 Poster: A snowHead
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Jamie, Managed to get back to resort ok on thursday. Would be good to meetup drop me a pm when you are back out..
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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An uneventful journey back to Lyon, apart from bumping into a couple of sailors I knew at baggage reclaim - they were heading out to La Grave for a long weekend, and are then heading to Peisey in early march so we promised to meet for a beer in the squirrel.
Top tip for those easyjetting into Lyon and then picking up a hire car with baggage - if you walk following the 'car hire signs' then you have to walk all the way through terminals 1 and 2 past all the shops and it's a right pfaff. So just hop on the bus for Parking and it runs round to the other terminal, hop off and hop on the 'car hire shuttle bus' as rather bizarrely this doesn't run from outside terminal 3. Hopefully this will change when the refurb of terminal 1 is completed at the end of '09, but at the moment, especially if you're travelling on your own it's definitely the thing to do.
Stopped at the Super U after albertville (junc 32) as I prefer it to the casino which is just a bit too large for my liking. Cheap petrol/diesel too which is a bonus. Made it up to resort around 13:00 and then had to hunt around a bit for a parking space - the days of being able to park right outside my front door have gone for a week or two. Quick bowl of soup and out for a 'refresh on the slopes in the afternoon' - found it a bit hard to start with, the snow felt quite ungrippy as it was a bit 'icing sugary' but I think it was more my lack of practise over the last few days and certainly the feet didn't like the boots and the leg muscles were aching a bit quickly. Lovely day and not silly silly busy despite it being half term. Check the photo below of the main run into 1800 at 3pm in the afternoon.
I headed down to 1800 to see the jump ramp they'd built for the 'LA Sessions' that night - it was INSANE -
check the relative height of the jump compared to the people on it - definitely one for the profis. Quite a lot of the crew were heading over to watch the sessions, but as I find it intensley dull (after the 1st 3 jumps) and had only managed 4 hours sleeep the night before, I headed home for an early night.
Friday more of the same - blazing sunshine and really warm, so I headed out about 11 with just a base layer, thin gilet and a shell on my top half, and no need for thermal leggings on the bottom. Not much of a plan in my head but wanted to get some runs in before it got busy around 2pm. Headed over to 2000 and did a couple of laps of the bumps off plagnettes, and then did a couple of laps of ariandelieres before heading to the grand col. View from the lift
At the top took refuge (the black) as it didn't look like the bumps were too solid, and having not done it before it's always good to tick off new runs. It was good fun, and I got down it without too many issues which was pleasing. Definitely felt like I had got my ski legs back by now, especially as I was engaging my downhill ski edge a little more coming out of the turn - a fault John (NewGen) picked me up on a couple of weeks ago, and one of those lazy habits I need to be aware that I do so that I correct accordingly.
Come 2pm I'd previously decided to head for home as it was 1/2 term and 'crazy friday' was going to be the order of the day - and headed down to Nancroix to give the cross-country skiing a go. Several of the seasonaires have given it a whirl and enjoyed it, so I though it would be a good alternative for busy slope afternoons, and very good for the fitness. How hard could it be - I mean I watched Martin Bell do it on high altitude and it didn't look like the skiing was that taxing, but clearly was physically knackering the amount he was doing. Hmm well it reminded me of my first efforts at snow-boarding, get going 2 yards and fall on yer back bottom. Deeply humiliating!! With the boot being more like an over-size trainer and with no calf support, it's really easy to over balance backwards and down you go hard! Because the skis are very narrow and don't have edges then they really run, and the most gentle of downhill bits seems a scary prospect. Still by the end of a couple of hours I could do a lap of the 'nursery slope' without falling down so I guess that was progress. Next time I might take a lesson however, as I definitely need tips on downhill and also on the uphill how to switch from the 2 pole push to the 'walking' motion you see them doing in the winter olympics. Still an enjoyable variation on sliding and one I'll give another go to, but i'll probably take the snowboarding bum pad and wrist guards next time!
Saturday was another slow start for me, as I was a bit battered bruised and tired from the x-country attempts, so I headed out for around 11:30, and very early on I had my run-in with the gobby 14 yr old french kid as documented here. I did a couple of more runs on my own and then caught up with a bunch of the skibeat nannies including a couple over from la Plagne. I then seemed to get elected 'tour guide' - I guess being the only boy helped! and so took the group on a bit of a tour around the mountain for the rest of the afternoon - good fun and amusing company. Saturday night was relatively quiet - went to the pub for a bit but when the pissheads were all pushing onto the mont blanc I decided listening to drunken burblings of'gghrrhhggg wicked fdska' was getting a bit tedious so called it a day.
Sunday different day - less good visibility and snowing gently, although at times during the day was falling as rain upto 2300. Got out for a few hours, not that special, but good to practise on the flatter light. soft legs I kept telling myself and it seemed to work. Heading to GVA for a bit to pick a mate up so didn't cane it that hard.
Goood to be back and on the mountain.
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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?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Alastair Pink, Cheers for that...
Trip to GVA uneventful. Quick drink in the pub when back, and call it a day.
Monday crappy visibility - but got out to join the hordes - totally rammed on the pistes and lift queues. Did some stuff mainly around peisey as the vis was better then went up the transarc to do the boarder cross, but on the run back to peisey found myself on gd. renard wondering if I was on the right piste.. weird. Then later in the day managed to get lost getting from the top of a lift to the Arpette - probably done that run 20 or more times so far this season, and still got a bit lost. Ended up in the montblanc @4pm for a beer, and then once the queues had died off skied home. Pub Quizz was good fun, but still not managed to win it!!
