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

A snowHead

@Steve Angus,

A snowHead

Meanwhile the Pisteurs in Val D'Isere have issued a notice to strike over pay. The negotiation period ends next Tuesday, so it could be quiet on Wednesday as if they strike (and the vote was 90% in favour) Val will be shut. Lets hope this brings the relevant authorities to the table.

there are no plans for a strike next door in Tignes.

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

Tigski -

intermediate - ha ha very good. Still no-one has got it correct yet!
chocksaway - yes I mentioned this in my posting last night.... the mayor said he will talk with them... also they have said they would 'consider' striking - it was not an out and out vote to strike 'yet' so nothing in the system yet a while. If it did happen it could be a while later that the strike actually happened. Who knows, I dont think it will get that far.

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Powder day... I hate my job sometimes

Well I am basically knackered.com this evening as it was a tiring but great ski day today.

It was just below zero first up but closing in fast vis wise and warming up to above zero quickly too! All the 'snow' days seem to be rolling into one at the moment but I dont think there was much fresh snow to speak off first up this morning - I could be wrong!

Anyway I met my guy - a nice man from the UK who know lives with his family in Annecy (used to live in Chamonix)... anyway his first trip to Val in some 30 years and wanting to work on some off piste technique but certainly 'risk adverse'. Due to an injury (non skiing) over the last few years he was a little unfit and out of practice.

However we headed up and after a few off piste tester descents in some of my usual haunts up Solaise it was time to jump on the Cugnai and we were one of the first groups to head over the back. It was a strange morning (and day) as I kept bumping into the same guided groups all day long... they were either just ahead or behind / above / below the two of us all morning.... it is nice when you have other professionally led groups around you as you get some confidence in their abilities and there is unwritten respect for lines taken and margins of safety etc! So in this case an ESF group and a Top Ski group - nice to keep seeing you fellas today!

So the top half of Cugnai and being one of the first over there was magical snow and magical ambiance. The snow was awesome and pretty light. The lower half not quite so.

As we exited out of there we saw that yet another creeper had released out of the Charvet this morning - thank goodness no one seems to have been under these when they dropped (the same has also been happening on Piste L hence it has been closed a lot recently too).

After some piste technique I had planned a Grand Vallon to finish so we took the up and over... boy was that a mistake as as soon as we got over the top into the Fornet side it was windy and the vis was down to zero. In all fairness all morning the snow and clouds had been battling it out with the wind and the odd glimpse of the sun.... by late morning it was definitely cloud and snow that was winning!

So plan b kicked into action and I made a quick dash for the Fornet trees entry into the Lievre Blanc... and boy that was a good solution as the snow was fantastic - again by the time you got down to about 2300m it very heavy but you cant have it all ways!

A good morning with nice company in great snow - cant complain!

After collecting packs for my seasonnaires afternoon off piste it was a little annoying (mostly not their fault it has to be said) when only 3 of them turned up. Anyway we made the most of worsening weather and the clouds were really socking in down to the tree line by now and heavy snow was falling. Some poor snow on the Solaise trees meant I went back to what had worked in the morning and we fitted in two variations of Lievre Blanc coming in from both sides and it was another lovely outing. There were some idiot English snowboarders that followed us down from the Fornet side and were trying to give the impression that they were not following us.... ha ha I couldn't care less if a group of boarders follows us that way as they were sure to have a HELL of a walk out up hill slightly as it gets flat near the bottom - suckers!

By the time I got back home after doing my Periscope (blooming connection went on us half way through again today - sorry folks - must not try and be too clever in the future) I was rather knackered.

https://t.co/uFNyXjHhWt and the perma-link
https://t.co/5ssZpLGNdN

So this evening I have been catching up with a few things and getting ready for tomorrow. Teaching an intro to off piste in the morning and then in the afternoon I need to take the car to Bourg for its final repairs after December accident and also to do a large food shop.

And I think that is all for tonight.

TTFN

P.S. This large storm is brewing but WHERE will it strike
P.P.S. Still no-ones has guessed where the photo above is... normally when I put things like that up everyone gets the answer super quickly!!!!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Well today was just stunning

Beautiful sunshine

Fantastic snow conditions after last nights snowfall

Pretty much as good as it gets (if a little windy up top

We are back out here for a few days but doubt today will get repeated

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Booked, 9 days and counting
Very excited

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

As harvsurrey says really!

We awoke to a chilly morning of -13 but it was always going to heat up nicely.

I was teaching a couple of city girls the art of off piste skiing.... their boyfriends and a few other male friends were having a testosterone filled version of the morning with a colleague and I had the slightly gentler version but the girls were very solid skiers and it was a pleasure skiing with them. They lucked out with both the snow and weather.

