 Poster: A snowHead
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I think the lift will be Borsat and skiing in direction Grand Pre...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I think I've worked it out.
The hike/poling was along the ridge from the top of Cugnai and it is Cugnai in the background.
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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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Not like me
Well folks sincere apologies for the radio silence the last 24 hours or so... about lunchtime yesterday I started to feel a little out of sorts... but late afternoon I was physically ill (sorry Andy and Kellie as I was at their house when it happened) and I have been in bed for a large part of the last 24 hours... one of those 24 hour bugs. I have finally eaten some food this evening and am feeling better but can its a first surely as I am sitting in bed typing this update whereas I normally am sat on the sofa!
Anyway what has the last couple of days brought... well in a word a STORM a large one at that... the winds this morning topped over 120km/h at the top of the Bellevarde but it has been pretty much non stop since yesterday. Somehow they not only ran the Mens GS race on the Face yesterday but it also ran about on time - well done all involved with that. Whereas the weather has deteriorated so much that this mornings slalom could not go ahead... ironic that the Womens race for next weekend has been cancelled (they had to make the decision quite far in advance) because of lack of snow whereas now we have too much of it hence todays was cancelled (ok mainly the wind today but hey its dumping down!).
Talking of snowfall we have had about 50cm of snowfall here in town in the last 36 hours or so - probably more to be honest and there is talk of another 50cm plus overnight tonight so the resort is really setting itself up nicely!
So the wind meant that everything remained shut today bar the nursery slopes and the same over in Tignes... that coupled with my dicky tummy meant that there had to be some jigging out of lessons. Anyway pretty much the whole day was a duvet day and AMAZINGLY everyone in our household had a 2 hours Sunday afternoon nap... now with 2 small kids that it some sort of a miracle I think! So I reckon if I have one more early night tonight then I will be full of the joys of Spring (I mean Winter dont I) by tomorrow morning... in all fairness I feel pretty good now but an early night should really get me back to 100%
Tomorrow could be an interesting day... I am supposed to be heading around to Tignes tomorrow to lead an off piste guiding day with some of the SH's over there... even allowing for the interesting weather in relation to lift openings... there is also the time to clear and physically get stuff open over there and that is assuming the road is OK... if we get 50cm of snow then the road could be closed for av blasting and irrespective of that the road could be chaos... so all in all it could be an interesting start to the day tomorrow.
There was one group of people that enjoyed today though... the snowmen... this little collection of snowmen came about as the French students in our block had precious little to do today what with the down day so they decided to build an army of snowmen outside! I wander if they will still be visible in the morning or if they will be blown away or buried in snow - one or the other for sure!
I will also get my back bottom back in gear afa social media is concerned tomorrow too.
I think that is all for now. Lets see what tomorrow brings.
TTFN
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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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@Steve Angus,
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but late afternoon I was physically ill (sorry Andy and Kellie as I was at their house when it happened) and I have been in bed for a large part of the last 24 hours... one of those 24 hour bugs.
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The joys of having young kids and what they bring home from school.
Get well soon.
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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's not called Val Disease for nothing  Glad you're on the mend.
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Glad you've recovered from Mal d'Isere, the weather looks pretty horrible today but should be some great snow when it clears. Good news for the Christmas crowds.
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| HoneyBunny wrote: |
| ...... but should be some great snow when it clears. Good news for the Christmas crowds. |
Probably a general comment - but fwiw in my experience Val isn't that busy for Christmas week. New Year's week however....oh yes.
I'll be there Saturday for a week - I'll say hi if I spot you Steve. 
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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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Thanks for the great guiding today Steve! Was a shame we couldn't get up higher but the group had a blast anyway!
My highlight of the day was definitely your legs waving in the air 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Steve Angus, Glad you are back to your good self. Catch up again soon.
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My highlight of the day was definitely your legs waving in the air
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That's usually me face planting. I must be teaching you a thing or two
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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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".…some interesting snow off the sides of the Trolles piste and indeed I had a darn good double ejection as I fell into a snow hole... whoops. It was rather entertaining and took a while to recover my skis - oh dear!..."
Glad I'm not the only one. I went in one down there on last Thursday's op day. Slammed into the opposite wall then slid down... And no bug took a picture. 
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In Val next week. Is somebody able to recommend a place which does a good range of test ski’s?
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You know it makes sense.
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@Sailskibum, If you go to Mountain Pro, they will charge their normal hire fee to try a pair of skis. If you buy, they will deduct the hire charge.
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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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sno trax - ha ha
adithorp - yes it was rather embarrassing!
Sailskibum - indeed and also consider Snowberry too!