Tuesday was up for 9 to ride with my mate Adam and another seasonaire, got a text saying he was in bed as hungover - so we went off and found some fun stuff. Spent a couple of hours on gd. col doing the black and variations lots and lots,. as the lift lines were low. Had a bit of a moment offpiste (Arc2000 bowl, to the right as you go up arcabulle) - hit a soft patch and went over the front and dropped about 20 yds down the slope from my ski. Tough walk back up the hill and then really struggled to get the skis back on in the soft stuff, so had to toboggan about 30 yds to where it was harder so I could get up and running again - mare!
Then come around 1:30 headed down to the varet and up the cable car, then tried to do Villaroger without stopping..tooo hard. Had to have 2x 30 second pauses as the thighs were screaming. Good time to get to Villaroger (2:15) as la ferme was pretty empty. Then on the way back contemplated whether to drop off the 2nd lift and head to comborciere, but decided the q would be massive so did reservoir into 2000 in stead, and then down to bois de lours. Really annoying how the frenchies don't fill up the chairs when the lifts lines are out the gates - so many chairs went up with 2/3/4 when it's a 6 seater! So busy and now quite cold that we decided to call it a day and headed home for around 16:00.
How many people are stopping in the middle of the piste - it's ridiculous...you wouldn't stop in the middle of a motorway so why stop in the middle of a piste - muppetts!!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Quote: |
how to switch from the 2 pole push to the 'walking' motion you see them doing in the winter olympics.
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I think what they do in the olympics is the "skating" variety - not the same as the "classic" which you do in tracks (or out of them when it's steeply downhill, because you need to snowplough with both legs, or do "turning steps" when you get advanced. You can only do the "half snowplough" described above on very gentle descents). I think that for "skating" you have different skis, and spend hours on internet forums debating how to wax them.
Definitely need lessons to do more than shuffle around on the flat, which is pretty boring.
I agree it's much more difficult than it looks - I have great admiration for people you see on X-country skis round the blue runs in the alpine area. There's no point in those flat-as-a-pancake valley bottom loipes. Might as well go for a good walk, or yomp up a hill on snowshoes.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Tuesday night was live music night in the squirrel which was great fun...
Wed - had a bit of a lie-in and then headed out about 11 to meet up with some other seasonaires. Grat fun - did a couple of runs off derby, then gd col and varet and some other bits and pieces in the 2000 bowl. Despite the queues it was good fun, then we headed to comborciere around 13:20 and there was no queue! Got persuaded down malogvert which was interesting - fell over on one section as was a bit on my heels, still was good to do something a little more challenging. Then lunch in the arpette.
Come the arvo, several people had to run back to work or to sleep off the hangovers. So with Adam and Ed did a few runs before ending up going thru the park. On the bumps at the bottom of the park Adam lost a ski - as it turned out the rear binding had broken so he couldn't engage his foot properly. The mounting plate that allows the binding to be moved a little back and forward fractured, which is a bit surprising on 4 year old skis that have done probably 12 weeks. Actually given the sking we'd done it was probably the best place for it to break, as we could get onto the run to 1600 and then turn left onto gollet down to 1800. A quick trip round the shops in 1800 and no reasult, so adam had to 1 foot it down the flat blue to vallandry and go for a beer in the blanc, where I bombed ahead and went home to get the car. A quick tour of the shops of vallandry and no success - then tried the biggers sport 2000 (just down from the vanoise) - pas de problem monsieur - they had the part and it would be 10 euros for it to be fitted...
So a bit of a bummer as the arvo wasn't a fulfilling as it could be but there could have been many worse places for it to break - I wouldn't have fancied walking out from near the top of malgovert for example...
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*** BROKE MYSELF ***
OK so not a bad score - after 10 weeks or so I only had a few aches and pains / sprains but today was the day I broke myself (mildly). I wasn't feeling full of the joys of spring when I woke up but with Adam here felt I needed to head out with him, especially as most of the other seasonaires were staying in bed prior to heading down to Peisey for an expression session & Bar B-Q come 12ish. So we'd done a few runs and all was ok, then getting to the top of arcabule felt we needed to kill some time before heading to grand col, as the sun wasn't out on it yet.
So Adam went off along the ridge line and I headed down tuffes - got to the bit where it gets a bit steeper (and bumpier), and felt I was doing well, so didn't bother traversing across to plagnettes. about 4 turns later, I found myself eating snow and what was worse one ski came off but the other didn't and I was effectively 'kissing' the front off my ski over-extending my calf muscle something rotten. Picked myself up and went 'shugar that hurts' or words to that effect. I managed to traverse across to the slalom piste, where the ESF where running some races for the 'end of the week kids' and I slid down the edge before ducking back away from the piste when the bumps had disappeared. So I gingerly slid down to plagnettes lift to meet up with Adam and then told him that it was 'game over' for the day. We took the lift up together and then I gently slid back to peisey grimacing on every turn. I managed to find some ice courtesty of the squirrel so I went home and iced the calf whilst watching another 24 session.
Not sure Adam had that great a day either - his other binding broke halfway down malgovert - so a bit of a walk out until he got to the blue and was able to manage to kind of fix it so he could ski back to peisey. Unfotunately the ski-tech in the shop that fixed his other ski the day before said "poubelle" when being shown the bits from the now fairly disintegrated binding. Oh well lets see if he can fix it tonight otherwise he'll need to hire tomorrow...
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Come friday, I was a bit buggered so it was time for plan b. I spent most of the day drinking tea and watching jack bauer. Adam went skiing with a bunch of the peisey seasonaires in the morning and in the afternoon I'd arranged for him to meet up with Snowcrazy to show him some more interesting stuff, and as a pre-amble to saturday. Friday night was reaonably unevetful although the squirrel was busier than some other saturday nights.
