 Poster: A snowHead
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The lifts in Les Saisies are scheduled to open this coming weekend (as usual, not before the Christmas week). There's not much snow - like everywhere else in the vicinity. However the lift company have just announced that they expect to open 8 - 10 pistes and are putting on extra navettes to get people around. I'd expect it to be pretty crowded as surrounding places might well have little or nothing open. Could be worse.
The cross-country area, where there is no snow-making, will be closed.
There's no mention of reduced price lift passes. 
The new swimming and activity centre is going to be doing a roaring trade, I imagine. As will the cake shops. I am taking my walking boots......
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Rather to my surprise the snow cannons are working this morning though my thermometer says it's well above freezing. Beautiful sunny morning. 11 pistes and 10 lifts open though not the run to bisanne 1500 where my apartment is. But that's where the cannon is going. With the very warm temperature forecast till Christmas I didn't expect to see that.
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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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Thank you Pam for the update. Hopefully a slight improvement after Christmas will prove conditions.
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Interesting to see the low sun angle and temperature inversion allowing Praz to run their snow cannons to full effect this morning to establish some nursery areas. Having a look around a number of other low lying resorts this is not looking possible due to aspect (in sun).
Fingers crossed the weather improves
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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A french friend who went into les saisies this morning said it was horrendously crowded with 100m queues for passes, very crowded pistes and a stream of injuries. He decided his kids were not going to ski and we decided the same. Bisanne 1500has some artificial snow which although very hard was good for tobogganing and my grandchildren had great fun tobogganing and excavating the snow with biros. A tiny bit of horrid snow entertains little ones for ages but frankly the ski pistes, though the best for miles around, are not worth bothering with. But the sun is gorgeous and a cold beer tastes as good as ever. The conditions are the worst in 13 years, that's for sure.
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Really looks promising now for greatly improved conditions:)
I have been glued to the webcams and I've been impressed with the efforts they have made in les Saisies considering the temps. So excited now for our holiday on the 3rd Jan !
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My daugter and family have found a quiet gentle slope in a dead end corner of the resort without too many boy racers. My grand daughter has invented grass toboganning and found the ideal slope on the grassybank outside the apartment. They were going to take the girls up one of the big chairlifts today, without skis, for a hot chocolate as the 2 year old has fond memories of doing this at Easter but it turns out that none of the chairlifts are allowing any pedestrians this week.
Looks like we will get some snow at the weekend, hopefully opening the cross country area as I have no intention of downhill skiing at New Year. This warm sunny weather is actually much better for little ones than the Arctic temperatures forecast for next week.
When are you thinking of travelling, skinutter?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Well, there are a lot of runs open now, of course and everything is white and sparkling. But also very busy and I won't be gracing the downhill slopes with my presence this week. Will be doing a bit of walking, snow shoeing and cross country skiing. Parking is complicated by the cars parked illegally in the street overnight which hampered the ploughs and as those cars are now surrounded by deep hard packed snow it will take hours to dig them out.
Next week the slopes will be quiet and we,ll be able to park easily in town.
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Thanks for the update @pam w, it's always good to hear about good old LS. Have a great winter.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Yes sounds good @pam w. Hoping to get there to walk/snowshoe something if not skiing at some point at either Feb or Easter. We really enjoy Les Halles de Bisanne to eat - I'm not sure that I would be able to legally walk there to meet the others? 
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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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I went skiing today for the first time - too busy on the slopes this week, been XC skiing and walking/snow shoeing instead. No queues today though a fair few people around including some very competent looking adults with small kids, maybe locals. The open pistes are mainly well covered but after tropical temperatures yesterday (I was walking in a vest top) the snow was hard and icy with lots of death cookies. The blue down half way to Hauteluce was very well covered but really skiddy and my rock hopper skis were not sharp enough. To my surprise the piste down to hauteluce seemed to be open but I bet it's horrible.
I enjoyed the chair up more than the ski down. Warm sun, some beautiful old wooden buildings and Leonard Cohen and Bach on the headphones (it's a slow lift and stopped for a few minutes after someone crashed at the top).
I 've not been down to the lower areas of the Espace Diamont but I would confidently suggest they are fairly grotty! We need more snow so let's hope the very unpleasant rain falling at present turns to snow down to 1100m as promised by chamonix meteo.
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@pam w, hope things pick up a little in LS for you Pam. Don't want to hear that you have to get those XC skis too much.
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You know it makes sense.
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| pam w wrote: |
| (I was walking in a vest top) |
Be still, my beating heart... 
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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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@red 27, 
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Poster: A snowHead
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@red 27, Don't make me tell Tony
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Took an away day over to les saisies today. (Sorry Pam w my phone must have an old number for you) had a very pleasant day on uncrowded pistes which were holding up surprisingly well. Had forgotten what an extensive area there is to ski as its a few years since we last visited. Thoroughly enjoyable - didn't venture too low as the lower runs were not in the best nick in common with many other resorts but plenty to keep yiu going without having to do that anyway.
