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

A snowHead

@NoMapNoCompass, we were in Brev that week - only lift open was the first bubble to Les Boisses, so spent three days just skiing the runs back down/ through the trees in deep snow, to Brev. Huge fun, if a bit limiting. Got a bus round to Le Lac one day, to take my kids for lessons, and spent a couple of hours skiing in no-vis up and down Palafour - the only lift running at the time. Tons of snow that week.

A snowHead

Yep, it was an interesting week!

Up until then I had never really embraced the viewpoint that you could have too much snow. That week changed things.

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

Chilly

Late last night Ben decided that he could not sleep (I think watching too much Jurassic Park cartoons did it). Anyway being late at night we gave in and let him sleep in our bed which meant yours truly had a reasonable but not great sleep on the sofa. Anyway this morning as you can imagine the kids were tricky to put it mildly to get out of bed and ready for school. With a little encouragement we got there.

The sun was shining and the temps were a little cooler than they have been. There was also the thinnest veil of clouds about but generally it was going to be another lovely sunny day!

I headed to the meet point and for some reason was very very early today. Not sure how I managed that.

My morning session was the same lot as yesterday and the request was to head to Tignes... (hmmm okay but its not going to be the best terrain to develop you on but your the boss). Todays session was always about keeping them together as their levels split is to great. Its also interesting that most of them think that a couple of lessons and they've basically learnt all they need to know about skiing is a frustrating thing.

The pistes getting over to Tignes were mixed... some man made snow has been made but there are some very scrapped parts too... and some lumpy parts too. It was also pretty busy all in all considering that the school hols have finished.

It was also pretty chilly atop the mountains as there was a northerly wind blowing - wasnt strong but strong enough to make it feel cold on the face... it was weird as it was moving around the peaks somewhat as changed directions a few times.

I took lunch at the normal place and then headed up Bellevarde again for the afternoon session. It was the same guy that I had had a few weeks back and he was back for another little holiday. Getting him more active was the name of the game as he a little static and getting the adaptability back into his skiing and then tweaking his moves was the name of the game. It was jolly successful.

Meanwhile Ben was as part of his weeks pe at school this week (they do blocks of different subjects) was skiing for 2 hours this afternoon and bless him he was put in the top group and ironically (im guessing) he had Olivias coach Harrold as his instructor this afternoon... pretty darn amazing! Sounds like he had a real blast about with some of his friends - yay! After school Olivia had gymnastics and Ben went swimming so as Clare sorted that out I sorted out bits at home like their dinner etc.

The weather is still set to change very dramatically the next few days starting tomorrow night so we could be in for quite a ride!

TTFN

I ran this quiz on my insta today... note its actually Piste Henri (not Henry) now. Haha

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@Dr John, I can recall being told not leave our chalet during 3rd week of January actually got money back from lift pass company fir a couple of days.mid morning of my last day skiing recurved a meassage from our transfer company ben bus that a storm was coming in in a couple of hrs and theft could not guarantee our transfer the following day . They offered to get my group out that day they gave us two hrs to get back to chalet packed and to the minibus luckily we were not far our accommodation the candeien charts in val at the top of solaise bubble . Sure enough as we drive past the dam it started snowing heavily all the way to Grenoble . Ben bus even arranged an gites close to the airport fir our flight the following morning . The road past the dam was closed the following day for a while Overnight and the following morning . Our transfer bus would not have been able to meet us . Hats off to ben bus the best shared transfer company out there

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

vipul - yes Bens Bus are good. These bad weather events do happen from time to time... usually at least once a 'normal' season the road between Val and Fornet is shut cause of av risk. There is from time to time events where the roads in an out are shut - usually for a short period whilst they blast but it can be worse!

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A first for a few years

Ben was in again for a cuddle - really must stop him doing that now every night but its kinda cute and I enjoy it but its not healthy for either of us each morning!

Anyway the kids were on fire this morning getting ready for school - what are they angling for!!!!

Being another strike day there was a couple of minor disruptions but it hardly made much difference out there really with just a couple of the lesser used lifts over in Tignes being affected - certainly didn't affect me at all!

With the sun shining I headed up to the meet point... I was early which im always quite happy about as can wait in the sun and start the day nice and relaxed. However when the start time came and went without anyone coming I got suspicious..... ultimately the tour operator had copied and pasted their own template saying that the instructor would me them at the hotel - whoops - we were not told that and dont normally do that sort of thing.

