I learned to ski in Isola 2000 so I'll always have a soft spot for it. Pals who still live in that area have been gloating about the snow up there and, looking at the web cams, I think they have a point:
It's easy - and cheap on the local bus - to get to from Nice airport and city centre/rail station, and, if you have a few free days and fancy a blast... the sun is forecast to return in a couple of days. Mainly blues and reds and VERY beginner friendly (everything comes out in the green along the valley floor, so you can't really get lost). There are 3 blacks, 11 reds, 21 blues, 7 greens from 1800m to 2610m. 120kms in total, allegedly. I believe there's an element of off-piste too, but that's based on the opinion of an old workmate who was (is) a very good boarder and at a time when I could barely plough.
Yes, it does have an absolute dog of a main complex building, there's no getting away from that, but it does have some reasonable accommodation (C2A, PV and some nice small private chalets, and the Hotel Druos is right next to the slopes) a couple of good restaurants and a couple of supermarkets.
I wouldn't recommend it as a main holiday, but for a learner or an intermediate, and for a few days in the current conditions, it could be an option for a quick and easy snow fix. Besides weekends and Wednesdays (local schools), it's never busy and it's the only place that I've been given free beers for ordering in pigeon French and, as a resort, it is geared up to short breaks rather than Sat - Sat full weeks.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
twodogs: What's it like for short-stay accommodation? In the resort or elsewhere and drive in daily?
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?
mountainaddict wrote:
twodogs: What's it like for short-stay accommodation? In the resort or elsewhere and drive in daily?
The main issue with Isola when there is massive snow is that the access road has something like 23 avalanche couloirs (the most of any ski resort access in France) and can be blocked several days at a time despite the avalanche protection. Already Castérino is inaccessible by car after a large slide... but there are hotels at Auron in the valley and you can ski at Auron if Isola is blocked. Auron, arguably has better off piste, Isola is very snow sure with a season from November to... well you can ski tour into mid May.
twodogs: What's it like for short-stay accommodation? In the resort or elsewhere and drive in daily?
I wouldn't recommend driving in and back daily unless you've got a snow plough or a helicopter at the moment. If the roads are clear, it's about 90 minutes each way to Nice, but closer to two hours at weekends. The first hour or so from Nice to Isola (village at 1000m) is easy enough. The stretch from Isola to Isola 2000 is the usual windy mountain nonsense and takes a bit of care.
If you're lucky, you may be able to time your flights to coincide with the 750 bus which goes from both terminals at Nice airport and heads straight up. I think it's €5 including bags, or €1.50 from the train station, each way:
Short stay accommodation has historically been okay. I've stayed in the C2A (it's the large modern yellowish building on the right hand of webcam panorama) which is only a couple of mins' walk up the road, or five mins down the road, to the slopes and at the PV which is only a few metres from the top of the little funicular so, again, just a few mins from the slopes. The Hotel Druos is (I think) part of the horrid main complex but has recently been renovated and is on the front de neige, pals said it was pretty good and very friendly. There's a cluster of log chalets at the top of the village (in Hameau), such as the English owned www.chaletisola.com, which I've also stayed in and which was really nice, although there's a bit of a walk - 4 or 5 minutes - to the funicular. There's a hire shop next to the top of the funicular, as well as a few in the main complex building. You should get an idea of what accommodation's available from somewhere like booking.com or the official Isola website.
As davidof rightly says, Auron (kind of the next valley along, but not connected in any way and not easy to get to without a car) has more challenging skiing and is a bit more picturesque to boot.
It's fine for a quick and easy short fix, if flight times are on your side and you have a few spare days. I'd have thought the area's just about skiable in a day, so there's probably not enough to keep you busy for a week. There's usually plenty of snow and, of course, if it's crap and you've had enough, you can just head down to the coast, although I wouldn't harbour any notions of 'ski in the morning, lie on the beach in the afternoon' for a good while yet.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
I think most of that 2.3m was the stuff that fell last week and kept us indoors for 4 days (my days of going out in all weathers are long gone). We had 1 day's skiing out of 5.
They're up to 2.5m in the village now 3.2m at the summit is a bit generous, I think thats just willy waving because it's not as deep as it was last year mid-hill.
