The view from............ Val d'Isere and the Espace Killy

A snowHead

Hi @intermediate, I usually buy my pass on the bus if I am going via tour operator for exactly the reason you give but this time was a little different, when I returned from my last trip in March I had such fun I wanted to try as many trips as possible this season so I booked this trip and got everything I needed included and then paid it off over the course of the next 7 months so that I would then be in a position to book another trip in March when I return from this one.

A snowHead

Hi @Minion1980, yes, if you can get a good discounted early booking 'all in' package that certainly makes sense for some people.
You pays your money, you takes your chances, as the saying goes. Enjoy all this January powder...and there should be plenty snow left for a March trip too. Happy days!

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

Did anyone mention the snow?

Well folks it is the same old story, snow, snow and more snow. I am NOT COMPLAINING but id love a day of sunshine and lack of winds that is for sure.

Anyway the first job this morning was rather hectic as we had to get Olivia to the Jardins des Enfant where she was spending the morning as both Clare and I were teaching but as well as that I had to get my ski stuff to our car (stored under the Face) as I was teaching snowboarding in the morning and then had to change at lunchtime into my ski gear... so all in all Clare and I had a busy start to the day.

Anyway the morning was an enjoyable one riding the snowboard - have not ridden much on the board this season so it was nice to get out. With the fresh snow we did a general technique brush up and hit some powder on shallow angled slopes near the pistes. It was lovely morning actually.

Lunchtime was a quick swap over as I said to my ski gear before I shot over to Tignes to teach a ski lesson. On the way over I did my daily Periscope:

https://t.co/UxjHovrPym and the perma-link:
https://t.co/PzzJWFjlvd

So the weather moved in somewhat again (on and off in all fairness) all day and at times it was not too bad but at other times it was dreadful vis etc. In fact coupled with that the wind really picked up too. On my way back from Tignes this afternoon the wind was insane at times... they are calling for extreme winds in the next 24 hours coupled with the snow it could be an interesting period (again we encounter). It has been snow, snow and more snow recently. So the wind was so intense and whipping up the snow atop the Toviere that quite literally (I kid you not) you could not see the hand in front of your face as you pole planted.... crazy. Over the last x thousand of hours teaching and x thousand of hours 'free' skiing / snowboarding I have experienced a lot but that was something else and I think I was pretty much the last person over the 'top' so to speak and it felt quite lonely coming back over the top before dropping back down to Val.

The afternoon lesson was most enjoyable taking a young lady on her 'intermediate' lesson and correcting a few things to improve her confidence etc. By correcting some technical elements it helped her confidence and enjoyment no end. It was also nice addressing these things on the first day of her holiday so that she could maximise her enjoyment for the rest of the week.

Anyway I got back and was greeted with a yummy roast dinner - thanks Clare. We had a long term friend of mine around for dinner. She had just arrived in town and is here for her Level 4 training this week. She is an instructor in Switzerland and we had a lovely evening. Olivia was certainly on form which was nice.

One of the big pieces of news in town is that there was a problem yesterday afternoon with the Solaise Express chairlift... I believe it was something to do with the fly wheel at the bottom. Anyway there was a crane parked up next to the bottom of the lift most of today and I am hoping (well they were hoping but I haven't had an update) that it will be up and running again tomorrow (weather etc permitting).

So the weather is to continue being juicy for a few more days yet a while and potentially for a while longer. The avalanche forecast remains at 4/5 but this is 'flexible' and if we continue to get all the wind and snow that is forecast it could change upwards! If the forecasts come true then we could get 2m of snow in the next week but the cold fronts show no signs of loosening up!

The new lift and piste layout as you come in Le Lac... the Rosset lift has been shorted but stars in a better position and is shiny and new; the magic carpet is longer and covered so less walking at either end; the nursery slope area has been moved to the Lavachet side which means access down Trolles is straight into the area for the Toviere lift!

I also edited my top tips from the other day of 'how to get your ski kicks on the slopes when the weather doesnt allow too much to open': https://ktch.tv/5JBR?s=04m58s&e=10m01s

I have also edited my top tips regarding clothing layering for a day on the mountain here too: https://ktch.tv/5R-R?s=02m38s&e=06m02s

... tomorrow I am back on my snowboard in the morning and skiing in the afternoon... however I am hoping the weather plays ball!

