 Poster: A snowHead
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way to early,feb and march normally good snowy months,once the blocking high pressure moves away next week,we will see some action,hopefully lots of it and snow not rain,but you will be fine,safe trip over
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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dshack - You'll be fine. The snow pattern started brilliantly this season but then has not been great since. Feb/March should be good - March is generally the best month in my experience - best snow, slightly warmer, longer days. Will be there also from March 12-19th -- can't wait (ps. usually a good time to try the Vallee Blanche as well before the glacier starts melting too far up the vallee and you are forced to finish the run by walking up the stairs from hell just above the town.
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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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Due to head out to Chamonix this weekend and I'm really concerned as to what we should be expecting? Is there any of the white stuff?! Apparently the pistes are all very hard, I hope they are still skiable.
I think next year I'm going to adopt the approach of last minute booking and simply follow where the snow hits.
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Looks nice and sunny watching the Chamonix Downhill...
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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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simplyme, I'm sure they're skiable.
The problem with late booking is that if the snow behaves itself, you'll possibly find yourself at the end of the queue.
This year, you'd be hard pushed to find exceptionally good snow right now anywhere in France, Switzerland or Italy. Can't comment on Austria.
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Just back from a week in the Chamonix Valley.
The best area snow wise is Argentiere but you will need to like bumps or hard pack pistes. Through the tunnel to Courmayeur is well worth the Trip, better snow and cheaper coffee, and what's not to like about Italy ?
The other area's were all pretty hard packed on piste and icy off piste.
I was hoping to 'bond' with Chamonix having never 'got it' on my previous day trips. I'm not sure I managed that but I can see the opportunities on a powder day. Just a shame about the crowds, but I expect I'll be back.
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Beautiful blue sky spring conditions in Chamonix today. Pistes are hard and fast, softening a little in the afternoon sun. Off piste is completely tracked out but I can't wipe the grin off my face. Slopes are quite empty, so no queues!
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Zero-G, pistes in great shape, admittedly firm but being well maintained. Cold still at night although it was about 8C in town at lunchtime. Lovely and quiet today around Brevent-Flegere.
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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: |
| pistes in great shape, admittedly firm but being well maintained |
Definitely in good shape. I don't know what I was expecting but I was not expecting good skiing today. I had great skiing today 
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under a new name, Zero-G, yep, good skiing all week but I'd love to catch it in better condition for the off-piste. But I'll need some of those sexy rocker ski's everyone seemed to be riding 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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david@mediacopy, don't get me started... 
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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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 was it that bad. That's one of my grumbles about Chamonix - I don't have much experience there but having waited in the most humungeous queues ever, in early January, I was not impressed. This should be a quiet time of year.
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pam w, I've been here for a while now and I think the place is deserted . . . granted I haven't spent much time anywhere other than GM, but weekends aside theres' hardly a soul here. No queuing anywhere except for the GM cable and if you catch it right the queue is as little as 10-15mins unbooked for it midweek. otherwise the best OP is pretty empty and there's still a little snow that's not mogully or rock hard here and there. . .
Zero-G, are you here next week too?
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You know it makes sense.
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pam w, No crowds last week, very easy going, even when up in Les Houches for the Combined. My reference to crowds referred to the hoards of hard-core types tracking out my fresh on a powder day.
On the other hand they did seem to be expecting big numbers if the barriers were anything to go by. It was 45mins for the GM when we looked on Friday.
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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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Things seem to be getting busier. It's been very quiet here this last week, but the village was super busy this afternoon - looks like the pre-holiday crowds are arriving. We don't have many hard core types here new powder doesn't get tracked out for days!
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Poster: A snowHead
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| ww166no wrote: |
I've been here for a while now and I think the place is deserted . . . granted I haven't spent much time anywhere other than GM, but weekends aside theres' hardly a soul here.
Zero-G, are you here next week too? |
It's been pretty quiet this weekend, lots of opportunity to mess around and practice drills when on piste.
Unfortunately, I'm not here next week (fly out tomorrow night). But I'll be back in four weeks' time if you're still here.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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david@mediacopy, hmmm, driving back from the Dolomites a week ago the traffic was hideous once out of the tunnel - I think due to them setting up parking for Sunday's race plus general hideous queueing at the peages.
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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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| Zero-G wrote: |
| ww166no wrote: |
I've been here for a while now and I think the place is deserted . . . granted I haven't spent much time anywhere other than GM, but weekends aside theres' hardly a soul here.
Zero-G, are you here next week too? |
It's been pretty quiet this weekend, lots of opportunity to mess around and practice drills when on piste.
