Serre-Chevalier, France 2014-2015

A snowHead

Long term the temps look to be increasing as well. Must stay positive...

Thanks for the updates by the way.

A snowHead

We were nagging last night about how we still get good snow late in the season and how it's not quite time to go into a state of depression.

Though must say I'm talking off piste, as the pistes are still and will be in good condition.

So take a look at this and then clock the date at the end of the vid Cool

All the Young Dudes - Spring Skiing Serre Chevalier, one of the best mornings ever! from Weathercam

https://vimeo.com/63748239

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

We decided to go up the hill at lunch time as I had a "cunning plan" Cool

I'd heard that there was indeed around 15cm of fresh high up - so we headed up Vallons packing skins as I thought Cucumelle might be too wind loaded and might be interdit to groups, but got that wrong as we got off the chair could see a very large group getting ready to do the hike Evil or Very Mad

Our tactic was to do a long traverse below Cucumelle and then skin up to the Col du Grand Pre and then ski down from there and half way maybe skin back up for another run.

As it happened we arrived at the Col before the group got to the top of Cucumelle - we could have gone higher but we settled on where we were.

Snow was variable with some nice powder and some equally sticky / heavy pow that saw you going into the back seat, however we did get some nice turns and well before the group.

As I suspected once in the trees lower down it was horrible from the rain of yesterday and overnight freeze.

No queue at the bottom in Monetier but once back up off the Bachas the queues were horrible. Going up the slow long Eychauda chair it looked & sounded more like a beach than a ski slope with kids screaming with excitement and the whole piste just mobbed like a busy Brighton beach on a hot sunny day rolling eyes

Fortunately the queue for the Cucumelle was minimal and I traversed well away from the piste and took the Frejus option to avoid the hordes.

We did say that we would not go back up again this week, but phone rang a while ago and it was my guide mate in La Grave who was asking me about conditions over here as he reckons we could be in for some snow overnight in our favour and not as much in LG.

But I can't quite see it being worth it as we need much more to warrant a road trip to here, though he must be clutching at straws for his group to consider here over LG.

I said if there's 10cm in the morning atop the bird table at 07:30 then could be ok - as ever wait and see!

Some pics from today

Mrs trying to avoid the back seat

And not so much a good skiing pic but a nice shot of the valley below and up to Pic Blanc

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Lovely pictures thanks for the update.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Here's a not so nice pic - this was the queue yesterday, probably in the overall scheme of things not too bad a queue for the busy holiday period and in fact was only about ten mins long, but still a shock to the system as we don't do queues !

Think it was last year when we did a similar run and ended up down at Monetier and faced with massive queues we took the bus home.

As for weather today, as usual none of the snow that was forecast for the valley has fallen and cloud base is at around 2200 and quite windy, should imagine not ideal conditions. Looking up the valley none too good either, and a mild 5.5+ so if there were to be any precipitation would be rain Sad

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If you ignore the queue it looks beautiful Smile

I'm hoping it will be relatively quiet the week commencing 21/03. The forecasts aren't looking too great for more snow but as long as the pistes don't disappear or turn to boiler plate then it should still be fun.

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

We found it was best to avoid the Eychauda chair as it always seemed slow and cold. We went up the lift to the right of there, which also has the benefit of taking you to the highest point.

After all it is free

@sugarmoma666, true but queues for Yret were massive, and that has a lot to do with thé crappy old two man or is it three man chair?
At the end of the day it's all about a compromise as to go for speed over queue length. Something I can't be arsed with......
Interesting discussions tonight over UCPA guides etc. Though was with a few ESF dudes who are not exactly enamoured with them. Bit more research and an interesting thread beckons.......

Hi it may be a bit of a silly question, but how difficult is the téléski de Eychauda for a snowboarder? I'm a skier but i'm taking a girlfriend snowboarder with me, who is a very good boarder, but not so keen on téléski. You think it will be doable for her? I suppose the other téléskis are all much easier?

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@bart_bdv, there are two lifts named Eychauda. One very slow old chairlift and one steep téléski (drag lift) I guess a snowboarder should comment, as I have no idea.

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@bart_bdv, yes, they do take it. I try to avoid it myself, I am a skier but I still hate drags. There are worse ones in Serre Che, although virtually all of them can be avoided and a lot of them have been replaced.

You know it makes sense.

The worst of all is the Orée du Bois, but it isn't open this season.

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

Thanx Helen. We're only coming end of March and beginning of April and with the current snow conditions and predictions for the two weeks to come, it will probably be necessary to stay high (unless it snows the week we are there). And to have some variety, it then seems necessary to take some drags like Bois du coq, Eychauda and Mea.

A snowHead

Hope it snows tomorrow, Friday or Saturday! My first day skiing is on Sunday!

*Pray for Powder *

A snowHead

Never had any probs with drags in Serre on a snow board (I swing both ways) for sure a few gonad yanking yanks but nothing as bad as some drags in Italy, in terms of % lift then there are a few Pres du Bois and probably the worst even on skis, Bois de Coqs which has a nasty anti snow boarder kick jump at the start.

Mea is ok - and if you can't handle the drag then you shouldn't be going up there to do the off piste rolling eyes

Little tip for skiers on steep drags on skis, put skis parallel under your buttox to spread the pressure.

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

Very windy (outside) overnight and this morning a lot of lifts shut, and not just high up both Frejus and Aravet bubbles.

LG is open surprisingly with a windchill of minus 33 predicted up top !

Lovely and sunny though rolling eyes

OH has just come up with a good idea for today - hike / x-country up to Refuge Naploeon at the Izoard with les chiens though imagine will be busy!

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@KenX, aaaaaahhhh you spotted the deliberate mistake snowHead

Super today, excellent call by the OH.

