 Poster: A snowHead
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I've done a "live" trip report before when I've posted dailyish (not uniquely I know) and people (including me) like that stuff. So I thought it might be fun to include the prep and build up. Let's see. So anyway last year for the first time in a while we only did one week, which was Christmas week. So it will have been 51 weeks since the last trip and as you might expect absence has made the heart be even more up for it than usual. We are all a year older which for me and the missus is not a good thing but for the bairns it's arguably a plus. Laddo is now is 9yo and has begun to get philosophical. Madam is now 7yo and getting more obstreperous by the day. Because of school holidays, ski trips are restricted to Christmas, Feb HT and Easter break up. The missus struggles to get HT off and she didn't fancy Easter last season. And that was all she wrote. We should though be back on the Easter bandwagon again this year as a break up is early and like the Del Monte man, she says yes! Does it sound like a don't wear the trousers in our house? In that case, I am writing nice and clearly.
Just under 3 weeks to go before we head to the tunnel in our charabanc this is normally the time when the panic starts in terms of "organisation". I don't wish to speak too soon but I think things are a tad cooler than normal. And we have had a few "extras" to deal with. We got a new motor earlier in the year. Same make but newer and an Estate. This has resulted in the need for new winter wheels and tyres, and the old ones being sold. The old ones were rubbish anyhow. We've now got new winterised alloys and Nokian A3's. Delivered, mounted and fitted. Only slight concern being whether the chains will still fit and also when we got them out the other day they looked pretty rusted up. Something to check out in the next week or so. Also related to the new car we had to buy new roofbars. Couldn't buy just new fittings for the old one (new car has rails) but it's not break the bank stuff, and the new ones are much easier to fit. I had to get a new passport. Despite the finicky sods sending my pics back, that was a breeze. Mind you, for the money they charge it should be. Kit wise, there is the annual what still fits the kids and what needs to be handed down or purchased. Clothes wise we seem to have kind of got this year all sorted out with last years purchases. But we have got laddo new skis. In hindsight he should have got something new last year. The 110's he was on a year ago now seem ridiculously short. So he's taking a big jump up to 139's which even being twin tips are only up to his nose. We bought new (K2 Juvy) for the first time on account I wasn't seeing much second hand stuff going and the prices for new from glissshop are sooo tempting. Madam will also get the benefit eventually. For the moment she's upping to the 110s. After some home and shop fitting try outs both still have boots that fit.
Jeez, I think I may be boring you already. Where the eff we going anyway I hear you ask. Actually, that is quite interesting. We are going to Les 7 Laux. "Les 7 what?" I hear you cry. Well see, it was like this. We've done Paradiski and ADH quite a lot in recent years and we've also dabbled in smaller resorts - namely La Norma and Les Contamines. I fancy getting back to Espace Killy or 3Vs at some point but while the kids are young we still want to use the smaller, more "budget friendly" resorts too. La Norma adds a wee bit to the journey and is only OK. Les Contamines has too many killer drags for our bairns atm. So anyhow, routing around I've come upon Les 7 Laux. If you do a search on here you get 7 hits, 5 of which are initiated by the same poster, davidof! So, it's not a well known ski area. Attractions for me include, easy access - just 40kms the other side of Grenoble; modern lift system ("In all of 10 years 90 % of the lifts have been changed and modernised"); 120km of challenging piste; good lift served off piste, some skiing below the tree line. Accommodation is available in three villages, Prapoutel (1350) and Le Pleynet (1450) and Pipay (1550). We secured an shoebox apartment via the online booking website and subsequently by phone/email with the owner for about 300 Euro in the former. The missus is a bit panicky because the owner is quite relaxed about documentation and told us just to call when we arrive. But I am sure everything will be cool. Apparently, he also owns a restaurant in the village so is around most of the time. The resort website is quite flaky and mostly in French. If you go to the ski pass page from the drop down list you get a blank page. If you click on a big icon "ski pass sale" you get a page from 2011/12. So at this point I've no idea what we'll be paying for a lift pass!
Most of the ski's have been serviced by moi. Tunnel is booked of course. Things left to sort out include travel/medical insurance. Last couple of years we've used Snowcard but currently checking out MPI aswell. When I went online for a quote the other day I got about 50 tick boxes to add/takeaway various bits of cover. Seemed liked it would work out cheaper though. Snow, yep looking at the webcams we could definitely do with some of that white stuff! No panics yet though. We've been here before. There is some forecast for this week and freezing level dropping to below a 1000m next weekend. Breakdown cover for the motor needs to be sorted. but overall not too much really.
