LES ARCS 2016 - 2017

A snowHead

@kapt If it is anything like the car park at Belleplagne, you just keep the ticket and put it into the machine as you leave and come back. The barrier lifts and it gives you your ticket back for future use

A snowHead

Monday 20 Feb. Had planned to go behind the Aiguille Rouge today, but when I heard about the queues to get up the cable car we dropped the idea.

Instead, after the success of yesterday's hunt for powder we headed back to the Bellecote. Had a look at various routes then headed around the ridge and down the far couloir into the back bowl.

Once again the Bellecote gave it's best and we found more soft snow and even a little untracked in places. The couloir was challenging and you had to take care with so many rocks around. Loose your ski and it could be difficult!

Finally after lot's of fun we arrived at the valley and the bus back to Peisey. A relaxed ski to Arc 1600 and home.

The pistes were very busy today in both Les Arcs and La Plagne. It really is high season still! The lift queues were what you would expect, but they were moving and you did get up. The pistes are holding up well in most places and although polished and hard packed in busy areas. You can get everywhere which is great. You just need to be relaxed about your speed and stay in control to avoid crashes. There are some idiots about so take care!

Off piste is well tracked in most places, but there are a few hidden spots to be found so take a guide.

Photos of today have been posted in the Feb Half Term Weeks 2017 Album on the Les Arcs Winter page. Just scroll towards the end of the album to find the latest photos.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/LesArcsWinter/photos/

Tomorrow will be an easy day, with a ski around Les Arcs and maybe a play in the park. Then a nice lunch! and a gentle ski home after all the excitement over the past weeks.

Anyone wanting to meet up as always while it is high season. Please PM me for meeting place details.

Hope you are all having a great holiday! Very Happy

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@wills_h, Thanks again- we didn't book; just took ticket as we entered & paid on exit. Guess pre-booking might work in different way.

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@rdsweb, Thanks - will have to investigate when we get there I think.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Tuesday 21 Feb. As planned went up late today and met up with friends in Arc 1800 for a ski around Les Arcs while their kids were in ski school. It was busy on the pistes and most lifts had queues. The weather was not great so stayed in the Arc 1800/1600 areas. Vis was flat some of the time today, but the sun did come out a few times. The snow was quite wet and heavy even on piste in places as the temps have gone up a lot. It was also a little windy up top today.

Some tips to avoid the lift queues and busy pistes. Hope this helps!

Use the Clocherets Chair above Arc 1600 just below the Arpette restaurant skiers right. Ski on the blue or red pistes back to the bottom of this chair. Also some nice easy Off Piste to the sides of both pistes in the lower sections. Mind the top section, there are cliffs so check out where you should go from the chair on the way up. You do not need any safety gear on the easy areas as there is nothing to avalanche.

Also the Charmettoger Chair to skiers left of Arc 1800 is good for avoiding the queues and has plenty of easy blue and red pistes back to the bottom. The Off piste between the pistes is easy here and fun for the kids with lots of little jumps.

They are saying this lift will be removed next summer and only replaced with a stupid tow lift. Really crazy. How will all the beginners get up to the connections, WALK!! Think everyone should complain about this very silly idea!

After we had completed all the easy pistes and even the not so hard red pistes in these two areas whilst dodging all the people, but not having to queue for more than 2 minutes it was time for my friends to head back to Arc 1800 and pick up the kids whilst for me it was off to a very nice lunch, thanks Paul!

No photos from today, but will get some tomorrow. Off for a little skinning we hope so only those with skinning gear should get in touch tonight if you would like to join us. Nothing hard tomorrow, just getting use to our gear!

I will post again tomorrow evening. Very Happy

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@snowcrazy, can only think they want to remove Charmettoger as it is (a) slow, and (b) rarely used through the day - which, agreed, makes it great for the kind of skiing you are talking about! But it's a bit parochial, and access to the available on-routes (say by getting to Derby or Transarc Mid-station) is duplicated by other lifts out of 1800. We've used it only once or twice in my 15 years of visiting.

I suppose there is a limit to how much the area can afford to run: if anything is going to have to go to ensure funding for other lifts to stay open, then I'm afraid this would be up there as one of my candidates (Unlike Grand Reynard, whose removal was a travesty!).

Alpe D'Huez for us next week - back in April to Paradiski to compare the two... if there is any skiing left in either Confused

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@Arctic Roll, There is a lot of accomodation served by that lift. One thing that I notice about Arc 1800 is just how much accomodation is a long way below the main lift base. The navette from 1600 picks up a lot of people in the morning and drops them off at the bottom of the Jardin Alpin lift which of course only feeds onto Charmettoger. It is a useful way to get across to Vallandry and to Arc 1600 now that the Chantel lift has been taken out by avoiding the scrum for the Transarc. In fact I quite like it even though it is painfully slow and long. It is also good for beginners, especially snowboarders. I even miss Gollet.