Lovely skin up to the Col d'Izoard then drop down to the Napoleon for an omelette.

Then ski back down the road with dogs in hot pursuit.

This is not hardcore / extreme etc it's nigh on a walk in the park - loads of families out doing it dragging toboggans up with them then having a major descent back down on them.

If coming to Serre and you fancy a day off the slopes and have your own transport then it is well worth it. The Napoleon does not shut until the 15th April. There's a cross country track all the way up, or you can just walk or if snow is fresh, snow shoe, but they always bash the road down so you can walk up anyway rather than go through the woods.

To walk it at a very easy pace with maybe a couple of stops - give yourself two hours - if you want to beast yourself (OH ran & speed hiked) then just over the hour.

I'll post some pics and the track log laters.

Damn windy right on the Col but 90% of the way we were out of the wind, so most pleasant.

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Where did you start the skin Gavin?

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@KenX, you drive to Le Laus - where the road is closed - it's a big x-country area - about twenty mins drive from Briancon - just follow signs to Col Izoard.

Here's the gps track log http://www.movescount.com/moves/move55022215 so that has the Google Map on it.

And a couple of pics - the Napoleon is known for its tarts !!

After all it is free

@Weathercam,

looks more dangerous than your average off piste day... think I'll give it a go next time I'm in the neighborhood

Another hard core extreme day in the mountains after I de-poohed the garden, spring defo in the air and maybe time to dust down the push bike.

Another day or two like this and start thinking about finding some spring snow, though have no idea what the wind of the last few days has done to snow pack etc only one way to find out, might be good or might be bad.

Elderly dog (not in picture) not at all well - maybe vet tomorrow, did this a couple of times last year and we thought she was on the way out, this time a little worse Sad

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@Weathercam,oh dear, I hope the dog is OK. It's awful when they're not well.

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Makes me realise how lucky we were last week, still getting freshies on Friday!
Good luck with your dog Gav

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Yippy ki yay!!!!!!!!!

First off the back / slack country ski of the spring skiing some nice corn (spring) snow.

And after a 3.5km run only a 40min hike back up to the lift, and we had it all to ourselves, though love to know what people are thinking as they see it us go off.

Only complaint light was a little flat, but amazing how snow has transformed in the last couple of days though we did find at the start some large frozen wavelets, plus now I know where all that snow ended up after all the wind - look at the last pic - not bad snow depth for that low down.

As for Pooch we'll wait till Monday..........

Looks great - which is the nearest lift you are accessing this from if you don't mind me asking?

You know it makes sense.

@Minion1980, Eychauda is the best as it gives you the longest run, you can just about make it out in the second picture.

Navigation can be a little tricky (I walked it in the summer first) and timing and aspect is also important!

Up early and it's looking good. Aiming for the Galibier sector leaving all the bitches in bed Little Angel

Should have mentioned by the time we skied back down around 14:30 the lower pistes were a slush fest and temp on the van was +15 !!

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

A snowHead

@Minion1980, I've just had a kip out on the patio in shorts and T'shirt and thermometer is reading +16 (in the shade) and 30+ in the sun, I was worried about getting my eyelids burnt whilst asleep!

Pistes look quite quiet hopefully all the hordes have now fecked off.

Though it's not just on the piste that can get busy!

Today was up early and went up to just before the Lautaret to the Galibier sector, and I decided on the Pic Blanc du Galibier route as not too many people were about as usually it's mobbed as it's a must do classic for ski touring.

I had to boot pack the final 50m to the summit as it's quite steep and was very wind blown with considerable frozen wavelets.

Once at the top I could see a whole load of people on their way up, in ones and two's and quite a few large groups, must have been 50 or more that I past on the ski back down which I had first tracks on in the lovely spring snow. There are other options for the descent which I must sniff out whilst we still have the snow as I reckon we're at the same point now that we were at last season beginning of April up there.

There again hopefully we will get some more snow!!!

Looking down to Serre and the peaks of Rochebrune and Mont Viso on the horizon

And this is Mont Blanc on the horizon

And the Barre des Écrins

And some dude with La Meije / La Grave in the background at the top, hence skis on back !

A snowHead

As they say a picture paints a thousand words so here's 5 or 6k

We parked up at Monetier circa 11:15 and I was surprised how busy the car park was thinking this was a quiet week - no children but many a mature person of years (like us) - is there an old farts promotion running Toofy Grin

Been a lot of apres midi slides the past couple of days and this was a big one that I have not seen happen here before!

And then made it back into resort just in time to see a heli evac

Pistes back nice slush fest again as came down around 14:00 and so empty over Chaume and Rochamout.

And just back from vets - prognosis not at all good, might be less than a week unless she does a Lazarus (which she has done before) but from her bloods all her kidneys & levels are all basically painting a very dark picture.

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

Nice pics! Are the lower slopes holding up well, or do we have to fear some early closures the coming weeks (even if temperatures seem to drop a bit in the weekend)?

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@bart_bdv, lower slopes as I mentioned down to Monetier holding up well - obviously a few patches showing - and in Villeneuve all ok - and there is the promise of a "dusting" this weekend.

Though I suspect pistes on the Briancon plateau might close and lower down to Briancon, but that is to be expected.

Let's hope that it's more than a dusting Cool

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Sad news about your dog Weathercam Sad

Thanks for continuing to post the beautiful pictures.

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@Weathercam, Sad

sorry to hear that.

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

Very sorry about the dog - but what a great life she's had.

After all it is free

I really hope this ensemble is correct, I know it's very long range but I will be there on that monday:

Monday 23rd is still way too far way to have any predictive value...

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I know it's silly but one can only hope.

Help!!

Serre-Chevalier, France 2014-2015

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