So after a few pitches in the Solaise bowl the main event was my first trip into the Pays Desert this season - you can only really go out there when the weather is decent. The snow was lovely and dry everywhere as it had dried out overnight for the main part and in places was very deep. However the only issue was the Foehn wind coming from the south which is relatively warm!

However it was stacking up some soft wind slab and I cut a slope intentionally to test it on the way back to town and as expected it released - just a small area but still the snow was / is volatile. Actually we witnessed one natural little slide come down near the 'bus stop' above the Lievre Blanc and then later someone not thinking skiing above the Mangard piste setting a slide off that came down onto the piste! People really should stop and think about the potential consequences of their actions before heading off piste - if that had buried someone (as I talked about in the my blog today) and that person had died then there is a very large chance they would be in jail for manslaughter!

Talking of slides I often get asked, 'have I been in / have I ever seen / are there ever any avalanches here' - it is a subjective question as an avalanche is just snow sliding.... it happens hundreds of times a day; of course there are slides and yes I have seen plenty and yes I have 'managed' a slope by cutting a slope to set a slide off (like today) on many occasions. However I think most people mean a big avalanche like the sort you see on tv where half the mountain comes down.... so yes occasionally these do happen and yes occasionally of course people are killed in them but no I have never been in a slide itself (or anyone I have been skiing / snowboarding with!)

In the afternoon I headed down to Bourg to get the last bit of repair work completed on our car and also do a large food shop. After getting back up, putting the car away and seeing Olivia before bed I have been preparing dinner for tomorrow night.... each Valentines Day each year (slightly late this year - whoops) I make Clare and I a special 3 course meal... so most of the preparing is done - just need to cook and eat it now. Before anyone gets too excited I really cannot cook so it is always quite an 'interesting' experience for us both!

So I will finish with the links for todays Periscope and a section of the photos of todays off pisting!

https://t.co/yODPGA5Zng and the perma-link
https://t.co/38JoqOiuhP

Our tracks are the furthest ones on the right as you look.

TTFN

After all it is free

Windy and 'Retour d'Est'

Well I am writing this rather late.... all will become obvious in a moment!

So Saturday 27th February started relatively brightly but there was definitely a strong southerly / easterly breeze blowing.... when we get the weather system well up from the Med and sweet north the clouds and weather are forced high up quickly over the Alps from the Italian direction and we get intense / relatively short weather that dumps snow... Sometimes you can be in Val / Tignes and see the clouds spilling over the border from the Italian Grand Paradiso National Park and it can be sunny in town but dumping with snow up on the border.... two days later and the same things can still be apparent before all clears up leaving 1m of snow on the Val glacier and not a thing in Bellevarde let alone Tignes!

So anyway that is the type of weather we are having here now.

I did my Periscope first up:

https://t.co/mYGgr5zxpI and the perma-link
https://t.co/iGoDo8DvVO

I then met a fellow snowhead up top for a morning of piste development and technique. Being self taught normally people have a lot of bad habits that need deconstructing first of all but thankfully he was pretty solid so we did not need to take a step backwards before moving forwards. So we worked on active movement of weight forwards dynamically at turn start and onto outside ski for an hour.... followed by some lateral / rotational separation work for the turn end. We lapped the Face a couple of times and it was in pretty good condition but in a few places the problem was that the wind was stripping it down to a fairly slick undersurface!

We then moved onto the Solaise and lapped the S bumps a few times. The wind was coming across in strong gusts and from time to time the lift had to slow right down but it was never quite enough to close the lift. People often why more chairlifts dont have the 'weather' covers on them - simple reason is that the lifts would probably have to close more often in the wind if they all did - as the hood catches the wind of course!

So by lunchtime it was time to hang up the skis for the day and settle into an afternoon of rugby on tv and some chilled family time BUT get valentines dinner sorted. Yes (albeit intentionally late by a couple of weeks) my annual time to cook up a three course meal for Clare and I. It did take a wee while to get all the final preparations done and Clare treated Olivia to a very long soak in the bath before we cracked open a bottle of champagne!

So by the time all the cooking, eating and washing up was complete and a bottle of champagne consumed it was rather late and I was a little tipsy and tired.... hence posting this this morning!

And that bring you all up to date.

The latest on the Pisteurs Strike is that there was a meeting last night and I think a proposal was put on the table so the pisteurs are all getting together for an extraordinary meeting this evening to ratify the proposal so hopefully by late tonight a decision will be made either way!

Stuffed ramp lack for main course and white choc and raspberry cheesecake for dessert...

TTFN

Any leftovers? Toofy Grin

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Mommy, love a rack of predictive text

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

Snow!

I think it has been pretty well covered now but we awoke to a pretty descent accumulation of about 40cm down here in town and I should guess a HELL of a lot more than that up high on the Val glacier. In fact everything left of laisenant was shut all day today as just too much work to do up there to clear the snow to even attempt to open a lift let along blast it for safety!