I was up there on Sunday for my first powder day (life will never be the same). The blues are brilliant, on all sides of the valley so you can almost always ski in the sun, and the lift queues are miniscule as long as you're not daft enough to go during school holidays. I suppose there's two downsides - it is doable in a day if you're determined and many of the lifts are of a certain vintage. The pomas are all posessed by satan, but the 40 year old Lombarde 2 man chair is a very dignified way to travel
I do take the risk and drive up and down daily from further along the coast, and it was my 7th day on the hill this winter. It took 2 hours to get there on Sunday but that was mostly faffing with snowchains and dodging the people who were daft enough to think that snowsocks would do the job
Top tip: if you don't want to mess about with the bus or don't like travelling with peasants get flights and hire car as a single package from BA. It's often cheaper to do that than book the flights alone. If you have some understanding accomodation and you're determined you can grab the last flight out of LHR on Fri at 8.30pm (usually you get to the hire car centre at just before midnight), and come back on the 8.30pm flight on sunday night and get pretty much 2 full days skiing for no days off work.
It's entirely reasonable to stay out of resort - in fact, I wouldn't recommend staying in resort for a short weekend purely because you might end up with what happened yesterday when the road was blocked by snowfall for the whole day and only reopened this morning. I would suggest staying in Nice. As long as you're up at Isola before 11 you can get a parking space fairly easily, and if it's a rubbish weather day there's plenty to do in the Nice area so it's not a wasted day or weekend. Like davidof says, you can just head to Auron or Valberg if Isola is blocked.
As for the other people on the slopes, you'll find that they're mostly of a very decent standard and it's off the beaten track for the holiday skier too.
It's better than Hemel anyway
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I booked flights to Nice a couple of weeks ago with a plan to go here for a long weekend mid-March. Shame I've missed out on the BA flight and car tip above. Any other tips on car hire regarding chains/driving conditions etc and also private lessons - is it ESF only?
After all it is free
After all it is free
call me dave wrote:
"...many of the lifts are of a certain vintage. The pomas are all posessed by satan, but the 40 year old Lombarde 2 man chair is a very dignified way to travel"
Aaah, the Lombard two man. I bought that to a standstill more than once. And Combe Grosse. I think that I fell off every one of Satan's pomas bar one: 'the dragger to the end of the world' on St Sauveur, although I did turn left a bit too early in a whiteout and skied straight off the edge half way down the red at the top and was rescued by the same pisteur that had taken my pal off the mountain with a dislocated shoulder the day before when he fell over his own shadow on the link from the Mercantour bubble to Verps. I bet he was well impressed. Actually, maybe he was. He remembered my name and asked how my pal was (still under the influence of the massive morphine hit the doc gave him, if I remember correctly). Cripes, I even forgot to let go at the top of that really long drag up the valley (Roubines) and ended up in a huge heap of snow and assorted crap.
It certainly lacks in some areas but it's a friendly, convival and safe place to learn. I always felt that everybody was genuinely looking out for each other. Or looking to get out of my way.
I wasn't a quick learner but I'm glad I stuck with it. I think the empty pistes helped but, flippin' heck, it was a shock when I first went to Flaine and saw full-sized runs. And people :0)
Last edited by After all it is free on Tue 11-02-14 15:23; edited 1 time in total
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I skied off a piste. My pal dislocated his shoulder. And I'm calling it safe?!
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I asked the lady at Avis about chains on Friday night - she said it was 30€ to hire, and looked a bit bewildered at the idea of rummaging around to find the right ones at midnight You can still buy them at the larger supermarkets (Geant, Carrefour) for 30€. You can also buy them at Norauto, though they have a limited supply of the cheap ones.
I wouldn't recommend socks - the road was slushy, and at 16km with plenty of hairpins and tight corners there were a few points where people with socks were struggling to get grip and needed help to get round. There were people in the car park who had made it up with them, but given that they're the same cost as cheap chains I'd go chains every time. If the majority of people are chaining up just outside the village on the access road it's probably a good indicator that they're required. The matrix signage can be overly cautious - recommended usually means "don't try and keep up with the bus, he's got winter tyres and it's still a bit icy"
Before you leave in the morning check the centre station webcam to see what the travel info sign is saying for the access road. The Facebook page is also pretty good at updating with access info so add them if you haven't already.
Also: try and get a diesel. It's really not cold there for the fuel to freeze if you're taking day trips and not staying up there, but it's stupidly cheap to run the "I" class cars (Clio, Peugeot 30-something and Citroen DS3) and the extra power from a turbo is really helpful with the hairpins. The Fiat 500s look like they need a serious beating to get up there!
