 Poster: A snowHead
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| WindOfChange wrote: |
| Flaine Foret, Flaine Forum, Flaine Front De Neige. |
Fortunately it disappears when you're on the slopes.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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St Anton
The badly kept slopes were full of people completely out of control.
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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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| philwig wrote: |
Whistler. It snows all the ****ing time. And they don't bash it flat! So there's all this fresh snow there, littering the pistes which otherwise would be ok and making it hard to ski. On the plus side, if you ignore most of the terrain and pick just one or two key runs, you can manage to avoid the fresh snow, although it's always crowded there. There's a lot of terrain off the piste which they don't bash at all, and down which they could easily put pistes, but they are too lazy to do that. They mark the boundary of the resort with stupid signs telling you not to cross it - outrageous authoritarianism. They also have speed cops, taking all the fun out of my 200km/h straight line snowploughing runs.
There are no pistes at all below the resort, so everyone has to get up in the mornings, which is just stupid. They even manage the queues, so you can't push in like you can in the Alps! Worse, you're not allowed to smoke anywhere! I can't imagine what they're thinking.
They have also designed the resort all wrong, with the freezing level not always below it. Quite often there's rain or very wet snow on the lower slopes leading back to the village. Downloading is for morons, so you just have to learn to ride wet snow and buy hyper-expensive GoreTex clothing. It's a scam arranged between the resort and the shops, which they own.
Rentals are terrible - instead of just having a few levels of old gear to choose from, they have current-season gear from which you can make your choice - bewildering. And you can change it every day - crazy. The ski school is a joke, with teachers who could not hope to win an FIS race and who actually try to teach people. The kids love it, but they're kids. Those free resort guide people are the worst thing - they're clearly not UIAGM qualified and their FIS points are likely zero; how they can have the legal right to guide people round beats me.
The resort itself is horrible - it's hard to drive around and they don't let you park where you want, like on the pavements or generally where you'd obstruct others. Nanny state. Food-wise, there's just too much choice. The McDonalds isn't the same quality as at home, although I'll be sure to review it shortly. The saunas are cold and the hot tubs full of thin people. They don't even let you talk in some of them.
Now Mr Trump has made America Great Again he needs to sort out his ski resorts. |
When does Trump plan to invade Canada & sort out Whistler? Other than that one factual error, well argued. 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| philwig wrote: |
Whistler. It snows all the ****ing time. And they don't bash it flat! So there's all this fresh snow there, littering the pistes which otherwise would be ok and making it hard to ski. On the plus side, if you ignore most of the terrain and pick just one or two key runs, you can manage to avoid the fresh snow, although it's always crowded there. There's a lot of terrain off the piste which they don't bash at all, and down which they could easily put pistes, but they are too lazy to do that. They mark the boundary of the resort with stupid signs telling you not to cross it - outrageous authoritarianism. They also have speed cops, taking all the fun out of my 200km/h straight line snowploughing runs.
There are no pistes at all below the resort, so everyone has to get up in the mornings, which is just stupid. They even manage the queues, so you can't push in like you can in the Alps! Worse, you're not allowed to smoke anywhere! I can't imagine what they're thinking.
They have also designed the resort all wrong, with the freezing level not always below it. Quite often there's rain or very wet snow on the lower slopes leading back to the village. Downloading is for morons, so you just have to learn to ride wet snow and buy hyper-expensive GoreTex clothing. It's a scam arranged between the resort and the shops, which they own.
Rentals are terrible - instead of just having a few levels of old gear to choose from, they have current-season gear from which you can make your choice - bewildering. And you can change it every day - crazy. The ski school is a joke, with teachers who could not hope to win an FIS race and who actually try to teach people. The kids love it, but they're kids. Those free resort guide people are the worst thing - they're clearly not UIAGM qualified and their FIS points are likely zero; how they can have the legal right to guide people round beats me.
The resort itself is horrible - it's hard to drive around and they don't let you park where you want, like on the pavements or generally where you'd obstruct others. Nanny state. Food-wise, there's just too much choice. The McDonalds isn't the same quality as at home, although I'll be sure to review it shortly. The saunas are cold and the hot tubs full of thin people. They don't even let you talk in some of them.
Now Mr Trump has made America Great Again he needs to sort out his ski resorts. |
Great post, I bloody hate Whistler. I wish we hadn't been there 10 times in the last 14 years, what were we thinking? And as for Vancouver ... don't get me started ... bloody Orcas and Humpbacks in the water, views blocked by mountain ranges ...
