 Poster: A snowHead
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Scary video the pace it all happens at. Maybe I will never understand why with the current conditions and lack of decent snowpack anyone would be desperate to go backcountry skiing but each to their own...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Steve Angus, Steve, thanks for posting that video, it's very sobering and really demonstrates how quickly things can unwind. Never take anything for granted.
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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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@Steve Angus,
Thanks for the reply Steve. Shame but my daughter will try getting him one with ESF if all else fails. And he might even try getting a private one at Hemel.
Stinking weather here in Saalbach this morning - pouring with rain and blowing a hoolie up top so most of the area and the links all closed. But it turned to snow mid morning then brightened up. Now snowing quite hard so fingers crossed for tomorrow. Sorry for hijacking this thread but people might have a passing interest in conditions elsewhere in the Alps.
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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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Hi @Steve Angus, or anyone else who can help I have some friends heading to val and one is a beginner. Could you recommend a ski school, I suggested Tdc but on second thoughts I don't think you offer beginners courses. Any suggestions appreciated.
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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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Four seasons in one day
Well it has been a really fun day but this evening the time has gotten away with me and it is now very late so it won't be a long update this evening.
Firstly Mt - we offer private sessions for beginners but for a group lesson then I would point you in the direction of New Gen or BASS - those would be my recommendations for something like that.
So this morning we were afforded a lie in by Olivia which we took with open arms - until just after 7am. Wow!
Anyway it was blowing a complete GALE here in town (and worse still up the mountain) and snowing lightly and then heavier. After a leisurely family breakfast we all went swimming. Getting to the pool required a battle of will against the elements but we got there and had a nice splash around with Olivia. Clare then put on a wonderful family Sunday roast and apart from having to pop out to run a few errands this afternoon it was a lovely relaxing day. As soon as Olivia went to be I started on my to do list for the day and that is where the day went down hill as it has taken me a lot longer to get through the things than I had planned but there you go.
So by lunchtime today virtually all the lifts were shut because of the high winds but miraculously things changed massively and it stopped blowing, the temperature dropped and the sun came out.... 4 seasons in one day as the temperature has also yo-yoed around today. It could be quite slick out there on the roads and pavements tomorrow but a little fresh snow up there will be welcomed.
The car park outside had a little fresh snow coupled with ice bits and bare bits all rolled into one by the end of the day!
Anyway TTFN.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Steve Angus, thanks and all the best.
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We rolled out of town yesterday at about 6am to +4 degree temps, quite persistent rain and fog all the way down to Chambery, so didn't have high hopes for the new arrivals - glad to hear things improved and a bit of fresh fell. Will live vicariously through here and the web cams until March...
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Hoping things will get better between now and end of Feb! Long way off i know
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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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Windy!
There was a hard freeze overnight and it was a delicate walk to the meeting point via the creche with Olivia this morning.... I had Clares skis and mine as she took the pram down. Anyway we made it to the meeting point and it was a chilly morning at that. The first day of a clinic is always a pretty hectic morning and with a few late runners it was about 9.10 before we got going. We headed up the Olympique and were greeted by strong winds. The biggest problem in exposed places is that the wind, heavy snow (wet) and some rain meant there was hard pack and / or ice in many places.... needless to say coupled with the wind that horrible bit from the top of the mountain down towards the start of the Verte was chaos. Those that SEVERALY over estimate their ability and especially when they have only skied in Australia where a black there is a green here were soon caught out!!!! I was skiing with my college Lena as the groups had friends and family in common so we could do swapping about if needs be. Anyway after some shuffling around and one poor chap being told that he was WAY short of the level required of the group and being sent down so the office could re-arrange a private lesson for him, we were off. Despite the winds which ended up closing some of the lifts we had a jolly good morning. A nice 'foundation' morning and the best snow of the day and the best skiing we had was on the Bonnevie drag. The group is mixed with some young chaps (teenagers) from down under coupled with some middle aged women at the other end of the group so there is some dynamics to develop, egos to manage, expectations to work on and some confidence levels to keep an eye on. I think they enjoyed seeing themselves on video though.
