 Poster: A snowHead
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| MountainIdiot wrote: |
Heading out to Les Menuires on the 25th, if long term forecasts are correct we may well be driving up in the snow, having never done the drive before, how are the roads normally?
Driving from Geneva so have winter tyres, paid for chains on a 9 seater Vito, which I presume is rear wheel drive. I think we will be fine but some members of our group are worrying, anyone got any reassurance/advice for the drive?! |
#1 the 25th is miles away so any predictions of road conditions are futile. Check a couple of days before at the earliest
#2 they are used to dealing with snow, roads are cleared real quick
#3 you have winters and chains, so it's all doable.
Really, relax.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@MountainIdiot, don’t worry, the drive up to Les Menuires is on a good road, with only a couple of sections of hairpin bends, both down the bottom end near Moutiers and one around St Martin. As has Layne said, the snow clearance is good. Winter tyres make a huge difference. Your friends should relax  .
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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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@Perty, thanks for that, sounds fine then!
I shall tell them all to shut up with the worrying and focus on looking forward to the trip!
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I’ll be heading to Mottaret a couple of days later on the 27th and I hope it snows hard. Then again, I don’t have to 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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I and 5 others are arriving at VT tomorrow and judging by the voices on here we should be in for some decent skiing. Been to Austria last few years and I'm rather glad I was outvoted to opt for France
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Arrived in VT, snow conditions look excellent considering. However the extra sprinkle over next 24hrs will make things even better!
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Just woke to 3 inches of fresh snow and steady snowfall here in St Martin .
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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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Snowing all the way down to Moutiers. The road to Meribel is very slippery.
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In VT today snowed most of the day, bar a little pause at times. Visibility has been hit and miss, some really flat light condition but this morning some nice bright spots.
Pistes in excellent condition, the black unlisted Combe de Caron & Cristaux were brilliant fun and very powdery in places.
Not done any off piste, as the parts we tried off the main pistes was icy as hell under the new powder.
Anyone coming out this weekend coming shouldbhave excellent conditions.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Hi all,
Really looking forward to our visit to 3 Valleys in just under 2 weeks. Looks like the pistes will be in good shape!
I've asked some questions in this tread already and got some really good answers (so thank you!) but I have another one if anyone cares to give me their thoughts.
We have booked our return flights from Lyon for 8:30pm. We are leaving our chalet at 10am. Can anyone recommend any non-skiing activities we can do to fill the time either in La Tania or Courchevel. Or are there any good spots to stop on the way back to Lyon to visit? Would ideally fancy a decent lunch somewhere as well, again perhaps on the way back somewhere? We have the hire car so a bit of flexibility. Just need to have it back for 6:30PM at the latest.
Cheers all
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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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Fridge03,
Why not fill the time by skiing until 3pm on your last day? 
If you don't fancy that, I recommend a visit to Conflans - a medieval town above Albertville. It's beautiful (but small) and will fill an hour on your return trip. It's signposted from Albertville and is only a 5 minute drive from there.
If you fancy a 30 minute (each way) detour off your route, Annecy is well worth a visit. It's a beautiful, medieval town on a lake, with canals running through the town - sometimes referred to as the Venice of France. You could easily put in a couple of hours there and it's a great lunch spot.
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If you want to ski, La Tania has an excellent public changing room/shower/locker facility next to the gondola.
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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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Woke to a load more snow here in St M, perhaps 6in down in the village, though it wasn’t as light and dry as yesterday.
We had a mixed day, at times battling with the fog and cloud. Best run of the morning was first thing off the end of the ridge down Choucas and then down through the trees to Le Raffort. The piste was [ahem!] officially closed, but had a lovely fresh covering. Though we weren’t the first to have had the same idea, there were probably only half a dozen other tracks before us. There was quite a wind up high but it died down by lunchtime. I’d say on average there was about a foot of fresh snow above around 1800m though it was quite heavy and wind blown in places. Off piste opportunities were limited by the poor visibility. Down at 1400m, the snow had been compacted to the hard polished consistency on piste that makes it hard to turn.
There were occasional glimpses of sun and clear moments, but our efforts to chase the good vis were unsuccessful. By 12.30 we decided that things were unlikely to improve and stopped for lunch, only for the sky to clear properly. It was beautiful and we dragged our weary legs back up for a final decent down and around Jerusalem.
Am willing my thighs to recover for a half day offpiste session tomorrow with SkiClubGb..
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Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all,
Currently staying in Meribel. Like Perty said the visibility has been awful high up today and quite mixed down low. It feels like it has been snowing a lot the past couple of days and there has been some nice powder to be had but it still needs a lot more to get a decent depth in the off piste. Still plenty of branches poking through and the odd rock underfoot. Pistes are largely in really good condition considering how little snow they've had recently.
Looking forward to a bit of sun over the next couple of days although the warmer temps won't help the snow. All in all feeling pretty lucky to have chosen this week to come out!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Raceplate wrote: |
| If you want to ski, La Tania has an excellent public changing room/shower/locker facility next to the gondola. |
| Bergmeister wrote: |
Fridge03,
Why not fill the time by skiing until 3pm on your last day?