TTFN

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In my experience you have to ask specifically for the carte neige if buying a pass through a TO because they have to take photographic ID to the piste office to get the ski pass. This can be too much hassle for some young reps who have not bothered and brought us the standard pass instead.

I'm not 100% sure about this, but someone did tell me that in some of the larger resorts the TO's have the facility to issue passes, so presumably they have blank cards and a card writer and an account?

I'd always get the carte neige if possible just for the ease of on mountain rescue and God forbid the cost of an unplanned heli trip.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Steve Angus, It`s good to know Marmottes restaurant is still good value; it was our watering hole on a few family hols some years ago, and we were greeted with free Genepies on arriving in a white out one day, as the only people to have struggled there !

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I added insurance to my 3V lift pass issued by Mark Warner when I bought it from them.

After all it is free

A day of 3 halves today, @Steve Angus, was very mean and took us up Solaise side in 90 km/h winds (gusting 110 km/h), but we were the only people on Madeleine for a while, lack of vis made up for by great snow.

Vis got better towards lunchtime as we headed down Solaise, amazing powder and pretty quiet, then the big man upstairs must have been punishing Steve for dragging us out as he hit a hole and stacked it Very Happy

Then after lunch, it got worse again, we elected to stay down after a nice lunch at the Grand Ourse.

Thanks Steve for pushing us today, probably wouldn't have made it up the mountain if you hadn't.

Also, massive thanks to Clare for getting the kids down from Olympic to La Daille for the first time, especially in those conditions. Not sure I would have done that at ages 4 and 6, testament to your good lady wife's teaching style.

Pic of them fixing Solaise Express:-

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@trainee snowboard jedi

For my next trick I am going to snowboard upside down!!!!!!

Following that I am going to fill that crater with snow and put flashing lights all around it then confiscate your camera so you cant catch me on my back bottom every again! Toofy Grin

Yea the kids did well with Clare (although I do say so myself on her behalf) - not the easiest conditions!

However the good news THE SOLAISE IF FIXED AND WINDS DEPENDANT IT WILL BE OPERATIONAL AGAIN TOMORROW

snow reports

Excellent news Steve thanks - we will be heading that way tomorrow

Well done for catching that moment, @trainee snowboard jedi. Laughing

And congratulations to all involved in getting littlies both up and down the mountain in those winds.

You know it makes sense.

SPARE A THOUGHT FOR THE PISTEURS

Well folks it was MIGHTY snowy again today. As trainee snowboard jedi above has outlined we had an interesting morning. We decided to upload to Solaise via the cable car with the chair out of order as I knew it would be a) dead up there as everyone would be heading to La Daille which would be swamped b) less windy at that altitude than the Bellevarde and c) the powder on the pistes would be easily lap'able.

So it was rather interesting up top.... I will use the following photo the pisteurs took to give you an idea.

... on that point I would publicly like to thank the pisteurs and all the work they and the security teams do to keep us safe on the mountains (potentially 24/7 if needs be)... not just in Val and Tignes but across the world. I was privileged enough to spend a day with the Whistler Backcomb patrollers many moons ago and seeing first hand what they do it is humbling. All the time behind the scenes they are keeping an overall eye on things. Of course they can call in the PGHM (basically the high mountain police) but on a day to day basis they are keeping us as safe as they can.

Lots of snow clearance from the roof happening to allow people to safely enter and leave the leisure centre this morning

A small break in the clouds and the views were stunning

Last night on Henrys Avalanche Talk 'Hangout' he talked about the need to get up there and see what it is like - rather than dismissing conditions outright OR assuming what it will be like. Ironically it was actually better vis and less winds (more or less) when we climbed even higher than the top of the Tete du Solaise to the top of the Madelaine. We were rewarded with knee deep powder flying everywhere!

Actually talking of skiing and snowboarding in poor 'flat light' or blizzard 'white out' conditions I had some work of mine published today by the tour operator Scott Dunn... check out the article here http://blog.scottdunn.com/bad-light-tips/

So after a hot choc break up the mountain we rode down the Solaise and were rewarded as you can see in the pics above with the clouds parting and some AWESOME snow.