So we awoke to all this snow outside and I was not teaching or skiing / boarding today. My first task was a brisk walk to Chevallot for a family pastry breakfast purchase. So it was trudge time through the snow and roads before they had done much clearing and I always enjoy walks when it is like that as it gets you back feeling what it must have been like long before the days of snowplough road clearers and the snow blowers. There was indeed 40cm down here in town (and it later transpired that there was about 70cm of snow up top too!).

Anyway after a family breakfast I took Olivia swimming and as you can imagine on a morning like this there was everyone man and his dog in the poole. Olivia is completely bonkers these days in the poole - just chucks herself around left, right and centre and very happy jumping under the water.... nothing seems to phase her which is good for her skiing future!

She fell asleep on the way home but was woken (mistake) to have lunch when we got back (she was in the pool for an hour bless her!). When it actually came to her lunchtime sleep she was having non of it so I never did manage to catch up at lunchtime (grr).

Anyway Clare ended up taking her for a long walk and I caught up with them both (and Clares father who is out for another week) down in Rize and we had a nice drink altogether although Olivia was now out of sorts all day!

Some phone calls home to the grandparents (my side) was the evening plans and then I finished the lamb up from last night and have just spent a few hours working through some seasonnaire logistics as their program is coming to an end and lots of them would like to go heli-skiing so I have been pencilling in some dates.

On the pisteurs strike side of things. There was a meeting amongst the pisteurs this evening to accept or reject the pay and conditions proposal... now France 3 (there is no official word from the pisteurs themselves or on Radio Val) TV are reporting that it looks like they may strike after all.... however I have been trying to collaborate for a few hours now but to no avail.... I know France 3 were filming here all day but I would have thought more would have come out in the last few hours since the meeting but it hasn't. So basically I do not know where we stand but wanted to mention something! Guess we will find out tomorrow what is happening!

Don't hit the cars!

and finally a lovely photo taken by Radio Val...

Thanks for the update Steve. Is it just a one day strike or plans for more and could this go on indefinitely until an agreement is reached?

You know it makes sense.

ah the joys of the French and strikes

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

Amazing pictures, I've genuinely never seen Val looking that snowy. The snow reports for the next week are ludicrous, surely Val isn't going to get that much snow? I'm only looking at Snow Forecast which must be wildly over-exaggerating as usual.

Hope the strike situation gets sorted asap Confused

A snowHead

Facebook site confirms tomorrow's strike is off:
https://www.facebook.com/pisteurval

"Results of the negotiations of today, our demands have been accepted in large part, which announces the end of the strike notice.
Thanks to our delegates for this fierce battle and to all colleagues for their solidarity, as well as all the people who have supported us on social networks or other.
There is nothing more than to wish our friends holidaymakers to spend a nice sunny day and take advantage of this good snow that has fallen in abundance these days."

A snowHead

@Steve Angus,
Out in Val on 10th April for a fortnight. Have a group to ski with in the second week but the people I was to be with the first week seem to have melted away.
Was supposed to do a 5 day clinic with tdc second week of season. Was with Joe for a day or so before my left knee decided it would be a jolly jape to double in size.
Not quite sure what I am after yet but may pm you closer to the time to arrange something. Probably something off pisty ish if the snow is still up to it.
Off to St Anton for 2 weeks from Sunday 13th first.
The knee has behaved itself since Dec

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

@EddC, great news, I'm glad the pisteurs were able to negotiate a better deal.

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I was thinking, damn French always striking! And then I read the pisteurs only make 1.350 euros brut...

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Minion1980 - probably could have dragged on a bit yes!
kb36 - indeed!
HoneyBunny - it is indeed a very snowy Winter - probably the best Winter for quite a few years - certainly Jan and Feb have been two consecutively amazing months - December let us down but overall I still think it is one of the best...
EddC and Minion1980 and bart_bdv - yes the strike is off and yes they have been able to sort something out - but dont believe all that you read.... they may not get paid as much as other pisteurs elsewhere BUT they get very very preferential deals on things like housing and accommodation and 'freebies' so their package is boosted somewhat! Im not saying they should or should not get a 'deal' but it is not as clear cut as it seems! But either way no strike tomorrow! Phew!

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Even more snow but a weird cloud system

Well happy leap year day everyone... and what a day it has been!

We awoke to a nice layer of fresh - it really is the norm that I forget how much we have or haven't had daily at the moment .... it all rolls into one sometimes. I know I shouldn't think that as we often go weeks without top ups and sometimes in bad seasons 5cm here and there is worth a party!

Anyway officially there was 16cm of new snow down here in town and reports were that there was yet another 50cm up the Val glacier way which means around about 1.5m of snow up there since the weekend alone. That means many many metres of snow so far this season and counting.... more on the glaciers! It didn't appear as if there was any wind out there either.... just thick cloud up top!

