 Poster: A snowHead
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After the terrible start to last years season we decided that we would never make the mistake of booking before we knew if there was snow. However, after 11 years without a ski holiday (kids!), in April this year excitement got the better of us and we booked a ski to the door apartment in morillon 1100. We reassured ourselves that a season start that bad couldn't possibly happen 2 years running........... So here we are, 1 week before we leave feeling very depressed at the forecast. We have two kids who have never skied before and will only be in 2 hours of lessons a day so we don't need massive amounts of slopes. And we keep telling ourselves that at least we'll be away in the mountains together. But I really do want some snow!
So, can anyone reassure me that it will be ok? The 1100 webcam is very sad viewing so I'm guessing sking to the door will be out of the question. As I don't know the area at all it's hard to get a feeling for the other webcams.
Will it be ok? Will we be able to ski?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Id ring the ski school and ask what they are planning. I'd suggest you all do ski school. Instructors find the best snow and you'll get lift priority. Queues are likely to be very bad
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Fri 18-12-15 12:44; edited 1 time in total
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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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Oh really? Do you think it will be that far away?
will try calling them. Thank you x
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@breeze11, We are going to the Grand Massif later in the season. I had a look at the Morillon 1100 webcam yesterday and it doesn't look good. However the webcam at the top of the telecabine in Les Carroz looks better - I think it is at an altitude of 1700. So I expect there will be runs open higher up. I would check to see if your lessons can be transferred to Samoens 1600. If the runs are open there it would be a better option than driving to Flaine if your children are beginners.
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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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Spoke to a friend who lives in Samoens yesterday as we're out there for new year, they've been running the cannons at night above 1800m and then pushing snow back down. Morillon 1100 is definitely looking a bit sad I think they'll have 1 piste open to access. Lessons will be done higher up I imagine.
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Oh this sounds a bit more promising! Thank you. That's good news that the cannons higher up have been working. It's hard to get an idea of how it will work when we haven't skied there before.
Will see if we can speak to Esf in morillon (judging by their emails they don't speak much English!) and find out their plan. X
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@breeze11, we will be there tomorrow so I'll post a reply, but we were also on the GM last year and the ski lessons were running. The instructors are very good at finding the best place to ski, so try not to worry too much. There is a beginners slope at 1100 which I imagine they will bring snow down for and if not, the instructors will have a good backup location. Once you get to the top of sairon, there will be runs for the adults.
I was amazed at what the pisteurs managed to conjure up out of virtually nothing last year so I'm confident that they'll provide us something to ski on. It may be patchy, but after 11 years away, I'm sure that you'll forgive that!
I will give you a more accurate update over the weekend, but I am sure that your children (and you) will not be disappointed.
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| breeze11 wrote: |
Oh this sounds a bit more promising! Thank you. That's good news that the cannons higher up have been working. It's hard to get an idea of how it will work when we haven't skied there before.
Will see if we can speak to Esf in morillon (judging by their emails they don't speak much English!) and find out their plan. X |
Around 20% of all the lifts are open in Morillon today.
The upper slopes are in reasonable shape. About 50cm up top.
You will have more than enough slopes to play on.
Just go easy on day 1, to acclimate, as there may be some hard or icy parts.
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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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Oh thank you both! That sounds lots better than my fears.
Very good advice to take it easy. I've completely forgotten what skiing on ice is like! 
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| rachelharrisonsmith wrote: |
@breeze11, we will be there tomorrow so I'll post a reply, but we were also on the GM last year and the ski lessons were running. The instructors are very good at finding the best place to ski, so try not to worry too much. There is a beginners slope at 1100 which I imagine they will bring snow down for and if not, the instructors will have a good backup location. Once you get to the top of sairon, there will be runs for the adults.
I was amazed at what the pisteurs managed to conjure up out of virtually nothing last year so I'm confident that they'll provide us something to ski on. It may be patchy, but after 11 years away, I'm sure that you'll forgive that!
I will give you a more accurate update over the weekend, but I am sure that your children (and you) will not be disappointed. |
An update when you are there would be fantastic. We arrive in resort a week Sunday. X
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I'll be in Morillon from Tuesday until 3 Jan so I'll also update this thread with conditions etc. Looking at the webcam I can see they are desperately working hard to get a strip of snow back down to 1100 to enable the s gondola and Sairon chair open. I'm not hopeful though so reckon drive to samoens or flaine each day is probably gonna best best to get up top for some okay skiing.
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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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Just packing the bags now can't see the thermals getting much use this trip!
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@Whitegold, you are in the GM?
Skied around Flaine today. Departed Vercland on ancient bubble at 10:45.
As ever, modern snow management impresses. All very crunchy at 11:00 and southerly facing soft by 14:00 but really...
A Very Nice Day To Start The Season
Clearly, anything below around 1,600m non-existent.