I fitted in my daily periscope at lunchtime and the weather 'window' had only lasted a couple of mins and as you can see it was snow service resumed.

https://t.co/cGEUNuwnbk and the perma-link
https://t.co/jkhJ4TWuHQ

So apparently we have had about 120cm of snow in the village since the start of the year so far and another whack still to come. The avalanche risk was 4/5 today and with these huge winds forecast to continue overnight with massive snowfalls who knows how it will come out in the wash tomorrow. There is a solid chance at some point if it continues as intensely as this for another 24 hours or so that we could get a 5/5 and black flag called. This is essentially a stay at home decree! I suspect it will calm down a little but either way there will be lots of blasting to be done tomorrow and I would not be surprised if we dont have a delayed opening tomorrow and or limited opening - we shall see!

The good news though is that the flywheel has been replaced on the Solaise Express and it will reopen tomorrow (weather permitting!)

The 135km/h winds etc mean that blasting will start at 7am. The roads were slick this afternoon so chains or a 4x4 with snow tyres was required and I suspect it will be the same tomorrow.

The afternoon was spent speaking to seasonnaires as I am running 2 groups of them this year. So getting them tee'd up for the first sessions and making sure they are all the same standard etc etc etc takes some work. I also spent a stupidly long period of time on the phone to my car insurance company trying to sort out the repairs (it is dragging on and on) to our car... getting there. It was also nice to spend some time with my little girl.... we dont get too much family time in the Winter so when we do get some we have to make the most of it.

Anyway folks off for an early night as I am shattered.

TTFN

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Steve Angus,

A snowHead

A snowHead

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

MORNING UPDATE

109km/h gusts atop Solaise an hour ago. Chains on cars / 4x4 with snow tyres - tolerated to Bourg. +2 in Bourg and -4 here in town. Massive amount of PIDA work required this morning. Delayed openings 100% likely.

Stand by.

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Hi Steve, thanks for all your updates mate. Superb!

We arrive in a few weeks. Want to book some restaurants for evenings. Can you recommend a few centrally located restaurants in Val? We're not wanting gourmet. Just hearty French fare at reasonable prices.

Cheers!

Brad

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Nice article on the low light front @Steve Angus, just in terms of overall position in poor vis is it better to have a more stacked position with some flex available to absorb, or something more central on the ski?

Currently battling the low light, blizzard, cloud & crowded moguled pistes of Val Thorens, loads of people off-pisting and loads going down closed pistes here...

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What's the SH's collective opinion on the Fall Line Bar?

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Really like it, good prices, very popular with Brits and friendly.

After all it is free

Aussieboarder - Hi Brad.... got ya! Central and honest grub.... try The Lodge and Victors opposite. Burgers at Moris are amazing and so to is the menu at Danois - all those places central. There you go!

Levi215 - what you are saying should be the same thing. A 'stacked' flexed position or the 'ready' position is central on the ski... anything other and a skier is not central to the geographic middle of the ski where we always should be no matter what we are doing. When people say 'lean forward' or words to that effect what actually happens is you push into the front of the boot etc which actually gets you in the middle of the ski!

Dr John - what you getting at here? Its nice, locals style place showing sport and has nice apres snacks and other things.... not the most central of places but pretty good little place.

@Steve Angus, has anyone sent you skiing video for your analysis as per a recent periscope?? (Great idea by the way, strangely addictive for us folk stuck in the UK!!)

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No

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Need I say anything about the weather!

Well folks it was snow and wind today again!

With delayed openings it was a slow start as we listened to plenty of blasting outside!

I was on the board all day today and the powder was beautiful.

Some great changes were made in the powder today with my client in the morning which was great to see. We were lucky to get up the Olympique just as it opened. However the snow was great but the wind was pretty intense so getting down to a lower level was tricky.

Anyway it was a better morning than expected.

The afternoon was a fun affair back on the board mixing some technique with a few fun tricks and whole host of other things. By the afternoon the weather was a little better - well at time it was anyway!

After making some phone calls and lots of other bits and bobs I suddenly find myself writing this very later tonight - hence the reason I am making it very short but I am pretty tired so need an early one.

Sorry for not being particularly inspired tonight!

