Well in true French style the strike was lifted around midday once the sun had come out. Some of the coldest skiing I've done for a couple of years.
again no-one around
this on a Wednesday where 3-4 years ago it would have been buzzing. The resort has only 50% occupancy for the winter holiday period.
I don't know about the big resorts but the locals are not spending money this year, it feels very glum everywhere, empty shops, empty slopes, empty restaurants. Only retired people seem to have a bit of spending power.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
davidof, Which station was the last set of pictures taken at? I'm probably living in Grenoble next year so have an interest in local station, assuming from your previous posts that this place is relatively close.
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?
davidof, We were in Alpe du Grand Serre today and I know it is a Thursday but there must have been less than 100 people in the whole resort until lunchtime when a few more arrived as well as a few classes of kids for ESF lessons. We have done trips there before but I do not remember it being that quiet. Conditions were pretty good for some lazy cruising round in the morning although some of the runs are bit solid to say the least. Some pretty severe freezing squally winds later in the day on the top area though.
St Hilaire du Touvet, it is pretty small but has a good range of different pistes including a red that might be a black in some areas. From Grenoble le Sappey, the Col de Porte and St Nizier are the closest resorts depending on what side of town you live but they are all small. Le Sappey has the steepest runs. Col de Porte is great for beginners/kids.
As skitwo points out, very windy this last week, which has blown all the fresh snow somewhere.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
davidof wrote:
I don't know about the big resorts but the locals are not spending money this year, it feels very glum everywhere, empty shops, empty slopes, empty restaurants. Only retired people seem to have a bit of spending power.
I thought it was quieter than usual in the PdS a couple of weeks back. I also noticed that the Plat de Jour prices looked to have dropped a euro or so, The same PdJ was being offered over a couple of days suggesting not much turnover and the proprietors seemed genuinely keen to get your custom.
The same PdJ was being offered over a couple of days suggesting not much turnover
PdS perhaps?
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
After a week of high winds that have scoured the snow at altitude there was some fresh today. Around 5cm of new snow on the slopes of St Hilaire du Touvet on a hard base. Good conditions in the trees too.
"As skitwo points out, very windy this last week, which has blown all the fresh snow somewhere."
Most if it seems to have ended up in the trees.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Lovely day in St Jean d'Arves today - we are very much enjoying lack of people, spacious apartment etc. Shame my eldest was poorly today (her 9th bday too) so she and I skied less than we would have. Clear skies forecast for the morning so hoping she has given lurgy the heave ho - all the kids were planning their route for post ski school outing
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
She's probably getting over a hard school term. Otherwise get some Dolipran from the chemists.
Desert d'Entremont in the Savoie Chartreuse today
more busy pistes. It is rare for the bottom tow to be open
and here we are at the top lifts with the imposing Mt Outheran in the background. If you ever ski here eat Chez Dany (Dany is a woman btw) with stunning views of Mt Blanc from the terrace
and a quick look over to the Granier pistes
they have a joint lift pass with le Desert, so ski le Desert in the morning when the sun is on the slopes then go over le Granier for the afternoon
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
davidof, that looks so lovely.
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.
St Hilaire du Touvet today, perfect snow and no half term crowds
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
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
Up at the Col de Marcieu yesterday, tot and his mum for sledging which let me get on skiing the few cm of fresh in the fog and freezing cold
there are two magic carpets for sledgers and you can hire rubber tubes as well
piste conditions are grim
snow was great though, nice to ski some fresh, this morning there was around 15cm in the Chartreuse at 1500m.
It is the snow festival this weekend at the col de Marcieu (the resort is near Chambery above le Touvet) they will be doing ice carving and other such things.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Today we tried somewhere completely different, le Col de Romeyere on the western ramparts of the Vercors.
There are several types of accommodation at the Col De Romeyere ski resort ranging from self-catering apartments to ski hotels to fully catered ski chalets.
Funny, all we could find was a clapped out colonie des vacances that looked like it would fall down if the wind blew too strong.
Seriously, it is a shame that there are all these scam artist UK web sites giving people bogus information on resorts they've never visited and have zero information about, just regurgitating the same old crap that has come of some excel spreadsheet someone once prepared in their mom's basement.
Still I can hardly blame them for not visiting, we seriously mis-underestimated the route, to quote George Bush. After leaving the Grenoble Valance highway we were pretty soon on single lane ice and snow covered mountain roads with very few passing places.
At one point we stopped to look at some spectacular frozen waterfall, one could just imagine Sherlock Holmes falling from the cliffs above.
To reach the plateau where le Romeyere is situated you have to pass through a long, single track, unlit road tunnel, Still it is better than the old road which winds along the outside of the cliff.
You exit the tunnel into a icy snow filled gorge
tbc...
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
and there are those people who are convinced that Alpine roads are swept clear of snow every 15 minutes...
