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

A snowHead

@chocksaway, got it. There’s a bit of chavvy in all of us.

A snowHead

@red 27,

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

^^^ yea as has been pointed out are we sure we are talking about Russians here.... a colleague I know is fluent in the language and used to teach loads of Russians but says she barely teaches anyone anymore
PeakyB - thanks as always - immensely proud!
Ski lots - tend to agree I think the snow is very very good and there has been some powder about and now there is fresh snow falling again and its colder! . It can certainly vary a lot at this time of the year but the full coverage is there and for most of the time is darn good id say for late March.

Knocked out - blimey

Last night before heading to bed I took a Night Nurse dose which seemed to do the trick! Clare did have to give me a big kick in the middle of the night though as I was coughing so much apparently but I rolled over and went back to sleep! When Clare got up at circa 0730 as she was working from 0900 and in doing so woke me as the kids were up and making problems of themselves I was totally dead to the world! Waking up as far as I could tell it might as well still be the middle of the night! I was in such a deep sleep still! Getting up I must have looked like a zombie. Blimey that Night Nurse is strong stuff.

Crucially I had slept well.

Anyway I am not coughing nearly as much today so really hopeful that tomorrow I will be 100% again - or at least 95% - phew!

So with Clare off to work and the kids only skiing this afternoon it was a chilled morning. A long leisurely breakfast, some tv watching by the kids including a movie, some homework they did for the week ahead ( nothing like getting ahead for the week) and some housework. After getting the kids some lunch in them I have just dropped them at Club for the afternoons skiing.

The only downside to the day apart from the temperature plummeting is that Olivia has a minor eye infection and one of her eyes is slightly swollen around the outside. Anyway might take her to the pharmacy later - we shall see!

So yea colder and snowier today and walking across the snow front just then I noticed the snow had not turned to slush today. The weather for the next week is certainly for it continue to be up and down so not really Easter type weather but hey ho!

So ill be collecting the kids soon and then it will be the usual Sunday evening activities before Monday dawns and a new busy week.

TTFN

Love these pics taken in the early 1980's of the Tignes glacier!

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A mixed day on conditions on the pistes today. Moderate snowfall from the village up. Poor vis above 2300m.
It was windy in exposed areas and it was a bitterly cold wind.
But out of it; wasn’t too bad temp wise.

The sun tried to come out for a bit at lunch time.

The pistes were a bag of everything really. One minute; skiing fresh boot high powder and then some harder stuff.
But it was bloody good fun.

We had a lesson with TDC and the superb Kieran. Not only did he give us some amazing teaching to try and take our skiing to the next level but he’s also a chuffing nice bloke.
He took us to some untracked powder even at 3pm and it was so much fun.

Steve, if you see him in the next couple of days please pass on our thanks again for his superb teaching.

Tomorrow looks like it’s going to be a cracking day!

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HoneyBunny - Very Happy

Fridge03 - glad you had a nice day and thanks for the feedback re my colleague - have passed it on (also thanks for your Facebook post on the matter too!). Yes tomorrow will be a great day! Enjoy the rest of your trip - awesome!

After all it is free

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Lots of fragile egos hurt it seems!

Val is a great ski area and had fantastic conditions but the 'flight to height' has led to a downturn in behaviour on the slopes and in the town.

Russians are back - via Dubai of course - but more cautious with their behaviour.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@red 27, are you a Russian speaker?

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@Hurtle, Yes but I'm not looking for rude penpals thanks.

You're on ignore from now on

You know it makes sense.

I did notice it was particularly busy last week with some big lift queues in places. Also a lot of young males skiing very fast with no regard for anyone else and who weren’t as good as they thought they were.

The slopes have become like the roads; full of impatient, arrogant users. It might be my increasing age, but I felt quite vulnerable and nervous at times, and clearly with good reason.

Oh, and some older guy grabbed me by the ears and tried to forcibly kiss me on the lips in a bar one afternoon which rather spoilt the apres. Why would anyone think this is ok?