The afternoon was a whole host of jobs here and there.... paying bills and lots of admin before picking O up from the creche then a ski school meeting to thrash out more details about the seasonnaires program.
Looking back on the day one of the most entertaining yet terrifying moments was seeing people attempt to ski down the ice rink that was the top of the OK Orange. It was COMPLETELY stripped to ice and I have never seen anything like it I don't think..... about 50% people were on their back bottoms and when they went down they slid uncontrollably to the bottom where it flattens out. As I said the wind was fierce up there and not helping.
Tomorrow is going to be a hectic day... teaching all day then immediately heading to Bourg to do some shopping then picking Clarees mum up before heading back up and most likely collapsing into bed late on.... so the update tomorrow night will be short I am afraid!
TTFN
P.S. Meant to say that there IS FRESH SNOW after some fell last night at altitude but it is only in sheltered places and in some places there is more wind blown slab to deal with.
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The avalanche video is saying Private so I can't view it. Anyone else getting that?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It wasn't, but it is now...???
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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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| Gaza wrote: |
| The avalanche video is saying Private so I can't view it. Anyone else getting that? |
Me too
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks for the updates as usual, Steve. Really enjoy them (and also find them useful when we are in the EK for the inside track!). The top of the OK was again this morning clear blue ice. I watched about half a dozen go down and all ended on their their bums for a long slide down. They put some barriers up this afternoon funneling people to skiers right so it is obviously recognised there is a problem. The other interesting thing on that side today was that every toilet was out of commission- two restaurants, the Funival and the Olympique toilets all closed?..Back to Madeleine and the Glacier tomorrow we think.. Thanks again for your great blog. Really enjoy it.
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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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| lynnecha wrote: |
| The other interesting thing on that side today was that every toilet was out of commission- two restaurants, the Funival and the Olympique toilets all closed?.. |
I predict an imminent outbreak of the dreaded Mal D'Isere 
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Poster: A snowHead
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OMG that is scary. Amazing that they all survived
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Quick update this evening
Yes there was a loo problem (not sure why) on the whole of the Bellevarde side today. Hopefully will work itself out tomorrow! Clare had to totally download to the bottom today to allow her 5 year old client to use the facilities which unfortunately wasted a lot of the lesson time but needs must!
Anyway had a fun day - went up to the Fornet and the wind was REALLY strong at the bottom of the Vallon bubble which made it go slow (it closed later on) but when you got to the top of the lift there was no wind at all - weird! Anyway my team did really well this morning and some changes were made.
Lunch was a little hectic as Saloon was not open for some reason but it was sunny (for the most part today (initially anyway)) so we sat outside!
The afternoon I had a group of 4 family / friends and the levels were quite split but we were all based on greens and blues and I ended up running 4 private lessons in one so it was a busy afternoon and it took a lot out of me....
It was a very quick turnaround after skiing and then headed down to Bourg... shopping at Super U and Intersport was a mad dash and then the checkout girl dropped a jar of bologna sauce which caused a mess..... anyway I was the very last customer out the door some €250 lighter in the wallet and after a quick Mcdonalds (naughty) I picked the mother and law up and just got back up to put the shopping away and here I am now writing this.
WHAT A DAY
Tomorrow it is skiing then snowboarding in the afternoon.
The thing to note from this photo is the massive amount of wind drifted snow in places.... nice (well better than no snow) to ski in the off piste if you choose your line carefully BUT dangerous if steep enough too!
Anyway must dash... I'm tired.
TTFN
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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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FRESH POW
After a disturbed night in which we had Olivia crying after a nightmare (we think) in the middle of the night it was up to open the curtains to see about 10cm's had fallen and the flurries were continuing. Like the last few days there was wind at altitude. However down in the valley it was difficult to tell there was wind up top!
