@ringingmaster, think the early morning blasting was to doubly make sure the race route for today is secure, even though, judging by the tables atop Cucumelle BBQ and the trees only looks like 5cm.
@LeLanternVert, tough call because all it takes is one incident to foul things up, as it this morning the Lautaret is completely clear however the snowline was circa 2,000m overnight and for tomorrow it's 1,500m so there will be snow on the road 5-10 which is enough to warrant chains and it looks cloudy / flat light which can also effect driving over the Lautaret; and it being a Sunday I wouldn't guarantee that the commune roads will be cleared till around 08:00, they should clear the Lauatert section though
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Now ski touring up from the Lautaret and in the secteur I'm in no-one around and totally untracked 10cm, have a very knackered mutt who stupidly gave chase to a deer up the other side of the mountain!
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well what started as a very relaxed ski-tour, posting that above, did in fact, become very stressful.
As I was climbing up towards the Galibier road I saw a huge slide had come down right across the road and down into the gulley below which I've never seen before in nigh on 15 years, so I started to get a wee bit paranoid about the conditions, and thought about heading back down.
I decided to carry on and soon became aware of snow-kiters traversing above me, and then I realised what probably caused the slide; the kiters above traversing and cutting the snow, which then started to slide and propagated across the slope.
So I was quite nervous it would happen again, but then I was able to get into better terrain, less exposed, and I started to think about how out of order this was, as many many people ski-tour along the road to get to various lines and here's these guys putting us all in real danger.
As I climbed up onto more of a plateau where the five or so were playing around, I noticed that many didn't have backpacks, so I took my Arva out and went into search mode, and out of the five, only one was transmitting a signal!
I then shouted at one and he came over and I asked him why he didn't have any gear and he said they didn't need it (which is bollox anyway) but I replied what about me if you bury me, and with that I just got a classic Gallic shrug.
Later that evening, I was telling a mate who does a lot of touring up there, and he said I should report the incident to the PGHM, he has now gone on to post on social media about it.
Considering the mank forecast I managed a couple of very good hours before the weather closed in and light became flat, but it was really a case of the early bird etc
And then this morning was nigh on a repeat with snow on the terrace and then another +10cm up top, so it was first lifts with @KenX, and skied our usual stashes and it was so quiet for 90mins or so and then as more people turned up so the snow started to get heavier, so was out with the skins and a couple of climbs to then ski a lovely N face, a great finale to a great morning, and again weather closed in and now rain on the terrace.
The forecast again is very dank, and I really don't think we'll get a third day of unexpected sunshine as it looks like rain/snow all day.
And new skis today, well the same model (Scott Superguide Freetour 104) that I've been skiing the last four years, but now 178's, slightly easier on the kick-turns for my old body
Had a good morning although a bit heavy on the legs down Cucumelle at times but the rest was great. So quiet apart from a queue at Yret lift this morning. There is still so much more of this season to enjoy and rain has now turned to snow up at 1500.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Weathercam wrote:
@ringingmaster, think the early morning blasting was to doubly make sure the race route for today is secure, even though, judging by the tables atop Cucumelle BBQ and the trees only looks like 5cm.
@LeLanternVert, tough call because all it takes is one incident to foul things up, as it this morning the Lautaret is completely clear however the snowline was circa 2,000m overnight and for tomorrow it's 1,500m so there will be snow on the road 5-10 which is enough to warrant chains and it looks cloudy / flat light which can also effect driving over the Lautaret; and it being a Sunday I wouldn't guarantee that the commune roads will be cleared till around 08:00, they should clear the Lauatert section though
Thanks for the steer in the Lauterat. I left an hour earlier than the forecast drive time to give me the option of heading on whatever route suited. There was snow on the car but the road crew were out in Montgenèvre so I headed to Briançon which was pretty clear so I stayed going. Everything was fine until the peak of the Col, where the webcam shows, which was blanketed in fresh snow but the crew were out clearing it as u arrived. Once past that it was good and completely clear before we reached the Les Deux Alps turn.
I’d imagine the conditions were mint for your free riding and touring and hopefully there’ll be more fresh snow to keep you going for the rest of the season.