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Nothing handles like a hire car. The first time I drove up, for NYE 2008, was in my battered old Mondeo TD. It had standard cheapo tyres, a broken heater, a duff turbo and I had to stop at Galleries Lafayette to buy a blanket to keep me warm enough on the way up. It wasn't fun, but the drive down the next day with a hangover from hell was even less fun. But it remains the only night that I ever mastered the moonwalk.
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.
twodogs wrote:
Aaah, the Lombard two man. I bought that to a standstill more than once. And Combe Grosse. I think that I fell off every one of Satan's pomas bar one: 'the dragger to the end of the world' on St Sauveur, although I did turn left a bit too early in a whiteout and skied straight off the edge half way down the red at the top and was rescued by the same pisteur that had taken my pal off the mountain with a dislocated shoulder the day before when he fell over his own shadow on the link from the Mercantour bubble to Verps. I bet he was well impressed. Actually, maybe he was. He remembered my name and asked how my pal was (still under the influence of the massive morphine hit the doc gave him, if I remember correctly). Cripes, I even forgot to let go at the top of that really long drag up the valley (Roubines) and ended up in a huge heap of snow and assorted crap.
Combe Grosse broke me. I spent a day going up it and falling off at the top, I think the lifties were radioing up by the end of it so they could place bets on how soon I'd hit the deck after getting off. The trick I figured out on sunday is to wait for it to completely slow down, everyone else bails as soon as they can but if you just hang on a bit just before it turns it slows to a proper crawl and a dignified dismount is almost doable
Weirdly, Lombarde was the only one I didn't stack it on at the first go. The only one I have a 100% success rate with is the gloriously easy Valette, but as a goofy boarder I prefer to sit on the right, and from that perch on the end the drop down to Calada scares me more than the Saint Sauveur drag. Speaking of, I've got to defeat that beast by the end of this season. I NEED to get up to Sistron. Self preservation keeps stopping me from doing it though.
I don't know why but I'm surprised so many people on here have been to Isola!
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
Mate, you don't know what you're missing re St Sauveur: if it ever becomes a proper lift it'll get busy and the character will be lost. The first section seemed horrendously steep at the time (as with all of the others in Isola, it's a rocket launcher not a drag lift) but, once underway, you're pretty alone on the piste. Hardly anybody ever goes up there because of the initial 100m or so, I guess. But there's a blue, a red and a black to choose from although the Sistron top bit is just the red, I think? We'd do it in the mid afternoon onwards, with the sun in our eyes on the way up and then blast down to the mountain hut with the donkey outside halfway down Verps/Vallon, then do it all again. And again. Such an unintimidating place to learn, and it's great that some others on here have been too. I still recommend it to anyone who's a complete novice that just wants to try skiing. I miss it. Some of the lads still work in Sophia and a mate from Leicester has been unlucky enough to move to MC with work, so there's still a chance I'll get back over at some point. If nothing else, I could do with a cote de boeuf fix from Giorgio's in Antibes. Good times indeed.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Here are a few clips taken at Valberg and Le Roubion over a decade ago now
Valberg is interesting if the weather is bad as there is a lot of tree skiing as you can see and lots of babes... although the two bar girls are probably toothless old crones by now. Stay in the Swiss Chalet at Valberg if it is still running.
Le Roubion is more for lift to access the plateau for some ski tours.... that said the pistes and lifts will be a challenge for people more used to the ski circuses of the Savoie.
You can tour over to Auron from Valberg although there is a lot of avalanche prone terrain between the two. Good cross country skiing too. Greolieres and l'Audibergue are also interesting spots, some good little tours - maybe more of a challenge on nordic skis, easy to reach from Nice or Cannes if Isola is out of bounds.
It is all very wild west on the high plateaux behind Nice. The old Nice Mayor Jacques Medecin, no he wasn't a doctor, used to get the police to round up vagrants and drifters who were hanging around the city center and would have them dumped up here. Not that many came back. He would have been good in UKIP!