I met some familiar old faces and after the early high winds and snow in the early part of last night I was pretty sure we would have a delayed opening. However as the weather was to prove today a decade+ of experience doesnt always mean you guess right! So I was surprised when the Olympic opening dead on time at 8.45. I think virtually the whole resort were expecting a delayed opening and when the curtains twitched around town this am to grey and thick cloud I suspect a few 'snooze' alarms were hit as it was DEAD at kick off. However I felt guilty walking straight onto the lift and up into the cloud. However the handful of people at 9am that were up top were in for a surprise...

There was a clear gap between the two cloud layers. As long as we stayed above about 2500m we should be fine and the vis awesome!

It was turning into a very nice morning and the pistes were generally well groomed (depending on what time of the night a run is groomed then you can still sometimes get a load of powder on top of the groomed pistes). However word quickly spread and more and more people were showing up. With the soft snow pitches were getting quickly churned up into moguls.... peoples over reliance on skidding the skis around quickly leads to moguls being formed.... rounded 'steered' turns people!!!!!

The Borsat was always going to take quite a while to open as there was a lot of work to be done up that way so we headed to Grand Pre to make the most of the conditions out there and had a handful of lovely laps.... little by little however it was getting busier and busier. However the valley cloud was creeping further and further up and by the time we headed to the Fontaine Froid (and then afterwards on a final run down the top half of Verte) we had to enter the 'pea soup'. It REALLY was thick cloud and a true white out - you could not see more than about 10 metres. At times like this you often get people asking if they could follow you to the nearest lift etc as people have no idea where they are heading so my team of 2 turned into a team of 5,6,7....

After the lesson I met Clare, her father and the owner of the Toviere Hotel in La Daille as we were all heading to Tignes for lunch! Skiing in zero vis at more 'normal' speeds is such a good test and keeps you on your toes that is for sure.... however little by little we made it over to the Panoramic at the base of the Tignes glacier. It has been a year or two since I was last in there and a longer time since I was in the restaurant part and it is so plush in there now - totally lovely and they have spent a bob or two in there doing it up.

On the way over there some of the views were fantastic and still the clouds up high were not high enough to stop the glacier being in good vis.

Lunch was truly amazing and we were there for a good couple of hours and I can truly recommend it. Although not cheap (it is very expensive and especially for Tignes) but is lovely! The burger was darn good the sharing dessert awesome too!

I also picked up a leaflet in there for a 'Soiree Glaciaire' where you get the funi up at 7pm. Drink overlooking the majestic Grand Motte as the sun goes down (depending on time of the seasons I suppose), 3 course meal with wine and the either a ski back down or funi back down all for €70 - I thought that was a pretty good option all in all!

The 'house' dog in there is HUGE too.... this photo was taken after a kid on the table behind up tried to tempt him with a macaroon - he was not interested. He must be 70KG I reckon - HUGE thing but very docile!

Skiing back was tricky as the cloud had gotten worse and all the way from door to door it was socked in. Anyway I picked Olivia up.

The evening has been a mix of watching Clare having her hair cut here, getting Olivia ready for and into bed, then doing my Periscope and listening to Clare on the phone to a French friend and chattering away! However the good local news is that the pisteurs reached an agreement with the mayor and the strike is off.... yay!

And that is all for now.

https://t.co/uZAkulcYKp and the perma-link
https://t.co/yPcJHNZbqP

Weatherwise we are set for a bluebird tomorrow as once again it is snowing and should continue into the early hours before the sun makes an appearance for the day. However Wednesday through to Friday could see a heck of a lot more snow and an early warning that Saturday transfer day could be nasty!

TTFN

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

LOVE today's report. That dog is just awesome.

Funnily enough, @harvsurrey was in there yesterday and posted photos of him on another forum!

So excited for my trip, less than two weeks now Very Happy

Keep snowing!!

After all it is free

I am now back in the UK after a short few brilliant days
As @Honeybunny says i was in the Panoramic the day before Steve and i think its my new fave lunch treat

Its so relaxed in there compared to some of the other nice spots and the house dog is so cool.

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Sublime

https://t.co/e4L4u4xcLP and the perma-link
https://t.co/MFSoQWkh7x

I have to say that from a skiing point of view it doesnt get much better than today. LOADS of fresh snow (last night another 5cm but on top of the loads earlier in the week / weekend) and the sun shining!

The temps were low but warmed as the sun got going and it did feel quite spring like by the end of the day!

I met up with the same team as yesterday am but we had a new addition as a friend came along and we had a jolly good morning working on edge grip at the end of the turn. After some exercises and lapping around on some of the lifts at the top of Solaise there were some good changes made.

The weather did take a little while to get going as it was cloudy first up. No sooner had the sun shone through but I was worried that valley cloud was going to climb up again (as per pic above). However it soon became apparent that the sun was going to win.

