 Poster: A snowHead
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Fun morning today on the pistes although wow the snow is mellllllting....... met up with an older family friend that we see once a year and hit the pistes, it was chill and mellow and quite the opposite of my off-piste ski camp last week lol. But a good time for sure! We started in Morillon and headed up to Flaine, did a few runs in the top half of the bowl then they stopped for lunch and I had to head back to meet my wife. Sorry @soren507 I hope you had a good day out there.
The pistes are holding up surprisingly well although definitely still a bit icy in parts. Top half of Flaine had decent spring corn on Lucifer, Faust, Lapiaz... weird to be skiing in January but these are the times we live in. Bottom half was getting mushy by mid-day. Trip back was fine, although Marvel is getting mighty thin on the bottom, but I was on my rock skis so actually had some fun haha. They've farmed pretty much all the snow they can get and I'm not sure there's much more they can push on the pistes right now, but who knows they have been working some magic for sure. Gers was open but I didn't even think about dropping in.
It's gonna be grim for vacances if we don't get some more snow at the start of it!!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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Thanks @calinca and @soren507, I'm probably going to try to catch up on a bit of work this week to be honest. I am lucky enough to live close by so now seems like a good time to put my head down and pull it up when the cold front rolls in. Plus my friend just signed us up for a snow trail race in a couple weeks, which means I need to start running lol!!
Have a blast!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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How are the pistes holding up???
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Morning
I was in flaine, samoes and carroz yesterday. They have been working hard on pistes to keep them good. In flaine there are some good snow piste sections higher, some hard pack vs granular hard snow. ocasionally some ice patchs. As you go down it gets to wet spring snow. with some rocks ad forest debris. No off piste.
Yesterday it was cloudy and I don't think the pistes are melting that fast in the winter sun. I think it pretty reasonable and had a good day yesterday 
Lets see what other have to say......
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@calinca, thanks for the update! thinking about heading up with the kids Saturday morning for a bit of piste running.
Glad you're having fun!
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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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@calinca, doesn't sound too bad to me, hope you had a good day today. Looking forward to our arrival late tomorrow 
Any advice on icy pistes best avoided/best nice snow areas to head for? Suspecting our home runs back to Samoens are probably going to be ice tastic but knowing that can take care.
Saw snowforecast was saying some small flurries yesterday evening, did anything come of that in terms of fresh snow?
Also, and off topic, any restaurant recommendations for Samoëns (down in the village not 1600)?
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Plenty of coverage in Flaine. Some very nice carving early on. Démon seems to have been reshaped and now has one of Flaine’s steepest faces in bottom half. Nice snow at top of Serpentine. After lunch Méphisto supérieure pretty good, but Agate replete with misshapen icy bumps halfway down, so only one run.
Lots of compacted sheets on Calcédoine, but Diabiotin nice (and quiet).
Queues light with exception of early DMC.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
Suspecting our home runs back to Samoens are probably going to be ice tastic but knowing that can take care.
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If you'd plan on taking the blue Dahu back to Samoens, there is a trick to avoid the iciest bit. It's slightly hard to explain, but after you have progressed down Dahu and reached the reservoir on your right (on a fairly flat bit) and then doubled back on yourself to a slightly steeper pitch, you 'should' turn right down a slightly twisty steepish bit that is always icy and often has scared beginners sat on the bumps. If you ignore the right turn and instead take a bit of speed and keep going straight on and a little bit uphill (poling required, for 10 or 15m) you come to a red run (think it's called Le Lac, but it's not marked clearly) going down to your right. If you take this for 100m or so, it comes out at the bottom of the nasty bit of Dahu. The red is MUCH easier than the icy bit of Dahu. If none of this makes sense, take a look when you are going up in the Chariande Express and you should be able to see where I mean!
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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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Thanks @sj1608 and @BAN, heading out this morning to get started. Looking forward to it. Will try to scan for what you mean about Dahu on the lift this morning.
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Arrrgh GME closed
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You know it makes sense.
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@Rowlski, Why?
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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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Some technical issue, did reopen later in the morning but bussed to Vercland to go up from there.