A great couple of weeks spent in the Valley, with conditions ranging from Winter pow pow to superb Spring snow. Thanks to everyone for your welcome and advice - you know who you are.
A few pics to give a flavor:
^^ Ski touring with the dog.
^^ Unknown skiers steeling my line off one of the tows.
^^ Some of the best Spring snow I've skied in years.
^^ Ski tour dudes.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@AndAnotherThing..,lovely to see you for our walk. We've been having a great time too, although sticking to the pistes on this occasion.Not really sure touring is my thing and I don't really even do off-piste any more. Sticking to my comfort zone now. Have a safe journey home, and hope to see you back out here again.
After all it is free
After all it is free
It often gets to a point towards the end of the season when you just want the sunshine and spring-snow, for at least you know where you're at
Last evening, we were out at the Equilibre circa 19:00, and it was dumping, though as it turned out, only for an hour or so, and it was very slushy, and we awoke to snow on the terrace, the second day in a row, but not bluebird.
I met up with the Monetier Swedes for first lifts and we thrashed down the various pistes with varying levels of "fresh" snow, but lower down was quickly getting heavy and was quite bumpy with the tracks from the previous days, not what I'm used to
My legs were screaming keeping up with one of them and then we decided to take a look off Yret and we opted for Montagnolle and had a classic lost in translation as I suggested skiing down and then skinning back up the Vallon Tabuc but my mate thought that was a suggestion for another day, so I traversed right across missing out on a nice line while he skied down.
Then we hooked up and the run-out was its normal arduous journey not helped by my leaden legs, and not having done it for a while, so was not too sure what to expect around the various bends, and it was a first in that I can't recall a time when there has been no avalanche debris across the run-out from a couple of the couloirs above.
After that it was a quick rest whilst we went back up again and went exploring off Yret down to the lower Jacksons, I left my mate and another Swede who had hooked up with us as I had skins so I carried on down but viz and the snow made for a more challenging descent and then the climb back up in the humid cloud that had rolled in made for a very sweaty climb.
Then, a final thrash came back down, and I was well-fecked.
I think the only people that can really enjoy these conditions are the snowboarders, or you just ski and keep high without going back down, such as what I was managing yesterday.
So now we wait for the all-important freeze/melt, which I think will start tonight, and or first lifts again to ski the piste before taking a look off the back to see what's happening, but the rest of the week is showing potential
@AndAnotherThing.., we'll get some turns in thinking of you
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Well, yesterday, I went looking for some Slack-Country and was a little bewildered as weather conditions were not ideal, in that it was a bit too warm overnight, maybe, and there was cloud building very quickly.
I did a few runs up from Pointillas testing the snow and bumped into a friend who, as he admitted later, had no idea how the aspect and gradient of the slope could cause such a change in the snowpack.
In the end I made the call to go for it, as I was more worried about the ever-increasing cloud, not so much for the lack of a melt as that was already happening, but more to do with the potential of flat light as that would not be lot of fun.
And it was pretty damn good, ok not quite as peach as last week, but still right up there.
Once I'd climbed back up it was time to ski back down the Vallons, circa 13:00 and was that heavy or what!
Think I was the only idiot trying to ski at that time of day
This morning went up to the Lautaret with the OH and mutt and that was very good indeed, perfect spring-snow, and only four others in our sector, totally untracked after the snow at the weekend, though the Pic Blanc sector was mobbed
They've started work on the tunnel before the Col again and there were some pretty major works going on with diggers, earth (snow) removers and trucks transporting it all away, looks like they're going to be working on the roof now.
Then after the ski popped up to Freds and they were already clearing the Galibier road from the looks of things, and then once up there (it was rammed, like High season with zero parking) could see that it was the annual trade show for snow clearing machines, must have been around six different machines!
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
The last two days I've never seen all the parking areas for the various ski-touring sectors so busy, again this must be a by-product of Covid, in that people discovered ski-touring, as well as "working from home" (sic), and maybe conditions nowhere near as good in the Savoie and hence all the Grenobleoise come up, plus there were quite a few Spanish crews in their vans.
Plus as the snowline retreats up from the valleys so options are more limited.
But still loads to do and get away from people, but do keep thinking how lucky we are with the slack-country we have.
Yesterday was en-famille touringwith my daughter and OH.