Well that was nice
With the sun shining (it was not warm though) and the end of the storms from the last few days it time to get stuck into some of the pow that was out there. My team met up for the first of 3 days of Off Piste Adventuring which is the clinic I am running this week. Surprisingly two things happened this morning - firstly there was not too much blasting pre opening. Whilst there was a decent amount it did not go on and on and on... this is usually a good sign that things are relatively stable and they dont need to keep on blasting away to totally clear everything. The other thing related to this was that the lifts more or less opened on time... this is a considerable achievement really bearing in mind the amount of work they had to do up there and in many cases they had been unable to get much cleared yesterday!
Anyway with the conditions as they are and the dangers out there I had already made the decision to keep is safe(r) and therefore flat(er). We headed up the Bellevarde and having initially thought he had it on (it turned out to be his phone in his pocket) one of the team realised that he had forgotten his transceiver... thankfully I have a spare one I carry with me so he borrowed that.
So we found some lovely snow on the flats off the Collett piste as well as variations all around the Mont Blanc chair as well as the Grand Pre (where it was particularly good it must be said. With the wind that we have had as of recent it was staying in the gullies and lee's of ridges etc that provided that best snow... in some places the snow was really deep and really light but all too often the old rain crust from a week ago came to the top and in some cases there was some soft slab forming. Anyway all in all we had a really nice morning and plenty of good turns were had.
Meanwhile elsewhere people were skiing some crazily dangerous lines out there... there was at least 2 slides that buried people today... as far as I know the worst was some season ending knee injuries but it could have been much worse! I do not know why people take such risks but there you go!
It is also worth noting that quite a few parts of the area were unable to be opened today as there is more clearance to be done. All I know is I will be heading the Fornet direction tomorrow that is for sure!
This afternoon I had some seasonnaires for a promo lesson and apart from it being baltic and them all wanting to flake out a little early we had a really good afternoon working on general technique as well as a dabble in some carving... a nice fun group!
Picking the kids up from school and the usual evening chores have been on the agenda.
It is currently -16 outside and I should think it will get even colder overnight (and that is down here in town!) so by the morning it will perhaps be -20 - yikes! Up the mountain even colder of course. This is great for the snow as it will preserve the snow and may even sort out some of the wind crust if we got some gentle breeze overnight...
Anyway I am looking forward to some more powder tomorrow
TTFN
P.S. Forgot this cold looking photo of the day.
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Poster: A snowHead
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A medium scale avalanche in the Banane yesterday. A british season worker fully buried but equipped with an airbag which was partly visible on the surface. She was rescued by other skiers but suffering from a serious knee injury and her season is apparently over. Her two friends were partly buried.
Why do I mention this? Well there were already a lot of tracks on the slope exactly where the slide occured - the debris was some 3 to 4 meters deep in places. Locals spoke of a "powder frenzy" in resort as locals and season workers scrambled to get first tracks on all the classic off piste. There was an even bigger slide in the Gendarmes in the Tovière sector but this time only skis lost - they can be replaced, a blown knee, not so easy.
Conditions remain unstable - there are weak layers in the snowpack - in all the open French resorts at altitude. Considerable to High risk depending on altitude in Val d'Isere.
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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 we are heading over Christmas week now, but as we only booked last night it's Tignes for us
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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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Wish I could have stayed until Tuesday, but really can't complain with Monday's conditions. We started in Fornet, getting there just as the cable car opened. Nothing was open above this so we looped down initially down powder covered pistes and then through the trees. We were grinning ear to ear and were virtually alone.
After about 4 circuits, we headed to Solais on the bus. We had spent Saturday looping Plan M/Rhône Alpes which were closed, so unpisted and good powder. On Monday, Plan M was open and had been pisted but was a bit wind scoured. Off to the right, around the Off Piste markers was good and then dropping down in Rhône Alpes, which was closed again. After two loops, we decided to try Piste S. This is a piste I rarely use as it is never pisted and becomes a huge mogul run. On Monday it was the most amazing powder I've ever found. The wind was rotoring above it and had dumped loads of champagne soft powder into the gully... with only two other tracks down when we got here. It was somewhere between knee and waste deep and the best powder I have ridden in. After 6 loops, word was getting round and the crowds were joining us but until then we were getting fresh lines every run. Just incredible.
As it was tracked out, we decided to call it a day. It was 3pm. On the bus back to La Daille we saw two things. First, the sun was trying to get out, second they had fixed the new La Daille gondola. We hadn't ridden it so had to get one last run in. OK was closed but we climbed up the new steps to the Folie Terrace and clipped in. More untracked deep powder! Where OK meets Criterium it was chewed up and horrible, even though this was also closed. From there we got in the trees alongside Orange and had an absolute ball. Perfect powder and the perfect gradient for a tree run. We couldn't wipe the smiles off our faces.