If you don't fancy that, I recommend a visit to Conflans - a medieval town above Albertville. It's beautiful (but small) and will fill an hour on your return trip. It's signposted from Albertville and is only a 5 minute drive from there.
If you fancy a 30 minute (each way) detour off your route, Annecy is well worth a visit. It's a beautiful, medieval town on a lake, with canals running through the town - sometimes referred to as the Venice of France. You could easily put in a couple of hours there and it's a great lunch spot. |
We had considered having a last couple of hours but we don't like the hassle of having to drag bags to somewhere and get showered/changed in public showers/toilets etc (bad experiences in past). It's mostly down to the other half as she is a lot more...put off by that idea than me. We will have a look at the facilities to see if I can sway her!
Failing that, thanks for the info. That's exactly the kinda thing we were looking for. A nice chilled out return day! We have always done morning flights which inevitably means waking up at a silly hour and being tired most the day as well as not really being able to enjoy the last night. So we are looking forward to taking our time going home!
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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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Aquamotion in Courchevel is a fun (if expensive option). Our kids loved it, but at 59Euros for 2 adults and 2 Children it is pricey.
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What a day today. You know the kind of day that makes every holiday worth it. Perfection of blue sky and freshly groomed posted
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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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Arriving in Val Thorens on Saturday, never been before so getting quite excited now, seems some snow forecast tomorrow and some sprinklings over the weekend
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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What are the current snow condition in 3 Valley? Good?
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| matejp wrote: |
| What are the current snow condition in 3 Valley? Good? |
+1 We're out on Saturday
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Sprinkling of snow at the mo. Tomorrow good weather. Slopes are pretty much perfect
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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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excellent news 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@juliad, Thanks, sounds good. Arriving Meribel Sunday
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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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@juliad, thanks looking forward to arriving on Saturday, stopping in La Tania
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks for the reports everyone. I’m out in just over a week so getting pretty excited now.
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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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Snow is coming down heavily driven by a strong wind
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Poster: A snowHead
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Arrived yesterday in La Tania and glad skiied for a couple of hours in the afternoon in the sun as this morning was a bit grey generally good snow but some ice / scrapy bits this afternoon sun came out and had some great runs on the Meribel side. Dou Lanches black really nice at end of day shame red to La Tania still shut as had to do green back to resort
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@stevew, wasnt Folyeres open???
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@kitenski, chalet needs to be accessed from red. Folyeres open but haven't skiied it yet.will do tomorrow before do anything else
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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 can do blue/green/red which was our general way home to our chalet. Did the full blue a couple of times but usually crossed to the green then red.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Bergmeister,  , though as I recall, you were in front a lot of the time! It was good day. Thanks!
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does anyone know if any shops stock icelantic skis in the resort? i fancy a set of pioneers. cant seem to find any online stockists that arent usa and dont fancy the import charges. thanks
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Grand day. Did foyleries first thing and was great.
Went over to fourth valley which was fantastic and quiet. Hadn't realised that moraine is now a gondola and had a navigation moment when heading for Col, quick go at Peclet and headed home via the sunny side of Meribel
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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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Still bitterly cold over here but some great skiing, nevertheless.
We skied La Masse yesterday and found some really icy stuff, particularly on the lower part of the run to the lifts. Luckily the run was more or less deserted, so it was good practice on the slick stuff. Higher up was still very good snow, though a lot busier.
The run back to Val T (Pluviometre) was excellent, with great snow top to bottom (unlike Mont De La Chambre, which we did first thing and which was unpisted, scraped and unpleasant...).
We had a fantastic afternoon at Orelle. Blue skies, more than stunning views - in stark contrast to the "dull scenery" of the area (in the opinion of a Snowhead on here this week...); and we had the slopes to ourselves! Though we have been there a lot, we can safely say that we will never tire of the views at Orelle. On a sunny afternoon they really have to be seen to be believed.
And the runs back to Val T from Orelle were in great nick too. Again, we had the place to ourselves. It felt like a private mountain experience on the last run down - fantastic!
All in all, a great day!
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Started the day with the Combe du Vallon yesterday...there was a bit of a wait for the lift which opened just after 10am. Once at the top, I managed to get ahead of the crowd and was the first down the top half, till some out of control kid and his mates careered past at breakneck speed. He was basically straight lining the run (because he was incapable of turning) in classic toilet seat position. I’m sure he thought it was a right laugh....I’d have given him a piece of my mind had he stopped at the chair, but they carried onto Ours. The snow was great though and well worth the rather chilly wait.
After warming up, we spent the rest of yesterday in VT. Soft powder to be found under the Thorens Funival in particular. The on piste snow was really good in most places, especially off Grand Fond. Plan de L’Eau is a bit hard now.
Headed up the Col lift to the glacier just to say we had. In 2005/6 there was a good tongue of snow covered glacier ice down towards the bottom of the chair, and the way into the run was on the ice itself. No more  .
A quick circuit down Jerusalem to finish. It’s looking a bit patchy and has some hard spots. Sadly I think the new Cheferie lift is getting more skiers up there, so the conditions degrade more quickly.
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FAQ
- even in flat light and/or falling snow and poor visibility. We covered a lot of ground, given the conditions of generally great snow but poor light. And we had a good natter as well...all in all a great day! 