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I keep meaning to go to Greolieres, especially because the snow is brilliant at the moment to say it's relatively low and I REALLY need to see the view from the top, but I've not been around for a day that's not either completely clear and perfect Isola fodder or cloudy and grim there as well. Thought about going up yesterday but the Facebook status update sounded ominous, I couldn't see it from across the valley (never a good sign) and too much of it is drag lift based. I'm on one plank, and I assume all drag lifts are Isola trebuchet spec
twodogs, kind of surprised you say there's not so many people up St Sauveur - every time I've passed by or over it looks decently busy in the queue. Sistron does only have that red from the top but the view sounds fairly brilliant and worth the effort. Kind of like when you get to the top of Lombarde and survey your kingdom (and pine over that fresh fluffy stuff on the Italian side).
I think the best bit about Isola's beginner friendlyness is that if you're a boarder low on confidence (like I was, and TBF still am) you can take in a decent amount of mountain from the comfort of a gondola, or the seriously n00b friendly Valette chair. Then once you start to feel brave there's new territory to scout out from there. The runs are a decent length but you're never too far from the village if your legs give up. Everywhere else just seems to have varying levels of chairlifts of pain.
Just looked at the centre station webcam and the "welcome to Isola 2000" sign is starting to disappear after yesterday's shower
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
The first time I went up the Lombarde lift, for my very first blue, we got just over the first crest, I said to my mate "we'll love this" and we promptly vanished into a white fog whereby we couldn't even see the ground below us, never mind the enticing Italian roadsigns and the undisturbed snow. Took bloody ages to get down, we couldn't see the piste markers and were still firmly in the snow ploughing camp. Next time up, perfect visibility and wow, what a giggle.
The runs are of just the right length to make you feel like you're progressing and it really does take a real fool to get lost there. You can work your way further up the green through the valley using the exocet rocket launcher pomas, and then graduate to the medieval chairs at the foot of the green, assuming you remember to duck when crossing the paths of the returning scuds and the associated launched skittles. I mean children. As you get more competent/confident, the blues on either side reveal themselves and then it's time to get behind the first mountain and - wow - there's a modern lift and Verps. And more beyond. Yes, it's definitely a great, comfortable learning curve.
Anyway. Davidof, what of the toothless hags??? :0)
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
call me dave, thanks for the tips on the hire car - I presume that pre-booking the chains would mean it wasn't such an issue?
twodogs, did you learn with ESF at Isola? any advice on that side?
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?
ToeEdgeTripper, yeah, I think that's probably a fair thing to say. I guess if the forecast is clear then you could easily ask for them to be taken off the booking. Mind you, I got allocated an automatic DS3 on Friday and had to ask for a different car, so in that case they'd have needed to rerummage for chains anyway. The staff are all very helpful and speak excellent english if your french runs out, though if you're the only booking on the 2025 from LHR you will get the err "fast track" treatment
twodogs, did you learn with ESF at Isola? any advice on that side?
Hey, sorry for the delay. Yes, I did indeed learn with ESF and they were good. I had three 2 hour semi-private lessons on my first trip, with one other pal each time. The ESF meeting point is easy to find - you walk through the automatic glass doors of the grubby main complex straight onto the piste, believe it or not, it's like a snowy shopping centre - and a person in red emblazoned with ESF always found us straight away. Maybe they wrote a description (fat, tall, grey, 40+) on the ticket each time I booked. :0) I also had a few additional lessons on subsequent visits and was always provided with a very patient instructor who spoke very good English and who never tried to do anything other than show me at my pace. Having said that, I've not been instructed anywhere else, so I don't have a direct comparison. I was skiing rather than boarding but there's a fair proportion of boarders there. In fact, I seem to recall it having a bit of a soft spot for boarders, with France's first boarding club being established there (Back 2 Back? may be wrong), there's deffo a snow park named after a local who won bronze in snowboard cross in Vancouver (Tony Ramoin) and I also think it's on the French national snowboard championships.
Hope that helps a bit.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
From a one plank exploring point of view (can't help on the teaching side of things, only had lessons in the UK) it's really good - there's very few flats, I don't think I've found a single uphill bit yet and only the blue run where you go over the bridge into the front de neige bit needs giving some serious beans to keep going on unless you want to play skittles and go straight through the ESF section. The only really sucky bits are Satan's Pomas scattered all over the valley which give you Olympic slopestyle levels of air.
If you've parked in P1 (down at the Mercantour gondola) then you'll need to get the Chastillon drag to the top of the front de neige and trudge up the hill for the rest. Otherwise, parking in P2 (the one in the middle of the village, fills up really quickly) will avoid the drag and only require a trudge up the hill.