Good day overall, slushy in some parts and really is horribly icy and scraped and the moment getting back to the GME for Samoen
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Poster: A snowHead
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Had a surprisingly good day up at Flaine today, pistes are still holding up decently considering the heat wave we've had, I'm very impressed with the work they've done. Honestly snow was halfway decent on the top half of the bowl again - Faust, Mephisto Superieur, Almadine all super fun (although the last pitch of Faust + Almadine was icy as always). Even dropped into Gers since it was open, in the name of science. It was better than I imagined but far from good - neither me nor the teenager wanted to go down for another run. Lower stuff was slushy by the afternoon and connection routes were moguled and full of people on their butts as always lol. Off piste is totally gone for the moment as it's either too thin or too icy, but the tracks from two weekends ago are still cemented in place, tempting us all....
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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'm skiing in samoens next Thursday to Saturday, rather annoyingly the j2ski Forecast shows heavy snow on the Sunday which is when we leave.
When do people think it'll most likely snow, as I'm not sure how reliable these forecast are?
Looks like there is light snow followed by heavy snow next week, does a few CMS make much difference, or does it need to be 10+ CMS to transform the pistes?
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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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Went against the tide from Flaine over the other side.
Dolomie fairly compact but enough give to get carving on. Red Chamois also very compact but decent carving at 10.45. As was Cupoire next run.
Quick cafe at Le Châlet then down to Coulouvrier via Les Chars, which had all sorts of snow. Fun to ski the slushy bumps. Lunch at Samoens. Back to Coulouvrier. Top of Grand Crêt almost boilerplate and gnarly.
On way home wife suggested Veret chair. After some fairly icy bumps at the top Combe de Veret snow had baked to resemble a few inches of powder. Absolutely wonderful and steepish quick carving.
From there pretty much an anticlimax as back in Flaine the hordes were loose!
Grabbed a drink at top of DMC and meant to ski back via Démon, but missed turn so left with bald Lucifer which was almost entirely bumped up.
Still a fun day, with similar conditions forecast for tomorrow.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Sun 4-02-24 8:48; edited 1 time in total
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Nice @BAN, yeah Lucifer was terrible today but Demon is steep and fun!!! Glad you got on Veret, we saw it was open as we were heading back up the Grands Vans and back to the car, and I couldn't tell if the crust had melted enough, but it sounds like it had. That's the game right now, finding stuff that's just begun to thaw out but hasn't been sitting in the sun so long that it's slushy lol.
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When do people think it'll most likely snow, as I'm not sure how reliable these forecast are?
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@Mrmeaner, still too far out for anybody to answer this. Hop into the Weather Outlook thread if you want more information, they are just starting to look at ensemble forecasts right now and it seems like the only thing conclusive is that we will pull out of this high pressure anticylclone toward the end of the week and the weather will get unstable again. Hopefully it will bring lots of precip and cold temps!!!
Not sure you're going to notice a few cms, although anything is better than nothing at this point. It will take a pretty good dump to get the off piste stuff going again.
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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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Skied over to Flaine this morning... along with most people from Samoëns it seemed. Very busy and one of our group taken out by boarder going at speed who didn't even stop 
Snow is feeling a bit better over here and still enjoyable. Assuming weekend crowds and hoping slightly less busy Monday and Tuesday.
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Flaine is becoming a victim of its own success, especially when snow conditions aren’t good lower down. It simply doesn’t have the capacity for the massive influx of skiers from three other villages who seem to be driven to head to Flaine, even when the conditions aren’t poor elsewhere. This year it seems particularly bad with out of control teenagers. We used to enjoy early morning runs on Tourmaline but no longer, as by 10am it’s a motorway with some shocking skiing.
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@Faust1, can understand that though to be fair the conditions aren't great at the other villages and we were one of the annoying groups that headed over there
Faust, Cristal and Serpentine were all very good, others too though can't remember names. Enjoyed the skiing and the home runs back to Samoëns were better today, think they'd got new artificial snow on them so good bit better than yesterday.
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When the snow is variable, like now, the upper right hand side of the Flaine bowl (looking upwards) can still be quite good e.g. Fred (red) as it's more northerly facing.
