Grand Massif 2010/2011 snow report, Les Carroz, Flaine, Samoens, Morillon, Sixt Fer a Cheval

A snowHead

Once you get through the gates the masses head left. And there is a rope if you head right for express boarding to fill up the spaces the masses have left.

A snowHead

Flaine was great this morning. And enjoyed skiing carroz and Samoens later too. Still needs more snow. The ice had me at one point with a silly fall. My second of the day Sad

I normally have one during the week but two in one day is embarrassing

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Sounds great guys thanks so much for updates heading to morillon on Sunday worried about poss of 70 cm on Sunday Geneva will be a zoo but really want the snow too. That forecast prob won't materialise. Enjoy rest of week all those of you enjoying skiing now.

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To anybody that has been in Les Carroz recently - any apres ski activity at the Milk Hotel (at the foot of the Timalets red run) - pre-season they were trying to market themsleves as a venue (with music) for post skiing drinks. Interested to hear if it has cottoned on? Hope so, it would be a good location.

http://www.milkhotel.fr/en/the-bar-3.html

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Is Marvel open does anyone know?

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Skied flaine early on. Lovely quiet pistes high up. Even Fred open although I am sure they have re-routed part of it. Serious polling Sad

. Then headed to Samoens to pick up son from ski school. All good. As a family we then went to morillon. The last part of perce neige after the shushes was vile. Very icy and dangerous especially with lots of bodies on that narrow stretch. Once in morillion it was lovely. Quieter than I expected. We seem to be hitting the right lifts at the right times thus far. Desperate for more snow, but still really good pistes in most places. Just a few icy bits on the steeper busier sections. Didn't try marvel sorry. Would think it is open, but doubt it would be in great condition????

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Believe Marvel is shut.

After all it is free

Big dump last night. At least Les Carroz and Morillon affected expect it will be brilliant tomorrow once it's bashed. Drivers being ordered by the Feds to fit chains this morning at Araches due to conditions and still snowing at midday.

visibility ?

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damobloke1, Very poor vis up top but much better below Birgen chair, but light still flat. Timalets and Les Carroz in bright sun when we got there at around 1:30 so cloud probably moved on.

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Going on the 5th March. Not been to Flaine before. Just don't like white outs. How much better is the visibility down by the tree line in the resort ? Is the tree line skiable i.e. well pisted still ?

snow reports

Flaine very misty this morning - and snowing hard so didn't go out till afternoon. Warmer today - took Grand Vans lift then over to Corbelanche lift and up to Tete de Sais and did top of Marmotte red but quite bumpy so diverted onto sahu (?) blue which was in reasonable shape and skied down to Samoens 1600. Back up new(ish) 6 man chair, down to Portet blue and down to Les molliet - snow very good down to there. Back up Sairon chair then down to Vernant chair for return to Flaine. Tourmaline a bit hard but had it to ourselves for once. Dolomie not fantastic - quite cut up and tricky for blue run skiers. However snow cover is good especially up high.

Yesterday was bluebird all day - fantastic in Flaine bowl. Fred open (and Agate). Mephisto very good as is top of Faust and Crystal etc. The upper Flaine bowl is very good - the new snow has helped of course. Should be good next week. Unfortunately, I'm leaving tomorrow night Crying or Very sad

so next week's skiers wil have to take over. Hoping for sun tomorrow to finish but it's been a great week overall. Busy at times but it is HT of course. The DMC queue has been long at times so we've used the 6 man chair instead (followed by one of upper chairs). I'll aim to post a report next week. Anyone arriving at weekend - enjoy snowHead

Another lovely days skiing. Morning are brilliant. Getting a bit mushy and lumpy at the main busy points. Some really good pistes about though. Surprised how quiet some of the reds are are carroz Samoens and flaine. Hardly queued all week which means I have obviously been lucky or a bit of local knowledge has helped. One more day for us. Channgeover Saturday is the best skiing of the week usually.

You know it makes sense.

the webcams at the top of the Kedeuze telecabine show snow melting away very quickly, with no snow on the trees. from the sound of the above conditions are greatly improved. I love the red runs in the Flaine bowl, have always been quite quiet when I have been there. going in 2 weeks for 3 days.....

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Sorry about lack of reports, no web all week. So will just do today, saturday. Really quiet. Did gers offpiste from the side of the red. Fantastic powder snow, but not as good as yesterday, but heavier (as were my legs and one huge stupid fall.....opps) Snow in flaine is excellent, if a bit soft at the base as its was very very warm Les carroz is rather wet and slushy. On way back up motorway lots of rain at about 6 degrees, so may be snow up mountain?