Saturday, Adam headed out early doors to meetup with SC again and his mates and do some more interesting runs, like the route from gd. col down to villaroger. He seemed to enjoy himself for sure! I was not sure whether my leg was upto it but it was such a lovely day that it would be rude not to pop out for a bit. I did check out my calf muscles in the mirror and the stretched one was definitely double the size of the one that hadn't been stretched. I went out about 11:30 and actually stayed out to 16:30 which was a bit daft but I was having fun fun fun. The leg seemed to be ok, but where it struggled was a times when trying to engage the edge, and also when hitting the ruts a bit too quickly. So after taking the first couple of runs gently I ramped the speed up a bit. for the later runs. I caught up with a couple of the skibeat nannies for waffles in 1950 and then skied with them for a couple of hours. Super warm, was sking without hat or gloves and just a base layer and shell. The snow was lovely, nice and soft but not too wet. Only slight downside was 100 yds up from the bottom on the last run of the day, one of the nannies being taken out by a nutter on a board on l'ours, causing her to fall hard on her coccyx.
Caught up with the crew in the squirrel for a few apres beers, prior to going to La Vache for dinner, which was fabulous as usual!!
Sunday leg was pretty sore from the day before, so I've spent most of the day chilling, and now sitting down to watch the carling cup final..,
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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.
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bertie bassett, .....hopefully with your leg up & wrapped in ice 
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Poor BB,
get better soon! X-country is great once you get the knack and very good for you downhill technique (balance etc) so impressed that you've had a go.
Regarding gobby 14 year olds - in Canda he'd have had his pass taken away from him for skiing like this - even without the accident. Perhaps French ski patrol should be doing something similar in these sort of bottle necks. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| bertie bassett wrote: |
Only slight downside was 100 yds up from the bottom on the last run of the day, one of the nannies being taken out by a nutter on a board on l'ours, causing her to fall hard on her coccyx.
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So the sad news was that the nanny in question, dislocated her coccyx and now can't board for 3-6 weeks, which considering there's probably only 7 weeks left is a real shame. She's also been signed off work for a week or so.....and it wasn't even her fault.
So sunday evening after watching the annoying carling cup final - good result though, went to La Refuge in Vallandry for dinner which was good although complaints were heard to be made about the depths (or lack of them) of the tartiflette dishes. Then a few bevvies in Jimmys before heading home.
Monday adam made 1st lift, and I me up with him a bit later - calf was still pretty sore which made it tricky in the flat light, as you couldn't see the bumps. Bit more sun initially in the 2000 bowl so did ariadelieres and then gd. col a few times. On a run back to plagnettes to meet another mate, came across where the two blues join - and there was just a solid wall of people all the way across the piste!! Probably a total of 50 or 60 people stopped randomly and completely blocking any possible path along the piste....FFS what is wrong with these morons.. It's not like the off-piste is soft so if you want to stop, try stopping 2 yds outside the poles..
My leg was sore, and so after a quick chocolat chaud with Adam and another mate in the arpette, I left them to go and do rouelles and other crazy stuff, and headed gently home.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Mon 2-03-09 15:41; edited 1 time in total
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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.
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| bertie bassett wrote: |
| ... dislocated here coccyx ... |
I didn't realise it was possible to do that. Sounds painful!
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| bertie bassett wrote: |
| ... dislocated here coccyx ... |
I didn't realise it was possible to do that. Sounds painful! |
Yep she's now having to sit on a rubber ring..rather like a small 'bathing ring' whenever she sits down..
When are you back out here?
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You know it makes sense.
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Next week, Monday or Tuesday.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Hi, have been enjoying reading your reports. I wondered if you could help I wanted to know if it is possible and if so how easy it would be to get from Les Arc 2000 to Vallandry by the resort bus,as I want my wife to have some decent ski lessons. She has only skied for a week and there is no way she could get there on her own on ski's. Any info greatly appriciated and fingers crossed for some more snow.
many thanks, Andy
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I don;t think it's possible sorry, resort buses run between Arc 200, arc 1600, and Arc 1800 as far as I can recall. To get to Vallandry you;d have to get the Funicular into BSM and get a local bus or taxi. THere will be a ski school in Arc 2000 for sure.
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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?
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thanks for the reply I thought it might be a problem
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| andyoxon wrote: |
Hi, have been enjoying reading your reports. I wondered if you could help I wanted to know if it is possible and if so how easy it would be to get from Les Arc 2000 to Vallandry by the resort bus,as I want my wife to have some decent ski lessons. She has only skied for a week and there is no way she could get there on her own on ski's. Any info greatly appriciated and fingers crossed for some more snow.
many thanks, Andy |
Not possible mate - the resort bus only links Arc 2000 / 1950 / 1600 and 1800. Peisey Vallandry is on the other side of the valley and so the only way of getting their in the winter is on skis or to drive to bourg st. M and then drive up the road to Peisey-Vallandry which could take about 45 minutes.
So options - if you have booked private lessons (and it's not a busy week) then it might be possible for the instructor to meet her in 2000. Would probably not take more than 30 minute for them to get there, but this might not fit in with a tight lesson schedule.