Personally I do not mind drag lifts, they are a little faster than this slow chair, but hopefully the replacement covers the full height and doesn't just dump you above the village.

In over 30 years of coming to Les Arcs there are still a few lifts I have never used and with one exception could be removed before considering Charmettoger: Saint Jacques, Lac Combes, Rhonaz. Does the little drag at La Grange still run? Actually I haven't found a need to use two of the new lifts at Les Arcs: Dahu and Parchey. So in total there are 6 lifts in Les Arcs I have never used. I wonder what their potential is in ski lift bingo?

@snowcrazy, I am trying to avoid ever mentioning the Clocherets Chair. It is just too good to be publicised.

After all it is free

@johnE, I think the Dahu isn't actually supposed to be used as a "Ski Lift" but more for pedestrian access to the new Eden Arc complex.

@wills_h, yes and thinking about it I canot recall using the one between 1950 and 2000 either but I have use the bucket lift in Vallandry

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@johnE, agreed don't mention Clocherets!

Rhonaz is a godsend in bad weather (only open when other access to Villaroger is closed), and has led to some of the most amazing powder skiing ever - no-one there, freshies all the way. Don't you dare suggest they close that one! (and like Clocherets, don't tell anyone about it either... oops)

St Jaques is for the beginners, and gives access to those starting out in their skiing career. I've used it with beginners, but not for my own stuff. IIRC Lac is for getting out of the 2000 apartments.

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@Arctic Roll, Rhonaz was the exception as you may have guessed.

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@johnE,

Parchey is quite useful if you are over the far end of Peisey, eating lunch at La Vache or La Ferme: it also supports a beginners slope IIRC. On the other hand, it is under used - so much so that it closes for lunch...

You know it makes sense.

The fact that Parchey is closed for lunch provides a perfect excuse to spend a little more time in La Vache with the lovely Chloe.
But make the most of it because I understand that after ten years this will be her last season there.

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

Out of interest, what are typical lift times during these busy weeks. For example/in particular how long is a typical wait on a day like today for Transarc bottom station? I'm going to be in 1800 next week and am quite interested (after reading through the lift queues thread)

A snowHead

Wednesday 22 Feb. A day touring in the National Park.

Today we decided to do something different. Instead of just going high and looking for powder we headed up the Grand Col chair and into the park.

Our aim was the Mont Pourri Refuge and the Crete des Lanchettes, then either descending to Nancoix or returning to Arc 2000 bowl depending on snow conditions.

What a fun day it turned out to be. After some rather large lift queues we reached the top of the Grande Col Chair and headed into the park. Some interesting and at times challenging snow conditions with plenty of untracked snow, sometimes even soft, but also hard packed and breakable crust at times took us down to the Mont Pourri Refuge for lunch.

After a very relaxed lunch enjoying the wonderful views, warm temps and peace of the mountains it was time to head up to the ridge.

On the way back up towards the ridge we found more untracked soft snow in sheltered places. But also hard chalky snow and some crust. After a few little slips (I think I need new skins) we reached the ridge.

The condition of the lower track out to Nancoix did not look great so we headed for the Arc 2000 bowl instead.

After finally reaching the busy pistes again rather than queue for 20 minutes we went up to the top of the Transarc and all the way back to Arc 1600 and home without using another lift.

A really fun day! Photos from today will be posted shortly in the new Ski Touring 2017 Album. Take a look at the conditions away from the pistes. There is still plenty of snow out there! We will be doing this again!

https://www.facebook.com/pg/LesArcsWinter/photos/

Tomorrow we will stay in Les Arcs again and see what other 'Off piste' routes we can do. But without to much hiking this time. PM me before 9am for details if you want to join us.

Hope you enjoy today's photos!

A snowHead

@snowcrazy, It sounds a good route. I now know where those tracks I see from the Lac du Moutons head off to. Oddly it took me until now to look at the map and see that the ski route is actually marked.

Have you actually done Mont Pourri? Sadly it looks too hard for me in my current state of fitness (I was thinking of a summer ascent)

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Very sad news from Les Arcs today, with the death of someone in Arc 2000. Before all the gossip starts. I will post the details once they have made public what really happened so let us hope everyone respects the family and do not gossip more about this tragic accident until the Gendarmes release the official report. My condolences to all those involved.

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

UPDATE; Yesterdays photos now posted.