Sadly it was then home to pack and head for GVA.
Although we didn't get out on Sunday (a rare total shut down), we met up with a lot of friends on a bar crawl from XV to the Bluenote, so it was still a good day. Dinner was Casserole Savoyarde in the Casserole and was perfect. It could have been blue skies over the weekend, but then it would have been twice as busy everywhere so, overall, it was a pretty excellent weekend and some of the best powder I've ridden.
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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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You need to posts some photos so those of us that are desk bound can hate you a little bit more
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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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| Steve Angus wrote: |
| We headed up the Bellevarde and having initially thought he had it on (it turned out to be his phone in his pocket) one of the team realised that he had forgotten his transceiver... thankfully I have a spare one I carry with me so he borrowed that. |
Back when the world was young & I did my first transceiver training the first thing we were told (when using it for real) is to put it on whilst still in your accommodation, and check the battery at the same time.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Kenzie wrote: |
| Steve Angus wrote: |
| We headed up the Bellevarde and having initially thought he had it on (it turned out to be his phone in his pocket) one of the team realised that he had forgotten his transceiver... thankfully I have a spare one I carry with me so he borrowed that. |
Back when the world was young & I did my first transceiver training the first thing we were told (when using it for real) is to put it on whilst still in your accommodation, and check the battery at the same time. |
I now find it virtually impossible to go out without wearing mine, even when I have no intention of going off piste. It's the thought that I may be able to help find someone, rather than I may need to be found myself.
It always goes on in my apartment, with a battery check.
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| Kenzie wrote: |
| Steve Angus wrote: |
| We headed up the Bellevarde and having initially thought he had it on (it turned out to be his phone in his pocket) one of the team realised that he had forgotten his transceiver... thankfully I have a spare one I carry with me so he borrowed that. |
Back when the world was young & I did my first transceiver training the first thing we were told (when using it for real) is to put it on whilst still in your accommodation, and check the battery at the same time. |
new battery each season, just bought a new one for mine.
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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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@Steve Angus, re. Cairn, has table been opened yet?
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Steve, I often see people traversing under the Loyes chair and around the corner, is that how you get to Cairn? (I won't ever be trying it don't worry). I always wonder where they're going.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@@Steve Angus, Steve is the Intersport hire shop still open next to Pierre Vacance in La Daille ?
Oddly it does not show up on the Intersport ski rental website?.
2 of my crew in Feb need hire , and unfortunately we don't arrive in resort till 7.30 on the Saturday evening so closer hire shop the better , we are a bit touch and go for getting them to Snowberry and didn't want too much of a hold up on Sunday morning as i will be making sure they have kit
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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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Some interweb trawling has it as a skiset shop now , i am not going mad ? it used to be an intersport ,though we actually stopped in Tignes last march so it may be 18 months since we were in La daille
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@davidof,
You say that 3 people were caught in an avalanche in Banane on Tuesday.
When skiing off piste with a group the skiers should be leaving sufficient gaps between each skier in order to try and avoid more than one skier getting taken in a slide if a slide is triggered.
You say that you were surprised that there were skiers tracks before the group were caught in the avalanche. If you've ever been to Henry's Avalanche Talks he makes it clear that it may not be the first skier down the slope who triggers the slide.
@bar shaker,
The early season snow conditons have been and remain very unstable. There have already been avalanches in Val d'isere. I would have thought that skiing closed pistes was very risky. Is our insurance void if we have an accident on a closed piste?
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You know it makes sense.
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| welshflyer wrote: |
@davidof,
You say that you were surprised that there were skiers tracks before the group were caught in the avalanche. If you've ever been to Henry's Avalanche Talks he makes it clear that it may not be the first skier down the slope who triggers the slide.
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You're misunderstanding what he said - davidof writes his own avalanche blog I believe and knows what he's talking about. I believe he mentioned the tracks specifically to highlight your point.
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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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Dr John - yup several times!
HoneyBunny - yup
harvsurrey - its in my building downstairs and I can confirm it is now a ski set !
welshflyer - yes they should have left sufficient gap but obviously didnt! Yes I think the point is that there were other chancers who had already gotten away with it! And yes skiing closed pistes equates to skiing off piste anyway insurance wise... in fact there is a school of thought that says skiing closed pistes is MORE dangerous as the pisteurs have closed it for a reason... which is all very well if the reason is safely related avalanche wise and not for example because there is no snow on it!!!!!
nemesys - Davidof certainly knows his stuff yes!!!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks Steve and Nemesys. I just wanted to remind people of some basics given the early season enthusiasm. Without the airbag the young lady might have been under several meters of snow instead of just having her season in ruins.