Trouble is trying to suss a route out that is not too difficult to climb and yet still offers good skiing, and I screwd up with one one route choice which saw us retreating away from what would have involved quite an exposed kick-turn, so we then spent 20mins on kick-turns on easier gradients but when you really need them is invariably when people new to KT's end up in the V of death, sliding backwards
After much "how much further" and various other comments reminiscent of an 8 year old in the car on a long journey we transitioned up on the Galibier road and scored some very sweet spring snow - and a couple of hours later, when all the rattles had been put back in the pram she was well stoked at what she had achieved.
But there is a mental discipline required, and it tends to come with maturity, and that's why you don't tend to see too many younger millennials doing it on a regular basis.
Plus skiing off-piste like that with blind rollers and undulating terrain is quite challenging, especially when she busted her foot last year in her first off-piste forays, but there were some proud dad moments when she was skiing well
This was quite steep and evidently quite daunting for her as she saw the line from the road she had to ski!
You can see the Combeynot face in front of me and all the various sectors, we can't take Mutley there, and as you can just about make out from the skintrack lines, quite a few KT's are required
The weather today is not brilliant; very cloudy up at the Lautaret and now overcast here, I have leant my new neighbour some touring gear this morning as he's taking himself up to the Napoleon and the Izoard.
I think I'll drop the van off at Moneteir and ride back, then take the pack up to Sno for lunch and see the Ski-Mo expo for the big event there this weekend, where they'll be racing 22.7km & over 3k of vertical for the French Ski Team Mountaineering Champs.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Thu 17-04-25 8:34; edited 1 time in total
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
The season is very much drawing to a close now, and it seems that the only people on the slopes mid-week are Brit school children in massive long snakes (counted 14) following their instructors down the piste
Sunday was a very social day, piste skiing and coffee stop in the morning and then a good BBQ just above the French Resto on the purpose built BBQ area there where you can bring your supplies along and cook FOC on the purpose built electroc BBQ's there.
Then it was back down the hill for a very amusing couple of hours sitting outside the Grotte watching skiers and boarders coming down the Mickey and then trying to scoot across 10m of water with often hilarious results, along with a really good party vibe, in fact we all said it was just like ye olde pre Covid days when the Grotte was the place to chill in Spring Apres Ski.
Snow still holding up well though very soft by Noon, that said we had an excellent ski down a nigh on deserted Vallons circa 13:30 after some excellent slack-country where the snow had cooked well, far better than the day before when we were up around the Gardiole and even though the temps were in double figs the chill wind kept the snow hard.
Today is a grey dismal day and we might see a few cms at altitude.
Then forecast is looking very warm and sunny so we'll take one day at a time.
For many geezonaires that only ski in resort most are going back end of this week, but it looks hopefully like touring should be good for a good few weeks as long as the nights are not too mild.
La Grave is now open and that's always an option should we get rain in the valley here, and the Derby is the backend of this week, and at altitude they should maybe see 5-10cms fresh?
A couple of pics from yesterday.
Skiing the final pitch down to the Chambran Valley floor, snow was still hard as it is predominately West facing, but should still be good next week later on in the day.
You can actually see how the snow-pack is showing signs of a freeze/melt cycle going on.
Above my mate there is 450m of perfect W facing snow waiting to transform at the right time and it's superb terrain.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Headlong now towards the final week(s) of the season.
The last four or five days have been very warm/hot, with temps on the terrace reaching +20's and the pistes very slushy by 11:00, but without the hordes they're quite fun to ski without the great bumps of slush, and as I think I've mentioned before the kids don't really notice the slush, and one friend's 8yr old daughter was saying how the conditions were great fun, and even more so when a frog (the amphibian variety) hopped across the piste in front of her.
OH and daughter went up to the Chalet Serre Blanc yesterday as it was the last day of the Prorel sector, everything was 50% off there.
Our last week of the lifts here, and we close next Sunday and then Monetier stays open for another week,. interestingly, the weather looks like a major change towards the weekend and into next week.
Still a lot of Brits around for the Easter holidays and I suspect they will be making up the majority of skiers on the hill this week, but we're talking very few.
As ever more restos had their final day open yesterday that said we have a big thrash at the Cabanne tomorrow.