My periscopes today:

https://t.co/0mvgt2qKLL and the perma-link
https://t.co/BidbyKQW8T

I think we have a small break in the weather tomorrow which will be welcome but with a high avalanche risk tomorrow folks - stay safe!

snow reports

@Steve Angus, thanks, exactly that. No hidden agenda, it's the closest bar to the hotel and it looked ok.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

kitenski, PaulW and thecramps:

Id love some videos but what I am really thinking is some videos that could be recorded on Periscope OR you record a video and upload via Twitter and tag me @SteveAngusSnow. The reason is that by tagging me in the videos, or on Periscope you can send me a 'private' video (sounds dodgy but its not!), that it pops up in my feed and I can reply with a few comments or whatever. But effectively it gives me some material to tweet and retweet... hopefully showing my abilities to improve your skiing / snowboarding. On media like Periscope / Twitter it is 'sticky' or shareable.... Youtube is not. Does that make sense?

But please do get some video please as I'lll happily give some feedback!

Dr John - yup its good in there. Have fun!

A snowHead

Was there an avalanche in Tigne today?

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

The shiny red thing in the sky returns!

After a rather disturbed nights sleep (Olivia had a blocked nose and awoke in the middle of the night and unfortunately her night light had gone out - for some reason, so there was lots of screaming for an hour or so until we got her settled down) it was time for the alarm clock to go off at 6am. So after saying I was tired last night I really am tonight.

Anyway lots to update today so here goes!

The wind and snow was still surprisingly strong this morning. Indeed Radio Val were reporting wind speeds of some 130km/h (gusts) atop Solaise in the early hours. Hmmm it could be an interesting morning!

I walked up to the meeting point and got as far as the start of the leisure centre where a pisteur was placed stopping cars, traffic and pedestrians from going any further. So effectively there was a cordon extending from the leisure centre behind the base of the Bellevarde chair and up across up towards the base of the Rogoney lift. Anyway there was a long traffic jam and more and more people were turning up trying to get across to the snow front in the hope that the lifts would open on time - no way that was going to happen - just the nursery slope lifts yes!

Lots of excited skiers going nowhere yet a while.

After about 10 minutes we were given the heads up to go as the blast had returned a negative (the Face remained shut all day and will hopefully reopen tomorrow - av blasting / danger dependant).

The decision now was whether to do laps on the Village / Rogoney or take our pic as to which queue to wait in (Olympique / Solaise Express or Solaise Cable Car).... with a little bit of intuition from yours truly I decided we had the best chance on the Solaise Cable Car).... the Olympique was struggling getting the cars on it... and the fact the Funival was not moving suggested that the loaded slopes near the top of the Bellevarde mountain would be causing problems for the pisteurs. The chairlift would be catching the wind whereas the cable car had done a couple of trial runs with restaurant workers already so that was a good bet. After a 10 minute wait we were the first up the mountain. The next issue was that when we got out the top there was rather a lot of wind BUT even more puzzlingly the magic carpets were closed BUT we could see the Madelaine was moving..... strange!

Anyway instead of walking up the ridge next to the carpet Poum we decided to have an early hot choc break. When we came out of that the carpet was open and they had just opened the Solaise chair so we go over to the Madelaine quick.

Waiting for the cable car to open the views down the valley were nice and the clouds were thinner than they had been!

So much snow has been moved around atop the Solaise that the magic carpets are almost tunnels INSIDE the snow now!

Anyway as the Solaise side was the only thing running initially every man and his dog went up there. Riding the Madelaine chair we could see some of the positive returns the PIDA blasting had given this morning and the sheer size and depth of the slab shows that there is a very real danger of deep slides out there still!

This is RIGHT next to the Madelaine piste and right under the chair! There is no such thing as 'just' off piste in terms of being safe or not. Of course this is 'managed' but it just goes to show how unstable it can be out there at the moment!

Anyhows there was essentially nothing else open up there so the run was so busy and the double magic carpet was pretty much immediately swamped by people trying to get back to the Tete of the Solaise in order to have something a little more juicy to ski. After a couple of laps it was our turn to head back to town..... the sheer numbers of people skiing the Plan M to get back down to town was incredible. I should point out that the pistes (despite the wind over the last 24 hours) are still in EXCELLENT condition and certainly soft! I dont think I have EVER seen it so busy coming down that piste. It was combination of bedlam, lumps and bumps and areas of huge mounds of wind blown snow and in a couple of places as so many people were skiing the run it was actually quite icey for small areas!

Busy anyone.

By later in the day as more opened everything thinned out thank goodness!

It was change from snowboarding to ski stuff at lunchtime and I finally managed to arrange a time when I am going to drop our car off for it repairs. However sitting outside the Olympique for lunch I remember that it was a LOT colder than it had been... it was about -10 for most places this morning (sometimes cooler) and that excludes the wind chill. So it was a chilly morning. In the afternoon as the sun was to come out it felt warmer thank goodness!