I met my team and everyone was excited about the fresh snow. However for the second day running two of the number were incredibly tired and hungover after getting to bed at 4.30am! Anyway we headed up the Bellevarde as I hoped (at that time) that the winds would not hamper plans to head to Tignes. It became apparent that there was some 15cm on average up top but of course in places with the wind it was much deeper than that and in other places totally scrapped away... 15cm is just not enough to be a game changer so I doubt much else will be able to open tomorrow and of course there are still stones and rocks etc lurking and the hard pack base is still there BUT it continued to snow all day and should snow a little more tonight which means all in all it could be a nice fresh canvas tomorrow.
Anyway the Tommeuse had a technical problem so that could not open and the Borsat was late opening for avalanche control and wind. Anyway we generally stayed high as the queues down low in La Daille would have been big (we popped down there once and it was not too bad but I prefer to ski in the nice snow up high). I looped around the Bonnevie stade and in the general area and we worked on power skiing and my group made some good changes.
After a quick change into snowboard gear at lunchtime I met my afternoon lesson. A nice guy from London and a semi-pro footballer non the less (or ex one I should). We had a really good slide around working on his technique and he left with plenty of homework to get his teeth stuck into!
By the end of the day the runs in places were getting scrapped back to the base and it got me thinking that it is such a shame that people cannot learn to use their skis / boards / tele's properly to leave round arcs in the snow - by actually standing on their equipment and using the equipment rather than habitually skid everything as a matter of course the whole snow surface would stay in much better condition all day..... of course I am wishing the impossible there but too many people who use their equipment without regard to technique spoil it totally. Anyway rant over!
So it has been a nice relaxing evening and with the inlaw here we have a third set of hands to do the various tasks this evening and of course Olivia is getting spoilt!
OK folks some sun forecast tomorrow and with this fresh snow and wind so far today and over the last 24 hours it could be a great day. The pisteurs are starting their clearance at 7.20 tomorrow morning. If it is sunny tomorrow then BE SAFE off piste out there folks.
Right must dash.
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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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@Steve Angus, some folk around here seem to think that you're not too bad as a guide/instructor. I've sent you a pm to see if you're able to help us out later in the season.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Just been checking out the cam on the Tignes site. The place looks deserted?
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Well it was a lovely sunny day and after the fresh snowfall everyone in town was eager to get some pow in!
My am team headed to Tignes to do a 'round the world' lap and we had a lovely morning. In the afternoon my first seasonnaires session was great fun and they all made changes - they became more aware of what they need to work on to get better at this skiing lark! We headed to the Blue Note at the end of the session to look at their video too which they found useful!
That is about the sum of my day and I am keeping it very short this evening as my computer is doing strange things and not functioning quickly so even writing this short amount has taken ages so I will sign off and try and sort out the problem tomorrow!
TTFN!
P.S. - Yes the first official and new TDC blog has come out today - worth a read - I will be doing one of the blogs in a few weeks time.
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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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Apologies for the late posting for yesterdays update....
So we woke to grey skies, some wind and snowfall although all in all not as intense as it had a) been forecast to be and b) not as intense as Wednesday!
It was the last day with my team and they wanted to work on technique for moguls as well as go for a little tour around the place but I was worried that if we went too far (namely to Tignes) we could be cut off by the wind. Anyway we had a good morning and headed to Tignes via the Col de la Fresse. The snow was really nice and the few extra cm's of fresh was wonderful to ski on. The wind on the exposed ridges etc was pretty severe though and once again the wind was swinging around - the amount of cross loading recently has been rather crazy!
I treated myself to one of my favourite alpine lunches... a Fougasse Provencale at lunch from Chevallot - yummy.
My afternoon was round 1 of my second seasonnaires groups for this year... on paper this group was supposed to be slightly better than my Thursday group but as always when people self select themselves for a group you can get differences especially when seasonnaire egos are involved. However I was pleasantly surprised as there was some good skiing in tough weather! It was a foundation day - talking about the 'building blocks' of skiing and trying to get them to understand that speed was not everything and trying to look 'cool' on skis invariably meant that there technique was suffering and that their aim to get better would be hampered unless they accepted that standing on the skis with good posture and steering the feet was the way forward!
