Avoriaz/Chatel/Les Gets/Morzine 2015/2016

A snowHead

First day and first visit:

Morzine/Les Gets was foggy in general, an annoying coating of micro droplets on the goggles hindered visibilty.
Snow decent, but a bit wet, and without man made there would be next to nothing lower down.

Wednesday must be local school sports day....there were loads and loads of kids in classes!

It's got to be said..the area looks good to me, bring on the (amateur) races!
Slalom tomorrow in Pleney piste D in the afternoon and GS on Friday morning at Nyon....in it to win it!

A snowHead

We skied at LGT again today - and the difference between today and Monday was very as the temperatures have really risen, Monday -15C first thing and today just minus 3C. The huge piles of made snow have been distributed around the place. And it was not too cloudy there. Got back to LG around 1 and it was very cloudy and drippy. We took the dog up to Mt Caly in the afternoon and the sun was beautiful up there. Do wish that the French would embrace picking up after dogs....

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Defected to Morzine from Samoens today for the first time. Met one of my neighbours from UK who happened to be out the same week as us. It was great exploring a new area and Mrs Basil and I enjoyed it very much. Parked at the Pleny underground car park about 20m from the ticket desk, result, and was pretty much on the first lift up. Found our way across to Chamosierre and skied Arbis a few times and it was excellent then generally bimbled about that area until we made our way back to the top of Pleney for lunch at about 2:30 when we called it a day.

The forecast I saw yesterday suggested a cloudy day but it was surprisingly bright, mostly and the snow was superb, mostly.

We'll definitely pay a few more visits next season.

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Can anyone give an update on Morzine avoriaz today??

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@Sneachta2013, we were in Morzine this morning. The Chamossiere Arbis was perfect at 9.30 and we then went over to Nyon. Skied around the Fys, very thin down to the lift but only using for access to the lift. The resident pig is absolutely enormous.... lots of snow blowing still going on so the Chamois was rather spoilt by that. But good to see the low temperatures being used. The bridge now appears to be blocked off completely.
It was much colder than I had been expecting
Sorry didn't go to Avoriaz.

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Avoriaz great this morning, chopped on return this afternoon, worn down to lower (parking) levels.

Skied the anti clockwise circuit, all stations in good condition, particularly Crosets and Champoussin. Lower levels in all areas hard or thin or polished depending on aspect to Sun.

All in all a great day in glorious sun just watch speed at lower levels. Came across 3 separate accidents with piste assistance in attendance.

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@rungsp, how did the racing go? We met a friend this afternoon who had someone with her whose husband and SIL were racing.

And yes, Wednesday is the day that the local school children have no school. Apparently there are a number of hours a week that have to be completed and that is up to the school to work out. So many of them have longish days for four days, 8.30 to 4 or 4.30 and have Wednesday off so its lovely to see a lot of them out skiing.

After all it is free

Currently watching morzine melt as I top up my tan.

Last few days sunshine really seem to be taking its toll on the slopes. Had a few hairy moments yesterday with larger patches of ice.

Prior to that had an awesome few days as the fresh snow made some very memorable moments.

Think we may have gotten the best week of the season

It was a great week in Pds overall but the lower slopes badly need some snow. The bottom of Prodains and the runs into Morzine were not a fun experience, very icy (not just hard packed, actual ice)

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Im hoping this is true!! We fly on the 30th to Chatel so sounds like we could do with some fresh snow. Those temperatures are getting up!!
https://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast/France/Chatel_snow.html

Snow Forecast wasnt showing any snow on the days J2Ski did earlier, but now they are, so hoping that means we get some

Glad I didnt buy any expensive base layers though - looks like I'll be sunbathing if we cant ski!

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@Pamski, racing went very well indeed.
140 competitors.
The Lass came 2nd in all women.
The Lad came 4th overall....and would have just, only just, missed out on a Eurotest pass based on the Calibration off our guest skier who is a Eurotest opener...needless to say he won the whole thing.
Neither of them had never ever been through gates until the actual races....proud dad!
My actual team of three were third in our category...but I skied like an idiot...very annoyed with myself!

really enjoyed Morzine, today we skied Avoriaz and liked that too.