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

Fridge03 - thank you so much
ster - thank you. It wasnt my photo actually but I did think it was awesome... I actually dont know who the child is in the pic but its definately not Olivia thats for sure!
Hurtle - I just wouldnt bother if I were you... but I think you are already on that wavelength!
HoneyBunny - BLIMEY thats horrendous! Where was THAT? What did you do? Yes there is definately an element of 'boy racers' out there!

Back on it

After another Night Nurse last night I slept pretty well but the alarm clock definately went off too early!

Getting the kids out the door on a very chilly Winters feel morning but in the sun was easy enough but luckily I was meeting at the chalet for todays lesson. It is my usual first week of Easter hols family that I have again this week. This year the whole extended family are here and their chalet is down here in La Daille so simples meeting up with them down here in La Daille and even better it was a 0930 start!

We were off all together on the bus and I was to take the little 3.5 year olds for their first lesson (well almost first lesson). We worked up Solaise with the help of the parents swapping the kids in and back out again as one skied with me for 10 mins and the other rested and we had quite a fun session in the sun but they got tired!

By lunchtime the little ones were off home and I had one of the mums who had not skied for a fair number of years so we worked up magic carpets and then the Madeleine getting her confidence back! It was great session but I was really hungry by the time we stopped for lunch and we went to Bananas. I have not been to Bananas since the change of ownership and although the food was fine, like most places I guess, it seems to have gone up in price and the portion size down. But anyway everyone enjoyed themselves! By the time we had finished lunch it was getting pretty flat light out there but nothing more than that. I then had a couple of hours to blast the boys about so we skied everything from the Face to Crocodile Alley! It was quite a varied day!

So after dropping the boys back at their chalet I headed home, collected the kids off the bus and it has been the usual evening bits.

It certainly felt a little busier out there than it has done but nothing compared to school hols.

The weather tomorrow and for the next few days will be somewhat 'juicy' but only time will tell how bad it gets!

TTFN

It started so lovely and sunny!

A snowHead

@Steve Angus, definitely!
Glad you're feeling better.

A snowHead

@Steve Angus, don’t suppose you happen to know what bars have a bit of live music in them throughout the week?

We caught a band at both La Rosee Blanche and then Bar XV yesterday which led to much hydration and fun as well as sore heads this morning.

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

@Fridge03, The Revolverlites play at Petit Danois every Wednesday night. Not sure about the other places

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@Fridge03, live music at Petite Danois every apres (6pm) except Saturday. Other places as well (Garage, XV, Coin) but schedules are erratic.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Fridge03,
Ask Mullit or Queens of the Snow Stage via Facebook if they are playing.

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Hurtle - thank you!
Fridge03 - thanks for the question but I am really NOT the person to ask about social stuff im afraid! Young kids, the fact that this is a job that means I barely get out and what energy I have is directed towards teaching.... all in all im not on holiday so could not tell you the slightest about apres im afraid! Its a novelty to me! garricw, Dr John and Kenzie seem to have much more of an idea than me - thanks you guys!

Windy

Looking out the window this morning it didnt look that great! It was cold, not too windy in town and visibility was iffy! The retour has come back and it was obvious that Fornet way was always going to be a right off and Solaise potentially too.

So I met the team at the chalet down here in La Daille once again and was able to help take the little ones up! It was always going to be touch and go as to whether we could get up the Solaise to the magic carpets in this weather! As expected when we got to the bottom of the Solaise there was signs up saying no pedestrians or beginners and the mum of one of Olivias friends was on the lift and confirmed there were high winds up there!

So plan b was to go to the Savonnettes (which was (considering) much quieter than I thought it would be). So like yesterday I did a couple of laps with one child with parents helping out getting off about half way up and then swapped to the other child. All in all including the general faff time and queuing for the lift we spent about 90 mins there. By this stage the 3.5 yr olds were done so they were taken off home by the parents and I met the other parents and we set off Bellevarde bound as most things that side were open!

The double chair option was immediately followed by a call for a hot choc break as the teen boys were cold so we went to Maison Louly. After that and with more of the extended family in tow we did a bit of a tour around - well lets call it herding cats somewhat! I didnt really want to risk heading Tignes way so we did various options on the Bellevarde and also down to La Daille. Finally at 1400 we headed to Empreiente for lunch and as always it was super lovely in there! Since everyone tucked into a steak I thought it would be rude not too and boy did it not disappoint ! Yummy!