Anyway we finally got going and it was a really nice guy who skied well. A real technical learner but someone who just loved to learn and improve. We had wonderful lesson and I really enjoyed teaching him. We mainly lapped around on the Manchet Express and worked his short turns. We had to finish a tiny bit early as we needed to get him and his twin 3 year old girls up the Solaise gondola to have their lesson as his wife was on another lesson - all quite complicated but it worked ok in the end.

Lunch was the normal thing before I met my pm session. It was a father and grown up son who had an off piste session booked for this pm and we are supposed to be off piste all tomorrow too (hmmm we shall see on that front!).

Anyway we got going and with the weather forecast as it is (it is DUMPING it down out there this evening so we shall see what tomorrow brings - although the wind is getting up a little too!) wanted to make sure we made the most of it. So first up we headed towards Col Pers... getting in was easy enough by Col Pers standards and the snow certainly on the top half was nice enough... the lower half via the Grand Torsai was more varied. So from top to bottom we had boot deep powder / wind crust / wind blown / wind compressed / chalk and scoured - talk about a bit of everything!

It was a nice ski and it was the first time in a long time that I have been down via the Grand Torsai - usually only bother with Col Pers if the Gorge was open for business. Talking of which check out the lack of snow in the Gorge in my photo below - pretty bare eh!

Since skiing I have been running around like a crazy thing as Clare is doing her community service at the Classical Val event - serving drinks, this evening and so I collected the kids, got em home (via Ben losing a glove too - doh), feed and watered them and got them into bed. Phew.

Need to get a decent sleep as tomorrow will be tiring I should think.

TTFN

Started nice...

Came right in by the days end

Avalanche risk bouncing right up there!

Look closely - from here on the Grand Torsai - its looking bare in the gorge!

All over the resort you can scan these QR codes for avalanche bulletins which is a good new addition to the resort this year

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

This morning I can see on the Val d'isere webcam that new snow has fallen at last. Enjoy the fresh powder! Blush

Here in the highlands of Salisbury we've had a couple of centimetres which will have melted by this afternoon. Crying or Very sad

After all it is free

Couple of centimetres here too in North Wiltshire, but already slushy on the ground, and dripping from the trees. However, I am not complaining as I hit the snow day jackpot. Both sprogs schools are open, but mine is not! Currently enjoying a peaceful cup of tea and a perusal of the livecams in Les Arcs.

Enjoy the fresh snow in Val Steve!

https://www.facebook.com/reel/917459516239050/?s=single_unit&__cft__[0]=AZVCukrOd6wEIsO91Q6ctmkIWbFQAFHBOMiZtdaBip7qNbkcEONV0KMfK3JRJ650u0mH2KJSPUphkxQg4hc8PzkHZo1rWEQZy1-OIxJAOqiCh34xXED7I8pSBPI4yDUV2REzS1AU5llEALvqaNtOWBOdi61O6qki9WrXbsCmfAqvzbfu4n1lz_TOlcEO8TuWwvy0FcyQUs4qxDG5O6IIsPsH&__tn__=H-R

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welshflyer - yea there was not that much this am but day end there was a decent amount actually. Maybe 5cm in town and 10cm up top but by day end there was about 20cm at altitude!
Owlette - thanks!!!! Yes it was one of those days.... see below! A peaceful cuppa - dont tease me!
Kenzie - ? - random thing comes up for me.

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Shattered

When you get days like this there is no rest of the wicked.... what I mean by that is when the vis is poor and your off piste leading you never get a second downtime mentally or physically - phew what a day!

With less snow but lower temps than forecast it was mixed messages for the day. The kids were reasonably set for the day in good time and Clare was taking them to kids club so easy on that front.

The forecast is somewhat up and down at the moment so it a little apprehensive as to what the day would bring.

At the meet point one member of my team (same lot as yesterday) was not there as he misplaced his own backpack last night at the pub - whoops. It had lots of stuff in it he might need for off pisting - like transceiver etc - whoops! Anyway without our man we set off up the Bellevarde and went exploring. The wind was less, the snow less but the vis better so overall it was not as bad as it could have been. Under moniteurs and pisteurs was pretty decent - getting in under P5 was tricky as usual in that vis and the stade was pretty good as well (although every guided group under the sun had the same idea). We did a few laps and found some nice snow. Lunch at Marmottes and when we came out we were in luck as the weather had abated a little... wouldnt say it had broken up (the cloud) but it was OK.... so I decided to jump into the Cairn. Like most places today east facing was loaded and the weather window meant we were first in (thats a first for me being first in!) and I had to cut the path (in both senses). I knew that the top 15cm would slab off but it was easy enough. The actual decent was nice. Off sides of Cugnai were lovely too and so was the top half of the S. Generally the snow was about 20cm+ by the end of the day at altitude. Lower down you are still hitting (comfortably) the base so we need some more. Alos the temps rose quite a lot during the day.

