 Poster: A snowHead
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I made it over to La Plagne and had a great day. Only issue is my legs were starting to flag by around 2pm (lightweight, I know). Downloaded on the Roche De Mio cable car from Roche De Mio all the way down to Plagne Bellecotte. It’s a very long day from Bourg Saint Maurice. Especially when the funicular is broken and you need to return your skis by 5.30 pm in Bourg!
Got as far as the ‘other side’ of the mountain. Down to as far as the bottom of the Borsoleirs lift.
Some of the pistes were a bit on the icy side but the weather and scenery really turned it on for me today.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Raven, Sounds like a good day 
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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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@boredsurfin, never eaten at that one - recommended?
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Conditions were a bit sketchy in places end of the week but can't complain, it all held up really well all week
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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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| vuongh wrote: |
| Conditions were a bit sketchy in places end of the week but can't complain, it all held up really well all week |
Agree. I’ve skiied better snow but I’ve skiied much, much worse.
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| chopkins13 wrote: |
| @boredsurfin, never eaten at that one - recommended? |
Inside its proper canteen served/self service (best take food upstairs for peace and quiet) and always good quality. The outside terraces are very good with restaurant service on the highest terrace. The Pizza Hut serving pizza slices hot dogs panninis etc is nice and hot and quick. Top tip whilst queuing send someone inside to get the drinks from the bar. The loos are just inside the main door so no steps!
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| Layne wrote: |
@Ruswit, yeah it's often closed or dodgy. I'm not one for downloading unless absolutely necessary but when I stayed in Champagny going down the piste was really challenging.
But in the right conditions for sure it's a lovely long run with great funs. Probably worth doing once if open anyway - especially if you've come all the way from Oz and might not come again. |
Champagny area was amazing this week, with the sun on it in the afternoon we pretty much skied every run. I have skied it before but never in the clear sunshine, the views down the valley were incredible. I’m gonna say my fave run ended up being the Hari Kiri. I even liked the Kamakazi too.
On Friday a ‘Mer de Nuage’ -Sea of clouds - settled in the valley and skiing from bright sunshine to almost no visibility and out beneath again was an experience.
You couldn’t ski down to the village that I could see, the run appeared shut.
Over the week we covered pretty much the whole Paradiski as te weather was incredible. Although I had one stupid fall on Mio and buggered my knee again (managed to ski again after 1.5 days rest - but will need physio on it I fear!)
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@boredsurfin, thanks - will give that one a try when there in March.
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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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| chopkins13 wrote: |
| @boredsurfin, thanks - will give that one a try when there in March. |
We liked one above Montalbert 360. It is modern. Great views. Nice food.
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Just back from a great week staying in la Roche, conditions were generally good, with a few icy patches in places.
Yesterday was by far away the best conditions of week - a lot of places at had an over night dusting plus being Saturday, there were fewer people on the slopes.
There are a few lifts not open - wonder if that's a conscious decision to save a bit of money.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Lucywuk, That is a nice spot and they have a full service restaurant upstairs with great food and great views, sadly not open this season, as they can't get enough staff. It's not just in the UK they hospitality staff are in short supply.
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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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@Handy Turnip, Were the reds ever open?
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| boredsurfin wrote: |
| @Handy Turnip, Were the reds ever open? |
No they weren't unfortunately - a couple in our group went down them, and said it was hard work but generally seemed okay, with a couple of icy parts. There's lots of snow piled up so it's confusing why they just haven't got the bashers down there and sorted them.
The plus side was that the blue was probably in better condition than I've ever seen it before.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Handy Turnip, I guess Envers was open which leaves the blue in good condition. Bit of a mystery why they haven't opened those Reds yet!
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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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First day of a new week in the Alps.
Noticeably a lot more people around than last week and especially so after a beautiful, calmer saturday.
Gorgeous day. Pistes are scraped at the end of the day going into Bellecôte. It's starting to be the part of the season where it can be wise to take the red or the black as it will often be in better condition than the blue due to the number of people going down on the blue slope.
On a related note, a remarkable number of helicopters flew out today.
