 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi All
Can anyone who knows the area well advise me of the best lifts/piste routes to use to get over from Flaine Forum (where we are staying in March) to get over into the two areas shown on the piste map to be above Samoens and above Les Carroz, below left and below right of Tete Des Saix from looking at the map. There seems to be plenty of runs to use in those areas and I want to get full value from my GM pass. From the piste map I have it is not clear what happens around Tete des Saix when coming down from Grands Vans on a couple of blues or if coming up on Le Lac. Does Le Lac lift finish at the bottom of Corbalanche lift, and does that in turn go up to Tete des Saix?
Second piece of advice please- is there any notoriously difficult reds which could be considered by some people, to be heading towards a black, depending on conditions, which I may want to avoid with my relatively inexperienced son skiing with me?
Thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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From Flaine Forum you can either go up the Tete de Verts chair and ski down to the bottom of the Grands Vans chair, up the GV chair, ski down to the bottom of Corbalanches, up that chair to the top of Tete de Saix, from where you can access Carroz, Samoens and Morillon. Alternatively, from FF you can take the yoghurt pots (a lift you step into and out of) and access the bottom of GV from there.
The top of the Lac chair is very close to the bottom of the Corbalanches chair.
Difficult red runs are, as always, dependent on the conditions. For example, in the Flaine bowl the bottom of Faust can be very icy and the top can be heavily mogulled. My own view is that there are some blue runs that are often more red in nature. If the conditions are good then I would judge most, if not all, red runs to be fairly graded. Coming back from Carroz/Samoens to FF involves coming down the south facing Tourmaline (blue) towards the bottom of the GV chair and that can be tricky towards the end of the day, not least because of the number of people on it.
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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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Another way from Flaine to Les Carroz/Morillon is to take the Grands Vans up and to ski down Le Lac and Portet (hope I'm remembering correctly) until you get to the Molliets chair. Take the chair up and you will find yourselves in the Les Carroz/Morillon ski area. You could then take the Lanche chair towards Samoens or another chair - Airon maybe? The Portet run is one of the lower runs so the above is subject to snow conditions being ok and the runs open.
I do not remember skiing any particularly difficult reds but I did not ski every red in Flaine and not much was open in Samoens when we were there (just an easy red and a long blue). I think the thing that worried me slightly when skiing with my kids was that there are a couple of short stretches of narrow piste (I think one is near the tete des saix as you ski towards Morillon) - they are blues and not steep but if it is windy or low visibilty I worry more about narrow pistes with no barriers than steeper pistes.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I would also say that if your son is doing ski school in Flaine in the morning he would need to be a fairly proficient skier to ski over to Les Carroz etc, ski there for the afternoon and back. My youngest was doing 3 star that week and was ok but I think if she'd been any less experienced it would have been too much for her. As it was we got stuck in a snow storm in Flaine one afternoon, the Grands Vans broke down and we only just made it back to Les Carroz  On a clear sunny day I'm sure it would be less of an adventure!
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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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Thanks both for your prompt and detailed replies. I will have a good look at these options 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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I agree with @snowymum, that coming back will be the hardest part just above Flaine due to well chopped pistes and the number of people returning at the same time. On the way out, the Corbalanche is the easiest way to Samoens. For for the other two areas either option works, but a bit of poling is required on both the Perce Neige if using the Corbalanche and also on the middle part of the run down to Molliets, but the last part of the Portet is usually in good condition and a really nice run as it is not heavily used. Depending where you end up, the Lanche, Airon and Gentianes will all return you towards the Vernant lift and the way home.
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Another vote for Portet. It's a great way to start the day. Echoing the comments above, the first part is flat and usually needs poling but if you get a good run up and keep your momentum - conditional on conditions of course - you can just about get through the windy bit and, once it opens up, it's lovely. Not in the least challenging. If you're the lucky recipient of fresh snow, even better.
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