I have to say though The Swiss Wall?
Wall??
I totally fail to see what the fuss is about...it is not particularly steep.
I guess in very hard and refrozen conditions it is a challenge, but otherwise a very over-rated run....

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@rungsp, glad you (and family!) enjoyed the pds. Sounds like a bit of race coaching and "the Lad" is a shoo in for a Eurotest pass if he's that way inclined.

I think you're absolutely right about The Wall and the conditions that make it really serious. I've always thought it about similar to the top bit of Mont Fort with some big bumps at the entry point, then some normal bumps, then a decent red run style run out.

It's not too far round from Verbier for a repeat, we often do a day trip in reverse.

Keep the snow reports coming folks, only another 6 days until we arrive.

@DJL, here s one for you. Did CdA to morgins yesterday. Weather warmer than last week. Cloud eventually cleared to sunshine. Abondance good first thing but snow a little thin..torgon icy and scrapped both ways ,not pleasant. Top of Morclan lovely. Chalet nuef good as was super chatel. Afternoon gave way to spring conditions on the south facing slopes and we gave up as the knees started to complain

You know it makes sense.

OK, so .... finally managed to book a ski holiday outside of the school holidays. 6 days of gloriously empty pistes, free from endless snaking chains of ESF led little accidents-in-waiting was what I had envisaged.

Endless Piste Map downloads later, we settled on Avoriaz as a change from our usual Paradiski destination.

Flights and Malinka apartment now booked and counting the sleeps...

Did I mention the dates? 12th March to 19th March.

I have just found out that these dates coincide with something called "Rock the Pistes"............. This was not on the agenda!

Might be fun anyway but just wondered how busy the area gets?

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

@mnp, I think you should be ok. It generally means that there is a band playing at a certain time at a certain place each day and that is well advertised so you can either go along and enjoy the atmosphere or make sure that you stay well away.

We had a lovely quiet morning at Praz de Lys/Sommand yesterday on their beautifully prepared pistes. The only English voices we encountered happened to be a couple that we know as we were getting onto a drag lift. Can't say queuing for it as we didn't come across much of a queue all morning. This morning we were over on Mt Chery first thing and it was all in good nick there - we are now only piste skiers as preserving limbs for as long as possible. It got very busy by about 11.30, we had a delicious omelette and a glass of red at 12 over in the bar at L'Ancrenaz which was busier than ever seen before, and were home by 1.30 to take the dog out. Les Gets looks to be very busy today with cars parked all over the place.

A snowHead

Very busy here in Thollon with the locals out in force. Comparable to half term crowds

A snowHead

@pamski, thanks for the heads up Very Happy

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Hi All. Not sure whether to put this is the "weather" or "not the weather" thread so apols. Anyone know what the top of Nyon is like today conditions-wise? Also how challenging is the red?

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Skied there on Thursday. A bit hard in placed on the bends at the top, but otherwise pretty good. Hopefully higher temps haven't damaged too much.

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@Mister T,
Thank you. Will give it a go Very Happy

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Who do I believe with the snow forecast? I am flicking between J2Snow and Snow Forecast and they are both constantly changing. J2Snow are now saying no snow fall (pretty much) over next 7 days yet SnowForecast are showing 11cm Thursday and 11cm Saturday (which obviously I want to believe)
I know no-on knows for deff but should I hope for hte best as thursday is only a few days away and should be accurate??? I know S.F. has a reputation for "blagging" snow fall, but surely, they shouldnt predict 11cm if there are no clouds on the way? Can someone please reassure me that I will have nice fresh snow fall when I fly out on saturday!! PLEEEAASEEE

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Very sunny and warm today in Morzine/Les Gets with very spring like snow. A pleasant day skiing around Rosta and Ranfoilly areas. Pistes are starting to suffer a little in the heat with a few bare patches appearing on heavily travelled areas and lower slopes. Piste G was open, but with plenty of mud at the bottom as well as the on-piste horses!

