 Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks @PatrickK_ie, and @chaletgirl002, we always bring our own pillows in the car and good to know it's worth bringing some of our own washing up liquid, tea towel etc.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Snowmadmum wrote: |
| @bluemonday2003@hotmail.co, not stayed in Belle Plagne, sorry, can't help you there. However there is a blue piste (think it's Arpette) that leads into the centre of Bellecote that gets manic at peak times, as it's relatively narrow to handle the volume of users, and quite slushy so I would suggest avoid at peak times if you can, but this obviously depends on the confidence and level of skiing of your family members. Another pinch point is the top of Roche de Mio, quite a few lifts offload and if you are heading down the La Plagne side, the short blue (Levasset Haut - just looked at the piste map) can get pretty crowded, but it's short and separates out into multiple pistes. Enjoy, we are leaving as you arrive so if I can, will post updates here. |
Hi, thank you for the advice. I Would welcome any further updates! Adults are good skiers. We have young kids with one child who will a beginner, who won’t move far from ski school but the elder child was capable on blues last year so hoping he will get about the mountain a bit more this year.
We stayed in plagne centre around 10 years ago and can see from the map where I remember queues to get towards bellecote and over to the vanoise express but can’t remember much more than that, so your advice is very helpful. Thank you
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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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Did anyone on here go to La Plagne this year (2024) in early Jan? Planning on going next year, first week after new year, and keen to know what snow conditions were at Plagne Centre vs 1800 and if the areas are significantly different. I know it's been a bad year in general and you can get from one to the other so sorry if this is a moot point - new to the area!
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@Totes Newbie, we were there for New Year week this year. It barely stopped snowing the whole time we were there and conditions were excellent across all the high altitude villages (including 1800). As ever though, this year is no guarantee of the next. New Year week can be a gamble. It will be busy. There will be something to ski on. The rest is in the hands of the snow gods! Go with an open mind, plan your days around the conditions, relax and just be grateful you’re in one of the best ski resorts in the world and not at work 
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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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@Totes Newbie, makes no sense to get hung up over 250m in village height unless absolute beginners. There’s a bus every ten mins between Plagne Centre (2000m), Plagne 1800 (1800m) and Plagne Bellecote (1950m) so there is really no difference between them. The one thing I would say about Plagne 1800 is if you’re travelling with children or beginners, check exactly how far from the piste your accommodation is. I stayed once and had a 200m hike to the piste - not the end of the world as an adult, but when travelling with kids or beginners this can really add to the stress/effort of the day.
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I agree with chopkins13 about not worrying about 250m between 1800 and Plagne Village, but though an 1800 fan (we have a place there) I wonder if there might be advantages for La Plagne novices to staying in Village.
The problem is the Bergerie lift.
Even in so-called quiet weeks this lift can generate alarming queues, especially in the morning as everyone is heading out.
Now, old hands like us know ways round this and cope without undue distress, but for newbies maybe not so.
From Village you can ski straight to Plagne Centre, or take the Aollets drag and get to Bellecote.
There is the bus. It runs every 15 minutes. But to get from the bus stops to the lifts at either Bellecote or Plagne Centre is a good 150m walk that ends with a steep uphill section.
We use the bus a lot to beat the Bergerie Mob, but the walk can be tough for the relatively unfit newly arrived at 2000m.
Plagne Village may well be the better bet.
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| Jonpim wrote: |
Plagne Village may well be the better bet. |
Probably a nicer ski home at the end of the day, too, if you have beginners with you. And as chopkins13 says, you may well have a bit of a walk to the lifts in 1800. The higher parts of the resort are much better for ski in/out.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Snow conditions update:
Snow everywhere on and next to the slopes. I generally skied above 1800m.
Soft very quickly, about an hour into the day, and very soft and bumpy all afternoon on the main slopes heading into Bellecôte.
First rock problem I spotted: Tonight at the top of Les Blanchets. These rocks on the slope have condemned the skis I'm teaching with to from now on, solely be used for teaching and no longer for their original purpose. Meaning I'll have to spend money asap.