Resort website http://www.les7laux.com/index.php/en/
Piste map http://www.les7laux.com/images/stories/planprojet.jpg
Webcams http://www.les7laux.com/index.php/en/menu-webcam-en.html
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Mon 29-12-14 11:28; edited 2 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That's what I like to see layne'o getting in early. Looking forward to the live updates in a few weeks.
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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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@Layne, Les Sept Laux is actually not a bad ski resort, which for some reason doesn't appear on the British radar at all (which actually pleases me). The bulk of their trade is weekend traffic from Grenoble (hence Davidof) but I would rate it above some well known UK tour Operator places. The combined chairlift/telecabine has to be experienced. I look forward to your postings. and hope to manage a weekend there myself sometime during the winter.
Are there any ski resort web sites that are not rubbish.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Now the secret is out, I can also say that Les Sept Laux is a great wee resort. Although the skiing is better (in my opinion) than e.g. Chamrousse, it is usually much less crowded during the week. It will be interesting staying up there, and possibly quite quiet, although you can easily get to Grenoble in about a 20 minute drive.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Loving the idea of a pre-skip trip report.
We're off on 20th December and my colleagues are getting fed up with me wanting to talk about it. Now I've got someone/where else to bore.
Don't worry - we're not off to the same place, so no hordes of Brits arriving just yet.
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OK, that link doesn't seem to work. Just google - Les Sept Laux forfaits. Et voila!
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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, actually I do now remember finding that now. Basically the English page has a messages saying
"English version is not on line... The English version of "Les 7 Laux site" is not on line yet. Meanwhile, you can switch to the French version : click here http://www.les7laux.com/index.php/fr/ …"
and if you do go in through that the links work OK.
So for 6 days adults is 172,50 and for our young children 87,00 Euros so 519 Euros for the 4 of us.
I see on their it says "photo obligatoire". Does that mean to get discounts or do they still operate photographed lift passes like the old days. I assumed given the lift system has been modernised they use the contactless card credit card size passes? Can anyone confirm?
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Last season at least they had the sticky passes which you fold over a wire hanger. I believe I remember seeing people with photos on season passes etc. C'est la France profonde!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Layne, these TR's are never any good without photo's . . . 
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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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And of course we want a full blown account of how to instruct your own children...
Sorry I have a good memory and couldn't resist....
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You know it makes sense.
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On the subject of kids we've brought some ava gear for them. Never too early to get tooled up.
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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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Breakdown cover for Europe added via insurance.
Webcams now showing the villages to now be white - yay. Although the best one is "PLEYNET, sommet de l'Oursière" which now just shows a tiny hole between the snow lol.
Looked at the piste map and noticed the symbol for "telesiege difficule". Oh no, is the ghost of drag lifts past in Les Contamines going to come back to haunt us. Well, it is two years on and daughter must be a fair few kgs heavier. And from what I can see they are two short ones, which hopefully can be avoided if necessary.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Normally a few days before going skiing I would be pumped. However, Les 7 Laux is yet to open and the forecast this week is for the freezing level to peak at 3250m on Thursday evening and rain even at mid-station of 1875m  The missus is unpeturbed... "I just want to drink tea and eat madelaine in France!" Mmmm... I looked at the webcam for Oz-en-Oisan in ADH where we went last Christmas and that is even greener than the base at Laux.
It has crossed my mind that we could make a late change in destination. We are driving. Our apartment was dirt cheap and no big financial loss. But where could we go. Conditions are ropey everywhere and if the freezing level is above 3000m that is going to hit everywhere alike. We'd have to go high and no doubt there is going to be a scrum for accomodation at altitude and then the pistes will be busy. And of course the forecast may change. Stick or twist.
Serviced my ski's over the weekend and we got the new roofbars set up and aligned. Packing will probably begin tonight.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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| Quote: |
Packing will probably begin tonight.
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Gulp! I thought you were not going until the weekend.
I will start packing lunch time Sunday with the aim of getting a Sunday evening tunnel crossing and getting to Les Arcs Monday morning.
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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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@carroz, to be fair 7 laux has plenty of white stuff in it's upper regions. I've no idea if it was meant to be open this week and/or if it were how many lifts/runs would be. But certainly at the base of the ski area it's brownish. I think more the concern is that the situation across all areas may detiorate this week, if the forecasts prove correct. The danger of making a bold move and heading to Cervinia or Zermatt or anywhere that seems to have decent conditions right now is that come Saturday we end up back where we started with conditions no better there than our original destination. Right now it's probably best leave it to mother nature to do her worst. As my old mate used to say "it's all part of the experience".
