 Poster: A snowHead
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easiski, Thanks for the report it's perked me up no end. All we have here is sunshine and humid weather which drives me mad.  How was the knee as you were had a bit of trouble at the end of last season?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| easiski wrote: |
snowaddict, Thanks - I'll look forward to it.  |
One day I will! I have always wanted to ski LDA for some reason and have just never managed it. But since I joined Snowheads, I really, really want to ski LDA!! That is all down to your fab reports and tales!!
It would be great to come out with my hubby, maybe one summer. It will happen one day!
Hope you had a nice birthday a few weeks ago by the way, given we discovered on another thread that we share birthdays!!
Enjoy all that ski-ing out there! Glad the knee seems to be doing OK as well.
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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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Sorry, accidentally double posted!
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Sun 15-06-08 13:14; edited 1 time in total
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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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easiski, sounds really good - thanks for the detailed report.
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easiski, will be out there in 4 weeks for the Mountain of Hell, sounds like we will be going down on the snow further than in the past few years 
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In which case the first Monday in July seems a good bet, coming back on the Friday, assuming cheapish hotels are available, unless alternatively, if you fancy it, that some Snowhead has an apartment available for those days
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http://2stay2alpes.com/Summer.aspx 
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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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i'll be riding down it on a mountain bike so snow that low would be no help
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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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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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Poster: A snowHead
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For God's sake, when am I ever going to get the washing dry? 
Oh yes, I thought, nice long lunch breaks all summer, go swimming and then sit in the sun with a book, spend all spare cash with Amazon as usual, get a tan, keep fit, ideal. Bah.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Lizzard, It's supposed to be getting much warmer from Thurs or so, so you might still manage dry washing and a sun-tan. You're welcome to borrow books if you like thrillers - haven't got that much else.
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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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easiski just sent the deposit for our lessons via paypal
Butterfly please leave some snow for us
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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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Roger C, will do!
easiski, do we I need a photo for a lift pass? Can't find that info on the website and the accommodation management services info suggests I 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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Butterfly, you did last time I was in L2A but that may have changed as I think they've gone a bit more automated now?
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Butterfly, jonm, No photo necessary except for season passes now.
Clear and sunny - I'm off - taking camera - pix later
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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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chris, Shame you didn't give me a bell. I ended up skiing down with David Ash, and we could have all done it together. Glad you enjoyed yourselves though.
It was a fabulous day, as chris, has said. The snow looked so good, that when I got up at about 10.15 or so I went straight up and over to L'Echines. It was great at the top with an odd texture which I'm told is called 'velouté' in French - good description. So here is looking up at the top of L'Echines and then looking up from about 2/3 of the way down and lastly looking down at the bottom of the Signal chair from just above the steep bit.
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Now moving on, there's a photo of the wall, still showing the fracture line even after all the new snow. The pisteurs told me it was 80cms! Also a view from the top of the signal chair looking over to the Dome red and L'Echines. the third general view shows the runs down towards 2,600 which are not open. Couloirs l-r = 'Arnos', Grand Creux, and Lac Noir
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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So, having done l'Echines twice (it was a little heavy low down), I went off for a well-earned coffee and bumped into David Ash and his son, so we arranged to meet up later. I skied down the Jandri which was horrid at the top by the route I'd chosen (straight down from the bottom of the Jandri 4 chairlift) but soon gave way to really nice spring snow all the way down to 2,600. Here's a pic of my tracks just at the point where it started to get enjoyable and then I went down the Goulet du Lac Noir and here's my tracks at the bottom. A short walk up where the rope tow is in winter and I was on my way back up to the glacier.
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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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With David and Richard, we skied down Serre Palas to the mid station of the 8 man and then onto the Breche. They had pisted about 2 machines worth, not as wide as on the Jandri, but still. At the division in the piste Richard went off down the blue gully to join the Jandri, and David & I skied down the bottom of the Breche which just got better and better - I thought the snow was just fab at the bottom, but I forgot to take a photo of it - sorry. 