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Oh how I love this thread!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
As you can see from the piste map (drawn by a 4 year old), this is not a big resort
I think they say 4km of pistes, the area is spit into two bits with a criss-cross liason run. On the north (left) there are two lifts which serve a green area (Ravat or Rajat), to the right (south side) (Lafont or lafond) are some steeper runs that wind down through the trees.
They don't even give the runs names.
here you can see the main green learner area and in the distance the one red run going down through the trees. The red and the two blues are similar in steepness, that is, quite steep as is often the case for smaller resorts.
this is looking down from the top of the green run, quite steep at the top too. The off piste was a mix of crusty or / and windblown. There is a lot of scope for between the runs skiing if the snow is good but I get the feeling the col sees a lot of wind.
It was the best piste grooming we've seen this season (although Meaudre in the Vecors came close).
more later....
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?
merci mademoiselle Pedantica, Madame Pam et Monsieur Orblanc,
Pocket Rocket, after last week's strike was on "operation escargot" yesterday for the second two clips. How French ! No filming today or he could get the guillotine out.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Last week of the school holidays and the totster has been skiing with a PGHM ski instructor back at St Hilaire having finally begun to outpace me on the runs
including the spectacular Rocher du Midi, first climbed in the early 60s by the American Gary Hemming
great view of le Mont Blanc, it is a bit like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, you can see it from every ski resort in the Alps
a look down the Combe red with an artistic twig in the foreground, Sarah Beeny would be impressed
the St Hils season only has another 2 weeks to run until closing (11 March like many smaller resorts)
which means we will be heading out elsewhere.
The totster told me he'd done 25 days in St Hilaire this year and still luvin' it, not bad for a ski area with 10km of pistes.
It has been very warm over the last week, the thaw is really here, and it looks set to continue. The pistes are very hard and this seems typical. Grenoble hospital had to close its door yesterday due to all the piste accidents. There was a 4 hour wait just to get an initial diagnosis according to a friends mum who suffered a "fatigue fracture" at les 7 laux and hours to wait for an ambulance. The security civil has been flying back to back missions. Take care if you are skiing over the next week and get your edges sharpened.
After all it is free
After all it is free
davidof, brilliant mini-TR. And it's now official - the totster IS a pocket rocket. Yayyy.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Snow is melting fast, another week to go of the St Hilaire season.
A little look at the conditions here, better skiing above 1000 meters.
So we finished the season with the tot getting his ESF gold star after spending 4x1hr with the PGHM instructor polishing off the edges. We went up to St Hils for the close on the 11th March.
It was really getting quite warm by then. We then took a holiday for last weekend and headed up to the Collet d'Allevard today, Sunday 25th March. The Collet closes on the 7th April with the Derby on the same day. There is still 1m of snow depth at 1650 meters so I asked if they would open weekends like they used to but no. Definitely closed on the 7th even if it dumps 1 meter of fresh (not entirely unheard of in April).
Allevard, Tremplin Noire
Some of the pistes were closed at the Collet due to the risk of full depth slabs and one or two other pistes were in "variable" condition, such as the Tremplin black (there used to be a ski jump here) which had some huge grooves down the middle of the run.
Two weeks of heat (June temperatures in the valley) and the east slopes of the Chartreuse don't have a lot of snow left on them.
Here we are looking down to the resort at 1450 m. Snow is fine down to resort level except maybe the last 100m however it was slushy in the afternoon requiring large turns to power through the crud. Off piste was actually easier to ski and I was surprised how well junior managed with his GS skis.
The NW facing back bowl had better, faster snow and this nice steep drag lift to get out.
Anything south facing was beginning to suffer, the summit here is around 2000 meters.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Up to Chamrousse today, which is supposed to be open until the 25th April, if current conditions, no april fool's day joke, are anything to go by they should think about shutting the resort much sooner.
Here is the totster on the Olympique Men's piste, Killy took a gold here in '68. Today he'd be taking mud and rocks even though it looks ok here at 2200 m
Petit Killy
this gives a better picture of the slopes
Atomic Power
this run was a rock garden, there were fist shape stones all over the place
Bref! Avoid anywhere south facing below 2000 meters now. I'm sure north facing resorts are ok but the snow had really suffered in the endless spring heatwave. We'll see how much snow comes this week but it would need a good 50cm to improve the Chamrousse runs.
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.
La Petite and I were up there on Saturday morning; her with the ESF to get her Ourson and me just to have a ski around. As you say it's pretty worn now and lots of runs closed - a big difference even from the week before. I can't see it staying functionally open beyond this week, and I don't think we'll be back this season now. However we had a lot of fun on the runs that were open and there was virtually no-one around.
We'll be off to La Tania for the Easter week and then probably hang the skis up for the season. Unless there is 50cm of snow at Chamrousse of course!