It was such a nice day that people were picnicking outside in the Sun atop of the Solaise at lunchtime!

The afternoon was spent with some fellow SH's on an introduction to off piste. There was the usual safety briefing and then we got going. I skied some of my usual haunts up Bellevarde and we found some lovely snow I have to say. The sun however was cooking anything south facing though!

Nice tracks boys.

There were some good changes made but as is always the case in order to get into off piste skiing your on piste skiing has to be pretty good. Also it should be noted that errors in technique are compounded when you head off piste. When you have a lesson at a decent standard of skier in the first place then what you are given in the lesson is stuff you need to take away and practice to make the break through. So the boys are going to go away for a couple of days and work on some of the things we talked about so by Friday hopefully they will be ready for the step up in performance!

Through the afternoon I noticed that there were some serious high winds starting to build.... above 3500m as you could see the snow whipping off the top of mountains like the Casse. There were also some very high clouds lurking so a change in the weather is once again on the way!

I came across this very interesting graph earlier which I have shared on my Twitter feed (@SteveAngusSnow) but it shows why so many people are killed / injured when the avalanche danger rating is around about 3/5 as it was today!

Talking of which there was a very serious incident involving a snowboarder in the Cugnai late this pm. I dont know many details and what the outcome was but suffice to say the guy was taken in an avalanche off BOTH the cliffs in this picture:

and zoomed in (this second picture courtesy of the Val pisteurs who as always came to the rescue!)

I know this area well as often take people down here (under the cliffs) ; however those who have skied with me will know that I take about the 'danger from others and people skiing above you affecting you' - imagine if we had been under these cliffs when this went off.... thats why we think about what is above and below us!

Finally on the subject of slides you can see that south facing slopes got hit with the sun today as there were some point releases happening too!

I popped into town to do so some Mothers Day shopping this evening and then got home. Olivia is obviously coming down with something as we tried to get her into bed early this evening as she is a little snotty but not only was that not possible but she was still shouting the place down at 8.30 which is long after her bedtime and Clare ended up having to crash in her room until she fell asleep leaving me to entertain and keep an eye on the dinner cooking as Clares father and friend were around for dinner! Hope she sleeps well and is OK in the morning! Dinner was very nice in the end and Clare finally managed to eat hers a little later thanks to microwave reheating!

Finally for today I was pleased to see the Police Municipale getting people to take their skis off rather than either ski down the roads or through the pedestrianised areas of town... it is a menace so getting people to walk rather than knock people off their feet as they walk along the pavements etc is something I welcome.

TTFN

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@Steve Angus, Fantastic blogs these last few days. Surpassing even your high standards.
The Panoramic 'Chien de Maison' pic must be a cert for your 2017 View from EK calendar! Good one for the August photo maybe, as his position looks exactly the same as mine during afternoon nap on beach?

Is s/he a St Bernard and what about a name? You need another visit there soon, Steve, to get these details. Tough assignment, but I'm confident you're up to it.

The avvy risk diagram and advice is really useful and appreciated.

Have you revealed the mystery location on your Wed 24 Feb blog yet? If not I think a week is long enough, so spill the beans please!

snow reports

Better in the am / worse in the pm than expected

For once when I opened the curtains (of late anyway) there was no fresh snow outside.... incredible really as it has been non stop pretty much the last two months.

Anyway I met up with my am private to work on some off pisting action. For only 6 weeks or so worth of ski experience he was jolly good and had obviously gotten the bug and had invested in the safety gear etc.... a good start.

On that point I am constantly amazed when I see people spending loads on things like Go Pro's, airbags.... you name it but their technique is truly shocking (whether it be on or off piste). "All the gear and no...." comes to mind!

Anyway back to topic. With the few clouds we had hanging in the air but looking to the west the growing threat of heavy weather moving in I was constantly juggling options as to where we went. One of the nicest pitches was (what I call it) inbounds of Cugnai and the snow was wonderful. Lower down on Super L and especially anything that was not true north was either affected by the sun yesterday and therefore a tiny bit crusty or heavy. Anyway we lapped around and did a very nice 'clean' (no tracks) Lievre Blanc (top) and out to Mattis - it was lovely I must say!