Spirit Ecole de Ski in 1950 seems to get quite good reviews so I would try them - http://www.spirit1950.com/en/index.aspx
Don't tell your wife but personally I think 1950 / 2000 is probably the worst of the les arcs resorts for 1 weekers. Why? well
a) It's very flat in places, therefore improvers that cant / don't like 'taking some speed' will end up walking.
b) Pretty much all 'learner' pistes (with the exception of the run down to 2000 from St. Jacques) are through pistes so you get people ragging thru which is intimidating for a beginner.
c) The learner lifts (with the exception of Marmottes) are pretty slow and are also used by non-learners as per point (b)
d) theres not much to do off-slope.
So if she's still smiling by the end of the week, then do her a favour and book next year in Peisey-Vallandry or Arc 1800..
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Got up today and found my calf was really reaally painful, took drugs, read a book and went back to bed.
Got up about 11:30 had a bruch and read a book for a while. Went to squirrel come 13:00, one of the other seasonaires said he'd done one run it was so rubbish, so decided to go back home and do some more DVD action. Drank T, went to the laundrette. The soft snow seems to be creating more aches & sprains, 'Massage Me' are run off their feet and I saw a British car in vallandry this arvo - 3 people, 1x fractured wrist, 1x ACL, 1x ok.
That's about it - thrilling day, but hopefully their will be some snow overnight and I can get the board out tomorrow..got another mate turning up tomorrow night..
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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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.
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| jomo wrote: |
It's Sunday afternoon, it's just started to rain and I'm (meant) to be working from home  . Very glad to hear you're sitting in the sun, eating nice food at Villaroger and have fresh snow. Done Etoiles or the black down the slow lift into 2000 yet? If not, put down that tarte aux pommes and get bump bashing!!!! |
Well I just had to rub it in a bit...
So thursday was a 2-sport day, visibilty wasn't great so got the board out for a couple of hours just to remember how to do it, as my mate Ed was coming out that night. Then switched back to skis later in the day as given the vis, felt a bit better on skis. Don't think I did much more that just pottle around the derby. That night just chilled waiting for Ed to arrive, but as he's such a hard worker he was in the office til 5pm, and so didn't land till gone 10:30pm in Lyon, so I spent most of the evening zonking on the sofa, alternatively falling asleep / waking up till he arrive around 1:30, of course then it was time for the obligatory beverage and shooting the breeze before heading to our separate beds..
Friday the vis was rubbish, so after a bit of a lie-in then we got up and went to see Beatrice in Sport 2000 to get him all setup. I grabbed my board too and we went riding together. Given that Ed hadn't boarded for a couple of years and the rubbish visibility we took it gently so he could get his legs in, and then picked it up a little doing laps of the derby and venturing into the easy off-piste. Unfotunately about 12 noon I caught an edge going down bellette and went down hard, landing mainly on my ribs close to my sternum. ouch that hurt, or words to that effect, so I slid to the side of the piste and then rested up for a couple of minutes to get my breath back. Don't think I'd broken them but it's v. painful and so I then had to take it easier for the rest of the day. Found that pushing myself up when falling over was really really hard, so tried not to fall over that much. Sacked it off about 4:30 and went home, battered and bruised but found some drugs to take which helped.
Saturday again looked rubbish vis-wise so again didn't rush to make 1st lift. Took my skis as less likely to fall over and break myself (more) and with the aid of the happy pills then found I could just about pole plant, but poling the flats was impossible. I probably shouldn't have been out on the slope but with Ed out, and with the rubbish vis, he was very keen to have a tour guide to show him the way around. Started off at the Derby and played around there for a bit - going up the lift wathcing people ski bellette, had the amusing experince, given the whiteout conditions of watching people 'ski in the sky' - as you couldn't tell where the sky ended and the piste began it was very surreal..Headed down to 1800 for a chocolate chaud, which we chose to have in the blue bar, on the front below the vagere lift. Very nice place it was too, went inside and it was quite warm and funky...but blimey.. 5 euro for a choco chaud is a bit steep. Played around on golf for a bit as the vis was improving, and it had been pisted so I could get down it on my skis and ed could play in the soft-stuff round the edges. Headed down to 1600 and did Cachette, Mont Blanc and Arolles before heading to 3 arcs for lunch, but getting their around 14:30 on a saturday!! was too late and the only thing on the menu was burger and chips, still that hit the spot and then when we headed back out the sun had come out!! ok so not super warm but still nice and much easy to see what was going on. Pushed it on til 5 doing some 'random' skiing and then came home via combe and retour combe so we could book dinnner la vache. A cheeky apres pint in the squirrel rounded off a day that was a lot more fun that it promised.
Sunday and the sun was out - I was still broken as my ribs were in pain..perhaps going to the medical centre would be a good idea, but having previously done my ribs I know there's not a massive amount they can do. Still take the pills and get on with it. Headed too 2000 bowl and did some runs off the trannie, before heading down to Varet and Ariandelieres the across to Gd Col, where Ed loved the off-piste potential.. Come 12:40 was going to take the cable-car to the top, but given the number of day trippers in resort the queue was probably 25 minutes so we sacked it off and headed down to lanchettes. Nice run down to villaroger from the top of lanchettes. I was dodging the bumpy bits, but then on Lys there were so many people that had been down it, that berms were forming on the hair-pin bends. The Ag. Rouge red below Solliett resto was closed for a race-meet (thank god) so we found some better snow on the black. Stopped in La Ferme for lunch and grabbed a couple of spaces on the end of a table with a bunch of Germans / Austrians. So gave me a chance to practise my German, and interestingly enough there were from Munich but preferred to ski France compared to St. Anton / Isghl and similar as the preffered the length of the vertical you can get and thought the snow was generally better this time of year (although based on my mates reports from the arlberg I'm not sure I'd agree with that.)