After that it was only the teens that had any energy left so I took them for a blast.... with the weather slightly better I covered everything from the Johan Clarey black into Le Lac to the Fontaine Froide and everything in-between - we blasted around for an hour before skiing some trees down to La Daille and having a little look at the Village Perdu - they want to go there properly tomorrow!

This evening with Ben at Judo it was a quiet house as Olivia tackled her homework for a couple of hours and then we worked hard to get the kids fed and into bed. And thats another day ticked off!

Tomorrow the weather should be similar to today and to be honest the whole week is looking interesting to say the least.

In other news the dam water level is really low at the moment as they are once again doing some dam wall structural checks. They have decided to do it one last time before they can go totally automated next time in 10 years apparently!

Oh and the Mont Blanc chair should be fixed sometime very soon as the broken part that needed replacing has now arrived to be attached! But that didnt stop the Manchet Express lift having a break down yesterday and took a fair amount of time for them to get it fixed - whoops!

TTFN

You can JUST about see the full length of the British Champs GS course in this pic - 3/4 way up on far right lookers of picture is the start and the end is bottom left. Looking at the timings it looks like it was one hell of a race!

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@Steve Angus, good news on Mont Blanc. Funicular is a decent walk Embarassed

and what I think is really poor is that Tignes and the Val d'Isere lift companies couldn't make the sensible decision to open Tommeuses earlier than 9.15. A cold 10 - 15 minute wait for it to open

Came across this about the dam https://x.com/RomuDansLaRadio/status/1772649346518953986?t=0SP6tfQ77DmJNyZkwHkhxA&s=08

After all it is free

Frosty the Snowman - yea ive always thought it was annoying the wait til 0915 but its a Tignes lift so their decision.

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@Frosty the Snowman, Where are you walking from to get to the Funival ? The bus drops in the car park if you are stay in town.
The first Funival is 0850 and is generally quiet and then link to Marmottes or Grand Pre lift that both open at 0900.

@Steve Angus, Our binocular viewing is usually in the evening sympathising with the Pisteurs who have to heard the drunks from the Follie Eh oh!

.
Although last week I watched ibex in the sunshine on the hill behind us.

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@muppet, we're in la Daille, just up the little road opposite the access road to the gondola

@Frosty the Snowman, as Steve says Tommeuse is a Tignes lift, but does not have direct access from Tignes. I’ve always assumed that it opens slightly later so Tignes lift workers deploy at the same time as others and to allow folk on the first lift on Tufs and Toviere to get first dibs on Tommeuse. Of course that doesn’t work if there is already a queue. Combe Folle has a similar opening time.

You know it makes sense.

I know it's a Tignes lift, coz you need the full area pass to use it, but you'd think they could work together in unusual circumstances.
The 2 of us pay them €132 Euros a day and I expect better

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

@Kenzie, @Fridge03, Mullit play Petite Danois every Monday

A snowHead

I guess the timing of the Tommeuses goes back to the 9 o'clock starts and the slow speeds of the Aeroski, La Daille Gondy etc. Nobody could get there till then! But from a Tignes point of view wink

Les Avalines can't complain too much as their only contribution to the Espace Killy links is a 30 year old, wind prone, unreliable 4 seater.

A snowHead

For one VERY VERY short moment we thought the clouds were going to clear today - but no chance.... it was generally poor vis, snowy and a breeze today!

muppet - yes we get a ringside seat watching the poor pisteurs too! Gosh the short straw getting everyone off the mountain on a sunny Wednesday afternoon eh!

Frosty the Snowman / Ski lots / chocksaway - the Borsat aside.... I think we can all agree that 'could do better' springs to mind! But tbh there is LOTS IMO of 'could do better' going on in the ski industry in general and not just Val / Tignes! When the Mont Blanc chair finally gets 'upgraded' then who knows what will go in its place... a high speed lift that goes all the way to towards the top of Bollin Fresse perhaps!!!! Opening at 0900!

Lovely snow!

So the wind died off and it was semi snowy this morning so a change from yesterday! I had a late night (sorting bits for the house works out!) so it was nice to be starting at 0930 this morning! Clare took the kids to kids club and I only had to pop down the road - lucky me!