By lunchtime it was really starting to close in and started snowing in town. I met up with Julie atop the Bellevarde for some short turn action... it was rather windy and snowy (not mega bad but bad enough for a simple decision to be made to stay low in La Daille) up there. Anyway plenty of drills and skills and development as we lapped around down in La Daille and some excellent changes were made. I left Julie to get Tommeuse back to Tignes and I had to ride Mont Blanc and then Marmottes before downloading. The weather up there was really going bonkers. I think my periscope today sums it all up - and before anyone says anything the battery was 100% and had a brand new (charged) external battery pack plugged in keeping it charged up as I spoke but as you will see the battery died very suddenly (due to the cold) half way through the broadcast.... I think ill stick to either lower slopes or sunny days to broadcast up the hill! When I restarted the phone 5 mins later after it had been in my pocket the battery % was up to about 80% immediately. I think the camera and app must just use a lot of juice!

https://t.co/LiMgRMFapG and the perma-link
https://t.co/dGOyRuYFMe

As I mentioned on my scope today there was some sad news over in Tignes in the Petit Balme area (lookers right area when you are near the top of the Lanches lift). A french seasonnaire off piste fell whilst skiing off piste and hit his head (was wearing a helmet) on rocks (the snow pack was thinner than he thought) and died at the scene. The local slide in Val - no news that I know off about the condition of the person in that slide but as I have not heard of a death I assume he / she is alive!

By the time I got back down to town it was VERY VERY windy and snowy....

Clare made a wonderful mid week roast for the family this evening which was lovely and after an unsettled night last night Olivia seems to be sleeping well this evening (and she slept for 3 hours today at creche too - tired girl)

We are expecting a very large amount of snow to fall over the next few days and overnight tonight I suspect that a lot will fall but the winds will move so much around too! As I look out the window now I really think that if this continues overnight there will be some big delays for opening in the morning. In the afternoon the winds will once again get brutal so we are in for an interesting day or two. Stand by on that front!

The pisteurs are starting their PIDA work at 7am tomorrow I believe.

The heavy snow means that chains or snow tyres on 4x4 were required this evening but that did not stop a crash just outside town on the road by the Lac du Chevril (dammed lake) - a couple of cars involved in a head on there with someone being taken to hospital. This has all meant that the traffic in but mostly out of town this evening was totally stuffed up!

And finally a shout out to a colleague of mine over in Les Arc who broke his ankle yesterday when his ski boot seems to have disentegrated mid turn... that is his season over and to make matters worse his wife is VERY heavily pregnant at the moment - only a few weeks to go..... now that all sucks big time. Get well soon JP!

intermediate - yea that pic may make my top 12 of the year for the calendar; yea a St Bernard.... I really would like a repeat visit soon. The mystery location by the way was lookers right half way up the Datcha chairlift into the flattish bowl out there. Thanks for your kind words! Keep on tuning in!

TTFN

You know it makes sense.

@rob@rar, yea i know!

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

@rob@rar, which bit?

A snowHead

Wowsers this storm is intense

Just a quick update this afternoon as firstly there is not too much report but more importantly we have a ski school meal over in Tignes this evening and I need to get ready (and probably put the chains on our van to get there too!).

So we went to bed last night with the snow falling hard and the wind fairly strong and we awoke this morning and it was much of the same. I was anticipating a slow opening and with over 150km/h winds atop the Fornet it was always going to be interesting. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised in how quickly the Olympic lift opened - it was about 9.30. So the extra early coffee break was cut short as I knew that as soon as people saw that things were moving the Olympic was going to get swamped. Apart from the Village, Savonnette, Rogoney and the other surface lifts it was either up the Olympic or hike to take the Solaise Cable Car up! Anyway it was fairly wild atop the mountain but we battled downwards and I was hoping that something like the Marmottes would be open as everyone under the sun would be heading to La Daille and it would be busy there. Indeed nothing was open (initially) so we carried on down to La Daille making the best of what there was working on piste technique.

At La Daille one member of the private lesson peeled off - the conditions were not for her. So we could either have braved it up the Funival (they didn't fancy that) or go up the Etroits Chair as no other options were available. I have to say I was totally ashamed to be part of this resort as the queue was dreadful and there was no semblance of order... the ski school lane was being abused and the abusers were being further abused and ESF groups jumping over the ropes without going in the ski school line. The lifties didn't seem to have anything under control. A pass not working at the turnstile took about 5 minutes of faffing around whilst the person blocked the lane - why she could not take her skis off and let others through I dont know! Then the chairs were not full etc. I was shocking.... wake up and smell the coffee people - Europe is getting better at managing lift lines etc but still so far behind North America etc!

Anyway after a second descent down to La Daille it was time to head back into town to get ready for the next lesson - seasonnaires!

I was checking what was open and what was closed etc all the time on my phone and I was hopeful that lots would be open in the afternoon. Alas as soon as it was action time at 1pm the wind picked up again and everything up high shut down (for about 30 mins).

Anyway it did not matter as there was a distinct lack of seasonnaires (think the weather and poor memories got to them). So I ended up doing my Pericope (had to take two goes on the Olympic lift as signal cut out the first time!) and coming home to catch up on a few things.

https://t.co/9RT5ksyLY9 and the perma-link
https://t.co/b0wuwaYHEL

So the weather will continue being moody for the next 24 hours or so and by the weekend we could have had another metre of snow fall.... it is still incredibly windy and snowy out there so our ski school meal will be nice tonight but boy the drive there and back could be hairy!