Should have been a somewhat cloudy day, but it remained quite sunny. My ski school director mentioned it might get slightly wet at some point during the day this morning during meeting, which was a tiny possibility that didn't go through. Looking at the weather forecast sunday/monday we might have a little bit of precipitation though.
All in all, I consider this to have been a great week for all skiers in the area, with a beautiful touch-up on sunday morning on the slopes, followed by "sunshiny days" all the way through. Tomorrow is my day off and then it's a new week of teaching 
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Thank you for this - very useful !
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Jo225 wrote: |
| Jonpim wrote: |
Plagne Village may well be the better bet. |
Probably a nicer ski home at the end of the day, too, if you have beginners with you. ... |
+1. Skiing back to 1800 can be tricky for beginners / early intermediates; they may have to get the bus back.
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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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| JulieAimeLeSki wrote: |
| with a beautiful touch-up on sunday morning |
Let's hope so!
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| ecureuil wrote: |
| Jo225 wrote: |
| Jonpim wrote: |
Plagne Village may well be the better bet. |
Probably a nicer ski home at the end of the day, too, if you have beginners with you. ... |
+1. Skiing back to 1800 can be tricky for beginners / early intermediates; they may have to get the bus back. |
We stayed in Club Med 1800 (now known as the MMV?) about 10 years ago and we would always come back via Becoin and down Pavane which used to get really chopped up and I think is quite steep in parts for a blue. Obviously depending on conditions every run is different but I used to dread that run. I am not sure if there is another way back to 1800.
I have just looked at the map and I suppose (again, depending on conditions), you could ski down melezes, down the green to the plagne 1800 then the golf to avoid
@Jonpim we are staying in Terra Nova so I am not sure we will be able to avoid not going on the Bergerie lift in the mornings to our lessons. although looking at the map, i am not sure if Boulevard would be out of reach (ie up hill) for us?
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much  on Sun 18-02-24 0:05; edited 1 time in total
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You know it makes sense.
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@polo99, the Terra Nova is well above the Boulevard chair.
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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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Currently on a coach transfer from Lyon to La Plagne. Traffic bad been horrendous, what was supposed to be around a 3hr transfer has turned into a nightmare journey. Particularly on the A340 where several accidents have caused several hours of delays.
After flying from Gatwick(late) at about 8am, we are still 2 hours away from La Plagne!
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Poster: A snowHead
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@rjstua, I'm sorry the day has turned out like that. Good luck, your relaxing holiday is waiting for you once you get here. Similar to you, there seem to be a lot of people still on the road. Relatively few arrivals have trickled in already to Bellecôte/Belle Plagne.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Mostly it's been a gorgeous week, sunny weather, relatively warm. Quite slushy and bumpy in the afternoon.
Yesterday the clouds started coming in, light got flatter during the day.
This morning there was about 3-5cm fresh snow and more falling throughout the morning, from around 11am at resort height in Belle Plagne it had definitely turned to rain more than snow.
Some lovely freshies and a good Tunnel this morning. Everything's been drying for the past couple hours. Tomorrow should have more snow to wake up to than this morning, and during the day the weather should behave. So fingers crossed.
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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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I agree @JulieAimeLeSki, it has been a good week to test the (slushy) mogul technique Today was really testing of visibility and the pistes were worse for the rain/sleet when dropping down to Villages. Looking forward to tomorrow and Saturday before heading home.
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Gorgeous day, especially this morning. 20-30cm of magical fresh snow, a cold start to the day and pure enjoyment. Couldn't have been more different than yesterday. Some clouds in the valley came closer and closer as the day went on. No Roche de Mio gondola today. An hour technical breakdown of Bergerie over lunchtime. A wonderful day to finish this week.
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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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| JulieAimeLeSki wrote: |
| No Roche de Mio gondola today. An hour technical breakdown of Bergerie over lunchtime. A wonderful day to finish this week. |
Sounds heavenly 
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Yesterday and today were quite similar in weather and conditions :
-absolutely gorgeous to begin with,
-overcast from mid-afternoon on.