I also got to enjoy a hike Bellecôte - Dou du Praz - Belle Plagne with my favourite Australian Shepherd in the world.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
@Handy Turnip, I guess Envers was open which leaves the blue in good condition. Bit of a mystery why they haven't opened those Reds yet!
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You've got to wonder if the SAP are also a bit short staffed, or are they just being lazy. Perhaps they'll get round to preparing them in time for the school holidays. I imagine there'll be a few grumbles from the French regulars and ski schools if they don't. Looking ahead to next month, it's a shame there's minimal new snow forecast for France (it's all falling on Austria this week). Looks like temperatures will be increasing later this week which I guess will do nothing to improve piste conditions. I've seen one report suggesting snow middle of February but that's too far off to take seriously.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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hi
out next week to LP and staying in Plagne Soliel at the new White Bear appts
can you ski back to there from La Bergerie without further uplift ?
Bergerie seems similiar to Folie Douce....and looks good
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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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@stefoy4me, I'm not sure where that building is but from the Bergerie you can easily get onto the Ecartee piste towards Soleil via a path off the Buffalo Kids piste behind the restaurant.
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@stefoy4me, sorry, I don't know where in Soleil those apartments are but yes, as I recall when we stayed in Soleil, we did exactly as @Nigel_SW states. Depending on your time, we took the little Dou du Praz drag lift to get to the blue run with the same name but we were at Chalet des Alpages. Otherwise stay on Ecartee to get to the Bergerie side of Soleil. Hope that makes sense!
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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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| DrNo wrote: |
As I can't the SOPiB this year, considering a Snoworks course in La Plagne in March. Course starts from Plagne Centre at 9:15 however best deal I have found for travel and accommodation is to Plagne Bellecote. Colosses lift I think opens at 9 so can't ski there (reliably).
Have found an online bus timetable for the navette between Bellecote/1800/Centre but only has the times from Plagne Centre to Bellecote. Can you reliably get from Bellecote to Plagne Centre by say 9am by bus? |
No response as yet from the tourist office but have tried another contact email.
If anyone is in LP at present and either sees a bus timetable from Bellecote to Centre or has the Mov'in app on their phone and finds the time of the first navette from Bellecote to Plagne Centre and could let me know, I would be grateful!
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DrNo, yes, the published timetable is not very helpful for those like you wishing to go Bellecote to Plagne Centre.
The buses go round in a circuit: Plagne Centre-Plagne1800-Bellecote-Plagne Centre and so-on.
The timetable has the first bus at Bellecote at 0850, and it takes 10 minutes to get to Plagne Centre, arriving at 0900.
You should make it to your course OK (assuming no cock-ups).
(There is a "seasonaires" bus that we see here at Plagne1800 about 0840 - not sure where it starts, you might be able to sneak onto that one . . . )
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First bus in Bellecôte at 8.50 as said above, 10 minutes to get to Plagne Centre (stade de slalom or gare routière). The details for the morning bus for saisonniers are typed out underneath the regular bus schedule (picture on my twitter). Anyone that wants to can take that bus. 8.05 in Plagne Centre, 8.20 in Belle Plagne (often later in practice). I've never taken it beyond, but then it goes to Bellecote and 1800 according to the schedule, it doesn't immediately mention a stop in Plagne Centre in this direction.
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@Jonpim, @JulieAimeLeSki, thanks for that, ironically the tourist office replied to me with the 8:50 bus as well between your two replies! That should be OK I think as it allows a bit of wiggle room if the bus is delayed.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Today felt a little colder than yesterday, yesterday felt a little windier already than the day before. I felt like there were less people on the slopes/lifts, but I don't usually go beyond Bellecôte / Belle Plagne on most days of the week so my experienced terrain is limited. I had a good training day. Very few people around at training on the stade de slalom de Belle Plagne as well, and it was wonderfully prepared by the piste bashers, so great conditions there. More hard packed on the public slopes, ironically. Looking forward to some giant slalom tomorrow.
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Another gorgeous sunny day. It felt a lot warmer than usual around lunchtime, more like the expected temperature in march or april.
