folie style - perhaps it will become THE new place to be seen! I headed over the snow front and got my first proper sight of the new 'Yule' hotel which is basically on the site of the old Grand Paradis building but with a new front to it!

It was then time for a couple of beers with a couple of friends in the Blue Note.... good to catch up Dave...

I just caught Olivia before she went to bed and Clare and I have enjoyed a yummy curry from Nick at Bon Appetite here in Val (yummy). The good news now is that the students have left (they drive back to the UK overnight) before the next lot arrive tomorrow afternoon. I slept through it but apparently the police were out last night as they were making so much noise - Clare was out on the balcony informing the police that there was noise in this building as well as the one opposite where the students have (mainly) been staying. Anyway we will sleep in peace tonight!

No skiing tomorrow - a nice relaxing family day.

Good night!

P.S. Spot the deliberate mistakes from this sign at the top of Solaise!

After all it is free

Looks like they've used a lot of logs for the Yule.

The Timber merchant has retired to the cayman Islands on the proceeds of that I reckon

Hi Steve. Good to catch up with you in the Blue Note and look forward to catching up next time I am in Val D'Isere. Cheers, Tony

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@Steve Angus, Thanks for the update Steve as always. Enjoy your family day tomorrow with Clare and Olivia, you must really enjoy having that time rather than trundling up to Geneva.

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Steve...hope all is well! Iain here (ski chum of the trainee Jedi!), any news on the Folie yet? Bringing the missus to Val for the first time over Xmas and she's desperate to pop her Folie virginity! How's it looking?

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Mate bits of it are looking more like Tatooine rather than Hoth!

You know it makes sense.

@Steve Angus, a group of us were skiing with Inside Out in Val Thorens on Thursday and also saw the amazing rainbow show! Fantastic!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@PaulC1984, I am NOT skiing anywhere near you!!!

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A nice family day

We had a good nights sleep without student interruptions last night which was welcome! The day started with a few clouds in the sky and temp's above freezing.... there was no wind in town so it felt quite unseasonably warm.

Most of the morning was spent putting up the Christmas tree and decorations. I did a spot of food shopping and catching up on some mail.

We went around to a family relations apartment for afternoon tea as they have just arrived in town for the week which was nice.

A nondescript day in Val d'Isere weather wise

In other news a colleague over in Tignes spied the new zip line / ski jump thing they have been building over there this Summer.... don't really know many details about it but apparently you pay to ski off the jump and then float down to earth attached to a bungy / zip line thing - it looks pretty cool!

In answer to the query above about the Folie - it will be open don't worry..... not sure how much it will be pumping this early in the season but it will be going!

So tomorrow the main event is indoors at the conference centre as we have a start of season TDC conference and 'update' - talking through new developments etc in the ski / board teaching world.... a chance to swap ideas and best practice. It should be an interesting day I hope.

Sorry not a very exciting update today. Come Monday I really want to try and get up the Bellevarde side of the hill and see what it is like up there and if possible over the link to Tignes! The link did open today so the Espace Killy is back in business!

A snowHead

@Rishie,

your safe - we are skiing mid week remember, I only dress up at the weekend Happy

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@PaulC1984, yeah but one of those days is a Friday!!!

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@Rishie, Ill just be laying the outfit out ready, my weekend starts saturday morning Happy

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Is it just me.... Or is the snow forecast looking a tad more positive today?

J2ski predicting 1cm today, 7cm Monday, 13cm Tuesday.

Try not to look too far beyond the 48 hours/counting our chickens but temperatures at least look better again too and I'm hoping for a bit more fresh before next Sunday. If h2ski is even vaguely accurate they're predicting a bit more next weekend too!

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@FiFi_Trixibell, there isn't massive agreement in the gfs ensembles so still very changeable I'd say

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Hey @Steve_Angus, thanks for the updates!

A quick question: what is the most accurate source of open piste/lift data for Espace Killy? The interactive map on Tignes.net (http://www.tignes.net/en/skiing-in-tignes/ski-run-map-28.html) shows much of the area still closed, yet the Val site (http://www.valdisere.com/valdisere/fr/glisse/pistes_remontees/ouvertures_pistes_remontees) shows everything pretty much open. Thanks in advance!