On the way back, did the 'tour guide' run down past 1950 stopping to show the high street. It was amazing how busy that run was, lots of very nervous beginners and given it was warm it was chopping up which didn't help. Unfortunately a few 'show-offs' had to blast thru as well so it was a bit sketchy. Then hopped on Bois De L'ours as the q was probably no more than 10 people which made a nice change from previous weeks. I could tell by this stage that Ed was starting to tire, and given he had some work to do we gently cruised back to Peisey. Went upto La Vache so Ed could use their WiFi (more reliable than squirrel) and 10 minutes after getting the laptops out, the door opened and in walked then younger sister of Ed's Best Man who was out on a weeks holiday with her hubby - pretty random meeting that's for sure. So and hour of catching up and talking about runs etc and then I exchange numbers with them, as we have a plan to meet up later in the week perhpas for a trip to la plagne. Great day, helped by the fab snow conditions and clear visibility.
The visibility didn't help everyone though - from Lanchettes we a heli hovering off to our right. We spotted some people on the cliffs between genepi and robert blanc pistes, and the heli was winching people up one by one. Looking at where the skiers had ended up I reckon they'd found the 'now way out' run and actually were completely unable to get down. Now correct me if I'm wrong but at the top of the cliffs where the spilt is with arandelieres going left and ag rouge right, then don't the signs there say 'don't go off-piste as you put your life and the life of rescuers in danger" (or something close to that)
I reckon someones credit card would have taken a hammering today to pay the heli toll...let alone the bollockig they would have got from the pisteurs...
More snow forecast over the next couple of days, hopefully won't be before Ed heads down the mountain tomorrow afternoon..
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Nice freshies, but poor visibility. My ribs still feeling pretty sore so taking it easy today. Ed went out for a couple of hours, and then we went for lunch in Le Solan which was rammed, Ed then left to drive back to the airport as had an evening flight back.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Fell asleep on the sofa so didn't make quizz night, and no chance to retain the trophy. Tuesday was much like Monday, but I got out for a couple of hours. Didn't push it too hard as was still feelling a bit sore.
And then came Tuesday night - generally in the squirrel these are good fun, but this one was pretty special - given it was Jade's Birthday and Laura was leaving at the weekend, then a fancy dress theme of 'pimps and ho's' was the call. So out with the dressing up box to dig out the pimp gear, pull out a lairy shirt and shave a dodgy 'columbian drug-dealer moustache' instead of the grizzly mountain dog look I had going on. So suitable pimped up I hit the pub. Wow is about the only word I can use - I hand't realised that the female chalet hosts / nannies etc, had managed to pack so many pairs of fishnets, hotpants and bustiers..they definitely all pull off the working girl look. A bit more concerning was the odd rep (male) who had gone for the full on gimp look together with improvised gimp mask made of limes and pieces of string. Still with the dressing up, that made everyone more up for it and the night just went off. lots of dancing, lots of drinking and other shenanigans until the wee hours.
After that Wednesday was a slow start, and whilst it was a powder day, I was still somewhat broken and so only headed out for a couple of hours around lunchtime. On-piste was still quite hard work, as every time I hit a bump (frequently) my ribs went 'ow' so I spent most of my time on the softer stuff at the edge of the piste. Got back in the arvo and headed down to BSM for some shopping. Popped into the 'tech' shop near McD's and impressed myself by asking in french for something to clean the screen of a laptop computer - and got a reply in English..bug...
Managing now to cough and sneeze without dying in pain so hopefully in a couple of days I'll be able to really pick up the pace on the skiing front - not that many weeks left now after all!
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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.
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Thursday was another sunny day, and feeling a bit less broken headed out to see what was happening on the slopes. Seriously warm, managed to ski in just a base layer, gilet & Shell jacket. Crusied around from 10-12 on my own just trying to find my mojo as I had lost it largely due to being broken and was therefore feeling a little tentative. Still having got out around 10 the pistes were nice and firm, and not that busy so I managed to pick it up a little and get my eye and hips back in to the swing of it. Did a couple of runs down bellette where I let it rip and was feeling much better. Then disaster, heading down to 1800 from the mid-station I had the hammer down and then caught the inside edge of my uphill ski...shugar..ok I've rescued it..oh no I haven't..damn this is going to hurt .and then all I saw was 'piste, sky, piste, sky' as I fell completely back bottom over tit. It was pretty spectacular - poles went one way, one ski the other and the other ski elsewhere - that good a fall I got a round of applause from a passing chair, prior to asking if I was ok. Bizarrely I was fine - all I'd bruised was my ego and so I got up dusted myself down and then set off rescuing my kit. Good job I was ok, as otherwise I would have been well fed up if I'd done any more damage.
Come 12 headed back to the suqirrel as the plan had been to hook up with a couple of the guys for an afternoon session, however they'd already gone out and after a quick exchange of text messages, it was clear they had a more hardcore agenda than I was looking for. So I took the opportunity to ski for while with one of the masseuses who just happened to be hanging out in the pub. We didn't do to much together as she'd hit it hard on the wednesaday, but we did a quick tour of all the main points round the mountain, before I left her at the base of the derby and headed back up. My plan was to do the same again, but once in the 2000 bowl I randomly came across another seasonaire who worked in Jimmys so hooked up with her and did a few runs. Ariandelieres was quite hard, very chopped up in the sunchine and with qiute big lumps. Come 4pm I was pretty tired so decided to head for home - took gd. renard back from the top of Arcabulle and in places it was horrible, very very bumpy and threw you off-balance and one or two people being lunatics by speeding when people ahead were taking it slowly. Still got home and fell asleep about 5 minutes after getting out of the shower. Didn't make it out that night but by all accounts it was a good one..