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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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Flaine much more civilised today. Agate still thankless at 3!
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Definitely a little bit calmer today and some really nice runs off to the right of the very top of Flaine as you say @billb. A few icy bits but the snow off the Grand Platieres and chairlifts going to the top are really good, nice snow and carving. Lower down becomes a mix of ice or slush bizarrely intermixed.
The pisteurs seem to be doing a remarkably good job of shifting snow around and keeping pistes decent but they can't battle the hard pack and ice completely. Desperately in need of snow before the half term onslaught!
Temps reading up to 28 degrees on lift stations at the top of the Tete de Saix this afternoon.  So fingers crossed for the snow! Last day tomorrow, 4 days of skiing. Blue skies very welcome but less ice and hard pack would be ideal. By far hottest I've ever encountered at this time of year but still some great skiing to be had.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I'm arriving tomorrow, how do I fix it to make it snow?
It actually looks pretty touch and go, snow-forecast showing a smattering , j2ski showing a bit more. I'll be pretty annoyed if it all arrives on Sunday the day I leave, as that'll be the second year in a row thats happened. Last year it was Chamonix and the conditions were abysmal.
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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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| Mrmeaner wrote: |
I'm arriving tomorrow, how do I fix it to make it snow?
It actually looks pretty touch and go, snow-forecast showing a smattering , j2ski showing a bit more. I'll be pretty annoyed if it all arrives on Sunday the day I leave, as that'll be the second year in a row thats happened. Last year it was Chamonix and the conditions were abysmal. |
Looks okay on the web cams, Les Molliets at 1500m looks good, Les Carroz at 1160m pistes holding up, Flaine still looks mostly great.
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Wepowder showing a pretty good dump incoming on Sunday as the temperatures plummet..... hoping it's not too optimistic.
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You know it makes sense.
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| coldrainsnow wrote: |
| Wepowder showing a pretty good dump incoming on Sunday as the temperatures plummet..... hoping it's not too optimistic. |
The day I leave! Oh well, as long as it's reasonable.
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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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Out and about and sticking to the villages as we have to finish a bit early to get our flight.
Pistes down to Morrilion skiing very nicely this morning, good snow and not too many people is a winning combo.
There'll be plenty for you still @Mrmeaner, just a tad warm. We've had a very enjoyable 4 days skiing overall
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Poster: A snowHead
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Faust was superb this morning. Did laps. So far no slush piles in Flaine.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Fred also great this morning. Conditions better, and crowds fewer, than expected.
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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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A bit bummed. Wife and I shredded Faust around 3.30 and went to top for a drink. Fancied Combe de Veret so headed up Grands Vans and arrived at draglift at 4.14. Despite fermiture being on sign for 4.15 liftie wouldn’t let me on. Think he said that he had to do some maintenance. Expect the snow would have been great. 
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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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| Quote: |
A bit bummed. Wife and I shredded Faust around 3.30 and went to top for a drink. Fancied Combe de Veret so headed up Grands Vans and arrived at draglift at 4.14. Despite fermiture being on sign for 4.15 liftie wouldn’t let me on. Think he said that he had to do some maintenance. Expect the snow would have been great.
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Bummer. How much coverage is left on that bowl?
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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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On the lift side looks OK, but didn’t ski it! Noticed quite a few skiers had traverse across other side and skied the baked snow.
Anyone skied Grand Crêt in last few days?
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@BAN, okay stupid question but where is the Grand Cret? Is it the ridge coming off of Grands Vans?
Weather looking GREAT for the weekend... let's hope it stays cold and the LPN stays low. I'll see you all in the Gers next week as soon as they get it open....
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@coldrainsnow, not a stupid question, I had to look it up. It's the run down to Vercland from Samoens 1600
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@coldrainsnow, not a stupid question, I had to look it up. It's the run down to Vercland from Samoens 1600
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Ahh right on, thanks. Nope I haven't been on that this season... has it been open? I can't imagine the snow's gone down that low yet..... Has Cascades even been open yet?
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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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Snowing now up in Flaine
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Pretty wet snow in Flaine.
Combe de Veret was nasty at 4. Until decent snowfall only for hot days!
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FAQ