@johnE, sorry that was probably an exageration. It will probably entail digging out the ski gear and making a couple of piles of clothes. "A starter for 10" you might say.
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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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Mataru piste/Pipay today
that's all snowcanon snow
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Ok following the rain today the resort will not open on Saturday. It is not currently possible to ski down to Prapoutel and Pipay is erm, rocky.
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@davidof, thanks for the info, depressing as it is. WTF we do now is anybodys guess. Depressed as ****.
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Hmmm, not good. Chamrousse has limited opening if you want to use your apartment and do some tourism. You can drive along to St Martin l'Uriage and then up from there. Not ideal. Otherwise try and get somewhere at Serre Chevalier or Montgenevre (via Frejus tunnel perhaps?)(. Weather should be good next week.
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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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TBH I've never been faced with this situation before so I am a bit nonplussed. In a state of shock tbh. The really bad news aside from a potential mind dump tonight the forecast for the next few days is grim beyond belief. If they are not able to open on Saturday I can't see any prospect that they will open in the 3-4 days following. It could even be that the only prospect of getting any skiing is to find some last minute accommodation somewhere very high.
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This thread (or rather the last few posts) sucks balls.
I feel for you mate and will sacrifice a bottle of red wine to the snow gods tonight!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Cheers @homers double. I've now recovered my composure a little. Looking at accomodation in Tignes, Val T, etc because the kids are young and will be happy as long as there is something to slide on, whether it be ski's or sledges. Luckily the accomodation cost in Les 7 Laux was only 300 Euros so even if we lost the lot I could live with it. Just need to tie up some new accom asap.
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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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Les 7 Laux is now officially off the agenda and Tignes is on. Booked an apartment through Odalys for 484 Euros in Val Claret. We will no doubt lose the 75 Euros we deposited on the Laux apartment. The rest (225 Euros) we were due to pay in cash on arrival at the request of the owner. We have no paperwork. So we will communicate our non-arrival and see what gives. Clearly I do not want to pay the balance. Anyhow, that's no great shakes in the scheme of things. Not under any illusions about Tignes of course. It's not going to be top notch, the forecast is still grim but we have given ourselves some snow time. And if we hadn't flipped we'd had none.
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Thu 22-03-18 16:30; edited 1 time in total
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Ski's, boots and chains services, packed and lined up for loading tomorrow...
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You know it makes sense.
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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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@Layne,
Just a quick picture from our apartment window to show we do have some snow;
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Poster: A snowHead
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@stewart woodward, yes, conditions such as they are is going to mean everyone wants to stay high so expecting the pistes to be quite busy. But we have skied the track down in Les Contamines at the end of the day so can't be as bad as that  I am guessing however that some of the locals will stay at home and those in resort will be taking longer lunches/breaks, etc so hopefully there will be a bit of space for the 4 of us.
Thanks for the heads up on the pool and events. Hopefully we'll get to make use of all that.
On reflection, we are fortunate we are DIYing and able to make our own decision and simply find a different apartment in a higher resort. I suspect there is going to be a lot of folks being bussed around next week to get them to open ski areas. Or a bit of hill walking and shopping in some cases. The other good news is that my son and daughter will both be on new and longer ski's for this trip and we haven't been for a year so some basic piste for a couple of days would have been the order of the day anyway. Also my son wants to do some snowboarding. We have bought a cheap second hand board/boots for him and he can take that out and learn. I think we are just going to get a Tignes pass for 6 days to start with. I believe the links to Val D are open but we will see how things pain out. If conditions were good we'd ski the second Saturday. We may still do so, will just see what state everything is in by then.
On another positive had Laux been open in some shape or form, or still in doubt, we could have ended up having extremely limited or no skiing. The confirmed decision of not opening means we had to bite the bullet.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Been in the office for an hour having arrived back at 01:30 - 14-16 hours later than planned/expected. Due to the clowns at Odalys not having their wifi up and running, and a lack of viable alternatives I wasn't able to do a Live TR. Will do a full post trip TR, with pics, later though. In the meantime a massive thanks to the people who set up and ran the emergency shelter at the Espace in Tignes. Great job and enabled us to get us watered, fed, rested and sorted before we were able to resume our journey Sunday morning.