With the avalanche risk (if they did halves it would be 4.5 I would have thought today) at 4 today I was interested to see cars from the emergency services parked up near the pisteurs office - almost in a ready for action state in case of the worst!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway the afternoon was a most enjoyable one spent with some regular readers of this and followers of my Periscope broadcasts. We headed up the Bellevarde to see what was happening. The first run or two it was a little cloudy and overcast still but the wind had dropped. The problem was that there was still an awful lot closed so things like the Borsat, Fontaine Froid etc could not be opened. We worked on some great higher end piste technique and would you believe it the sun started to show its face. After an hour or two you could see plenty. You could also clearly see some the plaques that have dropped as well as where the wind damage is! There are some MASSIVE slides out there... mixture of natural and pisteur created!

On that point I was very disappointing to see that some people were ALREADY choosing to ski some big lines out there and put themselves and others in danger. In fact a 40 year old skier was saved in-extremis after an avalanche carried him into the Tignes le Lac and he escaped with a light hypothermia and severe shock before taking a hot shower and going home.... lucky boy! I believe he was skiing alone.

You can see a few tracks had already been put in the slope (how lucky where they) before the third person to ski the run (by the looks and analysis of the picture) set it all off!

Anyway on that point it is desperately sad to here about what has happened in Les Deux Alpes this evening...... It is WELL WORTH noting that the police are waiting to speak to the school teacher whom it would appear took the group down the closed black run... people and readers of this may not know that ANYONE considered as responsible / senior under French law can be held to account so for example if someone who knew Val d'Isere was showing friends around (even if no money swapped hands crucially) and an accident happened that person could be held accountable by the Gendarmes.... not a lot of people are aware of that. In this sad case in Deux Alpes I am sure the teacher is in for the high jump ESPECIALLY since the piste was closed it would seem. Anyway thoughts and prayers and RIP to the three dead!

I downloaded on the Olympique at the end of the day and did my Periscoping.... the windows were a little fogged up on the ride down so the pictures aren't quite as good as I was hoping but anyway here goes:

https://t.co/6QK5JcZGGa and the perma-link:
https://t.co/FSzvS0fq6i

I picked Olivia up (who ended up having an early night like I will) and settled in to watch the last part of Silent Witness on catch up! Clares dad arrives in town late tonight so it will be nice to see him around the next few days.

Talking of Clare - she was famous on the YSE photo of the day today!

Weather wise we are looking at plenty more snow tomorrow before a few days or more settled weather (perhaps a mix of clouds and sun - we shall see).

And that bring you all up to date - sure I have missed something but cant quite remember!

I have now managed to edit my top tips from the other day: https://ktch.tv/5YyZ?s=01m54s&e=05m50s - what to do on bad weather day's here in Val d'Isere - some ideas!

TTFN

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Great update Steve - keep up the good work !

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Steve Angus,

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@intermediate, you can see the Toviere gondola in the pic. Looks like he was very lucky indeed. Very sad about LDA, what were they doing on that run? I'm actually surprised there weren't more avalanche injuries today with everyone going crazy in the fresh powder. No-one stops to consider whether it's worth dying for.

Thanks for the update Steve, all the snow reporting has been brilliant, I've been sneakily catching the Periscopes at work!

Next week should be absolutely amazing in Val if/when the cloud and snow clears, those coming out are super-lucky.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@Steve Angus, hopefully tweeted you vids of my daughters... Shall we say it's "interesting" to try and give tips to a teenage daughter who knows best!! I have found if I suggest something she will shrug but then try and follow what I do!! The younger one is more receptive!

After all it is free

@HoneyBunny,

@intermediate - If you look at the Le Lac web cam - http://tignes.roundshot.com/lac/ - scroll back to yesterday at 13:40 and then look at 13:50 and you see how it went. At 14:40 you can see the helicopter hovering over.

Such a dangerous place to ski with the lake below. Very very luck to get away so unscathed.

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@kitenski, I have given up on trying to educate my girls especially when mam said they don't have to listen to me, yes they are faster than their mam but why did the ESF let them drag their poles how am I to develop a good pole plant, hey ho I suppose at least they still ski with me lol

Help!!

The view from............ Val d'Isere and the Espace Killy

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