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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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| pam w wrote: |
| When are you thinking of travelling, skinutter? |
not until Easter but will be dependent on the snow I think lets hope the season picks up soon!
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@loatie, old numbers don't work. Will PM you up to date contacts. I gather it's quite good out there, but I've been toboganning with my 3 year old Italian grandson, no skiing for me this week. Maybe building snowmen tomorrow. My head is spinning from being surrounded by italian all day, or possibly it's the several glasses of a very good Pouilly Fuissé that my son had left over in the posh chalet he cooked for in Courchevel last week!
I think Les Saisies has some of the best snow around, but it's still not great compared to what we are used to.
Glad you enjoyed your time here.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Had the first morning's skiing for ages. Lovely morning - sunny, the open slopes are in great condition after a little top up, very quiet, not the slightest hint of a lift queue. Even the black run down to the bottom (Perdrix) was well covered and my son and I were the only people on it (indeed we were the only people on several of the pistes we skied today). He went down it a good deal faster than I did....
The adjacent red (Girolles), which is a nice run, was closed - reserved for competition. I think there might be some kind of French Telemark championship coming up.
I was surprised that it was so quiet, as the Arly Valley areas must be pretty rubbish, but very few French people go skiing in January, it seems, and nearly everybody throughout this area is French.
The area off the Chamois chair was interesting. One unpisted red, two pisted, one closed black. My son did the black and said it was horrible - really claggy snow. I stuck to the reds and after the first run down, to the pisted reds.
No wind to speak of. Some unusual clouds over Mont Blanc - possibly heralded extraordinary snow falls? 
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Been snowing hard for some hours now. Temperature minus 1.9 and dropping steadily. Looking at the resort website they envisage opening quite a few more pistes tomorrow, 51 out of 60 in Les Saisies.
But conditions are not so good elsewhere; the lower pistes still need a lot more snow - provisionally only 89 out of 157 open throughout the domaine tomorrow. Colder weather should enable them to improve cover using the snow cannons in the next day or so.
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30 cms overnight at the top (visibility only slightly more, looking at the webcam), about 22 in the village, measured earlier this morning. Still snowing and looks likely to snow for much of the day.
100/157 pistes open it seems, with the worst area being Flumet, where there are lots of closures. It's worth driving up to Notre Dame Mont Rond or Les Saisies to get the best of it.
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Fabulous sunny day today with plenty of snow around - all but 4 of the Les Saisies pistes now open. The new "Bellasta" sector is fantastic. 2 reds and a blue and an endless amount of easily accessible off piste. Fast 6 man chair to get back up. This will become a very popular part of the area, I'm sure - it was quite busy today. Even a very short lift queue - not to get through the turnstiles, but to shuffle onto the chair. There's a new restaurant on the Les Saisies/Notre Dame border ridge - with what must be one of the most stupendous views of any restaurant in the area. Looked too busy to bother when we went by - we went instead to the most primitive "cowshed" restaurant which has opened just under the lift. The proprietor must be a great mate of the piste bashers (maybe he is a piste basher) as a very nice track into and out of his restaurant has been cleared. Very cold, an outside privy, pathetic coffee and lukewarm hot chocolate so maybe he'll need to buck his ideas up if he wants to make a go of it.
The snow which fell yesterday - around 30 cms - won't keep the pistes with no cannons and/or exposed to the south open for very long. We still need several good falls to create a decent base. Cannons were blowing last night - they are very keen to get everything open for the French school holidays and with more snow forecast this week, it looks possible.
I don't imagine conditions are very good down in the Arly Valley but the top of Notre Dame was excellent.
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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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Lovely conditions today, nice sun, super snow. Went down to Hauteluce at 1150m and it was great all the way down. As was the best vin chaud ever in the rather classy "Ferme du Chozal" in Hauteluce; €5 a throw, but superb, with loads of whole roasted almonds and some raisins, and with a cute carved box of high class nibbles to go with it.
A contrast, in terms of value for money, to a hot chocolate in a really shambly sort of "cow shed" which has just been opened up, rather optimistically, as a restaurant just under the new Bellasta chair. €4 for hot chocolate (which is the same cost as the more expensive places in the area, I generally pay €3) and it was neither hot nor chocolatey. And my friends who had coffee said it was dire.
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More expensive places such as the Refuge du Lachat? We always stop in there on our circuit from Bellacombe .. not cheap but the view of Mont Blanc from the deck is nice and kids love seeing the big dogs if they're out.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I had a vin chaud treat today in 3V, my only on the hill drink of the week. 3.5 euro. It wasn't even that horrible.