Anyway folks more tomorrow.

P.S. Meant to say we have now had 5.19m of snow so far this Winter - this compares to about 3m of snow in total last season to this time and a season end of about 4m - YES it is a fantastic season!

A snowHead

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

Knackered.com

Well folks today was a special day... the forecast has changed for today so much recently and it was much better all day than forecast. At points last night and recently I thought the weather today was going to be as bad as yesterday but alas not there was near clear skies all morning even though some high clouds threatened late morning and then moved in quite a lot early afternoon they slunked away ... leaving a very brief snow flurry mid afternoon but nothing to talk about.

My video broadcast on Periscope summaries nicely (well I think so anyway!):

https://t.co/EdVdHIGB9k and the perma-link
https://t.co/pNoi6BQx5j

So I had a one off session with the son of a SH who has done a couple of seasons (not in Val).... young and fit he was gunning to get out in the pow after a) being pinned down weather wise most of the week and b) with the 'oldies' for the week where I was not fully able to push himself! As I thought the weather was going to crap out on us I was keen to get maximum turns in double time.

I cant list all that we did as there was so much and to be really honest I am really really tired this evening so want to keep it short. However it included opening up Sunny Bowl, Lievre Blanc and my variation on Super L where I ALWAYS get fresh turns... Poubelle Couloir was special too as the snow was super light and NON wind affected! I got in a LOT of nice turns this morning and as any instructor will tell you it does NOT usually happen like that - most of the time you dont really get to ski for yourself (which is fine by me as I love seeing others enjoy themselves at WHATEVER level they are but on a morning like this whereby as you enjoy yourself in the wonderful snow so does your client - pretty special).

A super quick turnaround at lunchtime and I met my pm seasonnaires... the weather had moved in a tad but as it turned out nothing really moved in too much! We did a disappointing lap in Cairn - better lower down as this wind has ruined it somewhat! The main event of the afternoon was to take the team down the L'Avancher Couloir as a 'tester' to see if they can cope with what they will need to ski in order to do the heliski to Chevril! They all did so well! "Trick of the day" for the seasonnaires this afternoon was 2 different types of grab which they thought was pretty cool!

After skiing Clares father and Clares cousin who is working his season here as a chalet boy this season popped around for a cuppa and I gave Olivia her bath and bottle before bed!

And that brings you up to date really.

The French school hols finish tomorrow but the roads could be chaos tomorrow with the heavy snow that is forecast overnight into tomorrow and still there are 31000 cars forecast on the road. Interestingly last week about 80,000 skier days were registered in the turnstiles of Val which is LESS than last year for same day.... it is a trend the resort has been noticing and it must be down to the dodgy weather this year - lots of people here but not everyone is venturing onto the mountain!

Talking of the bad weather that is forecast tonight (not started yet) and into tomorrow they are raising the avalanche risk to 4 tomorrow so stay safe out there tomorrow folks!

Some photos to finish with and firstly a Val Pistuers photo showing a large crown wall atop the Signal Poma that released this am - thank goodness no-one was under this when it went!

Now that is a big crown wall

Now my photos from the day!:

Looked promising (and it was) although a very chilly start to the day!

Bombed hole under Madelaine

Navigating avalanche barriers near Poubelle Couloir

Out of focus but ready to open it up

The Cairn was not as good as hoped for as the temperatures rose to just about zero early pm

The L'Avancher' Couloir ready for us - intimidating entrance but good to push my seasonnaires

Happy and they know they are... Charlotte in black trousers just popped home to London for a few days for job interview and now back in Val realises she needs to cherish everyone second of the last few weeks of the season!

I love the view down the valley from up here - never get bored of it

Easy does it - the entrance looks mellow from this angle!

TTFN

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Nice

I always say in this job that it is not really what you teach but who you teach that makes it. I got a call late last night from a colleague who through a contact in a chalet had some guests that on the spur of the moment wanted to book an off piste lesson for this morning. So another facet of this job is that sometimes you dont know what you are doing from one day to the next (there are times when quite the opposite is true and you can picture a lesson a year in advance!).

Anyway I met up with the two guys (kiwis here on holiday for a few weeks and this was theoretically the last day of their holiday that has been rolling on and on week by week (and then they decide at the last moment to extend their trip by another week)) and we went through the normal briefing for off piste safety.

It had snowed another 15cm+ in town overnight and more up the hill. The avalanche (probably a little excessively IMO) risk was up to 4 and it was chilly first up. With thick clouds it felt like dejavu. I seem to have done a lot of off piste this season (not complaining) and virtually every time the weather has been socked right in and so I have been restricted to a handful of options to make an interesting session of it for lower level / more cautious off pisters. Anyway we headed up (one guy on a board and one on skis) to make our first descent down through the Solaise trees and boy was it good. Being a little bit of nutter sometimes I enjoyed the firmer base from a few days back with lots of lovely cushioning on top and the old tracks, lumps and bumps dotted all over the place meant that it was a funky descent but plenty of face shots. Unfortunately fatigue was definitely with the skier so we skied everything at a conservative pace.