So it was a good day / lots of pow turns and plenty of miles. As I started by saying - shattered!

I made it home and Clare collected the kids. Ive just about managed to get through the evening but can't wait to hit the sack tonight!

The weather is going to bounce around quite a lot over the next few days... I am off piste again tomorrow morning so lets hope we have both snow, vis and no wind - not asking for much am I!

TTFN

About the best of the vis - putting the only tracks into the Cairn - probably of the day!

See - we could!

Yea I know couldnt quite believe it - a certain instructor for a certain school skiing around with an umbrella.... I dont think it was a bet or anything but then again it wasnt really needed at altitude today as it was not raining or anything - weird but most - WTF!!!!

snow reports

You know it makes sense.

What a nice morning

With the temps pretty high last night and the wind blowing a fair amount (130km/h registered atop the Pissaillas in the early hours!) what came down was slightly wet lower down but pretty reasonable at altitude so all in all despite there not being as much falling as hoped for it was possibility better quality than feared.

Ben was my little visitor for my early alarm clock - he knows that he will be told to do one if he goes around Clares side but generally comes my side and knows ill oblige! Haha!

So the kids were off on the school bus as normal and then I headed up too. Having observed the pisteurs doing the blasting along the 'Folie ridge' aka Spatule Catex hut and it producing 4 +ve's I knew there could be a delayed opening. However of course with the days being a little longer the pisteurs were able to get up and do the Clochetons coloirs and the various safety work needed above the Face. At the same time the work was done up the Solaise side too so it meant everything opened on time - bravo!

My guy arrived and after running through the safety gear and him donning his transceiver we headed up the Solaise. There was on average about 30cm of snow and in some places (east facing) it was loaded and deeper. In other places was somewhat scrapped off and much much less.

Anyway variations around Datcha, Madeleine and Glacier chairs produced the goods for a 'first timer' off piste as usual. I exhausted all my stashes and we had a great time. However bearing in mind that it was his first real time off piste he did really really well indeed.

Ive said it before but ill say it again: "a person who has really solid ON piste technique, can develop the skills to succeed off piste but short cutting the 'good on piste' side of things first, doesnt work" So it was great to see someone solid on the on piste stuff learning quickly how to do the off piste side of things, Hats off to him.

It was a wonderful morning. However there was plenty of close calls out there and people caught left, right and centre in slides. Im sure by the day end there will be more stories coming in of people being caught so today and going forward as the bad weather continues to roll in, keep it safe and flat(ter!) out there folks until things calm down.

It was an added bonus that after I video'd the client ski the pow he also videod me. Its not often that I get snapped as its usually me snapping the client but it was nice to see myself ski! Haha. I posted a couple of vids on my instagram and like all my social stuff I can be found on @SteveAngusSnow.

I headed home for lunch and with the sun shining brightly the temps have really warmed up this afternoon but we are expecting this massive storm to really move in overnight tonight - no sign of it at the moment but apparently the next 48 hours could be interesting!

So it has been a chilled afternoon. My friend and colleague Steph Weihe at Pro-Snowboarding is turning 60 today so he has organised some informal drinks at Blue Note so heading there shortly. Tomorrow I am on my board for the morning session and not sure what the afternoon will bring as its not the busiest of weeks this weeks so time will tell.

In fact the next couple of weeks are pretty quiet so please get in contact if you have any lesson enquiries.... come the school hols in a few weeks time its flat out again!

TTFN

Not the easiest to see but there were 4 slides from the Spatule Catex hut up there that could be seen!

NOT one of my secret stashes of snow but the two standalone tracks are mine (right) and clients on the left as we look... before you get down to where that group of people are who traversed in from the piste.

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

A snowHead

@Kenzie, That was whizzing round the pubs last night - wonder if my Ski Club Insurance covers being mauled to death by a Loup?

A snowHead

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

Just to catch up on ‘storm of the century’… it was the Saturday before NY 2018 when it took me 11.5 hours from Geneva to Menuires (10 hours from Albertville!).

My wife (then 3 months pregnant) was distinctly unimpressed Eh oh!