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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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Glad you're back in one piece, Layne. Looking forward to your report.
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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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Never mind the emergency shelter report Layne! How did you enjoy Tignes? Hopefully a good time had by all. 
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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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So here we go... TR report Part 1.
Drive down: M25 behaving and the new Dartford crossing operation seemed to work well. Delays at the tunnel though due to "check in" system problems. Cost us an hour. Hit Chambery Carrefour just after opening time Saturday morning and got some food and drink for the week. Some traffic delays on A430/N90 cost us another hour. Made it to Val Claret and the Odalys apartment building at 1.30pm.
Apartment check in/out: Odalys reception only open at 2pm but we got the sledges out for the kids and hung around. Somebody arrived at 2pm but didn't "open" for at least 20 minutes. Quite a few other punters around by then. Finally they started checking people in. Tried to pay damage deposit by credit card. Said they would only take Visa not Mastercard. Only credit cards not debit. Hard to fathom why. Bizarrely they seemed to take British cheques. We gave her what cash we had and said we would get Visa card details later (from wifes father). No access to the apartment though which seemed a bit odd as they must have been very light the week before and as check out is 10am they'd had 4 hours to clean any that were used. They do state keys and apartment only available at 5pm but in my experience that is already quite late. Anyhow we sloped off for a hot chocolate in the "main square" in some lavish but overpriced joint. Returned at 5pm. No keys. A number of unhappy punters of all nationalities. Reason given: "housekeeping issues" as in, the cleaners didn't turn up. Wife went to check what was going on in apartment. Was indeed being cleaned but pretty poorly. Stains on hob for example could not be cleaned because "I don't have the correct cleaning products". Anyway, finanally managed to wrestle keys from reception and get baggage moved in. They turned up a few minutes late for check out check. Didn't actually check anyhow just said wished us a good day and off we strode.
Apartment (Hameu du Borsat): Aside from the cleaning issues the apartment was a little underequipped and scarred. Nice teapot though! Two "rooms" with a sofa and pull out in each. One, not particularly warm, blanket per person. Free fresh linen. 40 Euros rip off to get the remote for the TV declined. No other entertainment such as radio present. View a mixture of other apartment buildings and the Grand Motte end of the valley. Ski locker small. Nowhere to sit to put boots on. Easy access to all the Val Claret lifts and virtually ski in/ski out. For the price we paid (30/40% discount) it was OK. The check in, access and cleanliness was very poor. Somebody else (Dutch) had cleaning issues and used disposable plates and crockery for their stay. Never say never but it's highly unlikely I would use Odalys again.
Parking: Tignes have a policy whereby you have to park in the designated car parks, which of course you have to pay for. Where and the cost of parking, whether to book in advance, etc. seemed all a bit fuzzy to me. Because of our check in issues the indoor "Golf" parking was full so we had to go to the outdoor at the bottom of Val Claret. 75 Euros to park outdoors seems like robbery to me personally. It was however easy enough to find somewhere to park to unload/load.
Lift Pass: There was a discount on all lift passes because of the restricted amount of skiing. One thing that irked me a little is the supplements should you buy a Tignes pass and then upgrade to Killy or if you took a 6 day and extended to 7. The amount it would cost "forced you" into maxing out up front. I'll dig the prices out later. Still they gave out free chocolates so that was alright. Notably on the second Saturday when it was a white out and only a couple of lifts were running (opened late) we took refuge to eat lunch at the lift pass office and 3 people come in asking about refunds. All of which were of course turned away. I understand the resorts have taken a hit early season and that they aren't a charity but it does irritate a little.
The first time I skied was in Tignes (1991) - stayed in a catered chalet in Le Lavachet for two weeks in April. Also been to Val D (did some off piste with Top Ski) and did another week in Les Brevierres but both 15 years or so ago. Some bits I remembered very well, other bits less so. We had glorious weather Sunday through Thursday. In terms of what was open. On the right side as you look up the Tignes valley only the blue runs and snowpark down from the top of Tichot/Grattalu were good to ski. Palafour and Percee chair lifts and track runs operated to enable access up and down the valley. The Grand Motte Funi and Lanches chair gave access to good skiing at the head of the valley. The Motte cable car was shut whenever I was up there. The Leisse run was a great ski. Most mornings we went straight up the Fresse and over into Val D. The run down from Fresse back to VC was closed the early part of the week because part of it was brown. But as the week wore on they blasted it with the cannons so it was open Thursday on iirc. Before that you had to get Tommeurs to get back over. The runs down from their to both VC and Le Lac/Le Lav were open. On Sunday we just skied the runs in front of the Bellevarde before heading back over and finishing off back in the VC vicinity.