However, here's a general view of La Muzelle showing the snowy tops this morning and one I hope you will find interesting showing work on the Petit Cretes chairlift - note the man on top of the wheel. 
Well, that's about the end of my decent photos (one of a marmotte didn't come out). I saw a very large marmotte right up by the bottom of the Jandri 4 chair, but knew I couldn't get the camera out. He was easy to spot as he was on the snow. Altogether, today's marmotte count was 3.
Lovely and sunny and warm, and forecast to stay like this for a while, so I think it's entirely possible that today may have been the very best day of the summer season.
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easiski, sorry, it was as spur of the moment thing. Great report, even though I haven't a clue where you were skiing (no piste map). I spent most of the morning skiing the off-piste, left of the top of the Jandri. I too, think that it could be the best day of the summer.
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You know it makes sense.
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Looks fab!
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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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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Vey jealous but only 7 days and counting. sounds like there are slalom gates and if so any recomendations for coaching available for my daughter?
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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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easiski, How are conditions right now? Above-, at- or below-average? They look reasonably good in the photos.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Whitegold,
Way above average. All of the regular Italian coaches I spoke to this morning said they have never seen the glacier so 'complete'.
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easiski, fabulous reports and pictures, as always. 
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easiski, Thanks for great report and pics. Would like to know about lift queues, many race teams training on the Glacier, l expect they would have priority when queuing ? ls
the case ? Where are the busist lifts ? ls there plenty of room for everyone ?
Cheers.
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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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i'd be mighty tempted to hop on a plane tomorrow evening if there was one. there only seems to be one flight a day to LYS these days (or maybe the other flights are full) 
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  Arno, Yeah - get your *rse out here - lots of stuff right up your street.
Whitegold, Best start to the summer season since the disaster of 2003. I've done about 10 summers now, and deffo can't remember so much snow for a good while. Lots of skinning available too for those that have the energy.
markyb, Depends what level she is. Have you contacted Anne Millet? She's very good and speaks brilliant english. There's also Pierre-Alain Carell. If you don't want to discuss her in public send me a PM and we'll look into it.
lampbus, Good idea, but I don't know how to put it into the post except for just popping in the link.
Headplant, lampbus, RachelQ, clare mcbride, Thank you for the thanks.
I was working today and they had a mountain bike race down the piste below the glacier -bah! fortunately it was very hard snow after the heat of yesterday, so they didn't actually do much damage. We started off skiing down to 2,600 via Serre Palas, La Mura and Jandri, finishing up on the Goulet du Lac Noir side for the easier walk back to the Jandri Expess. Photos looking back up Mura (but later), that piste never lets me down, it's always a pleasure to ski it, and conditions are always really good considering it's south facing. Of course being at 3,000m or so helps! 2nd pic is looking back up the Goulet du Lac Noir. Fab!
After that we used Roche Mantel which was good, and then up the Puy Salié Nord, using the top of the Dome as the race clubs had left by then. Good snow just beginning to soften up. We were just about back to the resto at 12.45 when I saw they were still letting peeps up on the Puy Salié Sud, so I left my student and shot up it. They are closing at 12.30 this year to conserve snow, but they ran another half an hour today, probably because it was so hard early on. So I got a little fun run in down the glacier on fab snow - a bit of wind in the hair. It's been very hot and sunny again today, but due to the hard overnight freeze the snow took a long time to soften up this morning. We got down to 2,600m at the end of the day at around 14.00 and although the snow was slow and fairly wet, it was still really nice to ski.
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FAQ
I had to work really hard to keep the skis running forward on the hard stuff, and it wasn't happy. However it's OK now, and after I felt it I returned to a nice soft skiddy turn and it was fine. 
I wouldn't want you to get your hopes up. That's why I said, if you can, get out this coming weekend - by the weekend after it could all be over lower than the glacier. I do expect Signal to stay operational until at least mid July (it was 20th last year), but it all depends on the weather from now on.