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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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That hotel is going to block a lot of mountain views !
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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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We are staying in La Daille (Hotel Champs Avalin) from 6th January and one of our group will need to hire skis. We came last year but everyone had their own gear then so didn't need to worry about ski hire.
I remember a fairly smart looking shop in the building right next to us - I think it was a 'Skimium' - and I gather that there is a Skiset shop across the road. They seem to offer fairly different prices (the Skimium one being quite a lot cheaper) so does anyone have any advice on which to use?
Any other tips for my friend around ski hire from here would be helpful. I haven't skied with him before but I think he would probably be classed as an intermediate piste skier.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| welshflyer wrote: |
@bar shaker,
The early season snow conditons have been and remain very unstable. There have already been avalanches in Val d'isere. I would have thought that skiing closed pistes was very risky. Is our insurance void if we have an accident on a closed piste? |
You are either on an open piste, or you are off-piste.
We were having a day off-piste and we assessed the closed pistes to be safe areas. We had transponders, shovels, probes and Avi bags and the gradient of our routes was generally less than 30 degs. Any off piste skiing carries risk and shouldn't be undertaken if you don't understand the risks and/or have had no training in survival/recovery techniques. My friend and I have both been on several avalanche awareness courses, including one last week. We carry out transponder checks before leaving the apartment. I spend approx 40 days in Val each season and have a reasonable knowledge of the areas we skied.
We understand the risks and we are insured for skiing off piste without a guide.
I think I speak for all of the 'locals' in that we wouldn't want anyone to take our tales as some sort of endorsement that a certain area/route is always safe. We assessed our routes as safe on the day and they were. We had a ball.
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| tonyswift wrote: |
We are staying in La Daille (Hotel Champs Avalin) from 6th January and one of our group will need to hire skis. We came last year but everyone had their own gear then so didn't need to worry about ski hire.
I remember a fairly smart looking shop in the building right next to us - I think it was a 'Skimium' - and I gather that there is a Skiset shop across the road. They seem to offer fairly different prices (the Skimium one being quite a lot cheaper) so does anyone have any advice on which to use?
Any other tips for my friend around ski hire from here would be helpful. I haven't skied with him before but I think he would probably be classed as an intermediate piste skier. |
Tony I get my guests to book their kit on line at Skimium (my apartment is above your hotel). They have really good equipment and the staff are very helpful. If your friend wants to go off piste, they have good choices for this too and also have safety equipment to hire.
The shop is next to the Spar (GF of the shopping area) and 50m from your hotel front door. Just make sure you select the La Daille branch on-line.
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@bar shaker, thanks for that - I will recommend it to him.
We did pop in there last year as one of our group needed some boot adjustments which they did a good job on so happy to go with that recommendation and also it is very close to our hotel so will be easier for him! It looks like they are open until 11pm from their website - is that correct? We fly into Chambery at 15.15 so likely to be there after 7pm and it would be handy if he could pick his skis up that evening!
Getting very excited about the trip already and looks like amazing snow out there from the webcams!!!
Out of interest, do you have a chalet(s) to rent in that building? I'd be interested in any details if you have a web page or anything?
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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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| tonyswift wrote: |
@bar shaker, thanks for that - I will recommend it to him.
We did pop in there last year as one of our group needed some boot adjustments which they did a good job on so happy to go with that recommendation and also it is very close to our hotel so will be easier for him! It looks like they are open until 11pm from their website - is that correct? We fly into Chambery at 15.15 so likely to be there after 7pm and it would be handy if he could pick his skis up that evening!
Getting very excited about the trip already and looks like amazing snow out there from the webcams!!!
Out of interest, do you have a chalet(s) to rent in that building? I'd be interested in any details if you have a web page or anything? |
They are only open until 19.30 at the moment but that may change later in the season. They will normally do minor jobs for no charge, unless you get them at their busiest times (then they will ask you to come back) and are really helpful people.
The snow is already good!
We don't rent out our apartment, sorry.
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@bar shaker,
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We understand the risks and we are insured for skiing off piste without a guide.
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Never the less, any level of insurance is null and void on a closed piste, unless you can prove that you entered the closed piste from off-piste, which it doesn't sound like you did. Like you I'm fully kitted up and avi aware, tour far back country frequently and gone down all the couloirs, but ducking the rope to ski a closed piste is a big fat no no under any circumstances.
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FAQ