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

This morning the Val d webcams are showing lots of snow falling.

The grapevine tells me there are also high winds and therefore the links to Tignes won't be opening.

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@scottydonald - check the traffic forecast on the Tignes app / website to avoid any peak time jams

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

After all it is free

Kenzie - ah ive seen the link elsewhere - pretty crazy eh!
raino - if you ski in the alps enough then you can always take home these folklore stories like that. Not fun at the time but good dinner party chat down the line!
scottydonald - yes it will be much better this time for sure!
welshflyer - it has been epic... snow falling thick and fast since the early hours for sure. No the link didnt open all day.

Well thats another first

Clare was out last night for dinner with her client whom she teaches pretty regularly during the season for her birthday and it sounds like pre-dinner drinks, turned into a long boozy meal (at the newly re-invented place bottom of Santons), followed by more drinking and dancing. Anyway I was well asleep by the time Clare rolled in in the early hours.

... with Ben coming in in the early morning I think it was good sleep but im not sure!

Anyway when I got up and opened the curtains (having already heard the piste bashers going up and down) there was a decent amount snow sitting out there and it didnt seem to be too windy. I also noticed that the Folie staff headed up 'on time' at 0800... this means two things... firstly the pisteurs were happy in order to let the staff up from an avalanche blasting POV but more importantly the fact the cabins were on the La Daille gondola line means the wind was not going to be too crazy!

Kids set off to school nice and happy (although I dont think they will have skied this afternoon (Bens class)) and I put my board boots on. Its been a while since I last boarded so it was nice getting my gear on... although my BOA laces seemed to stick this morning so I hope they are not about to break.

Anyway the snow was coming down thick and fast and standing at the meeting point recording my weekly TDC ski report video my bag and board soon was covered in the few minutes I was standing!

My guys were raring to go and it was nice to see J and his mates again... tend to ski or board with him a few times a year and have done for many years now. Being an (older now) lads trip they were proud of themselves as they were NOT hungover so it was good to go.

It was REALLY refreshing when I gave them the option of either sticking it out in the good snow up top where it would be windy and cold with poor vis versus going low (with everyone else) where the snow would be chopped up but better vis and not so good snow... lovely they went for the former and we stayed up top.

The Olympic was going slower than normal and heading out into the headwind was interesting. We went for a 'warm up' lap and the plan had been to come back up Marmottes and perhaps do some laps up top but the Marmottes was shut and the Fontaine Froid initially was closed. So we ended up doing (what was so epic snow that we did it 3 times!) Mont Blanc and it was knee powder most of the way down.... it was brilliant. After a quick choc at the Folie we boarded to La Daille (all chopped up and not as fun but we could see) and went back up on the funi and then the Fontaine Froid was open so we dived in. With the wind behind us it meant the snow was accumulating nicely and on the lower part of FF just on the verges of the piste it was waste deep! It was epic.

So I have never boarded in SUCH deep pow in my life (even before I was an instructor) and certainly in such bad vis (on a board that is!) - done on skis of course. But it was epic having the snow plough up over my head on each turn - yippee! I managed to get some vids and pics so check out my @SteveAngusSnow on instagram from today.

So ive been home since lunchtime (not booked this afternoon) and this weekend I am mainly on daddy day care so plenty of time to chill.

Meanwhile the storm and snow and wind have all picked up out there. With the pretty bad road traffic predications in terms of pure numbers this weekend out there and with the weather it could be very interesting indeed! As I type the road between Laisenant and Fornet is closed from what I can understand and now the lifts up top are all closed so its just the lower lifts that are all open so there is still some pow out there to be had but you need to stay low.

I think the weather will deteriorate over night and it will be a rocky ride the next 24 hours or so. Stand by for more updates.

Also with the relatively heavy traffic expected this weekend there is possibly going to be big protests (linked to the ongoing pension protests in France at the moment) on the roads around Albertville - could be one of those days!

Meanwhile the dangerous off piste conditions lead to the classic yesterday.... a guided group doing nothing wrong (all had the correct safety kit) in the Grand Vallon - going down the guts had a couple of young free-riders set a big slide above them off... 6 of them were partly or fully buried but all got out. Thankfully the pisteurs both shut down the top drag and got the area safe etc and with the help of a chopper evac all ended well - thankfully!

The road to Bourg I have just heard might be closing later tonight for blasting - ill post more if I hear it!

We had fun this morning

Didnt take long for the snow to start piling up on my gear this morning!