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
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
2011 came in a like a Lion but is going out like a Lamb. I was surprised at the conditions at Chamrousse, there can be some excellent skiing in April but I don't feel it will be the case this year. Just goes to show that 50cm is no good if it is strewn with debris (in the case of the Olympic: beer bottle, lots of rocks, broken piste markers etc).
I'm knocking a trip to Alpe d'Huez on the head now. End of season will probably be Val Thorens with maybe a weekend somewhere high at Easter.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Alpe d'Huez may be back on if the snow keeps up this week. Looked ok from a distance today.
Les 7 Laux is closing 2 weeks early so last chance to ski here this easter w/e. I normally don't go up with the tot due to the number of idiots in resort but my spies told me it was "practically deserted", well practically deserted bar one or two "cocks".
Friday I did a little Recce to the top of the Oursiere chair lift. All the east and north section of the resort is closed.
the snow was rotten on the east faces, it had rained to 2200m and then there was a thin coat of refrozen crust on humid unbonded snow. There had been a lot of slides with the rain and constant stonefall on some runs where they had steep stopes above. Although the pistes were okay, even a bit of fresh, the resort probably didn't want any headlines about avalanches crossing open slopes as we've seen in a lot of ski areas this year.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
So Saturday I went up for the morning with the tot
it was bright and sunny first thing but low cloud, then sleet swept in around mid-morning. The pistes were very hard first thing but softened up a little bit by 10ish.
probably no more than a couple of hundred people skiing, disappointing for the resort and one of the reasons for the early closing, the pistes are still in good shape. They've done ok this year. Turnover is up 10% (but VAT on lift passes increased 1.5% on the 1st of January 2012), they broken even by week 12 after a late opening in the second week of December and closing early is a way of limiting their end of season losses.
We toured around the usual runs but at midday the Tot complained of feeling ill and spent the next 24 hours in bed with some kind of virus.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Sunday was a day of rain and snow above 1600m but also a lot of high wind from the NE. I decided to head up to one of the 7 Laux back bowls with my touring skis. I climbed up the Bedina bowl to just under the NW couloir of the Jas des Lievres then took a very short couloir on crampons.
The entrance to the NW couloir doesn't look that impressive, the slopes are around 45 degrees at the top, maybe a bit more if you ski directly off the summit, but this steeper slope also had the best snow, about 10cm of fresh on hardpack.
You ski from the top right of the photo down the couloir in the V in the center of the photo.
The top of the couloir had snow on the left bank, hardpack on the right until mid slope you couldn't really ski fast as there were some hidden boulders of ice here and there.
What followed was 700m of powder skiing.
down through the combe de Bedina
it was only when I rejoined the final run on the resort slopes (closed) that the snow became a bit poor. Some stones and bare patches.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
davidof, nice. Hope the tot is better now. He looks very dynamic on his skis, virus or no virus.
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?
7 degrees, p*ssing down with rain in Notre Dame de Bellcombe, temperature had dropped 11 degrees in 90 mins!
Praying for some freshies tomorrow while drinking a bottle of possibloy the best named wine i have found in ages and bang on for the waistband trend....chateau Lardy
Chateau Lardy, I like it. Tot is better, tired after a long winter term I think.
les 7 Laux is definitely closed. In the Isere that leaves Chamrousse, LDA and ADH at the moment but 10 days of bad weather is forecast so we may not get out again before Chamrousse or one of the Maurienne resorts shuts their doors.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Not sure if this is the right place for a Risoul snow report but I guess it is a 'less well known French resort ' so here goes. Here with family
Since saturday after a week in ste foy. Last night snowed a good 50-60 cm so fantastic powder today , turned out to be a good day for
Us to have picked an off piste morning with skicool, Hannah (10) loved it, snow up to her waist, Thomas just kept smiling . Visibility not great
Stayed cold and looking like better visibility for tomorrow. It's a great resort, v relaxed and friendly
no its the perfect place for resorts that can't support a thread on their own, any photos?
Risouls are what we used to get to eat on Tuesdays with the scraps from Sunday lunch.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
davidof,
After all it is free
After all it is free
Well I'm not there at the moment, but Les Saisies seems to have almost everything open and 20 cms of new snow.
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.
I have a few pics, but may need to wait till next week to put up as WiFi here
Is not great.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
lots of fresh stuff to play in yesterday, Douce was knee deep and totally unpisted which was fun with my 7 yr old getting miles under his skis, he thought is was fun and NDdB was dead quiet, we had entire pistes to ourselves all morning...La Thiule/Mont Rond was fantastic too. We did a circuit into Les Saisies and back and snow everywhere was excellent. The sun thawed a lot of south facing stuff as quick as it arrived and this morning arouund Saisies it was mixed from lovely packed stuff to windblown, scratchy old snow.
I'll post some pics at some point, wifi is hit and miss to say the least
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