Next up was the usual flow of hidden bowl, the glades then Lievre Blanc after the table piste (which was amazing) then a funky version of Mangard..... it was a jolly good morning!

After my periscope...

https://t.co/joL7qYQwUS and the perma-link
https://t.co/8SCKkXSpry

...I headed home... Olivia took her nap so Clare and I chilled out (dont get too much of that in the Winter months). Then I took Olivia for a walk as the weather had improved a little. This evening has been devoted to some admin catch up and getting some dates in the diary for some seasonnaire heli ski trips over the next few weeks. I just realised that it is only a few weeks until the end of the season and there is a LOT of skiing and snowboarding to get done before the season ends!

The roads were in pretty crazy shape out there today and the traffic jams were long but I am hoping that everyone got up the hill. The weather forecast for the next few days is generally of stabilising weather with a mix of everything but only time will tell!

Finally the pisteurs released some video footage this evening showing someone being caught in a slide (this time a year ago) somewhere on the Bellevarde mountain. Reason I am including the clip is that it just goes to show that a) it is not necessarily the first person down a slope that release an avalanche and b) sometimes it can be on an area of snow that has already had skiers pass over! Stay safe folks!

http://youtube.com/v/UNjPl0BZk6Y

Some images of today:

Sitting on the job!

Ripping up the powder!

Quiz of the day - which PISTE is this?

TTFN

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Mattis?

Very jealous Steve - the snow looks awesome. A big difference from that first week back in November/December! I keep watching your periscopes with green eyes wink

(I am spotdespot on there).

Have a great end to the season - I have a sneaky week in Val Thorens to come but that's it.

Cheers,
Dave.

You'll need to Register first of course.

A-HA nemesys - makes sense! Yes snow is epic. Val T - I'm there mid April for the SH's EoSB.... guess you are there at another time though!

Mattis - nope!!!!! it is a red run though!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Yes - a bit earlier - 2nd April for me - family time.

I am guessing Olivia is keeping you up otherwise you should be getting some beauty sleep Very Happy

Cognon? If not I will leave it to others as I am out of guesses Sad

Cheers,
Dave.

After all it is free

Happy Mothers Day

Well it will be a short one this evening - not too much to report really!

nemesys - you're right and you're wrong. Right from the point of view that it is Cognon - very good - a rarely used red run up at Fornet. Wrong about Olivia keeping me up... I generally work late into the night to get things done and last night was no exception. The Winter is a long, hard and tiring time of the year... barely any time to catch your breath from November to May and this year is no exception! Enjoy family time in VT in April!

So after lazy start to the day comprising family scrambled eggs and mothers day presents and calls etc I took Olivia off swimming and she had her usual crazy time in there - she loves it! We then all went as a family to the Fondue Factory - just had to try it after all the bad press it has been receiving. So what did we think.... well it is very modern and open plan inside - I think it has a very American feel to it. The food was good - well the main course was good; I had a steak, baked potato and side vegetables and it was very yummy indeed. Dessert was more disappointing as for the money there was not nearly enough - we had a chocolate fondue between us but I wouldn't recommend it; nice but not very much and the dipping selection of a couple of pieces of fruit was poor. The service was good and value for money below average I would say for Val. Ill give it overall a 5 or 6 out of 10.... especially those prices for a lunch!

Nice open plan restaurant come ski museum!

That is NOT all butter in the baked potato but more a cream cheese filling!

Olivia took her afternoon nap back home and Clare and I had a very relaxed afternoon and then more indoor fun and games when Olivia woke up.

Snow and weatherise it was a mixed day with a little snow from the night before (about 10cm) and then some sun / clouds / snow fluttered around all afternoon into the evening. It should be a chilly start tomorrow morning and on and off snow flurries mixed with sun for a few days and then finally I think we will have a high pressure and settled weather system moving in.

https://ktch.tv/7PR4?s=07m17s&e=12m01s

I edited (above) some of my ski tips from my Periscope broadcasts and the one above is that of 'how to get to Val d'Isere; plane, train or automobile'

Talking of Periscope here is todays offering (only the perma-link today folks as Twitter had a problem providing the address for some reason):

https://t.co/O5ApAdpHRz

And that is about it really. Back on the slopes tomorrow as it sounds like it was an amazing day up there today!

TTFN

P.S. After injuring himself the other day a big congrats to my instructing friend JP from Les Arcs on becoming a father for the first time today - a baby girl - congrats!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Thanks for a brilliant lesson Steve, good to hear my self taught technique is reasonably up to scratch Toofy Grin

Help!!

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

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