 Poster: A snowHead
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The sun keeps on shining. Skinned up to the Col du Fours today, it seems a long climb. The powder snow we had on the way down was deep and soft and very enjoyable. We had vast areas of untracked snow to choose from. Just after the refuge we skinned up, to skiers left, for another 15 minutes to get some more untracked snow. Had a wonderful, but tiring, ski.
Looking across the valleys from our route it appears as if the Cugnai and the Charvet off piste areas are tracked out. There are some patches of clear snow but, I suspect, only for the real expert skiers. The Madelaine, Plan and M pistes were nice to finish on. Madelaine was the softest, Plan was quite hard but was smooth and had plenty of soft patches. M had the hardest packed snow but it was fairly smooth and had enough loose surface snow for turning and speed control. On the other hand, these three pistes were virtually empty when I skied them so I could ski fast and anywhere I wanted.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Sunny all day but with some cloud. There is still some great untracked off piste snow in Pays Desert. We had to walk a little but no skins needed. There is now a traverse track to Col Pers but it is not very nice, it is quite bumpy and today it was very hard packed, almost icy. We then traversed right, nearly to Glacier Pers before walking and climbing out to avoid the gorge. The road from Pont St Charles skied easily today.
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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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Small amount of snow fell this morning, hardly enough to measure. Cloudy and overcast all morning, sunny afternoon. We crossed Col Pers again today, somehow the long track to the Col seemed easier than yesterday, perhaps because the poor visibility slowed me down. Then traversed to the right and skinned up Glacier Pers, climbing 205m. Great untracked powder on the way down. We skied a few more turns but then had to walk and climb more to avoid the gorge -- my fancy wrist watch says we side stepped and walked up 55m! The top valley in the simple direct route down from Col Pers is full of tracks. Lower down there are sections that have been skied until they are firm like pistes. Skis slid well on the road out, but the surface has lots of frozen footprints so it is not smooth and it needs some care.
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Adrian, yes it brightened up much earlier than expected today... shame we didn;t get a few cms extra fresh, but still plenty of soft snow to be found - we hiked into the Grapillons, and the new stuff had drifted into the few tracks that were there before - was in great conditions. Elsewhere anything easily accessible is well skied out, but stillnice & chalky (telegraphe yesterday had large amounts of soft snow despite quite a few tracks..).
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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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Cold sunny morning with clouds moving in for the afternoon and snow forecast for overnight. The ski down from Belvarde to the Borsat Express plus the chair ride were chilly. Then traversed and skinned up 220m towards the Cret du Genepy (somewhere near where "Col de la Leisse" is printed on the current piste map). We skied down to near where one might start skiing up to Mont Roup having several deep powder pitches, then joined the bottom of the Tour de Charvet across from the refuge. There is plenty of untracked powder in a Tour de Charvet variation that goes far to skiers-right of straight down from Grand Pre, but not much vertical before the valley bottom. The valley from Mont Roup has a lot of tracks. The path out of the Tour, to skiers left of the valley floor, has been smoothed recently by a piste basher, making it wide and easy to get to the Manchet Express. The Plan piste was good but parts of the Rhone Alps were very hard packed, almost icy.
Speaking of ice reminds me that yesterday one of the big bendy busses failed to get to Fornet. We saw its wheels spinning as it attempted the final 300m. It backed down a little and tried again several times without success. The another identical bus just cruised past without any spinning, so we jumped onto that one.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Snowing very gently all day, but only about 1cm in Val d'Isere town. Quite a wind in places, the Aeroski was closed early morning and at mid-day, its bubbles safely in their cosy garages. We skied (part of) Verte, Crocus and Trolles, all were good in the poor visibility but the wind had piled up the snow in places making it a more exciting ski. Next into the Sachette which had some good snow, but the poor light and the cold hindered our enjoyment. For me the best part was just gliding along the flatter areas beside a river, watching the snow fall and listening to the quiet. The French Army is busy in Tignes today: the Sachette had a group of 30 men in training; nearly as many again on the steep slopes to the left of the Aiguille Rouge. The return pistes, Bluets, Violettes, Creux, G, etc were all in very good condition.