As the week wore on we ventured further along the Val D valley. Tuesday they opened the Orange run down to La Daille. On Wednesday we made it all the way over to the Col D'Iseran but had to head back straightaway due to binding issues (more later). We thought the skiing up above Solaise was better so on Thursday we headed there. We even found some short stashes of powder off the Madelaine chair. There was a dusting of snow overnight Thursday iirc and it was much colder. We stayed closer to home. Saturday the storm hit but after checking out we skied a little. Lifts were slow to open and it was the Tichot that was first open. We did a couple of loops. Whether you'd call it fun or not was open to interpretation. We then headed up Tufs on the other side. We ate our lunch and then called it a wrap. More on the exit from the resort later.
Despite the limitations there was some great piste skiing to be had. After the first day we were setting out just before or a little after lift opening. Because it'd been a while for me and none of the other three had skied the resort it wasn't so frustrating as it might have been. Our 9yo son seemed to get on well with his new skis. He whizzes around the place and consequently is difficult to keep track of. Later in the afternoon each day he did a quick switch onto his snowboard and progressed well through the week. Friday he did a full afternoon and went higher up the mountain. Our 7yo daughter was skiing more parallel as the week went on and we took her into some chopped and cruddy snow aswell as all manner of piste and she coped really well. We stopped helping her up when she takes a sit down or tumble and generally getting her to be a more "complete skier" rather than a little girl being chaperoned round the mountain.
Part 2, pics, videos to come later...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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PART TWO:
The exit:
I saw the weather forecast at the bottom of Tufs Friday morning and so knew to a certain extent what was coming on Saturday. The option of getting out Friday was discussed only briefly. We've had snow on the second Saturday twice in recent years when skiing at Christmas with the kids, all be it we've been based at 1350/1450m rather than 2100m, and not had a problem getting out late afternoon. Most people leave in the morning and usually the roads are well ploughed throughout the day. And of course you want to ski the fresh snow. So we skied Saturday. In the end as mentioned above we decided at 12:30/1pm to drive out. First issue we had was with our snow chains. Although indications were that they would fit our new tyres in reality they didn't. I had suggested to the wife we should check this back in the UK but what with everything else it didn't happen. After a struggle we got them on "in a fashion". We drove out the car park only to be told my the gendarmarie that the road was blocked and we couldn't go. So we went back into the car park and pop, one of the chains comes loose. After a lot of faff parking and trying to get it back on we decided we'd buy some new ones in the Sherpa. On route we asked in a couple of places about staying the night. Everywhere officially had a full book and even though there were doubts about when and how many would make it they couldn't give up rooms at this stage. Anyhow, we then got some chains for 59 Euros which wasn't too bad really. We then walked down to tourist information. They told us that an emergency shelter was being set up at Espace (sports centre) in Tigne Le Lac. However, also that it was expected the road would reopen. So we walked down pass where the gendermarie were and they were gone. As we were about to put the chains on a man (presumably resort employee) came by and insisted on doing it for us. The new chains fitted well and so off we drove. However, when we got down to Le Lac there were more gendermarie. Again we were told the road was completely blocked. We started looking for somewhere to park (Lac 3 said "complet") and ended up carrying on towards Le Brevierre. Driving was a bit hairy but OK. There we were stopped again and told again the road was blocked. They said that in another 4km we would hit stationary traffic. The indications of an imminent improvement didn't seem good. We parked up for 20 minutes debating what to do. Head back to the shelter at Le Lac or sleep in the car for a few hours being the primary options. By now it was getting dark and was about 4.30/5. We headed back up to Le Lac. Went to go in car park 2. Said "complet". Was then told by another punter if you buzz the intercom and get an operator they would let us in. Voila, in we go, only to discover some pretty low clearances going to the lower levels. Rather than smash the roofbox we got buzzed again and went to Lac 3 and got in there. Our name was now on "the list". We then walked over to the Espace to "check in" to the emergency shelter. The staff at the shelter were fantastic. They were serving hot and cold drinks non stop when were arrived. The kids were allowed to go on the trampolines downstairs and I was told you could play badminton. At 8.30 they got in stacks of baguette, ham, pate, cheese and fruit. Then at 10.30 ish they got out temporary beds, crash mats on the sports hall floor and gave us fresh linen and blankets. Eventually they turned the lights out and everyone got a few hours kip. There was a mixture of drivers, air and train passengers who couldn't transfer out. We even met a couple and their young son who live around the corner from us. We didn't even know they skied! They'd had a similarly frustating afternoon as ourselves, trying to get information, contact people, trying to figure out what to do.