Quiet for half term, apartments we were in were mostly empty. Today was brill for lack of people on slopes

Traffic jams on motorway a40 at about 5.00pm were rather long on the way to the mountains.....

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Well I'm back home now having beaten the traffic but raining in northern France so maybe snow in the Alps as carroz, says. Friday was sunny all day and.......Cascades opened, so we did it in the morning. Sorry marcellus but I was right in predicting it. Top half was fantastic, powdery surface - as good as it gets almost. Bottom part rather hard and icy but we were glad we did it. Caught bus back to Samoens and could see snow rather thin in fields at Sixt level. Finished afternoon in Flaine bowl in the sun and final run back down Faust - my favourite run. The big downer to the week concerns my OH which I'll post in the "Piste" forum tomorrow - must get to bed, was pretty tired on the M4

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Well I think everyone must have been in Samoens as that certainly wasn't quiet - Flaine, Les Carroz, Morillon were great in comparison - although Perce-Neige (to get from one to the others) just before or after lunch were not pleasant. Didn't realise Cascades was open - would have liked to try it. Our best skiing was first thing in morning before ski school and during lunch - we ofter finished at 4 to avoid crowds.
Best tip of week was Vercland bubble to get upto 1600.
We had fantastic drive home through France using Telepeage to skip most queues - Unfortunately Eurotunnel couldn't cope so we used a Ferry to get back to UK - then M25 closed so we arrived back home 6 hours later than anticipated.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Back from Flaine last night after a week away, looks like billb and stevo the saddler did a great job at giving live updates!!
Was fantastic waking up to so much snow last Sunday morning, as it had certainly looked a bit grim on the drive in on Saturday eve!
Although Half term, wasnt as busy as had feared, our longest queue was at Les Molliets chair lift, one lunchtime for abot 25 mins, and the Aup de Veran bubble in Flaine bowl was sometimes a 15 min wait - but a great run and views at the end of it.
Unfortuately for me, I had a silly fall on Friday on some ice at the start of Perce Neige, down to Morillion, and have broken a bone in my knee Crying or Very sad

Was sledged off the mountain by the rescue team - whom were fantastic - as well as ambulance and medical centre in Les Carroz. But going to A&E after flying home with leg in brace was not fun, and seeing orthopaedic consultant on thurs, for probable op! But still would say had fantastic week away!

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Zwee, Cascades was closed until Friday so we only had that day to do it. When did you hit the M25? I had to drop my son off in Greenwich last evening en route, so came home via central London and on to M4 - no problem.

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ClaireM, Sorry to hear about the knee Crying or Very sad

But at least it was Friday and not on the first day!! It can happen to anybody. My wife pulled a muscle on a lift, which I'll post about on the "Piste" forum later.

Yes, the bubble can get busy - we only used it once. Les Molliet is an access lift for people driving up for the day - you must have hit the afternoon crowd. Empty when we used it. I remember having to put chains on at Les Molliet, in the dark, coming up to Flaine a few years ago.

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hows the conditions ,we aer going on a long weekend thurs how long from 1100 to the flaine bowl thanks

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Left early this morning, 13 hours door to door (Lichfield) - not bad going 11:35 driving time. As we left this morning it was ramming it down with snow at village level, not sure if that came to much, but it had been raining all night and looking at the webcams it appears a lot better! We had a great week. The skiing was superb most of the time when you consider the lack of snowfall. The piste people deserve a lot of credit.

After all it is free

charlie26, The snow is pretty good, especially higher up. There are some scraped / icy sections on heavily used pistes although temps were up and down so sometimes softer. I've never skied from Morillon 1100 to Flaine. The slowest part will (I think) be the Morillon uplift (two chairs) to Tete des Saix. From there you ski Silice / Dolomie down to the Vernant lift which will take you up to Grands Vans then down Tourmaline to Flaine foret (so up and down twice). Then you need uplift to somewhere in the Flaine bowl. Say, up to 1.5 hours depending on queues and how fast you ski of course. Have fun Toofy Grin

Good going stevo

thats quite a long time i thought no more than 45 mins ,we are fast skiers Laughing

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out of half term no way it takes 1.5 hours. If you have a car go to Samoens and it will only take 18-20 mins to Tete des saix and an easy 20min max from there.

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snow reports

ian999, I did say up to 1.5 hours. Yes, from Samoens it's quicker especially if it's quiet but I included getting to somewhere up in the Flaine bowl e.g. an upper chair.