Had a massive 9hrs day touring in the Ecrins in the heat on Saturday and I was toast, more about that here.
Yesterday, still with very tired legs I drove and left the van just below the Chambran valley, up from Pelvoux, and then rode the e-mtb back as did not have the leg strength for the road bike
The plan is to then take my daughter off the back and ski all the way down with just over a 2km walk along the valley floor back to the van; I think I'm more nervous about it than my daughter & OH as it gets quite gnarly before the final pitch (2nd image above) and we'll have to take that easy as well as waiting for the snow to transform more, which shouldn't be too difficult with all the photos and vids she likes taking
And last week also had a superb tour up the Gardiole where we had 5cm+ of unexpected fresh snow, more about that here
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@Weathercam, great photo of the pooch
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Last day of the season here in our sector of Serre Chevalier; Monetier has a further week, but alas, the weather is grim for today and nigh on all next week, though there is some clutching of straws in that we may well see snow at altitude mid-week, and then on into next week could be Janvril, but that's way too far off to be sure.
So, I think we're definitely passing on going up the hill this morning for a last ski here using the lifts, and we enjoyed a visit to the Chaz yesterday in much better weather than expected with friends, and then later took my daughter to Turin after a stopover for pizza in Claviere.
So will probably take Multley and one of the Jacks for a run up behind us, as it's so steep on the up and down we're nigh on walking anyway, and dank weather doesn't matter.
The past week the weather was glorious, though it did take its toll on the pistes and the Luc was looking very shabby indeed and Le Bez was closed.
However the ski-touring was superb, and early starts were required.
Had one great tour up in the Gardiole sector with my daughter and OH along with Ullr and it was so good that I went back up there again with @KenX the next day and even earlier, but minus Ullr as he was knackered after chasing so many marmots the day before and showed no willingness to want to come out.
I wanted to explore further off the back of the Gardiole than usual, and we could not quite believe what we ended up doing, knowing we would have to skin back up again, but the descent we achieved for a relatively small climb back up was fantastic with super untracked Spring snow, and once back I spent quite a while looking at 3D mapping etc to suss an even better descent, but not too sure when we'll get to do that?
Whilst we were doing that, OH and daughter were skiing off the back doing a couple of descents/ascents etc
So some great footage of Mutley giving chase at various times and daughter skiing the spring snow really well with the pistes of Serre Che in the background, but there again snow like that makes everyone feel like a Goddess
Should add that in the video you can hear me talking to the OH who is quite far off, and that's because we're using the Cardo Packtalk which is great when we're touring with the dog/daughter etc and in off-piste terrain as I will ski ahead and check out a line and then say follow me or not etc.
A Swedish mate in Monetier who likes his food was telling us about a new Italian resto in Monetier, La Trattoria della Sosta.
It was very good, and the owner, turned out is very good friends with some of my neighbours. she loves dogs (has two) and, even better, will be open in the inter-season.
She used to also own one of my favourites in Claviere, the Plein Soleil, before she sold that, and that became the Michi, which has now moved further along the road and is even better now, but was closed yesterday for a private party.
And what's quite amazing is that she commutes every day from Molliere which is just below Cesana!
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@Weathercam, We'll have to give that resto a try!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Can confirm it is pretty grim on the hill today. Poor viz, and it’s raining even up to top of prorel and grand Serre lifts.
We had a fun (ish) run down the casse di boeuf earlier, but if it wasn’t for the fact there’s only monetier sector for the rest of the week I wouldn’t have bothered!
The joys of being confined to school holidays - this is the last year of that, at least!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Since my last post the weather has not been as bad as expected in that we've been able to get out in prolonged dry spells and have even had some glimpses of sunshine, though not enough to tempt us to go up to Monetier to ski.
So we've been running up in the forest behind us, even taking one of the Jacks with us as it's a lot cooler than recently, and there are a fair few streams up there.
Not sure if I've mentioned it before but one of the old houses up there has a number of golf greens, which is all a bit bizarre.
Yesterday was my third consecutive run up there, along with the OH and Ullr, normally if he shoots off after a beastie he eventually comes back, and we can see that via his GPS tracker and using a dog whistle he comes back fairly quickly, but yesterday we could see him coming back as per normal and then just as we could physically see him this deer broke cover above us and that was him off again, this happened once more and we could see in the forest there was some time of feeding station with some old hay, but he's never had the scent there before and acted like that?