A little after 6am we checked with a gendarme that the road was now clear and unblocked. We then got some breakfast upstairs, again the staff were serving hot drinks, pastries, fruit and chocolate bars, before setting out again. We had no further problems ourselves. IIRC we took our chains off a little after Ste Foy. We saw people driving on full tarmac 20km later! For the people driving in though the nightmare was still continuing. We had a friend travelling into Les Menuires. We talked at 6pm on Saturday when he was jammed solid between Chambery and Albertiville. I recommended he hole up somewhere. He did, at Albertville. He set out again at 6.30am but still didn't make it to resort until 3.30pm. After passing lots of cars putting on chains way too early, he was forced by the gendermarie to put his on at Moutiers. I would say that was way too soon but perhaps after Saturday they were being cautious. We got back home in MK, UK at 2am ish on Sunday night/Monday morning, approx 14-16 hours later than expected. I am quite philisophical about the whole thing in terms of being too judgemental about the authorities, punters, etc. I think there are a multitude of factors natural and human that created a perfect storm scenarion. From a personal point of view communication was a bit in and out. But I can kind of understand it. And in the end they did a great job setting up a shelter.
Binding Nightmare:
I have been skiing for 3-4 years on a second hand pair of Rossignol B2's fitted with some standard Salomon bindings. Having finished for the day we were skiing in the back way to our apartment building on Tuesday afternoon through some deep sluff when I sort off half crossed my ski's or something and my back binding snapped off completely. On investigation the metal plate that runs along the bottom sitting on the plastic attached to the ski had snapped in half. bug. I headed into the local Skiset shop to be met by a very helpful and lively bulging eyed shop guy. He explained to me how difficult and/or expensive it would be to get a new set of bindings. And of course how given the age of the skis the economics were questionable. After a bit of oohs and aaahs we went into the workshop to see the tech. They got out the bucket of odds and sods. It looked like they might have found something. So next day I pick up the ski with a new old back binding securely in place. 30 Euros. On this day we'd decided we head over to the furthest point of Val D'Isere. We made it over in good time without any problems but as I pulled up at the bottom of the Vallon cable car I saw my brake was completely loose from the binding. The metal plate had now broke on the other binding. The back portion had slid slightly out the back but crucially the whole thing was still hanging together and attached to the ski. We tried to tighten the whole thing back up as best we could and then we had to prematurely ski the whole way back to Val Claret. So that I could take it back in for repair. The whole time skiing of course I had to try to be as light as possible on the binding to keep it in tact. A frustrating and not at all enjoyable period of skiing. When I finally made it back to Skiset it was closed for the afternoon. I was in two minds now a) as to whether to get some hire ski's for the rest of the day and b) whether to properly do some ski testing. I went to a couple of other shops checking the options. I then went back to the apartment for a beer! Later when skiset was open I was told by another ski tech, a great guy named Fred he would see what he could do. Alas in the morning, he said they didn't have another suitable cast off. So I hired some Dynastar Cham 87s at a bargain 17 Euros a day.
The missus has a theory that the bindings were cooked by me following or leading my 9yo on numerous "jumps", made worse by lack of ability to perform such activities. Maybe, maybe not. Who knows. I've had trouble with Salomon bindings before so maybe they are just cack. Anyway, I am not in the market for a new pair of skis. The Chams worked pretty well tbh so thinking of just looking at those.
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Thu 22-03-18 16:43; edited 1 time in total
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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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a great read as always, Layne.
The apartment does sound a bit rubbish but it was absolutely dirt stinking cheap for a main holiday week, wasn't it?
You had a lot more skiing in Tignes than you'd have had almost anywhere else and it sounds as though you made the most of it. 
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Thanks @pam w
To be fair the apartment itself was 80% what I would call "standard". A few replacement bits, hooks, better blankets and some TLC it could have been really nice. Odalys management was terrible, it really was. But yes, the price we paid was very good (484 Euros). Definitely not worth the full price they charge IMO.
It's an advantage of DIYing that I've never had to utilise before but being able to switch to a high resort at the last minute was a saviour and worked out really well.
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