After all it is free

I would recommend Chatelweb for a really good local forecast; Chamonix meteo who are good to, but obviously focussed there (so sometimes they are talking about changes at 3000m which is a bit irrelevant here); and I like meteociel.fr which I like for their GFS charts so that you can see the level of uncertainty in forecasts.

I would recommend Chatelweb for a really good local forecast; Chamonix meteo who are good to, but obviously focussed there (so sometimes they are talking about changes at 3000m which is a bit irrelevant here); and I like meteociel.fr which I like for their GFS charts so that you can see the level of uncertainty in forecasts.

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Thanks @simonhardcastle, Will keep an eye on them all over next few days. It's changed again since my last post but still showing snow between thurs and sat. Dint mind the rain in village (not ideal but Can't be helped) but really hoping for the snow higher up

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@simonhardcastle, +1

chamonix-meteo.com are good. chatelweb.com is specifically focused on Chatel. Both are produced by people not machines.

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Better post this before the conditions change again.....video taken thurs-sat last week in the sun, covering Pre la Joux / Linga area (between Avoriaz and Chatel) and the steep Chamossiere at the end in Morzine.

http://youtube.com/v/GHn8Zl-AKe8

Long time lurker, first time poster - but out in Morzine at the minute and thought it was worth an update.

Had a great day yesterday - the runs down into Lindarets bowl from the top of Avoriaz were in really good condition first thing, as were all the runs through Chatel (ignoring the downhill racing on the Linga causing chaos...). Had a great time over at Super Chatel/Chalet Neuf, The red off the top of Morclan was as slushy as it was when I skied it in March last year.

Runs home through Chatel were good including a few tree runs once the snow had softened up, although sad to see the Stash absolutely deserted when we went over it on the Lindarets chair. Those brave souls that were attempting it didn't look to be having too much fun.

We skied back down to Prodains and I'm not sure about the few negatives I've read on here - I thought the Crot blue was in pretty reasonable condition.

All in all, the conditions are as good as you can expect given the recent temps, but much more snow is needed for the rest of the season!

You know it makes sense.

@City567, Welcome to snowHeads. thanks for the update

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

Another sunny day in Les Gets, like spring skiing, get out early, enjoy lunch at home on the terrace and walk the dog in the sunshine in the afternoon. The light on the Chamossiere though first thing was not very kind so we only did that once and back to Les Gets and the Ranfoilly lift a couple of times and then the Melezes which was really good.

A snowHead

Real update on conditions, awful, 15 degrees at lunchtime in the car park, time for climbing again....

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Last time I checked it was indeed bone dry in the car parks. All gone.

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@Ricklovesthepowder, I'm over here now (staying in Morzine). For on piste skiers there is enough snow for enjoyable skiing but it's not like many would expect for end of Jan. People looking for powder will be searching for a while....Best snow is higher up and especially in Avoriaz (had a great time in Lindarets yesterday). Extremely mild weather which is concerning but lovely visibility (especially for my boy who is on skis for the first time on the Morzine nursery slope). By 2pm the snow is pretty slow and slushy which is a pain but not a disaster. So, not the best skiing conditions but it could be worse (2 weeks ago the bottom of Pleney was still closed and it was raining). The car parks may be dry but our garden still has snow and I made a snowman with the boy yesterday avo. It will hopefully get colder and get more snow next week which the whole place certainly needs.

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@langball, nooo. I love car park skiing.

I might have to higher.

Like. On to a piste or something.

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@Ricklovesthepowder,

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

yep it's all relative to expectations, understandable to be dismayed when on a short holiday

But it could be so much worse, this is still the second best week of the season so far: December nothing, early Jan mixture of blizzards, high wind, artic temps and 3 or 4 days of torrential rain.

After all it is free

I am not liking the sound of the rain that we are waking up to this morning.

@Pamski, not dared to look out yet Sad

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@Pamski, @sarah, the rain woke me up at five this morning. Would have preferred the snow plough. Won't be good for the south facing lower slopes that were already struggling but forecasts more positive for Saturday evening.

Help!!

Avoriaz/Chatel/Les Gets/Morzine 2015/2016

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