Unfortunately, I'm not here next week (fly out tomorrow night). But I'll be back in four weeks' time if you're still here. |
I'll be here. PM me if you're bored! 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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under a new name, yep, when we drove out of Les Houches on Downhill day they had closed 1 side of the motorway for parking.
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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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david@mediacopy, and the peages were all backed up. Ended up detouring off at Bonne to avoid that oe.
Up Grands Montets today, bumps to far skiers right off Heirse were quite magnificent. Well formed and powdery.
Yum yum .
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GM has the best coverage at the moment but it was a tad icy yesterday. It's softer at Brevent, with some rock starting to show through today. Flegere is sporting large, brown patches, so we didn't even attempt to ski there. While they're doing an excellent job grooming the pistes, I'm not sure just how much is left to groom. Lift-served off piste is very crusty, rock hard in some places. Not sure what conditions are like further afield.
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| under a new name wrote: |
| Up Grands Montets today, bumps to far skiers right off Heirse were quite magnificent. Well formed and powdery. |
We were there too, lapping Herse until about 3pm when we sadly had to leave to get our transfer. Didn't see anyone on Dobermann SLs though Fantastic day, probably the best conditions we had all week. Given the lack of snow I was expecting the worst but had a great week's skiing.
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Sideshow_Bob, he he he, I'd almost worn my orange pants, but was rather more stealthy.
We only did a couple of runs, pretty awesome though? Possibly the easiest and most fun bumps I've skied in many years.
So much for crap snow!!
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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: |
| Up Grands Montets today, bumps to far skiers right off Heirse were quite magnificent. Well formed and powdery |
^ I'll agree with that, some of the best bumps I've skied for a while! Great stuff..
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offpisteskiing,
yeah, pretty fab. and some powdery grippy stuff all around in the bowl. All very fine.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Sounds like the largest congregation of SHs outside a bash on the GM yesterday!
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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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| Sideshow_Bob wrote: |
| Sounds like the largest congregation of SHs outside a bash on the GM yesterday! |
I wouldn't recognise any of you if you skied into me... mugshots are needed.
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Another one who was on GM on Sunday
Was down in Cham for the weekend. Thought the conditions were great, but as mentioned Brev/Fleg was getting very soft in the afternoon. The run in GM from the top of Herse to Argentiere was quite stunning!
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You know it makes sense.
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BUt did you also notice lots of folks on piste just not quite completely in control? Scary. Much safer off amongst the bumps and rocks.
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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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| under a new name wrote: |
| BUt did you also notice lots of folks on piste just not quite completely in control? Scary. Much safer off amongst the bumps and rocks. |
Quite so - I'm a big fan of the few pistes that there are on GM, they keep all of those folks where you can keep an eye on them.
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Poster: A snowHead
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For those coming at half term, don't panic.
I have been to GM today and there is still plenty of good skiing to be had. The run off the top is quite nice with some nice chalky snow around. The off piste isn't great but still a bit of sport to be had in the moguls. On piste its fast and hard, with some soft snow on top in places but you have to look for it! Was at Courmayeur yesterday and the snow is holding up well there also. The great news is the continuous sunshine.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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OK, why are people putting such a positive spin on things?! We skied GM today and it was pretty terrible. The pistes are rock hard and the run down to the bottom station is partially refrozen artificial snow (which skis like sand) over sheet ice. The Lavancher bowl is shark city with exposed rock poking through all over the place. The snow in there off the piste is very hard, as it is pretty much everywhere. Under the Herse chair conditions go from hardpack moguls to boilerplate refrozen glazed moguls as you descend. The offpiste between the Herse and the Bochard is almost all similarly refrozen and rock hard. Only the completely shaded gullies (e.g. the Blanchots gully skier's right of the Herse) have anything resembling softer snow, I think because the wind has blown some extra into them. Btw when I say 'softer snow' I mean firm but not teeth chattering refrozen firm.
The offpiste conditions pretty much everywhere that we skied at GM were such that you could hear skiers approaching a mile off due to skis scraping on ice/refrozen boilerplate. If you were to fall on a steep pitch anywhere you would be taking a very long and painful slide. Now, what I want to know is why are people calling this good skiing??!! If you think these are good conditions have you never skied powder or corn or slushy bumps or crud?? I would prefer all of these to rock hard refreeze.
To anyone due to come here before next week, my condolences. Either don't bother or, if you must, come with EXTREMELY low expectations and you might just enjoy yourselves. There is the chance of snow next week so everybody please pray!!! Having said that, the base looks pretty poor even at Grands Montets now (let alone Flegere and Le Tour which have more rock and earth showing by the day). It will take some decent snowfall to bring a lot of the terrain back into good condition so 5cm/10cm just ain't gonna do it.
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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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snowprincess, ummm, because some of us had excellent skiing on Sunday? I know I did.
