Poster: A snowHead
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Im thinking of a short ski trip to 4-Valleys around the 16th December. Having stayed in Verbier and Le Chable on numerous occasions, a change of valley base is appealing. So there’s Nendaz, Veysonnaz, Thyon or La Tzoumaz. But are these risky prospects early season? The higher altitude skiing is over the Verbier side. How easy is it to transfer between the valleys if some of lower pistes are closed? Advice welcome.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@skidm, it could work if the snow is good low down but it’s certainly risky. I’d say you want to be in Le Chable / Verbier or Nendaz with transport to get to Siviez. That way you can easily get high quickly. Skiing from Nendaz / La Tzoumaz / Thyon / Veysonnaz adds time in both directions and frankly the skiing isn’t worth it IMHO, especially if the snow isn’t great.
It rained to 2000m yesterday and everything melted below that. Above Ruinettes (2200m) was great. That could easily happen again.
You can get across from La Tzoumaz by (slow) lifts and from Nendaz to Siviez by bus. Thyon/Veysonnaz is drag lifts so not possible
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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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Cheers Bob, good info. Just checked out the bus timetable for Nendaz-Siviez. It runs every half hour and takes 20 mins. Then it’s the Tortin lift up to 2000m+. Nendaz just might be a goer!
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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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Nendaz heavily invested in Snow Cannons last year and the link to Siviez was open all season. With Nendaz being North facing the final runs to the resort are pretty secure. Incidentally, Mont Fort and Les Gentianes run are belong to Nendaz NOT Verbier!!
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I like Nendaz but people often dismiss it over the connection by piste into the main areas via Siviez.
I've only visited first two weeks of January and always skied the link, so for me no problems. It's a very good sector to ski I feel.
Nendaz has quite a lot of choice regarding accommodation and pricing so you should be able to match something up there, it's a quick cabin ride up from village centre with nice runs down at days end. Well worth considering.
There's also, but less choice, accommodation to stay at Siviez itself which is really the hub of those northern sector parts of the 4V domain, so very convenient for anything that side. Also it's only a single chair ride up to the main two lifts to the peaks between Verbier and the rest, so very easy to work with.
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Just as background, this was the Savoleyres-La Tzoumaz sector early December last year. And yes, it was that empty.
But as indicated by @BobinCH, only the upper slopes were open because the last part of the run to the télécabine in the village was grass. And I suspect they were also preserving the lower slopes for Christmas.
This summer, there has been a massive investment in snow cannons in this sector and the Nendaz Prarion area. So if the latter are in operation, then it may be a better bet than La Tzoumaz. I'll be in LTZ again early December, for our pre-season apartment check so will post on conditions then.
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Went mid Dec last year and although runs to Nendaz were officially closed, they were easily skiable right to within 5 yds of the gondola. Heading out 16th Dec for 2 weeks this year with fingers crossed this early snow continues. Anyone else out there on those dates? Staying in Verbier week 1 and Cotterg week 2. Happy to hook up for skiing/ and apres 🍻
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