Above 2,100 ish? Really nice piste snow.
In between a little sketchy but seen a lot worse.
But my word, how warm? Like mid-April.
Must mention, the renovated (for last season?) restaurant at the bottom of the Vercland lift is rather nice and has Mont Blanc Rousse on draught. 
P.S. For those nervous and arriving this or next week, all of the group today have/do ski really rather a lot, some instructors, and are really fussy.
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You know it makes sense.
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@breeze11, apologies, my data connection is terrible - this is my first time on-line since we arrived.
I would echo what @under a new name, has said. We were at Morillon 1100 this morning and the beginners area is non existent, so they must be taking them elsewhere (Morillon 1600, perhaps?). We went to Flaine today, which was lovely up top, but very brown at the bottom. Coming back, we came down one of the lesser used blues from the top of Sairon at 14:00 today and it was still icy and the bottom of Sairon (the run into Morillon 1100), and although very narrow was very firm at 14:30. It's not great, but as an experienced skier, you'll find something and your children's instructor will find them something. More snow would be good though! We have relatives coming out to join us next week and the children have never skied so we have the same concern about their first experience being a great one.
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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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Thank you so much for your reply. It's great to hear from people who are actually there.
Good to hear that there will be something to ski on but such a shame about the beginners area at 1100. That would have been great to mess around on with the kids. BUT as I keep reminding myself, if all I have to worry about is lack of snow on my ski holiday then life must be fairly good! 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Just looking at the webcams and appears everything is being rained on. If it doesn't snow soon I can see the GM being closed again like last year. We're there tomorrow so fingers crossed for a miracle.
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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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@Whitegold, Ooooh - That doesn't look very inviting.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| jirac18 wrote: |
| Just looking at the webcams and appears everything is being rained on. If it doesn't snow soon I can see the GM being closed again like last year. We're there tomorrow so fingers crossed for a miracle. |
Oh no, is that rain? Was really hoping it would be snow passing over today. 
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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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If anyone has any updates from morillon through this week I'd love to hear them. We leave here on Xmas day. Thank you x
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@breeze11, here is my snow report from les carroz in GM from today.
http://www.snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=121060
We did not ski morillon, (as the link run looked rather thin) and the snow down to 1100 will be very slushy, but sairon was open (you can always hear the lift its a constant drone at the top of gron bowl) At the moment it is all very soft due to the rain, but its better than last year.
Morillon tends to have snow a bit lower than les carroz as the slopes are more northerly facing
Ignore@Whitegold, he is just taking screen shots from the webcams, he is not in the GM.
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+1
He is a troll
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Arrived in Morillon this evening and there's the odd bit of snow still lying and it's currently -1.5 c in the village and a frost setting so that at least bodes well for the canons up the hill above 1100.
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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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| under a new name wrote: |
+1
He is a troll |
What has he said that is trolling or wrong? His first post on this page seemed fairly positive and it's hard to argue with the webcam images unless they are of somewhere completely different. Am I missing something?
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| foxtrotzulu wrote: |
| ... it's hard to argue with the webcam images |
I'm not so sure. Webcams can be very useful, and I look at them as much as anyone, but they won't give you an indication of the detailed skiing conditions which can make the difference between an enjoyable day and a bit of a miserable experience. Are the pistes icy, or do they have nice, grippable snow? Crucial this week, are there more and more stones coming through in the thin snow conditions? Is the snow wet and slushy, or dry and squeaky? Is the off-piste skiable, or are the snow conditions horrible?
Yesterday I was taking a look at the webcams for a resort I'm heading to next month. They show snow on the pistes, entirely man-made so far this season, but I had no idea what the conditions were like for skiing and teaching there until friend who is based in the resort posted some comments on Facebook.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@rob@rar, I'm not suggesting that webcam images show the entire story. They merely give an indication of what conditions are like in a few specific places. It's not as if Whitehold posted the images with a statement along the lines of 'all the pistes are rubbish. This proves it'. I was just curious why he had earned himself so much opprobrium and I couldn't see what he'd done to deserve it.
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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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@foxtrotzulu, he was all over the place at the weekend making definitive sounding pronouncements based on no "in place" information and contradicting reports from those inthe field.
Clearly designed to stir it up a bit.
And he has much form for that.
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| foxtrotzulu wrote: |
| @rob@rar, I'm not suggesting that webcam images show the entire story. They merely give an indication of what conditions are like in a few specific places. |
Agreed, they are good at that, but I think the incomplete picture they present means that their information is arguable, on occasion.
| foxtrotzulu wrote: |
| It's not as if Whitehold posted the images with a statement along the lines of 'all the pistes are rubbish. This proves it'. I was just curious why he had earned himself so much opprobrium and I couldn't see what he'd done to deserve it. |
In this thread nothing, but I think it was yesterday he wrote off the entire 2015/16 season on the basis of the skiing conditions so far in December. That seems a bit premature to me, but is not untypical of his habit these days of making dramatic doom or delight one-liner statements. Some of us would prefer a more nuanced discussion of snow conditions, which is exactly the way that people on ski trips experience them. If you are trying to report on or read about the actual snow conditions his statements can be a bit of a thorne in the side. Which is a great shame as I think he has a lot to offer in terms of snow reporting; I'm pretty sure when he first started posting on the forum he was a mine of useful info.