From April 15th up to June 15th all dogs are required to be on a leash, to protect young wildlife, though there is no mention of cats, who love to terrorise our birdies!
So will be interesting to see what everyone does in the fields below us in the valley where everyone lets their dogs off. I suspect the best course of action is keep them on the lead until you're well away from where the Police Municipal might possibly be out on their one outing when they feel they have to go and do a control to tick a box on a form etc even then we'll only get a warning, hopefully, but will be sods law to encounter them:?
As for the inbound snow forecast, looking at the webcams there is circa 5cm on the BBQ platform atop Cucumelle and the colder snap with more snow is over the next 48hrs and can see a fresh dusting up at Bachas and looks like the weather has cleared a little, so could be tempted, but think I'll wait it out.
Certainly, the forecast is somewhat unsettled and hopefully, we'll get some decent touring conditions once things settle down.
And should also add, that best to still ski early as what fresh snow is up there will very quickly get heavy as temps rise.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
5cm fresh at top of Monetier but no viz, very windy and only Eychauda lift open.
It was “fun” for a few laps - some nice snow off either side of the piste - then it got too warm and the snow changed.
Sunshine down in the village now. Try again tomorrow.
@willh, yes not at all good, I suspect the other two lifts are closed because of high avy risk, wet heavy snow sliding off etc, though looks like Cibouit might open?
In Briancon there's a great indoor climbing bouldering centre Bloc27 really cool café and restaurant, so that could be an option for you, take the bus etc if you don't have transport
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Yep, you're right, the cibouit has opened (we heard a lot of blasting yesterday afternoon) but expect the visibility is going to be really poor - thanks for the climbing centre tip, daughter is keen - although equally keen to go ski shopping! Tomorrow is our last day so we'll head up regardless. Even if we just ski to Dam's for lunch
After all it is free
After all it is free
@willh, there is nowt wrong with just skiing to Dam's for lunch. Enjoy.
Last edited by After all it is free on Wed 16-04-25 9:14; edited 1 time in total
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
@willh, you can do climbing and shopping - though be warned there's not too much shopping in Briancon to be had, especially clothes shopping for daughters, unless you want to go to ski/climbing shops, though there's an excellent one next door to Bloc27.
It is now stair-rods on the terrace, we don't mind some drizzle for running, but torrential rain is a NO, and forecast(s) predict no let up for the next 36hrs or so.
And as an aside, this has to be one of the best weather graphic interfaces I've come across, and tells the story for the next 36hrs
Well we did go out for a run yesterday when there was a bit of a lull in the rain.
I was hoping that overnight the temps would drop and the rain would turn to snow as that's been happening elsewhere in the alps lower than here but alas this morning as I let the dogs out that was not the case, but it was however turning to snow along with a strong wind and and indeed in the last couple of hours the temps have dropped two degrees and it's snowing quite hard, at times and just about laying.
So looks like a good top up but elsewhere will be very dangerous with the wet claggy snow and wind as the snow will purge/slide of steeper gradients especially where the rocks are still warm.
The forecast is still very unsettled going forward but tomorrow could be Bluebird so will have to work out the best / safest options.
Caught the first lifts up only to find there was nothing else open (not even the drag lift in the trees!)
Still, 5-10cm of fresh on top of the pistes was fun, mostly. My daughter is slowly getting the technique for skiing in fresh snow but it’s still not her preferred conditions!
Eventually (after a couple of laps and a stop at Dam’s) the Eychauda opened with lots of deep snow to play in but not much visibility and very very windy.
In 20+ years one of the worst weeks I can remember for weather, but it’s always good to be back in Monetier. Home tomorrow.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@willh, temptation got the better of me as the weather seemed to clear, so went up circa 11:30 but to late, had some decent turns first 250m down the piste skiers right of the slalom but quickly went to cement.
Really don't know what to do tomorrow as snow will just be too heavy for touring and need to go low angle with nothing above, so will probably give it a go driving up to snowline on Granon road to circa 2100m.
Chapeau to you and the family for persevering this week in the grim conditions!
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