Incidentally, for future readers of this thread, if you're of a petrolheaded disposition, the Andros Trophy visits Isola and is worth coinciding a day trip with. A quick few runs and then a watch of some organised hooliganism made for a very different day!
Also: the streaky purple 80s ski onesies on some of the Cannes Grans are truly hypnotic. Somewhere, at some point, someone tried it on and though "I LOOK AWESOME". That time has passed
Ooops, sorry, should have made this clear earlier - despite the username and being a boarder by preference, this is a trip to learn that skiing stuff. There will probably be a bit of time spent on a board too though, so pointers for that are much appreciated. The ESF info is useful and will be the same for both boarding and skiing I imagine.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
The Andros Trophy's a good giggle. There's also a snowmobile trip on certain evenings, or at least was. A blast around the slopes and dinner at the mountain restaurant that has the donkey outside. I wish I could tell you more but it was always booked up. Tut.
Anyway, if it's to learn to ski, you'll be laughing. Literally. Can't get lost, can't go wrong, you'll get used to every kind of lift from the scudpomas to the relatively modern 4 man jobbies - and getting off the lifts really is easy on two planks compared to one, once you've figured out not to trap your skis in the foot pegs - and the fact that all roads lead to the bottom of the green in the valley, you can zip off wherever takes your fancy safe in the knowledge that gravity will get you back to the main building or slightly below it (and there's a mildly tuned poma to get you back up from there if needed).
After all it is free
After all it is free
Love Isola. About the only time I post on here is about Isola, but excellent resort, especially for learners and intermediates, especially families. Not so great for night-life, which is another benefit for us now Long gone are my days of skiing all day and out all night! A beer after a good day skiing whilst watching the piste bashers come out is enough for me now!
Have been going to Isola every year since 2005 and our kids who are now 7 & 9 learnt to ski there with ESF. Private lessons, not ski school. First on skis when they were both 2 years old. Expensive, but they have progressed brilliantly and they love their instructor, Patrice as takes them through trees and stuff and ski the whole resort. They also love going up Lombarde to see the gun emplacements, though lift is interesting with a 5 year old, which is when they first did it.
Will be there again in a couple of weeks. Snow is always fantastic. We went in April last year and was superb as well.
We do keep talking about going to other resorts again, before the kids we skied many different countries and resorts, but always end up back in Isola.
Maybe next year.
Regarding getting there, the first year we had a hire car and got stuck in snow.
Did have chains, but putting them on for the first time in driving snow was horrendous, and the road quickly becomes blocked so swore never again.
Since then we have used a local taxi firm called 'Taxi Tom' who have big people carriers that are 4x4s.
Cost 175 euros each way, which sounds a lot, but not much more than hiring a car for a week and as 6 of us go is actually cheaper as we'd need to hire two cars. Plus we have our own skis which they put on the roof.
Last year some friends came with us and drove, though we told them not to. Anyway, it was raining in Nice and so snowing heavily on way up to Isola.
They did have chains in their hire car, but company didn't care and had put chains in that were way to small for the wheels. Got stuck and had to dump the car and luckily flagged down a taxi returning from the resort.
If you do drive, ensure you have chains, they are the right size and know how to fit them, and if it is raining in Nice you can guarantee you will need them to get to Isola 2000.
Now the kids are older we will look at the bus maybe, but taxi from the airport to the resort is so easy and stress-free, plus you can have a beer on the flight out!
Simon.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Quote:
Last year some friends came with us and drove, though we told them not to. Anyway, it was raining in Nice and so snowing heavily on way up to Isola.
They did have chains in their hire car, but company didn't care and had put chains in that were way to small for the wheels.
I always suggest that people practice putting chains on in the hire car garage, partly to check the size, but of course nobody ever takes any notice.
Good to have some reports about Isola 2000 - we don't hear much about it on Snowheads.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
The only good day we had out of 5 days of heavy snow at the beginning of February
Vin chaud time at the Solarium
[/img]
Looking down the Lombarde.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
ccl,
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.
pam w wrote:
I always suggest that people practice putting chains on in the hire car garage, partly to check the size, but of course nobody ever takes any notice.
Good to have some reports about Isola 2000 - we don't hear much about it on Snowheads.
