 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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Lets hope it keeps snowing!!!!
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Mon 7-01-08 16:22; edited 1 time in total
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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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Hello All, I will be returning to LDA in 2 weeks time, my second trip there, and staying at the Alborg. Last time i went to LDA 2 of us took the trip to the top station and after the fernicular we trudged up the stairs gasping for breath to be greeted by a temperature gauge in big red numbers displaying -34 deg C . Outside the station was a drag lift i seem to remember frozen solid. Although we were what seemed like on the top of everest it was too cold to take photos, so we headed downhill as fast as possible. Once down a couple of hundred feet or so and out of the wind it was ok and had a nice ski back to LDA. If any one is about from 19th may well see you.
Also had a day trip to Serre Chevailler which was great skiing with the Womens downhill course to play on, hopefully there will be a trip again this year to.
regards
boo
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| easiski wrote: |
| ...... Good old Scorpy managed it though.......... |
Strewth - you still got that? What about the GMC minibus thingy?
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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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 It was snowing heavily higher up the mountain (snow/rain level around 2,000m I think), and the visibility was rubbish! The snow on the Cretes was very sticky indeed. I went higher up with Firefly & Mrs and the snow was quite nice on the Toura but with very flat light and variable distance visibility. It was snowing there too, although it had cheered up at the Cretes. We found some fresh to learn in, and the Grand Creux was very nice. ditto the Grand Nord on the way down. The path was - well - the path! Due to the weather, I put Kramer off to tomorrow in the hopes that some of the snow would settle down and we'd be able to see something, and maybe get some deep in some safer spots. The avalanche risk is officially 3, but the locals are saying 'avoid' off piste, so nothing radical is likely to be safe for a while. Shame, but it's not worth dying for freshies. 
On the way down I ws going to do the Chemin, but Posettes looked OK, so I went down there - looks can be deceiving.  Very heavy and quite deep, very difficult and not much fun to ski at all (even on the Zags). Therefore I headed for the Valentin lower half and took this pic from the place where you join it. Stormy view over to the Aiguille de Venosc. Valentin and nursery slopes soggy but fine to ski.
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hmmm - wet wind blown snow on facets sounds like some funky avalanche conditions 
great to have all this info on how the snowpack is developing, easiski - will be useful for when i am in the area
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Arno, when are you due there?
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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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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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rob@rar, it's OK rob, he'll have lost about 30 seconds per run now due to gravity on all that weight he's lost 
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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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achilles, i'll be in the area from 8 Mar. whether we go up to LDA depends on how things are looking at the time
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You know it makes sense.
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Snow is great in L2A, but
vis for most of today was poor. Good skiing to be had, but you had to go looking for it.
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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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I'll be arriving there on Saturday. Can't wait. 
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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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Cool, seems that both LDA and ADH survived the threat of rain damage to the slopes, only 3 weeks to go till I'm out there
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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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  Dr. Will, I wouldn't be so sure! the lower slopes were very icy this morning. The Valentin was a skating rink this afternoon and I think they closed it - there were people sliding miles and miles, skis, sticks etc all over the shop, and other people ending up in the gully at the side. It was SCARY! Kramer was with me, and will no doubt also report in due course. Thoroughly nasty! edit: they had closed most of the entry and a pisteur was at the small side telling everyone that it was very icy and you shouldn't go unless you were expert - the idiots still went though. At the middle I stopped and told the people coming on from the Chemin that unless they were very good skiers they should not go down (in two languages). They still did - one woman looking at me as though I came from Mars fell ont he first turn and went the rest of the way on her back - this is not funny. Why don't peeps believe the locals (either me or the pisteur)?
OTOH the glacier was wonderful, the snow was great and the views were fantastic today. Piste snow was soft, off piste snow was variable, but we found fab powder on the famous Snowheads Wall and made tracks twice. It wasn't skied out beause it was a hassle to get too, but the other snow on the glacier was good too. It looked windblown but was fine to ski. Later we found some breakable crust to try out (he he!) 
A real bluebird day, but some of the more exposed or steeper off piste still looks a bit dodgy to me. We actually saw some hoar crystals on top of the snow near the top of the wall, and so it was a clear lesson, if more snow arrives soon. There were high cirrus clouds to the SW this afternoon, so the next front is on it's way.
Here are two pix: one of the glacier early this morning, and the other of the wall. Hopefully you can see the tracks.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Tue 8-01-08 18:35; edited 1 time in total
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easiski, Tracks seen !!! Lovely pics ...
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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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R32, great - I'll look forward to seeing you both then (+ your sister).
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Great skiing today with some fantastic powder turns to be found in places off piste, but I've never been quite as scared skiing as I was this afternoon coming down the Valentin. To quote the weathergirls, it was quite literally raining men! On the other hand great practice for holding your edges.
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Is that the black run? Hmmm..a black run covered with sheet ice; my idea of hell. I'd have taken your/the pisteur's advice and got the white eggs down like a big 'ole coward.
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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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easiski, The glacier with soft corduroy!!!! Ooooh I would love to give that a whizz
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Everything lower than mid-station was a sheet of ice yesterday. Handy for testing out new skis, but not the sort of thing I'd normally go looking for.
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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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Hello all, a bonus trip for us this year. Weather doesn't look tooooooo bad, just hope the clouds lift for Jan 14th when I'm there. will any of our old friends be about?
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Aztec, Well, finally! Welcome to Snowheads!!!
Frosty the Snowman, You wouldn't believe how nice it can be.