TTFN

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@Steve Angus, we're coming out Monday till Saturday. If you get an old fat bloke with locked knees barrel into you asking if you're Steve, that'll be me Blush

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snow reports

You know it makes sense.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0bP5ByccXYedLaqD93P5BAqpskB2w3GapvX2AT3nKxxutwvA468bB1zwLddeSUG6tl&id=100002958510002

Looks fun in Tignes this pm! Doh

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

Morning mini update. Road out of Val temp closed due to accident and the back up that's created due to this minor accident is quite bad already. Should ebb and flow the traffic for a while. Be prepared with chains (mandatory for ALL vehicles at moment) and consider if you can delaying arrival low down until bit clearer and likewise if you are still to leave wait until much later this evening now as won't be pretty leaving this late in the day now.

A snowHead

Carnage - road still blocked.

From last night;

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpmwVpZo1Na/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

A snowHead

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

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N90 now blocked In Albertville by the demonstrators, its going to be a tedious and expensive day for some

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

It's worth remembering that the road is the life blood of the resort both in and out. On a day like this the chopper can't fly if there was a really serious medical emergency... So that road might just be someones only chance of survival in the hospitals down the valley!

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

Now unblocked by the Police in a "tense environment"

After all it is free

Ringside seat

I did the tactical and left the tv controllers by the tv last night when I went to bed as I knew the kids would find and turn on rather than wake us up. So it was pleasant to still have the eyes shut at gone 0700 - blimey could get used to that. When I finally got out of bed and looked through the curtains - well it was more or less a carbon copy of yesterday but the temps were a couple degrees warmed (this is making a difference now as those few degrees means that it is wet snow that is falling at low altitudes and heavier snow up top.... much lower down (brev height) its rain. Crucially overnight it has obviously been a bit colder as had managed to snow well down the valley!

Anyway Clare was the only one that had to go anywhere - her full day lesson with some hardy souls who would not mind skiing in awful conditions all day long! Olivias club was cancelled and Ben was sort of going to do whatever based on the weather / Olivias club today anyway!

So with the weather as it was, the promise of lots of skiing on TV and both kids with me we had a VERY lazy morning. Plenty of TV and skiing mixed up and the kids having some down time was the order of the day. However as you might have gathered from my postings above / Twitter posts / reposts and Insta stuff I was following the antics outside rather closely from the comfort of my living room. It hadn't taken long for the road to become blocked / gendarmes and chains compulsory orders to come out and the general transfer day carnage to play out. The road was totally blocked for a good few hours and with the snow and wind it was completely nuts outside! With the road being totally blocked up even the Train Rouge and snow clearers couldnt get through for a while.

Those that ventured up the hill told a story from afar by the numbers that quit by about 0930 (the lifts more or less opened on time as the PIDA work produced LOTS of results so the pisteurs simply decided to keep most stuff closed as a result). By about early afternoon most people had quit the mountain and the roads were moving to and from town again and thing were slightly more normal again! The snow / rain / slush / wind fest was off the scale though!

We did finally venture out when the train rouge etc was more normal into town (the kids and I) for afternoon goutee at Roxy... well we walked around having a democratic argument between ourselves (well I mediated between the two of them as you can imagine!) as to where and what we were going to have! So we got a seat at the counter for muffins / ice-cream and shakes etc.... all rather spoiling but I just thought the other option of going swimming (blooming cinema was not open on a Saturday!) would be MOBBED so there was not many other options available!

And now im watching the rugby out of one eye and the storm as it continues to ravage away outside.

The amount of snow we have had is very difficult to gauge but it is a lot - OK a lot of it is wet snow but it will set us up nicely now for the last 8 weeks or so of the season. I think the wind etc will have worked things over no end up there so the avalanche danger is going to be off the scale for a few days - be careful.

Tomorrow i might be working in the afternoon but mainly im going to be on daddy day care once again. Olivia should be skiing all day, Ben and I can go swimming in the morning and then in the afternoon - well lets see. I BET that having formulated that plan that something will change but that is the provisional plan.

TTFN

Look very closely and you'll see traffic jams on pretty much ever square inch of land on the roads this morning - carnage!

I suppose having to dig your car out is not so bad in the grand scheme of things!

Lots of snow then.

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That’s a lot of snow. It was a rubbish Christmas, a decent Feb half term. Now wondering whether an Easter quick trip is worth it. Saw the traffic on the other thread. Ouch.

Help!!

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

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