Tignes has installed some transceiver test machines. I have seen them at Toviere and near the Aiguille Percee pisteur's hut. As you pass within about 1m of a sensor you get beeping noises and a green flashing light, provided you have a transmitting transceiver. There is also a transceiver search training area under the bottom of the Aeroski.
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It has been snowing very gently again today but there is no measurable depth of new snow in Val d'Isere. The whole sky is cloud covered although it is quite bright.
Today is the last skiing day of my holiday and I am not skiing! The doctor has given me an excused-from-skiing chitty and some medicine for my bad cold. Still, I have had 12 days of great off piste skiing with some really great snow. Plus, of course, the companionship of some very nice Alpine Experience guides and customers. And good food in the Finlays chalet. So this is the last day of my Espace Killy reports for this winter.
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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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It started snowing in VDI on friday morning , and was still snowing on Saturday morning when we left. Cold light snow with small flakes so noy huge depths. Probably 15 to 20 cm in resort. Would have made lovely powder covering on top of an OK base. Was cold last weeek with alot of cloud cover and high winds at altitude. FAce usual blue sheet ice, Sash typical challange , most runs open. Got proper man flu now so in bed with the shivvers. brrrrrr.
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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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It was sunny this morning, but clouded over from midday then started snowing late afternoon. Not much though. Our rep told us a metre on Thu/Fri but metcheck says about 7 cm. Still very cold (-20 at the top of the funiculaire) which has helped keep the snow good since friday's snowfall, but the strongwinds have had a detrimental effect in the last couple of days.
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Arrived back in Tignes this evening - crawled up the mountain with plenty of snow on the road but got away with winter tyres - didn't need to put chains on. Heaps of snow in Le Lac - gunna be a good weekend skiing, but changeover day could be really slow on the roads.
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You know it makes sense.
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Are the Gorges de Malpasset filled up yet? I heard that they were not around ten days ago but there's been a fair bit of weather since then. I'm out in two weeks and have everything crossed that it will "go". Col Pers is beautiful but quitting left for Vallonnets seems to avoid the main issue.
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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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stewart woodward wrote:
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The George is still closed and should be avoided
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But GeorgeVII speaks very highly of you 
Thanks for the info. I'm working on the assumption that fresh powder will be fought over but that off-piste during the Paris holidays will be safer than on-piste!!
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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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Been out on piste today and must say fab conditions. Great on piste and off.
Had a great run down and only got held up in the UK. Even Moutier and Bourg were flowing.
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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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Actually thought i was skiing on spring snow today. Very warm and melting fast today. Snow forecast for tonight and the pistes need it as there are bare patches in places.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Bit of a random post (but I've seen worse!), does anyone know the angle in degrees of the steepest bit of Trolles?
Thanks
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Thu 18-02-10 22:32; edited 1 time in total
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Phil_D, my guess - 25 degrees
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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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sproggski, Thanks. I'm off to Nendaz next week  and I've been thinking of tackling the run down from Mont Fort which is discussed on another thread. That's reckonded to be 35-38 degrees. While Trolles was a reasonably comfortable ski for me, I think a 35 degree piste might be a bit too steep for me.
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Phil_D, didn't you just straigtline the steep part of trolles in the tuck position? a better test would be foret or epaule de charvet on the val d'isere side as they're both steep mogulled blacks. Did you do either of those?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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rambotion, Not from the top no. If I was skiing it tomorrow I probably would, but I was there at the MountainSun camp and surprisingly couldn't find a willing  to explore some easy blacks with me. So I was being a bit cautious. And I didn't get over to Val D'Isere side.
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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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stewart woodward, I skied down Paquettes.
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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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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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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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stewart woodward, how much new snow do you think you've had?
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Mmm. Must be fantastic up there. A bit too warm in lower resorts.
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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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FAQ
. Back to Tignes on Sunday.
. That's what a week in the Espace Killy does to an old git like me 
The offpiste is still great and the 'jardin de enfant' is especially awesome 