Thursday 23 Feb. Despite the sad news that I reported earlier from Les Arcs. I think a report for today is still worthwhile.

With bad weather forecast for tomorrow, we wanted to make the most of today so headed up at 9am to hunt out more soft snow in the Les Arcs area.

After a few queues on the way over to the Arc 2000 bowl we gave up trying to get up the Varet when we saw a very large number of people waiting in line.

Instead headed for the Nature Reserve area of Lanchette. Made a run down the normal route left of centre and all the way too Villaroger. Then back up again and Par Avalanche route down to Villaroger and a late lunch.

Both routes had very mixed snow, but we were able to find some soft spring snow which was fun.

After Lunch down Droset and then Malgovert with a few jumps to play on. Malgovert is a great place to ski and today it was another good day.

Everywhere we went today on piste was very busy. I do not think I have seen so many people in the square of Arc 2000 before! Nothing to do with the accident that took place earlier. The queues at the main lifts were very big. If you went to the more 'out of the way' places it was better.

To avoid the rush to get home, we stopped early and am pleased we did. The Funi was running full every 10 minutes from 4pm, maybe earlier.

Although I presume it is good for the businesses to have so many people. The lifts and ski area is starting to struggle and cope with the numbers IMO. To many collisions and some accidents. We have started to grade the risk each day on piste as well as off piste. The 'Off Piste' was level 2 today. IMO the 'On
Piste' was level 4 both out of a scale of 1 to 5.

Photos from today will be posted later. Check out the Feb Half Term Weeks 2017 Album on the Les Arcs Winter page.

Tomorrow we will be looking at the weather at 8am before deciding our plan. Anyone interested in joining us tomorrow need to PM me before 9am in the morning.

Hope you are all enjoying your holidays!

After all it is free

Les Arcs Winter: The details I have so far from Les Arcs are that the guy was on the Tuffes race piste and some how hit one of the pylons. I am not sure how that could happen as they are normally really well protected and easy to see, but it is very sad. The police are investigating and further details will follow.

I have also been reading a further post in the paper today. Very sobering about the number of accidents this week. It seems to me the numbers on the pistes are just becoming to many. Here is the link to both articles. They are in French, but google translate works well.

http://www.ledauphine.com/savoie/2017/02/23/une-fillette-de-8-ans-touchee-aux-cervicales-apres-une-chute and

http://www.ledauphine.com/savoie/2017/02/23/un-skieur-decede-apres-avoir-heurte-un-bloc-de-beton

BE careful out there today and ski or snowboard under control!

UPDATE; More details coming out. It seems he hit a support that is normally covered in snow so was not protected. The snow depths are still well below average for this time of year. It is important for us all using the off piste or piste natures to also be aware that there are many obstructions around that we need to avoid right now which might normally be well covered with snow. Be on your guard!

I shall now wait for the published report to come out unless some other helpful details to keep us safe are reported.

@snowcrazy, very sad, and as you say, a bit strange.
Nevertheless once again, a sober reminder that we partake in a dangerous pastime - be careful out there everyone.

Heading to ADH tomorrow, and I shall remember the old adage about paying for the view as well as the snow: if things are looking a little crowded on the pistes, then I too will head for the nearest terrace

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@Arctic Roll, Whilst I personally agree with you, we may be in the minority. Most are probably away for the only week of the year that they get to go skiing. In such a case it would be a very strong-willed person who was willing to spend a day or perhaps more waiting on the sidelines for it to quieten down. We have noticed that we ourselves now spend more time on the slopes over the quieter lunchtime period simply for safety. There must be some responsibility born by those who continue building more & more hotels and thereby attracting more and more people to areas which do not noticeably seem to have a proportionate increase in piste km. How you get them to accept this responsibility and take appropriate action is a difficult question.

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@kapt, I cannot see it easing in Les Arcs either. This new Club Med will add a significant number of extra accomodation but no extra slopes to ski on.

Since I hve been coming to Les Arcs I have witnessed a lot of new accomodation: Eden Arc, Arc 1950, significant expansions to Arc 2000, 1600 and Bourg st Maurice but no closure of the older residences (well maybe the holiday camp, but I never really knew where that was). If anything the number of pistes has actually decreased. Of course the pistes have become much more crowded.

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There has also been expansion in Vallandry. I also wonder how many travel on the vanoise express each way in a day..do more people come from la plagne to les arcs for the day or go the other way?

The thing that I find puzzling is that if skier numbers on the decline how are they managing to fill more and more apartments/hotels each year?

The fact that more pistes are left as "natur" than in the past also channels more people on to fewer pistes.

@kapt, @johnE, not just the beds, but the fact that they've reduced lift queues has inevitably meant more people on the pistes as opposed to waiting for their turn.