Today was snowing and miserable all day. Not too cold, but certainly snowing all the way down. However the ice is still there underneath, and we need a goodly bit more to cover it all. I heard that the viz at the glacier was dreadful today, but it was OK but a bit flat on the Cretes. At the end of the day I came down the Chemin, which was hard but fine for reasonable skiers - I've certainly seen it much worse. Didn't even think about trying the Valentin after yesterday. I took this pic from the Petit Cretes chair looking up the mountain:
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You know it makes sense.
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The Valentin wasn't as bad today as yesterday, probably evolution in action! Great snow to be had but poor visibility limited our options. Think that it'll be great when the weather clears.
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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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Aztec, welcome back! How come your post count is 1?
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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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Aztec, Zermatt for me in January this year. I will be in Les Deux Alpes for the week after Easter though (from 29th March) with my daughter. Will you be around then?
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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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Pretty much on count-down for our trip, now: Boots tweaked by CEM - tick, flights booked - tick. Lutins booked - tick. Easiski booked - tick. Manu booked - tick, skis tuned by spyderjon - tick. 
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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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Aztec, I shall see you before I see achilles, - only next Weds now. Plenty of space for you, don't worry!
It was a nice day again today, but chilly on the glacier. the snow was fab, but the wind got up a bit and was brushing some of it off in exposed places. After work I skied down via Serre Palas, Mura, Jandri, gours and Chemin to the bottom of Valentin. Snow was good everywhere on piste, but the avalanches over the track back from the Gours are some of the biggest I've ever seen around there. Almost full length. HUGE. All the West (ish) and North (ish) walls of the Fee have avalanched and look nasty. the other walls look very crunchy indeed - what a shame - all that snow and not much to ski in. 
Here's a pic I took from the Gours looking back up to Chalance.
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Yes, I'd agree with that avalanche assessment! Having returned from a 10-day visit, here's my take on things:
Enjoyed all the lovely fresh snow delivered earlier in the week. Within a couple of hours of the cloud and fog lifting, huge areas of off-piste had been tracked out, and that which wasn't (or was...) had disappeared to the bottom of the hill. Indeed, as Charlotte mentions, there was an enormous slide (presumably unintentionally triggered) from the top of the bowl alongside which the black Les Aymes (my favourite run in the world, because it's almost plausibly similar to an erstwhile Kent wicket-keeper. There isn't one even close to "Geraint Jones" that I've found). This slide filled the whole of the gully, full-width of the blue piste (Fee, I think) from alongside the Chalet La Fee to the lift station at the bottom. It wasn't there in the morning, and I can't think it would be triggered intentionally without closing the runs in the vicinity.
People were still skiing up to it, and finding their progress hampered by a surface similar to a range of giant and solid toblerone bits. Must have been quite a sight to see it go, you can easily see how people die under these things.
In spite of this, I managed to find a few runs of fresh on relatively gentle pitches between the glacier and Toura. In my limited experience of such things, I've never seen such universal avalanching around the whole mountain.
Mind you, the snow otherwise was lovely, and the pistes from the Cretes upwards were just about perfect, skier-packed powder. Made a bit of a mistake yesterday - the snow below 2100m has undergone a harsh, nay, Scottish level of freeze-thaw, and as a consequence is as pliable as set concrete. I took one look at the queue for the White Eggs to take me home, and thought, "Knackers to that, I'm not on holiday to stand in a queue with the Proletariat". I knew better, oh yes. Thinking also that I rated my chances of avoiding Certain Death at the hands of projectile Muppets on the Valentin Bob Run or being scooped up in a out of control Peleton on the Chemin as slightly too short, I elected to look after myself on the Grand Pente. Mistake Number One was already in the bag. The Grand Pente was deserted for a reason. It was cut-up, frozen and unskiable. Mistake Number Two loomed , and inevitably I embraced it with some enthusiasm. I traversed across to the (closed, and for a very good reason indeed) Sapins, and tried my rapidly depleting luck on that. The sensibles in the Jandri Express had a grandstand view of a prat who'd clearly bitten off more than he could chew vainly trying to side slip, traverse, kick turn (and failing obviously at all of these) down a run with a surface profile of Stephen Hendry's face circa 1990, but with rather firmer texture. Inevitably, I got cross, and in my rage threw in a turn which wasn't feasible due to one concrete zit's close proximity to fifteen of its brethren, slipped, fell, and put a hand down in such a fashion that it wrenched my thumb from its roots, and sent a uniquely-vicious dart of agony up my right arm. I collapsed in a savage rictus of pain and swore profusely before realising I had an audience and thought I'd better get on with the job which was now quite literally in-hand. Amazingly, I got down to the top of the meadows above the town without further disaster, and composed myself sufficiently to get home and pretend to the bathing Sally that everything was lovely in the garden. My cover was blown in the middle of the night when I woke up screaming in agony because the duvet was pressing lightly on my thumb. Morning drew-in to the sickening sight of a fist the size of a basketball, and more pain. Never mind, off home today, and I'm now back in my sprawling country pile and wondering what all the fuss was about. Mind you, the dog has indicated his pleasure at my return by positioning himself under the desk and releasing the most exquisitely-rancid guff to accompany the writing of this essay.
Bon nuit.
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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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paulmck, Written in your usual style, sir !
Must have been bad if you couldn't get down it
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Guffaw.....out loud!
That is a worry about the lower slopes though, I am out on 19th and if it stays like that i will need a taxi to get down!
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