Not true, you recommended it on a snow chains thread somewhere, and I thought it was a good idea. Duly spent an hour or so figuring them out, taking them on and off and generally getting familiar. Time very well spent, as proven the following morning. If you don't say it every time it comes up, I will
Just back from a day at Greolieres and a day at Isola - boot-deep and deeper powder on the piste in places on Sunday at Isola accompanied by a howling gale and a severe sandblasting at Lombarde and on the Valette side. It was worth it though, powder is ridiculous fun
For the record, I managed to get up Satan's Drag Lift, uh, St. Sauveur in one go at first attempt despite the howling gale, but didn't appreciate it breaking down for 5 mins or so whilst I was halfway up the sheer cliff face at the start. That focussed the mind
First trip to Greolieres - it's a really lovely little hill. All but one drag lift on 3 seperate peaks, and a decent variation in runs for the noob. There's a harder hill, but not being the suicidal type I didn't try those The snow was awesome - about 4 inches of loose stuff, not icy and solid except in a few places on one of the really nice (but littered with flats) gentle scenic blues around the hills. The one chair is a pain, it's a fixed 4 man chair that makes slow progress up the hill but collects and spits you out at an alarming speed. The view across to the sea has to be seen to be believed, it's utterly surreal but really lovely. Quite a few people were enjoying a packed lunch up there and it all looked very civilised! Lots of learners and people in the early stages of figuring out how to ski, which is good to see. The view in the other direction towards the station is equally fabulous, across the lower hills and up to the mountains.
You could easily spent a week or 10 days pottering around the region, going for walks by the seaside and picking a different little resort each day, at no than 90 mins drive each way.
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
call me dave, well I'm delighted somebody was paying attention!! Greolieres sounds good.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
call me dave wrote:
You could easily spent a week or 10 days pottering around the region, going for walks by the seaside and picking a different little resort each day, at no than 90 mins drive each way.
Exactly this. As an environment for learners, it's great. Good for building confidence and basic skills and, hey, if it doesn't work, jump on the bus and go to the coast, spend a day eating pizza in Place Massena in Nice and taking in the sights, then go up and have another go.
If it wasn't for my proximity to Isola when I worked down there, I'd probably never have had the opportunity to learn. The first experience of Satan's drag lift made a man of me. Such fond memories. :0)
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
[quote="twodogs"]
call me dave wrote:
The first experience of Satan's drag lift made a man of me. Such fond memories. :0)
Made a man of you? I thought it was more going to destroy my manhood.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Never has the term 'drag lift' been so appropriate, but there was no way I was letting go, no matter how much snow was in my mouth.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
It's definitely a... character building lift. The little girly things at the snowdomes here don't really prepare you for being blown downhill as you get dragged across a piste then swiftly hoiked uphill and hurled round a corner.
Being stuck on the side of the sheer cliff of death (I'm sure the lifty just hit the off switch and pretended to faff with the motor to test my endurance) was one of the only moments I've ever been thankful for being a girl and not a fella. Short legs, wide stance and both feet in the bindings also meant that one false move and I'd have had an unscheduled dismount and bombed into the guy at the bottom of the hill... On the plus side, the view was quite nice, and it was fun laughing at the locals who can't cope with anything but hardpack groomed pistes procrastinating over getting down the easy wide blues. You'd think they don't like actual snow or something...
Update on the snow depth - back up to 235 in the village/345 at the summit and it's snowing again... The Welcome to Isola sign on the roundabout on the webcam is Welcome to *snowdrift* at the moment
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?
Ha! I'd completely forgotten about that downhill section. Since my L-plate days in Isola I've graduated to other places, all of which have great looking slopes at the top of drags, but I just avoid them like the plague. And I'm on skis, not a board, so it should be a bit easier. Scarred for life.
I'm pleased that this thread has run this long and that I'm not the only one familiar with the place. Makes me want to go back up, but our next trip is back to the Grand Massif a week on Saturday. More familiar turf. Or should I say snow!
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Quote:
the streaky purple 80s ski onesies on some of the Cannes Grans are truly hypnotic. Somewhere, at some point, someone tried it on and though "I LOOK AWESOME". That time has passed
the effect is even more striking when they are sun-bathing topless in summer.....
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
3.2m at the summit is a bit generous, I think thats just willy waving because it's not as deep as it was last year mid-hill.
the effect is even more striking when they are sun-bathing topless in summer.....