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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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Flaine aka Wester Hailes in the sky with Fois Gras.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I'm with those who think all the planned ski stations in France are a disaster in every respect.
However...there are historical and socioeconomic reasons. Huge swaths of France were destroyed in WWI; WWII was full of deprivations, the interwar period was pretty grim as millions of young men had been lost. So the future for France was forward looking Le Corbusier style. And the new prosperity of the Trente Glorieuese and new paid vacations (starting in the late 30s) gave people a reason to go to the mountains and learn to ski. And at the same time France was seeking an alternative to the subsistence farming economy of the Alps/Pyrenees. Voila! Concrete tower blocks and ski lifts!
There have been a few semi-successful ones, but only if you can keep the style consistent, i.e. Avoriaz and the Breuer buildings at Flaine. Bellecote should be dynamited.
And, which is more honest: A place like Les Saisies with cookie cutter "chalets" or Flaine? At least Flaine isn't pretending to be a rustic village where virginal maidens hand milk the cows every morning and youths in lederhosen blow alpenstocks.
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| Quote: |
I'm with those who think all the planned ski stations in France are a disaster in every respect.
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I disagree completely. To me they have been a success. Afordable accommodation in compact convenient centres, close to very good skiing. And they fit into the environment much better than the current vogue for spralling shanty towns of low rise pine clad chalets.
| Quote: |
youths in lederhosen blow alpenstocks.
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This sounds rather kinky to me, alpenstocks are long handles ice axes.
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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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@WindOfChange, You forgot Les Menuires (roughly translated as the manure)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@johnE, Spot on. I don't know why people want their 1970s built resort to look like an 1870s pastiche. Probably the same people who (aspire to) live in a tudorbethan Barratt home with a "live laugh love" cushion on the couch 
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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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| johnE wrote: |
| Quote: |
I'm with those who think all the planned ski stations in France are a disaster in every respect.
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I disagree completely. To me they have been a success. Afordable accommodation in compact convenient centres, close to very good skiing. And they fit into the environment much better than the current vogue for spralling shanty towns of low rise pine clad chalets.
| Quote: |
youths in lederhosen blow alpenstocks.
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This sounds rather kinky to me, alpenstocks are long handles ice axes. |
Alphorns...doh. 
Those apartment blocks don't fit into the environment either. Nothing really does except no development. I'm with you on the chalet shantytowns.
As to whether they are a "success," for the developers and TOs, and for most punters, maybe. But we can disagree. If they were all like Avoriaz or Flaine, which I quite like, or even parts of Tignes, then sure, why not?
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| Kenzie wrote: |
| ... When does Trump plan to invade Canada & sort out Whistler? Other than that one factual error, well argued. |
Imagine me running all sorts of stuff there and yet apparently not knowing something quite so basic. Anyone would think I possibly read the original post.
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You know it makes sense.
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Proves how Marmite ski resorts are, some of the shittiest looking have the best skiing and some of the most chocolate box have the most fragmented crappy areas.
Am I mad to like Flaine and Le Corbier (although the best skiing in the Sybelles is everywhere else)?
Oh and I love Les Arcs and ADH.....Prob my two fave regions. Might be cos I live in Crawley and not The Cotswolds
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Wed 5-02-20 18:12; 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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Iso-Syöte, Finland, where I learned to ski.
Too small to even qualify as a one-horse town since the horse got bored and bugged off. One hotel (top of the 400m hill), one shop (bottom of the hill), one entertaining walk for non-skiers between the two. One restaurant serving bear and reindeer. Group ski lessons significantly under subscribed. Reindeer wandering around on the piste. Had to be dug out of our hut every morning before we could go skiing. Piste prep only occurred in the evening, despite some metres of snowfall. They never even used the snow cannons.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Vail. They don’t do money well. Think pretentious and flashy.
Just around the corner is Aspen where money is done more ‘organically’. A completely different vibe.
*Both places rock as far as skis on snow is concerned.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@philwig, 
It's bloody awful. And the food isabsolutely terrible.
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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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There's something about Les Deux Alpes I really don't like...but I'm not sure what it is! Just know I don't like the place (I know, ridiculous!  )
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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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St Sorlin D'arves for me, package hol about 12 years ago. We may have just picked a bad time, more slush than snow and was even was muddy in places, food best described as disappointing and nothing seemed to go right for us all week.
Mind you we got a laugh when we arrived at the resort and the rep brightly announced we we're staying in the H block! Being Irish that had certain connotations for us, but the rep was blissfully unaware.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Flaine. There really aren't many places I object to, usually it is people I have a problem with, but I've really not encountered a town with less going on, barely awake after 5pm and built almost exclusively from concrete. It looks like something out of a cold war movie, and amusingly cold war pretty much summarises the queue for the creaking low capacity lift to escape the town into some of the most overrated skiing in Europe.