Friday, another lovely day so headed over to la-plagne for a day of 'runs I haven't been on before' - so it was just a game of 'random skiing' but deliberately trying to take 'unusual lifts' and pistes I hadn't been down this season. Didn't quite hang together as a circuit but I ticked a number of them off my list, so pretty good going. Felt like spring had arrive - no gloves or hat, open jacket for most runs and a nice pink triangle section on the top of my chest where the zipped base layer was a little undone...feeling a little sore know as the pistes were chopping up so much that it was hard hard wok on the legs and knees.
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Saturday woke up feeling broken, so had the day off and watched the footie instead, but being a Man-Utd fan this was a little pointless..
Having had saturday off, I was up for doing a lot on the Sunday which dawned to blue skies and warm tempaeratures. Had arranged to meet up with Eamon & Joan who had a posse over from Ireland, so we duly met at the bottom of 2300 and then set off to go up the Aiguille Rouge. Got there fairly readily and despite there being what looked like quite a long queue (a good 20 yds outsdie the station) then 'cattle pens' were not being used inside the station and so I think we had to wait for only a couple of cars to go up prior to getting on ours. The views from the top were wonderful and so the cameras came out. After that it was time for the run down to villaroger - as it was a sunny sunday this was quite a popular run for the day trippers - for some reason they all seem to like ag. rouge to villaroger on their day trips (along with gd. col) so dodging the traffic we nipped down the hill. There's always choices on this route, I prefer to take the black higher up, and given my leg still didn't feel 100% after my last brush with the bumps I avoided the bumps higher up, and took a crew to avoid the bumps lower down (where lys is the alternative route). Getting as far as Solliet we stopped for a choclate chaud, and at 4.90 euro, I won't be doing that again! Below Solliet I've usually chose then Red (ag rouge) which usually has dodgy snow, but this time took the black Solliet as I'd previously checked it as not being too tricky, and it really doesn't warrant more than a red designation in my book - not harder than the steeper bit of Bellette for example.
So after returning back up the hill, it was down to comborciere for a slow chair up and then to take it back down, although I opted out and chose to do Arolles and Cachette before catching up with the crew for lunch in the Arpette.
After lunch, Eamonn insisted on us doing Comborciere again, and listening at the reports of 'not that hard' from the rest of the crew, I gave it a go for my first time on skis. Coming from the Arpette you take clocheret lift up and then go down Muquet which joins onto Comborciere. The run itself was quite cut up - but to some extent that was an advantage, the warmer weather had softened all the bumps, which made them more forgiving - if you got it wrong and hit a couple of bumps in turn, then rather than being shaken around and possibly (in my case) ending up in a heap they were a lot more forgiving. Pretty tiring however! We then headed over to the varet and did a run down Ariandelieres before heading to Gd. Col. c. 4pm the clouds had covered the sky, and sking in just a base layer and a shell jacket (yes that warm) it had got too cold and it was time to run for home.
Quite a good day - 3 blacks ticked off the piste map, all of which I hadn't done before so not a bad effort.
Monday headed outjust after 10 without much of an agenda, so headed down to 1800 initially - the run down there which had been based and frozen overnight was boiler plate hard and realy quite dodgy - one moment you're cruising on softer snow, then next second you're sliding sideways on ice. Headed up high and did a 'lap of the mountain' heading down to 1600 and then back over the top upto the Col De la Chal and then down to the Varet. Did Ariandelieres again, which was more like the race track and then headed for the Comborciere chair. At the top I then took the run of the same name, so that I could say I've done it from the top and it was pretty much like yesterday, soft and slushy in parts and a bit firm in the non-sunny parts. Given it was then about lunchtime, I decided to head home for a spot of lunch. From the top of the Comborciere lift it took me 25 minutes to get back to Plan-Peisey, which shows that it's not hard to get from one end of the mountain to the other. Havin lunch in just my boardies on the balcony was nice too! Headed back out around 2:40 to take some photos, and do some more runs. Straight after lunch, I had an extra 15m walk before I could put skis on due to the melting snow which is disappointing! Headed over to the water splash above the arpette, but didn't manage to get a photo of someone giving it a go, although I had previously spotted om a UCPA instructor blasting across it - showing off to his clients, although he'd probably done it on previous seasons.
At the top of the Areptte lift headed over into the 2000 bowl and did a number of random runs, plagnettes, tuffes etc and took a few photies. Then come 16:30 found myself at the top of the Varet, with view to doing Ariandelieres again, but given the Ag. Rouge was still open, I headed up there again. The challenge was to make it back to Bois De L'ours by 17:15 otherwise I would have been stuck in the wrong valley. obviously I didn't hang around to take photos, but I noted the number of pisteurs that were accumulating at the top of the cable-car, ready to do the end-of day sweep (or just enjoy the weather!). So I headed headed straight down the moutain. Parts of the narrow sections had become a bit bumpy in parts, and quite hard work, but there wasn't the number of hooligans blasting thru which made it easier. Avoiding the tempations of Genepi and Robert Blanc, I blasted down Reservoir, having to dodge a few punters going slowly at the right hand turn (annoying) then up and over the flagpole bump and down to Bois De L'ours making it at 16:50 so with a good 25 minutes to spare. At the top I had more time for photos, and then leaving at 17:05, I wanted to try and make the Derby as last lift which I made with 2 minutes to spare (17:15) - good job I have that route down pat. At the top of the lift I was still enjoying the weather, so headed down to a picnic bench and stopped to enjoy the sunshine. About 15 minutes later the lifts had stopped, the pistes were empty and it had gone beautifully quiet, I stopped to setup a couple of photos, and then headed down enjoying the peace and quiet which was only disturbed by the swish of my own skis on the mountain. Wasn't quite the last one down - had seen about 5 other people on the mountain, apart from pisteurs doing their end of day checks.