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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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Good piste conditions in Les Saisies, no lift queues and all but a couple of black runs open. I drove to Geneva today and the bottom runs down in the Arly Valley were looking a lot better after 15cms of snow overnight. @bpirkle, I have only ever been to the Refuge du Lachat once - don't remember the prices. As my apartment is piste-side in Les Saisies I tend only to have proper lunches out over the other side - the Serrason and the Petit Tetras in Praz sur Arly are my favourites. The Montagnettes is very good too, though sometimes involves a bit of skating (works up an appetite for lunch ).
Are you based in Bellecombe? The top of the "Arete" blue was extraordinarily thin when I was up there on Sunday and it was pretty windy, too.
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great picture off the webcam @ Praz sur Arly this morning that I took a capture of. Check out the guy thigh deep in snow at the base of the resort (1000m) :SH:
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You know it makes sense.
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sent boy out on snowshoes to tramp through to the cleared path. He did it yesterday mid-day. without the snowshoes he'd have been crutch deep (the top of the terrace fence in the foreground is waist high). It's snowing at the moment as hard as it has at any time since the storm began.
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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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fantastic depths...so jealous last time i saw that much fall was 2003. Chained up at the Princess gondola car park to get back to Saisies with mini avalanches over the roads and a nervy drive up with nothing ploughed.
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Poster: A snowHead
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the ploughs are going to be struggling to keep up, even on the main roads; those people who blithely assert that "the roads are always kept clear" might get a bit of a shock.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@pam w, We always base out of Saint Gervais but we have friends n Bellacombe who introduced us to Espace Diamant ... my kids love skiing from Bellacombe over to Crest-Voland and getting the bus back through the gorge .. we're looking forward to our annual Feb 1/2 term trip and all of the new snow I keep reading about on SH.
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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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Just wanted to say hi (new here!) and thank you to Pam W for these updates! My friend and I are coming to Les Saisies on 14th March for a week and this is the best (only??) source of info about the possible conditions that I know about. We're hoping very much that a decent amount of that deep snow from the photo is still around, and will last another 25 days (not that I'm counting)
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@treborpeg, welcome to Snowheads. I'd be very surprised if the (ample) snow there at present had to last till mid March. I'll be there then, and I bet there'll have been plenty more snow. Mid March is my favourite time to ski - with luck the entire Espace Diamant will be open, loads of skiing to choose from and nice and quiet. I'll be back on 10 March and will report on conditions then - right now I'm in the UK (French school hols).
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@pam w - thanks again! That sounds very encouraging, and can hardly wait to see for myself  Would be great to get a view of the conditions the week before we go, sounds fantastic!
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Not a snow report - but have just heard that all the payment systems in Les Saisies are down (and possibly this is a wider problem). No cashpoints working, nothing can be paid for by credit card. My niece and family are in my apartment and her hubby broke his collar bone this morning. Can't pay for the piste rescue to get his board back, can't pay the doctor to get the documentation, insurance company in the UK will pay nothing upfront. They want to start back tonight as it's going to be snowing tomorrow and my niece doesn't want to drive in snow, or drive all the way home in one go.
I could do bank transfers for them, from my French account, but that won't work either, with payment systems not working.
I have sent them up to see local friends who might have French cheque books and would gladly help. Fingers crossed. The various people they need to pay will take cheques.
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sounds like a nightmare, hope it gets reinstated soon for everyone's sake
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last I heard, from my sister, my niece was headed back into town with my friend, hopefully armed with his French cheque book.
He (the friend) had quite a bad fall last season and was ambulanced into Albertville for X rays. Another friend there at the time gave his wife a lift down to the hospital (she was all of a twitter and didn't feel safe to drive) then picked them both up later. I, in turn, sorted out a plumbing emergency in his apartment, when it was full of renters and he was in Yorkshire.
It's good to have friends around when such things happen - his insurance company were not at all helpful. Don't know which but I'll find out.
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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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@pam w, I wonder if this is a wider problem as you mention - or just Les Saisies - I could imagine much chaos everywhere with all sorts of hire bills etc to be paid at the end of the week. Poor niece's husband, he won't want to be sitting there as a very tense passenger in the snow.
We all rely on these automated systems, cashpoints, credit cards etc nowadays - we generally have our French cheque book with us but I often struggle to find my UK cheque book. When we were burgled and lost all our cards (bar one credit card not often used but in my ski jacket pocket in case of emergency) we had the good fortune to have a friend around along the road at the time who was able to withdraw 1000 euros for us and we did an online transfer to her - and have been able to help her out similarly since. As you say good to have friends around.
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@Pamski, my niece is running round trying to sort out all the insurance tasks, and clean the apartment, and pack the car, and get down the mountain tonight.... I wish I were there to help. I would tell her to just leave the cleaning but I have French friends/neighbours borrowing the place before I get back, for their spillover family members and when I've borrowed theirs it's always been immaculate. If was just me going back I wouldn't bother. They have an 11 year old son so I hope he's rising to the challenge of his dad being out of action.
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FAQ