After all it is free

@kitenski, yeah I know Sad

we can but hope!!

Must stop looking at forecasts and celebrate instead AFTER something's fallen! Not sure I can handle the anxiety of it all Laughing

never done early season before on a "prebooked" hol (vs a last minute deal) dunno how people do it! Only cos it's Christmas week that we've obv had to. Next hol will def be back to "see where the snow is and wing it" a few days before! Toofy Grin

@Steve Angus, Steve, thanks for the SCoM lessons this last week - it's really helped my skiing. We had a great day yesterday on the off-piste at Bellevarde, & my friends noticed my technique has really improved! Liz

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The snow situation means that not all the lifts can be open like this one the Bellevarde Exress.

The meeting area at the bottom of the Face / Solaise mountains is looking somewhat bare for this time of the year!

Well what a day it was.... spent all day indoors in the conference centre chatting policy best practice and all sorts of other start of season admin that needed doing. Everything from where we were going to spend our lunch hours, where and how we were going to focus our efforts on in house training (to be better skiers / boarders and instructors) as well as things like off piste policies and a whole host of other things besides.

Can't really go into all the details (mainly cause it would be boring) but we covered a lot and now my head is spinning! It was great to catch up with everyone that I had not seen yet a while this season and really come together as a team to work through things for this season!

Weather-wise it was somewhat warmer once again today with temperatures still above zero here in town and no chance of them making snow at lower altitudes and only at higher altitudes during the night! They are still working round the clock to try and get the slopes ready for the women world cup next weekend but they are supposed to be training downhill within a couple of days.... we shall see! I think looking ahead the only thing we can be pretty confident about is that no MAJOR snowfall is forecast and that unfortunately the freezing level is likely to go up before it comes down!!!! Arghh!

Congratulations to Team GB's Dave Ryding who came 17th in the SL in the World Cup in Are (Sweden) today which is fantastic news. Just goes to show that GB not only has skiing talent but with support from the powers that be means they can figure on the world stage - well done!

keeling - both serve a purpose but one for Tignes is mainly aimed at the PISTES status whereas the Val one is the LIFT status.... also time of the day that you check can make a difference! They have a habit of not updating timely the websites always - especially the English versions of the websites - so take things with a pinch of salt.

Snowem - wow thanks for the feedback - glad I could be of help and that you improved. See you next time!

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@keeling, Try these - a generally well kept secret. They are live throughout the day and actually drive the electronic maps around the resort with all those red yellow and green lights. Try to use the French rather than the English version as McAffee seems to get a major grump on about the English one:

http://www.skiplan.com/bulletin/bulletin.php?station=tignes&region=alpes&pays=france&lang=fr
http://www.skiplan.com/bulletin/bulletin.php?station=val-d-isere&region=alpes&pays=france&lang=fr

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For those who thought the Folie was not fully up and running yet....

@Steve Angus, what's that extension thing they've built?

You know it makes sense.

You know, you know you know...I'M GONNA Twisted Evil

:censored:

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Skiain, get chatted up by Kely Starlight again?

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Extension is the new vip area

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accuweather is showing that is snowing and i saw some pictures with the #tignes in instagram with a heavy snowfall ...any snow in Valdi?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@gianrj, You mean this pic Happy

http://iconosquare.com/p/875593654326045355_877833113#/detail/875593654326045355_877833113

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@gianrj, Well it must be similar, they arent that far apart Happy

As for snow the forcasts seem to show light snow until thursday, when it will warm up for the day and probably melt any progress Sad

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After all it is free

It did snow in tignes last night a little. Glacier looks lovely and fresh this morning, tignes villages just looks like a coke addict has sneezed on it!

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Best roll up a fifty pound note then Smile

How's the skiing? Did you get out yesterday? More snow due this week........apparently

Help!!

The view from............ Val d'Isere and the Espace Killy

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