We did a couple of tricks with them and some of them even mastered some backwards parallel skiing.
I went to the Blue Note to show them their video and give them some feedback which they found useful! There was a rather disgruntled Lou (Blue Note bar owner) as there was a random and unclaimed dog in there - everyone thought it was owned by anyone else in the bar but alas it wasn't. Anyway this dog went on to do its business as well as puke on the bar floor so was not popular.... to make matters worse anytime anyone tried to take it outside it snapped at their hand so all in all it was not a nice dog but was small enough to not be a problems!
I met up for a couple of beers with an old university friend of mine who is here for a few days which was nice and then it was home.
Clare had made a yummy spaghetti bolognaise for dinner which went down very well... By 8 Clae and her mum headed to have some drinks in town and met up with some of Clares girlfriends. I know they had a fun night as it was the early hours of this morning when they got home and this morning Clare is feeling a little worse for wear.... so today is a duvet day and we are all chilling watching tv etc. The reason that I did not post last night was that after dinner and a couple of beers I did not have the energy to open the laptop and post but instead dozed off before having an early night! The good news is that it is still snowing and has done all night and should continue to do so for a few more days on and off - yippee!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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^ ooh yes it's lovely in there!
Is that a camera kit on that helicopter? I've never been heli-skiing (can't afford it!!) but my God I'd love to!
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Sun 18-01-15 23:20; edited 1 time in total
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What camera?
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You know it makes sense.
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Bellevarde's looking very busy, you can tell it's everyone's first day..
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Sun 18-01-15 23:20; edited 1 time in total
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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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I think what looks like a large camera is in fact the winch 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Oh, from the side it looks like a camera with a lens cap on - proof I've never been heli-skiing 
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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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@HoneyBunny, being totally honest at first glance I thought it was too - it was only when steve questioned you that i looked twice
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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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@Steve Angus, aw, that's so sweet! Hope she recovers quickly.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hope Olivia feels better soon! Nice to see her looking so comfy with her Dad!
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Chilly again
I had one of those mornings when I was in two minds as to put an extra layer on or take a layer off before heading up.... I just could not decide what it was going to do weather-wise today. Anyway in the end i made the wrong decision as it was rather chilly up the Solaise this am as the sun could not burst through the cloud cover and there was a stiff breeze blowing so it was the wrong decision.
I had a nice young lady from London who for only her second week of skiing was a strong little skier.... we covered a huge amount of technique in a short period of time and I found myself (as sometimes happens) holding back on giving her too much stuff to think about and instead work on getting some mileage in.
Anyway it was a jolly productive morning but the downer this morning (as was the case all day) was my cold that just refuses to go away. Olivia also still has a snotty nose and when it gets bunged up overnight she does make a song and dance about it in the morning, as was the case today!
I really was ready for a nice warm lunch hour in the Saloon where we tend to go for lunches these days but they were late opening which annoyed me intensely. Anyway when they did finally open it was lovely and warm in there - bliss!
My afternoon was with the same guy (only one of them as the other (Jonny) had inured himself) and again we managed to pack in a LOT of technique and once again I had to hold back from giving too much to work on for fear of clouding the focuses!!!!! It was a fun afternoon all in all! We lapped around down to La Daille for a couple of hours so as to avoid the worst the of weather but to be honest it was a little warmer this afternoon.
In all my umm'ing and ahh'ing this am I totally forgot my phone / camera so sorry folks no photo today! Whoops!
The only other thing of note that I forgot to mention was that a snowboarder was taken in a slide in the Cugnai yesterday but was taken (alive) by hospital to Grenoble so lets hope he/she makes a full recovery!
That's about all folks - I am so looking forward to bed this evening that I shall sign off now.
Another busy day on the hill tomorrow so lets hope the carbonara dinner stokes my tank for that!
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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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@Steve Angus, Don't you normally wear about 15 layers? Surely one more or less can't make that much difference. 
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Great reports. Loving the pictures too. Only 5 weeks on Saturday until we fly out. 
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FAQ