You know it makes sense.

Zwee, Ah, you were later than us. Sorry to hear that. The "road to hell" is always an unknown quantity.......

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Going out next weekend, staying in samoens village at les fermes de samoens apartments. Anyone able to advise the nearest hire shops to here?

Also, are there ski lockers available in 1600 near the top of the grand massif express? Seen several ppl suggest it is best to leave skis up there rather than carry back down to the village each day.

Thanks in advance for any input,

Rob.

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rhsr, Les Fermes de Samoens is where our apartment is... hope this helps.

Nearest ski hire is a short walk/drive back along the road you approached to the little island (with Sherpa, the nearest shop), just past there on the right there is a ski hire shop next door to Coveys (Irish bar, and the nearest bar, and the nicest bar). I have never used the ski hire there, I tend to go to the Sport 2000 near the tourist office, about .25 miles along the same road.

Some of the ski hire shops also have a base at 1600 (sorry, I dont know which) and yes you can store at 1600... to be honest, I think its a faff. Once the Gondola gets you to 1520m (approx - but you sill see why I have put that) you then have to walk across a flat area to a little gondola to take you the further (approx) 80m up to the 1600 shops/storage.

The ski bus stops outside LFDS, or, like us, you could use your car if you have one, and drive to the lovely big free car park at the Gondola to save ski hauling.

If you need any further help let me know either on here or by private message.

A snowHead

Thanks for the input Stevo, much appreciated.

We're flying and getting a coach transfer to Samoens village, so we won't have the luxury of a car available to us, so it will be the ski bus to the Gondola each morning for us. This is why I was leaning towards the idea of maybe leaving gear in a locker at 1600. How much trekking is actually involved in getting from the apartments to the gondola? Is the bus stop literally right outside the apartments? And does it stop right next to the GME Gondola?

Cheers,

Rob.

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rhsr, Skiset have a shop at the top of the second gondola Steve mentioned. They have free storage lockers there or you can pay for heated lockers at the top of the GME.

The ski bus stop is across the road from the entrance to the LFDS complex and stops about 20m from the GME. Not much trekking but the bus can be crowded and is easier without skis. With two tots in tow we usually leave their skis and boots up the mountain and leave our skis but come down in boots (I don't like putting my feet in cold boots but obviously have no regard for my poor kids Twisted Evil

)

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Thanks Skimummy, that sounds like the best approach actually, leave skis up top, but go back and forth from the apartment in our boots.

Was just about to ask what the hell LFDS was.....but quite obviously it means Les Fermes De Samoens! Slow Monday morning for me, brain not yet engaged.

Keenly watching the weather reports now. We'll be taking turns to look after a baby on this trip, so only skiing about half the time. I was hoping we'd get away with just the Samoens lift pass in this case as looks plenty to keep us busy there. However, I guess given the relatively sketchy conditions lower down we're best getting the full area pass in order to get to some of the higher ground above Flaine for better piste conditions.

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rhsr, skimummy has answered. Skimmumy... do you have an LFDS apartment too? I suppose the beauty of leaving stuff at top is you could walk to the GME along the river for a nice warm up stroll Laughing

My wife and son often walk back if stopping early. It's a pleasant 10 min stroll (but not in ski boots!)

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stevo_the_saddler, We stayed at LFDS the year they opened (booked through Peak Retreats) Every year since, we have stayed in the chalet at the bus stop - easy to nip though the hedge to catch the bus snowHead

I would love to own a place in Samoens - haven't skied anywhere else since 2003. Going to Puy St Vincent next week though as liked the sound of the Snowbizz ski school for the kids. May well be back next year snowHead

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Skimummy, Ah, OK. It was chaos the first year Happy

After all it is free

Ab fab skiing today must have been a foot of snow sat-sun. Lucky us!!!! Sunny skies this morn brill skiing powder day. Visibility bad in aft but better in late aft. All in all excellent 1st day. Stayed around Morillon to find ski legs will venture further tomorrow. Lanche chair nightmare queue around 11.30. Bad queues everywhere last yr were here at new year wasn't as busy. Ah well small price to pay for a great day.

Snowman, good to hear!

So it is still reasonably skiable down to the lower levels of Morillon 1100m, Les Carroz 1200m?

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Sounds really rubbish, snowmam, I bet you wish you'd stayed at home. The snow has been really lacking this year, you found a bad year to go.

</jealous>

Help!!

Grand Massif 2010/2011 snow report, Les Carroz, Flaine, Samoens, Morillon, Sixt Fer a Cheval

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