Nice end of day
Won the pub quizz too!
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You know it makes sense.
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bertie bassett, good report and nice photo.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Tuesday was another later start, as it helps to let the snow to soften a little as it's more fun...caught up with a couple of boarders that were heading out from the squirrel so we cruised around for a couple of hours. I was on skis as my ribs were still a little sore, but it was pretty amusing watching them jibbing off everything. One of the guys (James) in particular was really good at jumping of any little bump and pulling 180's or 3's as the height was availble. I tried to take some video whilst charing down the slopes behind them but it proved to be practically impossible to keep them in shot whenever I went over a bump. Did some good runs round into 1600 and then headed back across to clair blanc lift. Randomly bumped into some other seasonaires in the queue and then headed down into the park with them. Not for me the jumps (too old and rubbish for that) but it was pretty amusing watching them throwing them off stuff. After a couple of runs thru then it was time to hit up the watersplash
or
but not everyone made it!
Whilst the crew headed in for a beer, I decided to do so more solo skiing and found some bits and pieces to challenge myself on before heading home around 5:15 - in this warm weather I'm really enjoying the 'last run of the day' as it's just a lovely feeling on deserted slopes, with the sunlight glinting through the trees. Paddys Night was epic - full of silly hats, leprechaun suits and god knows what all, but the Squirrel was silly busy so I called it a day around 1am.
Funnily enough it was a bit of a slow start on Wedneday, headed out around lunchtime after meeting the st. Patricks day part 2 pissheads in the suirrel - a number of the other seasonaires were going for hair of the dog to cure their hangovers, but not wanting to partake I headed out for another blast around the mountain. Walking out of the boot room I bumped into one of the Massage Me Ladies, so we did a few runs together, before she headed off to join a kicker crew, and I wanted to find some more skiing first. Without a particular agenda or plan I seemed to have skied 'all the old lifts in the resort in one day' - for some random reason I didn't go near any new lifts after the obligatory derby laps. So it was villards, gd. renard, comborciere, mont blanc, gollett, arpette - not a detachable chair between them! I did Rouelles from the 1/2 way stage early on, and then enjoyed so I had to do it again from the top - was quite slushy but that made it more forgiving which was a bonus. A couple of brown patches lower down which weren't marked by poles but quite easy to avoid. I wasn't skiing that well so other plans to do Bois De L'ours and Deux Tetes or Robert Blanc were put on hold for the day. After the second run down Rouelles I headed across to the watersplash to see what was going on - lots and lots of people watching and a good number throwing themselves down the slide with about a 50/50 hit rate. The kids seemed to be loving it - there was one lad on twin tips who couldn't have been more than 10 and not only good he session the pool without an issue, he could chuck in turns and spray water over his mates that were cheering from the sidelines..
Snow holiding up well generally - bolier plate hard 1st thing and then slushing up on the lower slopes which can be heavy going, but actually makes some of the blacks a little easier..
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Poster: A snowHead
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Quiet day today. Headed out around 11 but it was cold and the snow was really hard so I headed back for some lunch around 12:30, headed back out around 15:00 to watch the guys playing rugby and to do a few more runs...
Trying to arrange friday to do some more blacks, if they're still open!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I was involved in the tick & pass competition, also. (That's me wearing the green jacket behind the inflatable rugby posts, which kept on falling down!) The afternoon was great fun - there were 8 teams, including 2 teams from Le Solan Bar/resto in Plan Peisey. We had a truly international selection, with a Brazilian, an English lad & a Kiwi, not to mention various Frenchies, including 2 blokes who came specially from Les Menuires. I was appointed coach for the day, which meant I had to shout a lot. One of the lads said he had never played rugby in such a beautiful setting, at 6,500 feet above sea level, as your excellent photo shows.
I think the Mont Blanc team won, though the Squirrel lads were good also. Please note that one of Le Solan teams, in red, had 2 girls playing for them , and they played very well. A good time was had by all to celebrate St Patrick's day. I was only disappointed that Guinness did not sponsor us. We will meet one of these days...
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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?
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Friday - woke up and didn't feel like skiing, don't know why but it just wasn't flowing. Chilled a bit in the morning and mainly reaqd a book - I tihnk that's at least 30 I've got through this season, will have to count some more come the end of the trip. Eventually headed out around 1pm and did our regular 'lap' of the mountain, coming back via 1600 - pretty uneventful. Got to La Vache around 15:30 and watched a bit of their slopestyle competition - they'd rigged up a few kickers, rails and a big jump above and at the far side of the restaurant.. Got pretty cold pretty quickly as the clouds were over so headed home for a shower - didn't go out that night as was feeling dull...
Saturday - well to jumpy myself out of my catatonic state I decide to do the Montalbert to Villaroger challenge as that would make me keep my foot down. Given that I live right by the Vanoise Express then I had to haul over to Villaroger prior to starting the challenge. which adds to the mileage - effectively I do close to 3 'laps' as I have the return from Villaroger to do as well. The leg from Villaroger to the VE was pretty uneventful, although I had to do a massive queue slide round the arcabule to avoid wasting minutes - for some reason the domain felt really busy Saturday am, ok so it was a nice day but even so you don't expect the arcabule to be queuing out the gates - still a quick dodge round the back of the line and up the side away from marmottes, then some judicious overtaking of groups and it probably only lost me 1 minute. Felt I was really hammering hard from the top of the transarc, although the snow was a little icy in parts so holding a carve was a bit tricky, still with a better route choice I managed a PB time.