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You know it makes sense.
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| jirac18 wrote: |
| Arrived in Morillon this evening and there's the odd bit of snow still lying and it's currently -1.5 c in the village and a frost setting so that at least bodes well for the canons up the hill above 1100. |
Excellent! Thank you. X
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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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We've been in Flaine since Saturday and conditions are pretty dire. There are some good pitches, esp near the top, but there are stones everywhere on the lower parts of the runs. Skied over to Morillon/Samoens yesterday morning, and conditions there are a bit better as the slopes are north facing. Coming back to Flaine, had to get the bus from Vernant as the Toumaline from the top of Grand Vans down to Flaine is closed.
Not seen a single snow cannon running or any evidence of one running at all.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
Not seen a single snow cannon running or any evidence of one running at all.
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Probably because it hadn't been cold enough, even overnight across the weekend for them to work. Forecast is colder so they might be able to get them fired up.
Of course, they may have run out of water, or be husbanding it for even colder weather.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Considering it's not snowed in forever and high temps I must say I've been very impressed with the work the resort has done to keep about 40% of runs open. Yes it's icy and hard packed first thing then slushy icy and stoney later on but we've had three days of great family fun on the Morillon slopes. Gonna venture to carroz and samoens tomorrow.
If you accept its not great and just enjoy bright sunshine Spring conditions amid brown hillside then you'll have a great time. We had Xmas dinner at Igloo yesterday at top of bergin lift and it was fantastic. A great Xmas day!!! We are very happy we didn't cancel our holiday.
Lift passes still only available on a day to day basis. We've done 4 hour ticket as that's about the limit of skiing in these conditions in my opinion.
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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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Local forecast has snow on Tuesday and weds next week
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@jirac18,
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Local forecast has snow on Tuesday and weds next week
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that used to be the same T/O speech every changeover day, close enough to keep guests happy, far enough away to blame weather forecasters when it did not happen, but saying that those were before the days of internet enabled phones!!!!
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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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@jirac18, Which local forecast? as cham meteo has the remains of a front appearing on Tuesday, that will be just cloud according to them
and nothing on wednesday
TUESDAY DECEMBER 29
Fairly sunny ‑ still somewhat milder than seasonal average
SKY CONDITION : partly cloudy - cloudy at times from the west in the afternoon. Period of sunshine close to 70%.
PRECIPITATION : none.
Wednesday : sunny - cold in the valley - mild in the afternoon.
But a light to cling on to..........................
Forecast reliability : fairly good until Monday ‑ worse than poor thereafter.
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Fingers crossed for that snowfall. We are currently in a hotel about 2 hours away so that we can arrive in resort tomorrow morning. I'm gutted that we won't be seeing snow when we arrive but excited to get some skis on and find some on Monday. X
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Forgive me, but if you haven't had a ski holiday for 11 years, you want to start your children skiing, and you choose to go at New Year (i.e. very early season), and given the last three years pattern of bad starts to the season, why, why choose Morillon? (lovely, quaint and authentic I agree the village is...)? Here at Les Arcs we have 60% of the resort open, and by the way after 30 seasons I am convinced it won't snow again until after the next full moon (february). Bon SKi!
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That was from snow forecast.com and the weather channel.com and the light snow forecast has been pushed back to Thursday Friday now if it's worth anything at all.
Anyhoo decent clear night with hard frost again so I'm guessing the canons will be firing away which is at least some blessing
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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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@breeze11, there is snow and it can be skied and enjoyed in limited fashion. Stay positive and just enjoy it for what it is. It's not great like it should be but its better than being stuck in front of a tv watching crappy Xmas rubbish.
The valley has been bathed in sunshine it's picturesque and the air as fresh as can be.
How old are your kids? There have been plenty of lessons up on biollaires and Sairon and all the kids looked like they were loving it especially those who know no better.
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Thanks all! It will be brilliant whatever happens. We'll have a great time. Thank you for your positive replies.
Araird we did think long and hard about when and where to go and took lots of advice on here. The general thought was that the majority of the time early seasons are far better than last year and this area would always have somewhere to ski. Obviously it wasn't the best decision but it's done now and we are nearly there! New year is the best time for us with everyone's holidays so in future it will probably be a similar time but maybe a higher resort. I was actually looking at les arcs last night. May see you there next year! X
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FAQ