But we can't turn back the clock, so we have to find personal coping strategies. Enjoying the mountains for their own beauty works for me! ( and yes, I acknowledge that I am extremely lucky, getting 4 weeks this year: I guess it won't work for everyone. OTOH, 4x as many chances to cock it up...)

@snowymum, I feel that you'll find that net migration ( there's that phrase of the week...) between LP & LA is a zero sum, and probably cancels itself out.
Can't be sure, but I doubt there's a particularly unidirectional flow. Has anyone any real as opposed to anecdotal evidence?

You know it makes sense.

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

@snowymum,

A snowHead

@kapt, You do not even have to go off piste. I feel considerably safer on Cretes than say Mont Blanc

A snowHead

A double post today. Did not get home last night to share my reports.

On Friday 24 Feb. Clouds, snow and sleet. We headed up later than normal and found a massive 1 or 2 cm's of fresh snow had fallen. Not much but enough to cover a few tracks and give us a chance of making some new ones.

Headed over to Arc 1800 and up top to Arc 2000. Flat light and clouds most of the time so went back to the Arc 1800 side. Better light so found a few safe off piste places to make some track.

Then over to Vallandry through the meadows. A few more fresh tracks and time for lunch.

After lunch up top of Derby and down through the steeper slopes finding a little better snow and another play on the way down to Vallandry again.

A final run into the trees and home. Friday night I stayed up the mountain.

One good thing about Friday. We had no queues at the lifts and the pistes were quite empty due to the bad weather.

The snow stopped outside by about 10pm I guess on Friday evening.

TODAY! Saturday 25 Feb. As it is changeover day so we went to the La Plagne side. Although a few more people around than normal as the local area is on holiday right now, the lift queues were still not very big and in most places we found quiet pistes again.

Had intended to just tour around the pistes all day as we did not think there was much new snow! What a surprise we had! Over in Les Arcs there seemed to only be 2 or 3 cm's of new snow. On the La Plagne side there was maybe 5 or 6cm's of fresh and where the wind had blown it into gullies even deeper.

Our day on piste went out the window. Take a look at the photos of this weekend to see what conditions were like. To summaries, we first made some fresh tracks down to Champagny, then along Brown Trouser ridge and into the back valley. Then a lap of the Bellecote Bowl and finally a longish route down the North Face of the Bellecote before heading back to Les Arcs and a ski across the pistes and home.

All our off piste routes were on mixed snow with plenty of fresh powder, some older soft snow and crud that you had to take great care whilst skiing. It was fun to do some of the less skied routes today.

The 'On Piste' conditions have also improved after the fresh snowfall and anyone just arriving should enjoy their week's skiing or snowboarding, although it is best to follow the sun to keep warm. I just hope the queues from last week are shorter and those crazy people slow down on the pistes and ski or snowboard under control.

There were more than enough accidents last week! I felt safer over the last few weeks 'off piste'. As I mentioned before the 'Off Piste avalanche level is only currently One or Two out of Five whilst 'On Piste' I think it is Level 4 out of 5 right now IMO. I feel much safer off piste where I can control my skiing and take as much care as I feel is necessary without worrying to much about uncontrolled idiots hitting me. My advice to everyone, at the very least develop your skills enough to enjoy the piste natures and if you really enjoy those areas take the next step and learn to ride safely Off Piste.

The photos from the last two days are now posted in the new Final Weeks Feb Half Term 2017 Album on the Les Arcs Winter page. Take a look if you want to see what current conditions are like 'On and Off piste'.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/LesArcsWinter/photos/

For anyone that is interested in joining us for a ski or snowboard, please PM me before 9am in the morning or the night before to find out meet up details. Tomorrow we plan to head back to La PLgne to find more soft snow and maybe even some more untracked powder! Very Happy

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UPDATE: Latest photos for Sunday 26 Feb on the Bellecote now posted in the Final Weeks Feb Half Term 2017 Album on the Les Arcs Winter page. Enjoy!

Sunday 26 Feb. Another good day in the sun and the powder. After the surprise of yesterday on the North Face of the Bellecote we just had to go back and have another go.

Having set off from Arc 1600 at 9am to avoid the lift queues we expected. One of our group had a technical ski binding failure before reaching the Vanoise Express and had to return home. Very bad luck and very lucky he was not hurt when his ski came off.

Now there were just three. We decided to go straight to the Bellecote and did a lap of the bowl in more light snow with fresh tracks in some places. The snow was very mixed, but by keeping mostly in the shade were able to enjoy the good snow we found.