Coming off the VE I saw some people in Nepal ski team jackets, as they blasted past me on the horribly icy bit on the run to Lac Noir. Got 1/2 way down Fornelet and though 'oh poo-poo' - there's a skiclub meet using this piste, but actually I hadn't appreicated that the race piste was next to, not on Fornelet so I managed to slide my way down the side. Pretty icy in places at the bottom here. Quick wee stop and then turn round and head back. Forgotten how boring the lifts out of Montybear are as you just sit and get cold... made it to the Arpette in Plagne Bellecote around 14:30 and for the very first time on this lift this season, I managed to ski all the way to the turnstiles - absolutely no Q at all, unlike les arcs earlier in the day. Hoped on the lift with a snowboarder guy in a black 'maison de la plagne' jacket, well he was rubbish at getting off the lift as he nearly took me out. Still straightlined it away and all the way to the tow rope.
only ecxcitement was on the run that side - I took les pelees as it looked a bit more direct and having not skied that run this season hadn't appreciated it still had some big bumps on it, one of which caught me out and I had a little tumble, still probably no more than 20 seconds lost. Once back in Les Arcs felt really happy as not only did I know all the runs, but obviously I'd skied the route that morning and so it would be fine - ha ha ha - the bottom of the run into Villaroger was horrible, rather than the slush I was expecting as the sun had dropped below the mountain the bit between the bottom of Plan des Violettes was now frozen slush so it was very bumpy and inconsitent, had to slow a lot on the first section as I nearly came a cropper about 5 times... no time to rest in Villaroger as (a) it was now out of the sun and (b) I had to keep a weather eye open for last lifts. Vaguely thought about heading back via the watersplash, but by the time I'd got to the top of Droset lift my cojones were starting to fall off, so I just headed home albeit a lot slower than the original time back to VE.
Now for a big steak in La Vache to celebrate...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I was in Les Arcs 2000 last week, had a great time. Got caught out by the Transarc closing at 5 to 5 though, got there just as they were closing it. Took one of the other lifts up and we walked the last bit so we could ski back down into Les Arcs.
We also got caught by the Blue descent at the Black that comes down from the Glacier. It goes back up hill for a km!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| tomstickland wrote: |
I was in Les Arcs 2000 last week, had a great time. Got caught out by the Transarc closing at 5 to 5 though, got there just as they were closing it. Took one of the other lifts up and we walked the last bit so we could ski back down into Les Arcs.
We also got caught by the Blue descent at the Black that comes down from the Glacier. It goes back up hill for a km! |
If you're talking about getting back to 2000 from 1800 then remember that there's always buses around so if you miss the last lift then you can grab the free shuttle (navette) that runs between 1600, 1800 and 1950 / 2000 the only bit that it doesn't cover is Peisey-Vallandry but it's possible to ski down from 1800 to there / walk backup if you're desparate...
In you're reference to the blue descent at the black that comes from the glacier, I assume you mean "route des bauches" in la plagne.. it is signed that it's a walk when you have the option of taking a lift. God knows quite how they call it a piste - there's another in la plagne (montalbert) - pravendue which doesn't really rate being called a piste..
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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been a weird few days, haven't been feeling to great so took it easy sunday, but poped out for a couple of hours.
Monday was another nice day, but I just chilled and didn't head out, monday night not enough takers for a pub quizz but we still had fun in a small group just chatting and shooting the breeze.
Tuesday headed out on skis for the first couple of hours - pretty hard work as was still snowing and got pretty choppy and I was struggling a little, so came home for a bowl of soup and then headed back out on my board. Good conditions but the off-piste was a bit 'icy underfoot' - i.e on the steeper slopes it was quite easy to push through to the firmer ice below which made it a little more 'lively' than one would expect. I was boarding like a twonk however - perhaps I was a bit nervous of bashing my ribs again, or just still struggling a little with the lurgy. Tuesday night was a great night - good fun in the squirrel with the live musi, then I headed down to Jimmys for cheezy tuesday which was mainly the ski-beat crew. Good fun..and a snowy walk homw at 2am.
Wendesday another chilling day..headed down to bourg to pickup some bit's 'n' pieces for the squirrely charity day tomorrow...promises to be good fun...
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Bertie... dare I say it, you sound like you are 'skied-out'.... and you are 'sickening for something'. Take some vitamins....
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| skimom wrote: |
| Bertie... dare I say it, you sound like you are 'skied-out'.... and you are 'sickening for something'. Take some vitamins.... |
Thanks skimom
I think perhaps you're right..still I solve that by playing 'hunt the squirrel' around the mountain - basically a load of seasonaires get into fancy dress and then cavort rond the mountain, stopping at the odd bar - oh and raising 000's euros for the backup trust..
Then gone home for a few days as have a course on another sport this weekend, and getting lots of home cooking from my mom...
more snow exploits next week...
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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.
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Now back out in resort..flew in this morning to Lyon..good weekend break, passed my course and got lots of brownie points with mum.
Got a couple of hours on the slopes this arvo - not having skied hard for probably close to 10 days my legs were feeling it a bit.
Some snoe forecast for tomorrow - might try to catchup with Snowcrazy in his Skiclub guise...
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bertie bassett, how much time are you spending on your skis these days compared to time on your board?
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FAQ
On a nice sunny day it can be very pleasant gliding along on the loipe ( prepared x-country track) particularly if it's scenic. It's also an excellent cardio-vascular workout 
Looks like someone will have a long drive home 