Anyway I had one of the two little ones only and so we headed to town and being on his own and able to hold a snowplough I could take him 1-1 on the Village chairlift. Anyway we got a couple of great little laps in and he is definately getting the hang of it - turning OK now too!

So at 1030 I headed up Olympic leaving the little one and his family behind to meet the others. And in the murk (it wasnt really windy) I taught the lady / mother I had the other day. We worked over some green runs before moving onto blue runs! It went really well although I did notice that she was pre-releasing out her bindings a couple of times a little too easily which was annoying - hopefully she will get that sorted soon!

Anyway we had to get to Trifollet for lunch and that was rather tricky mainly with the British races going on on the Raye!

Lunch was excellent as always at Trifollet and afterwards we dropped most of the team and it was just the big boys and their parents left. So we skied a little powder and pottered around up Bellevarde for a couple of hours! The snow was amazing and there is a decent amount collecting. Tomorrow the weather will be up and down again but it should be lovely and powdery up there.

Top tip (as today) stay high for the best snow - OK seeing it will be trickier but boy the snow will be awesome for this time of the year.

TTFN

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

Heavy, heavy snow!

Well it was back to getting the kids ready for school and out the door this morning which went easily enough but it was also bins day and well there was a lot of stuff to take out which meant by the time I got back in and remembered that I was supposed to record my weekly TDC snow report time was ticking on. At first light it was just cloudy with the odd flake but by 0900 or so when I was recording (I was a 0930 start again) it was PUKING it down.... really thick and heavy snow. It was perhaps a tiny little bit wet the snow but was generally coming down without much wind! And its the end of March and its like this - so amazing! The last month has seen such huge snowfalls its been an incredible Spring!

Anyway I got the recording done then headed to meet the team and the plan for the morning was 1 hour with each of the little ones then the mum before lunch and then the afternoon - well we can see what happens later in the day!

So we set off and apart from the Dad taking a pearler of a fall (I would not be surprised if he fractured his tail bone) walking to the bus it all went well. Skiing in the soft thick lumpy snow with a 3 year old is hard work for all involved but the little one did well and when we swapped to the other 3 year old he also did really well - just hoping (it wont) the weather is good enough tomorrow to allow us to get up as the big magic carpet would now be perfect for them both!

Anyway by midday I swapped to one of the mums and she freely admitted she was not feeling it in the weather today. It probably didnt help that she found out that she had been skiing on someone elses skis all day yesterday - no wonder she kept on pre-releasing all day yesterday which contributed to a partial loss in confidence! Doh! Anyway a run on the Village followed by a run on the magic carpet and she still was not feeling it so we downloaded again and she decided to call it a day and go for a swim / sleep and massage (not sure in which order!).

With the lunch plans announced on our WhatsApp group we have running this week I knew I needed to get to Fornet and Le Signal in particular for lunch. I was on my own to get there so I decided to bus it up to Fornet and I arrived in good time for the rest of the team coming in looking a little weather beaten!

Anyway lunch turned into quite the event as R had booked not the downstairs restaurant but the fancy one upstairs... it got even better as one of the boys really really wanted a Cote du Boeuf and with no-one putting their hand up to share it with him my arm was (willingly) twisted. Wow that was an incredible hour of yummy food and a lovely selection of sides. I could not believe the boys still had space for pudding after that but they did - wowsers!

We waddled out a while later and the instructions from the parents were to not only tire the boys out but also to work off the lunch! So we did! We blasted around for an hour and the vis was coming and going up the Fornet but did improve generally and we skied some amazing powder on the pistes as no one was about by this stage as we headed home but the boys really wanted a challenge. Well they asked for it so I gave it to them.... a trip down the the S bumps. All I can say that they virtually had to be carried onto the bus home to La Daille as they were so tired! Haha!

This evening we had a couple friends around for a cuppa, Olivia was at gym club and then it was the usual dinner and kids bed time routine!

This weather will continue being pretty wild the next few days - at some point we might actually Spring!