Next to the buildings in Bellecôte, immediately to the right of the green slope bordering Glaciers 1/2/3 and Résidence 3000, snow is disappearing and a layer of rocks / grass is coming through.
Today Carella was closed for some time over lunchtime for a technical reason and then reopened, twice.
Everyone here this week definitely enjoyed lovely weather and reasonable piste conditions.
It was busier than the week before. Now it's on to the first week of French school holidays.
End of my random thoughts on the weather and snow conditions of the day and anything related.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Sunday was my First day skiing here this year - reasonable enough snow (if you were to compare it to Easter skiing), but given it's Feb, pretty lacklustre.
Quite a lot of debris poking through in places, eg small rocks and twigs, occasional visible patches of grass etc.
The steeper runs in Champagny (e.g Kamikaze and Les Bosses) were practically brown even at 10.30 - will probably be avoiding them to save my skis an early trip for servicing 
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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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Looks like sunny and cold but nothing coming from the skies for the next few days.
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no sadly not, there seems a possible bit of snow on the meteox.com radar for Friday, but not sure that will materialise
arrive Saturday for a week, so looking forward to it........new snow or not we will still have plenty to ski and if the sun shines some lovely long lunches and bottles of rose to enjoy
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You know it makes sense.
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@Layne, Sadly I am working today and not out skiing. Any clue if the smattering of snow that came in last night at village level was sizeable higher up?
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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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@stefoy4me, tbh next week is different gravy - wouldn't be surprised to see some more unsettled weather.
@Ruswit, Yuge still showing last snowfall as January 19th so I am guessing not.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Does anyone know if there's a nice* spot for lunch at the bottom of the Champagny Gondola (i.e. in Champagny Village) - in about 10 years of visiting La Plagne I've never actually ventured right down to Champagny Village because the piste all the way down has been closed, but thinking could be worth a download for a spot of lunch one day when we come in March....
* by nice I mean, nice enough food, ideally not self-serve, but equally not requiring a second mortgage to pay the bill at the end 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@chopkins13, once you get off the gondola it is worth taking the lift (i.e a normal lift) down from the top of the carpark into the central complex of the town - there are a few restaurants/bars there in the central square/courtyard bit.
Personally, I quite like Le Barillon - it does pretty good gallettes for reasonable enough prices and you can sit out in the sun(the "complete" gallette or the one with goats cheese and honey are personal faves). Pizzas from there are also decent.
https://en.la-plagne.com/sites/default/files/sit/images/146318/7287543.jpg - that's what it looks like from the outside of the restaurant. If you get the lift/elevator down to the square it will be on your left as you're walking out of the carpark into the main square, you will need to cross very small foot bridge over the river/stream.
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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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@chopkins13, I can definitely recommend the Restaurant le Barillon, which I've been to lots of times. With the last time only a couple of weeks ago.
It's in the main parade of shops/restaurants after you get the elevator down from the gondola.
Great food, great service, nice seating outside in the sun. And the burger is absolutely sublime!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks @Handy Turnip, & @Ruswit, - 100% agreement on a recommendation is not to be sniffed at! I will attempt to give this a try in a few weeks when we're there 
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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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@chopkins13, Just wait until you hear about the commission we're getting for this 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Ruswit,
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Just looking into booking a parking space in Belle Plagne for our Easter trip but can't seem to find a link anywhere.
Anyone have any ideas?
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@Handy Turnip, I don’t think you can pre-book, you just turn up and park if there’s a space, it’s about €10 a day from memory. If it happened to be full, dump your bags then spin the car back down to Bellcote where there’s a massive car park (cheaper) and get the gondola back up to Belle Plagne (no ski pass required for pedestrians)
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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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Thanks @chopkins13, bit frustrating if you can't pre book, but it's Easter so hopefully won't be full.
Otherwise we'll have to do the dump the bags strategy you mention. Just a bit fiddly as we need to pick up the keys etc etc so not sure where the car goes while we're figuring out all out.
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@Handy Turnip, you get an hour free in the Belle Plagne car parks and lots of people just double park while they unload etc as presumably most of the cars already parked don’t move for most/all of the week.
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FAQ