Now, I also appreciate that there's been 3 days of warm days (and cold nights) but I wouldn't normally expect things to change so drastically because of that.
The home run (Pierre à Ric) is almost always
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| partially refrozen artificial snow |
- that's normal (!)
Much of the off piste (shaded, Northern aspects) on Sunday at GMs and Saturday at B-F were very pleasant, all things considered.
So - no positive spin from me, just reporting what I saw.
"Terrible" is a word very far from my mind.
2 questions for you, to be fair, 1. do you ski or board? and 2. how much skiing or boarding have you done? Just curious as I expect the answers to both are conditioning your opinion.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Blimey snowprincess, you've had a good day haven't you?
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the run down to the bottom station is partially refrozen artificial snow (which skis like sand) over sheet ice
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Take the lift down at the end of the day
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The Lavancher bowl is shark city with exposed rock poking through all over the place
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Don't ski the RH face then, not a soul on the LHS today, much colder snow.
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Under the Herse chair conditions go from hardpack moguls to boilerplate refrozen glazed moguls as you descend
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Possibly the worst option off the Herse
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Only the completely shaded gullies (e.g. the Blanchots gully skier's right of the Herse) have anything resembling softer snow, I think because the wind has blown some extra into them. Btw when I say 'softer snow' I mean firm but not teeth chattering refrozen firm.
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Had several runs through here today - lovely conditions after 12
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The offpiste conditions pretty much everywhere that we skied at GM were such that you could hear skiers approaching a mile off due to skis scraping on ice/refrozen boilerplate. If you were to fall on a steep pitch anywhere you would be taking a very long and painful slide. Now, what I want to know is why are people calling this good skiing??!! If you think these are good conditions have you never skied powder or corn or slushy bumps or crud?? I would prefer all of these to rock hard refreeze.
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Wouldn't we all, but
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rock hard refreeze
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Stay in bed a bit longer and don't take the daft options - it all skis pretty well after noon!
Did you go up the top cable at all?
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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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Conditions are not ideal and while I would prefer fresh snow to ski on every day I also welcome the opportunity to learn to ski all types of terrain, both good and bad. That said I will be ecstatic if it snows before my next trip to Chamonix in a few weeks' time. If it doesn't, it will be a climbing trip rather than a skiing trip... hell, at this rate, I may even make it a camping trip!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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snowprincess, sharpen your edges or hire some racing skis and hone your hard snow carving techniques, or are you too precious to ski on hardpack?
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I'm with snowprincess on this one. There's no point talking things up with reports of how you found some good snow in a little pocket here or there. The conditions here ARE crap at the moment! It has not snowed here for over 4 weeks and we are currently receiving spring conditions. Just wanted to make this thread a little more balanced for the benefit of people who are reading this thread for info.
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rockyrobin, I think it has been pretty balanced.
No-one is suggesting things are great, nor that it's been anything other than a poor start to the season, but I've seen it worse, much worse and my clients still had a good time.
It's far from crap. How many seasons have you skied? Have you ever really seen 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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under a new name- Yeah, I know the home run is usually like that, in other words it's usually (always) terrible! To answer your questions, I ski and have done a few winter seasons (Whistler, Jackson, Verbier, Val d'Isere, here).
ww166no- Actually, I didn't have a bad day up there today because it's been so long without snow now that I'm over being pissed off about it. I find if you stop wishing for the snow to be better, it is actually possible to have fun even in the most dire conditions! I didn't post here to whine about not having a good day- it's just that I have read a few threads and blogs lately about how things are in Cham/Verbier etc which I feel aren't telling the whole story so I thought I'd give my opinion for the benefit of anyone coming here in the next few days.
I skied all afternoon, didn't start til after 12 and nothing that I skied had softened up. I didn't go up to the top station today but I'm sure it's much the same as it was last week (and the week before and the week before!).
Sideshow_Bob- Nope, not too precious to ski on hardpack, otherwise I wouldn't have gone out skiing at all for about the last month. Like I said above, I actually had fun today but I still maintain the conditions were appalling.
To everyone who thinks the skiing's great at the moment, here's a question for you: How in your opinion could the conditions get any worse? Snow depth is bad (thin base), most areas are sun affected, the snow couldn't really get much harder, loads of areas are not skiable at all (lifts closed on GM, Flegere)....... I reckon the only way things could be any worse would be if we lost the sunshine.
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under a new name, It's also far from good! I'm also agreeing with the other people suggesting things are not great. There are also others who are feeling conditions aren't that bad which I feel is stretching it a bit too much.
I've skied three seasons and this is the worst to date. I guess everyone's perception of crap is different. I have seen crap and it seems to me it's right here right now!
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