TTFN

Dumb and dumber! I know lets walk to the top of the Village lift (even though there is a perfectly good sledging track next door) when you are not allowed on the lift with a sledge, then slide down with NO way to control your speed or direction when the slope is full of beginners etc. They'll also be the same people who swear that wearing a helmet to ski a green run where you can control your speed and direction is necessary but not needed when you are flying down a green slope trying not to kill themselves or other slopes users. Bonkers! The usual 'leave your common sense at home' on holiday syndrome! The thing that irks me is that the mother (they were Brits as heard them all talking) who was at the bottom filming thought it was hilarious when they all came off the sleds etc and some of the sleds carried on going for a few metres!! Its also worth mentioning that its very disrespectful to other slope users who (many of them) were paralysed with fear about where and when to go on the slope to practice what they were there for. Doh and grrrr at same time!

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Wind but we could at least see!

I feel pretty shattered this evening so will make it a quick one!

But I was pleasantly surprised looking out the window this morning that it looked like we could actually see the mountain tops - well that makes a change at the moment! However the temps were much higher and the wind was roaring!!! Doh!

Anyway kids out the door to school and everything ready to rock and roll I set off. First up was the same little ones ive had all week and I looked and seeing if getting them up Solaise was a possibility but no way was the wind going to play ball! The issue is that if the wind is bad then they could get beginners up there and then have to close the lift and people would be stuck... so basically we decided not to head Solaise way - Village chair once again it was. The teaching this week has really reminded me of yester-year... long before we had the magic carpet options up top... all we could play with really was the Savonnettes and Village. So today was like that - well this whole week really!

Anyway little T really nailed it today... lots of games and plenty of fun and he really was getting the hang of turning... bravo! Certainly the better and grippier and less fresh snow helped little legs today! Bravo! Swapping to little S and I was a little apprehensive but she got the hang of pizza's today! At 3.5 years old the two of them have done so well this week in tricky conditions! Chapeau! Anyway a successful week. I might have one of them one last time tomorrow - we shall see!

After that it was time to get up high and see what it was like up there... well it was blustery thats for sure up high! We could see though and that was to be celebrated! With a lot of options out because of the wind we had to work out the best combination of snow and shelter from wind! I was trenching the mum and decided that lapping Marmottes would be the best option as the snow was excellent and apart from being head long into the wind going up it would be behind us coming down! Anyway it was really perfect actually! It was nice to give her a freshen up on technique and she was really grateful!

Lunch was taken at Les 3 Caves at the Folie and I must say the pulled pork burger sandwich thing was delicious! The dads tucked into a bottle of red and im pretty sure they would have still been there by the time the place closed! Haha!

However no rest for the wicked as I took the boys out for a pm blast. Well it was supposed to be but I think I tired them out yesterday! Haha! We skied to La Daille and the snow down low was soft and soggy bumps - doh! Quickly uploading on the funi the wind had died off so we were able to get some blasts in on the Grand Pre and all over that part of the mountain before heading back!

I was glad that the link to and from Tignes had reopened again as there were a lot of people Val side from Tignes and vice-a-versa so hopefully everyone got back to their side at some point today!

This evening I have not done too much but as I say it'll be bed time soon! The weather is looking like it will be somewhat juicy tomorrow - hmmm we shall see what the morning brings!

And it is going to get spicy this week and chaotic as Olivia has the British Champs this week - will the weather allow much skiing - hmmm we shall see.

TTFN

Yes thats it brains of britain - lets all 20 of us stand IN FRONT of the 'clear this area quickly' sign with our skis off (just put on before this photo was taken) and totally block the exit of a lift! Nothing like health and safety eh - but at least they all have lids on - pity those lesser able to control their speed and direction might crash into you. I mean seriously - every day you see some dumb back bottom things going on on the mountain but this was todays!

Despite the wind it was actually and OK day weather wise!

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Good luck Olivia!

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@Steve Angus, Top of Grand Pre?

We were stuck on the lift for 25 mins as someone was evacuated from the lift off ramp, perfectly backing up your point.

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After all it is free

Just on way back from a great week in Val. Some fantastic piste conditions and some great off piste as well.
Thanks for the tips and suggestions from my fellow snowheads!

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Fridge03 - awesome glad you enjoyed. See you back next time!

Help!!

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

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