Much to our surprise there were few people around on the Bellecote and when we went to look at the North Face there was nobody to be seen. Even better, the Canadian Couloir had no tracks so that was the route for today!

With soft untracked snow mixed in with firmer and even chalky snow at times you had to pay attention or it could bite you hard. A fall could be risky.

Taking care we headed down the couloir and finally onto the river track and finishing at the bus stop. Did not need to take off our skis, but only just!

The pistes and lift queues were getting busy again by the afternoon, but not as crazy as last week. Well not yet anyway! However the pistes are in good condition in most places so as long as you can manage to get away from the crowds then you should have a fun week. They say more snow is on it's way this Tuesday, we shall see!

If you are interested in seeing what conditions were like today take a look at the photos which will be posted shortly in the Final Weeks Feb Half Term 2017 Album on the Les Arcs Winter page.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/LesArcsWinter/photos/

Anyone wanting to ski tomorrow needs to contact me by PM to find out the details. Not yet sure what we will be doing.

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Monday 27 Feb. Another sunny day comes to an end, but with the thought of snow in everyone's mind.

The pistes were reported as busy again today with some queues on the main lifts. To avoid the queues you need to study the piste map and go to the more out of the way places.

By following the sun today you could have a very enjoyable ski. The pistes are holding up well in most places, but by the afternoon they are polished and you need good edges.

Tomorrow they are forecasting snow beginning during tonight. Hopefully we will all wake up to fresh snow and not rain.

Anyone wanting to join us for a ski needs to get in contact before 9am tomorrow morning,

Fingers crossed for the promised snow arriving! Very Happy

If you are able to get some time off, coming out over the next week might be a good idea if the 50+ cm's of snow does arrive. snowHead

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Tuesday 28 Feb. Rest day for me. But up on the mountain there are high winds and it is now snowing, just not that much yet! Down in the valley it is raining and getting colder so MAYBE, just maybe it will turn to snow soon.

If you are interested in seeing the conditions right now the best way is to look at the webcams live.

Another update will follow later when my friend comes back and tells me all about the great powder he skied today!! Very Happy

http://en.lesarcs.com/webcams.html

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Snowed all day with more forecast. Nice off-piste but visibility limited.. No lifts going high and transac stopping halfway. Skied La Plagne yesterday and found Bellecote stupidly busy - best avoided.

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@welshskier, The Bellecote is always busy before a storm is coming as most people like to go to the top of the Glacier at least once during there holiday. It is the same with the Aiguille Rouge in Les Arcs. I agree both can be a nightmare to get up, but once at the top if you are a good skier or snowboarder it is worth the effort at least once in good weather as the piste natures off both peaks are really fun. If you prefer just piste skiing then it is more limited, but still OK.

I noticed you mentioned you went off piste today. I guess by that on a day like today you were between the pistes or in the trees. If you have arvi safety gear and want to join us for a play in the powder. Send me a PM here or over on the Les Arcs Winter page. Enjoy the fresh snow, tomorrow should be fun if the wind drops a little. snowHead

After all it is free

Time for an update! As expected my friends said they had a great time today in the powder!

It seems to have snowed lightly at first then harder as the day went on from about 1400m. They said there was about 10 to 15 cm's of fresh snow by the time they came home.

The top lifts were all closed, but you could at first get up the Arcabulle, however all the links with the Arc 2000 bowl from other stations were closed.

The forests were the best place to ski today as the fresh snow slowly made the crud underneath improve. However the visibility was very poor in most places.

It is still snowing up on the mountain tonight I have just been told and even lower down it is sleet and might turn to real snow if we are lucky.

Tomorrow we will be going up so anyone wanting to meet us for a ski please let me know. I guess we will be at the bottom of the Vagere Chair around 10am, but do confirm in advance if you are coming out to hunt the powder with us or just turn up and take your chance that we make it to the meeting point on time.

Right now I have know idea what conditions will be like tomorrow after the high winds today. Fingers crossed for a great powder day! snowHead

Wednesday 1 March. Snow, Powder and more snow!

What a great sight to wake up to. Snow in my garden all the way down to the valley floor. There is at least 10cm's down here I would guess so must be more on the mountain I hope.

If you are driving out today you will be needing chains to get up into the stations.

I am sure many lifts will be delayed opening, but with all the trees we have in the Paradiski area. I think today will be special!

Powder day here we come! More details later. Very Happy

Check out the live webcams right now!

http://en.lesarcs.com/livecam-1800.html#ong333

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@snowcrazy, thanks, just got your message. We were in trees and had an even better day today. Great powder first thing and skied till my legs gave out. Sleeting now in Vallandry but it will snow higher up. Roll on tomorrow.

Help!!

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