Lots of people arrived late last night, getting their rental material this morning, arriving a bit later in group lessons, similar to last week. Over lunchtime I had a wonderful time over on the Inversens red, to technically improve the skiing of a 15yo who got his 3rd star at 9 and then just skied without further lessons, untill today. Great snow conditions, calm over lunch so awesome terrain to work on his skiing and more specifically his short turns.
The snow prediction has lessened and lessened in intensity. 10-20cm predicted before tomorrow morning, let's see. I have a lovely group of Flocons every morning this week, 20 cm of freshies would be interesting with them 
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Woke up to snow in belle plagne this morning. I skied this area yesterday and it was great in the morning but queues in Bellecôte in the afternoon
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I was in La Plagne last week, got home yesterday.
Conditions good overall, helped by the midweek snowfall, but if you are in La Plagne this week you are very lucky indeed.
You should have shorter queues too.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Those travelling Saturday to Saturday to the French Alps are asking for transfer trouble IMO.
I always go Sunday to Sunday if for a week's break - non-weekend if for a few days.
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@Blast, not alot of choice for many with accommodation doing sat to sats. Although we're managing to fly mid week this year.
2nd march onwards looks like more snow coming..20cm forecast overnight then..caveat it's can easily change between then and now obviously!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
You should have shorter queues too.
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Why? There are still 2 big regions on half term. The queues on the live cams in Les Arcs look even worse.
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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 busy out today, for sure . The lifts weren’t too bad (or maybe we were lucky ) but the pistes seemed very crowded . Great snow though !
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Queues are not helped by very ineffective (non existent) queue management in La Plagne - many of the lifts were only running around 70% capacity due to most chairs going up with one or more empty seats despite long queues. Very frustrating to be in the queue for 10+ minutes for a 6-seater and see multiple chairs going up holding only 2 or 3 people!
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You know it makes sense.
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@musehead, I disagree. It is frustrating to have to wait, but it is way more important that everyone that is actually on the lift gets on and off safely. If someone's not ready because one of the skis is in the neigbours gate to go through, we have to wait untill the issue is fixed. If a child in skischool can't be put with the adult next to him or her because this person is a beginner himself or a child or a boarder with his back turned to the kid, as an instructor I'll definitely hold the kid back and he will go on the next seat. In those cases you'll see the chair going up not completely filled but everyone's safe. It's different when it is about people wanting to stick together for no reason, blocking the gates untill there are 6 or 8 of them, but I can assure you: every lift person in La Plagne I personally know will definitely say something in that case and get them to move on. Getting on a chairlift often takes a turn for the worse, every sunday of this month the lift personnel is prepared for a day of people being forgetful about what getting on a chairlift really is like, having not done it in a while. Towards thursday, friday there are way, way less falls and people remember how to get on the lift, to move on when needed, to not rub the snow of their seat before sitting down because then it happens that they sit down too late and they're not on the chair anymore. I'm glad you shared your view but I disagree
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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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It's busier in skischool lessons than last week, seems busier as well on the slopes.
Obviously heading out of the centre of resort helps: Geisha to Champagny, Tunnel and Inversens (if a red slope is possible, easy no queue access via Crozats), Mont Blanc (Bijolin).
Skiing over lunchtime is wonderful as well. 12-14.30 some slopes are completely empty.
Conditions were terrific today. Fresh powder and from 12.30 onwards a sunshiny day.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| JulieAimeLeSki wrote: |
| every lift person in La Plagne I personally know will definitely say something in that case and get them to move on. |
Absolutely not the case IME.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Layne, I agree it's not the case. 4 weeks ago, before French half term, La Plagne was busier than the same week in previous years with far longer queues. But people just weren't filling the chairs and attendants didn't say anything. Very frustrating.