It does have one thing going for it, the transfer is incredibly short from Geneva which makes escaping this hole of a town much more straightforward than many other resorts, but otherwise if you like your brutalist architecture and for a place to be devoid of life I'd suggest a weekend in chernobyl, at least the waiters will be glad to see you.
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+1 on Les Manures.
Val Thorens from any angle.
Val Claret spoils any view it’s in.
But Isola 2000. Gawd.
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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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| under a new name wrote: |
There is a charming little village above Cluses which I believe has one restaurant and 3 ski tows. Here is the piste map.
I know I am not one to harp on about "mileage" but I think even I might get bored there... that said though, nice looking bumps! |
Yes but think about kids - and the price of the season pass! It's called Rome sur Cluses and is indeed charming. It also boasts slightly more than the pictured piste ('la noire')
As for me I'd add Milton Keynes to the list.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Thu 6-02-20 12:23; edited 1 time in total
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| Drammeister wrote: |
Alpe d'huez. Try not to look at it.
Swindon town centre on a mountain. |
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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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| Pasigal wrote: |
I'm with those who think all the planned ski stations in France are a disaster in every respect.
However...there are historical and socioeconomic reasons. Huge swaths of France were destroyed in WWI; WWII was full of deprivations, the interwar period was pretty grim as millions of young men had been lost. So the future for France was forward looking Le Corbusier style. And the new prosperity of the Trente Glorieuese and new paid vacations (starting in the late 30s) gave people a reason to go to the mountains and learn to ski. And at the same time France was seeking an alternative to the subsistence farming economy of the Alps/Pyrenees. Voila! Concrete tower blocks and ski lifts!
There have been a few semi-successful ones, but only if you can keep the style consistent, i.e. Avoriaz and the Breuer buildings at Flaine. Bellecote should be dynamited.
And, which is more honest: A place like Les Saisies with cookie cutter "chalets" or Flaine? At least Flaine isn't pretending to be a rustic village where virginal maidens hand milk the cows every morning and youths in lederhosen blow alpenstocks. |
Great info - explains a lot!
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| biddpyat wrote: |
| albob wrote: |
| WindOfChange wrote: |
| Flaine Foret, Flaine Forum, Flaine Front De Neige. |
+1 -- Brutalism.... |
I agree, horrid. |
But what about the Picasso sculpture!?
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You know it makes sense.
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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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oh dear this reflects badly on my choices apparently. i was in pas de la casa last year which i agree is an ugly looking place but the grandvalira ski area is otherwise great imo. then two years ago i was in Niederau which i thought was a lovely little place and there was three beginners in the group so i didnt mind the limited ski area.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| mmcla wrote: |
| oh dear this reflects badly on my choices apparently. i was in pas de la casa last year which i agree is an ugly looking place but the grandvalira ski area is otherwise great imo. then two years ago i was in Niederau which i thought was a lovely little place and there was three beginners in the group so i didnt mind the limited ski area. |
I think you and a couple of others haven't carefully read the first post - "No positivity or balance please." 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Courchevel 1850....Jordan, Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss and more botox on piste than in an Essex nightclub
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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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Superdevoluy. Never been but seen pictures and those were enough. Quite possibly the biggest building I’ve ever seen. Also used to find Plagne Aime 2100 a strange place but weirdly having stayed close to it last year it has sort of grown on me slightly. Shopping arcade sandwiched in the middle is like wandering through a 1970’s throwback. Even more remarkable is that this building is actually one of two - the architect was let loose to build an almost identical one in La Mongie.
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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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| biddpyat wrote: |
| albob wrote: |
| WindOfChange wrote: |
| Flaine Foret, Flaine Forum, Flaine Front De Neige. |
+1 -- Brutalism.... |
I agree, horrid. |
I'm an odd one, I love the Brutalisum of Flaine. Then again I like Brutalisum in the right context and with the snow I think it works really well. Esp down to the fact the snow when I was there was rather nice.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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4-person gondola, double and single seat chairlift, plus a drag lift - wow, were they installed here in the 1960s, or just relocated from somewhere else when they were retired in the 80s?  I may have to go there - looks too good to be declared crap...
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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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@Griggs,
"I've booked the holiday darling, we've got a WHOLE WEEK in La Mongie!"
"Right, that's it, pack your sh*t and just well and truly completely f**k RIGHT off!"
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FAQ
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