 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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jimmy38, so, will we see you at the EOSB?
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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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jimmy38, Alistair is there for the season - I think he's going out v. shortly.
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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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Yes, I've heard that rocks are a problem at Val Thoren 
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brian
brian
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Ummm, your webcam shows very thin natural cover and a few mounds of man made. I'm sure you'll get some skiing but don't stop the snow dances yet
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Elizabeth B, Rocks are a problem anywhere high! 
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It is hard to remember when Val Thorens has opened so late, normally it is open the first weekend of November, now even the 26th isn't certain. As Meteo France described the conditions there yesterday: "ridiculously little snow for mid November".
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Well, it certainly opened late in 1990. That was the year it was due to stage the international launch of the Salomon ski (from memory, 30 November or thereabouts). They flew journalists into Geneva from all over the world ... laid on a fleet of Renault Espaces ... booked all the accommodation in Val Thorens ...
... and had to switch the entire event to Saas Fee and its glacier!
On arrival in Saas Fee we were given Val Thorens promotional stuff, which was quite amusing!
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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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I'm looking at snow cannons still working at Arc 1600 early afternoon, but they are going to have to work overtime at Val T to get anything ready in time for the scheduled start dates. Anyone seen long range forecasts indicating how long the current cold snap might last?
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brian
brian
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PG, currently looks like it will stay cold at least until the end of the month.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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PG, Cold snap would seem to ease a little over the next few days from this map but returning even colder next weekend with at last some precipitation. Well here is hoping. Glorious cold, sunny and still day here in smogland.
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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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When drought rather than warmth hits the Alps then, of course, the altitude of the resort only helps to an extent. The problem with high-altitude slopes, as Elizabeth identifies, is that the vegetation is sparse - there's no carpet of pastureland as you'd get on the lower slopes, so these pistes tend to need more snow cover.
The maintenance people can do a certain amount of rock clearance in the summers, but there tends to be little vegetation to bind any soil, so the resulting scree is subject to regular erosion and basically needs a couple of feet of snow to begin building a base for the winter.
The 1990 drought was one of several that affected the Alps - mainly in the late 1980s - when there was sometimes little snow until well into Feb ... but every winter's unique. Let's hope this one's a good one!
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The snow situation in VT does look pretty grim at the moment, but at least it's now cold enough to run the snow cannons. I imagine they'll be glad they've increased the areas covered this year:
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| The artificial snow system has been increased with the addition of snow canons on the Moraine, Grand Fond, the Mauriennaise on the Orelle Domain, Béranger and on the Yannick Richard slalom piste. |
Keeping my fingers crossed for a big dump before too long...
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You know it makes sense.
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| David Goldsmith wrote: |
Well, it certainly opened late in 1990. That was the year it was due to stage the international launch of the Salomon ski (from memory, 30 November or thereabouts). They flew journalists into Geneva from all over the world ... laid on a fleet of Renault Espaces ... booked all the accommodation in Val Thorens ...
... and had to switch the entire event to Saas Fee and its glacier!
On arrival in Saas Fee we were given Val Thorens promotional stuff, which was quite amusing! |
Do you remember when they sold all their early season snow to somewhere like Paris so that they could have a ski event there - something like 300 trucks took all the snow off the slopes early in November because Val Tho were sure to have snow... then it didn't snow again until January. I think Valmeinier did the same trick last year with Lyon.
Then there is the mayor of Grenoble who bought 300 tonnes of snow from the Vercors at the cost of 150,000 euros in 2003 to build a cross country ski track in the parc mistal, only to have high temperatures and rain melt it all in a few days rather than the month it was expected to last.
But you are right, a good storm will set everything up nicely. Last year the snow wasn't wonderful until Christmas - la Rosiere put back its opening in early December and the year before there was a huge amount of snow that melted in the first week of December due to hot saharan winds.
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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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I think we may have got the wrong end of the stick here - Jimmy38's title is
"Why Altitude makes all the difference! Val Thorens Rocks"
He then goes on to post a link to a web cam showing lots of rocks and states he's off out to ValT on the 10th and how promising it looks for him!
Well altitude does make all the difference - go higher get more rocks and “Val Thoren's rocks” - it certainly does have a lot of them - finally given the amount of snow and forecast at the moment it certainly is looking promising - for a blooming Geologist!!!!!!!!! 
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Poster: A snowHead
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FAQ