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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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| JulieAimeLeSki wrote: |
| @rjstua, I'm sorry the day has turned out like that. Good luck, your relaxing holiday is waiting for you once you get here. Similar to you, there seem to be a lot of people still on the road. Relatively few arrivals have trickled in already to Bellecôte/Belle Plagne. |
It ended up being an 11 hour coach trip from Lyon to La Plagne 1800.....what a horrible journey that was! Meant we had to collect our ski equipment the day after(as we arrived so late), which wasn't actually too bad. We did have a good time, but the last day of skiing(Friday 23rd) after the whole day of snow on Thurs 22nd was the nicest. Kids even managed to get out of some blues with us which was lots of fun!
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I agree with @rjstua, and @JulieAimeLeSki, last Friday and Saturday (23 & 24 Feb) were fantastic in particular, beautiful blue skies and lots of fresh snow. Only just over 4 weeks till we are off again (Val Thorens, not La Plagne though)
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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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Queues (we shouldn't use this word too much in this thread, ha) in the skischool lines and the normal lines were bad this morning. Mostly there are just a lot of people around. Tomorrow I'm timing my arrival in Bellecôte with the flocons differently.
Good snow conditions, especially in the morning. Bumpy on the mur des Balcons and the mur du Quartz and multiple places where lots of people go through in the afternoon. If you can have a slope to yourself though, the snow is lo-ve-ly.
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I have mixed feelings about La Plagne.
On one hand it is a big area (even without Les Arc) and you get a real feeling of travel, which I like. The mountain restaurants are OK to good. The glazier runs are cool. The off piste is superb (esp for beginner off-piste skiers) - it is this that would influence my return the most. And the views are truly impressive - very photogenic once you get up there.
But the negatives! - way too many beds = queues and pinch-points. And pig ugly. Belle Plagne and 1800 are OK. Not much authenticity. So many blue runs = a lot of beginners. And it's surprising how many old slow lifts there are for a resort of this wealth.
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@Blast, imagine how rammed it would be were it beautiful and authentic
Not sure the age of the lifts stack up. I posted this list of upgrades last season
Arpette was 2005 and since then significant lift upgrades have been:
Plan Bois (2006)
La Roche (2006)
Bergerie (2009)
Mélèzes (2009)
Verdons Sud (2011)
Bécoin (2012)
Traversée (2012)
Bauches (2013)
Colosses (2014)
Dou du Praz (2014)
Montalbert (2015)
Envers (2016)
Crozats (2017)
Ecureuils (2017)
Inversens (2018)
Lovatière (2021)
And this year the glacier lift has been done and there is a plan to replace roche de mio. So I think they are doing a reasonably job.
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Salla and a couple of others I forget. I didn't know there was a plan to replace Roche de Mio - that is good. I stayed in Belle Plagne in Jan but Roche de Mio opening time and reliability issues meant that I skied down to Bellecote first thing (I always want the first lift) which is exactly what I wanted to avoid and took away the advantage of staying in Belle Plagne.
Last week I stayed in Plagne Soliel but that was not good either. OK if you walk uphill a bit to the drag Dou Du Praz, even though you are again skiing into Bellecote, but one morning the drag was closed due to ice and Soliel feeds into Bergerie lift which is a disaster. I then diverted to Plagne Centre, which wasn't much better, and all that cost me a hour or so of the best skiing of that day.
My daughter is chalet hosting in Plagne 1800 or else I don't think I'd return, though the off piste in La Plagne is awesome.
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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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@Blast, Bellecote indeed is a kind of deadend. This is the way La Plagne area is built. Roche de Mio from Belle Plagne and Bergerie is suffering of this. There is almost no way to change this.
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@Blast, Belle Plagne is my preferred base and I have stayed there many times including 4 weeks ago. Rather than taking Roche de Mio it can be quicker to use Blanchets and Carella. Overall I am impressed by the regular upgrades, compared with other resorts. I would like to see them replace Adrets and Bauches.....
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FAQ
. I'm booking a group and they're worried about staying in 1800 as think the Plagne village at 2050 safer for snow. I wasn't sure there was much in it to worry about but what do I know 
