 Poster: A snowHead
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As Europe suffers drought I wondered what the water level behind the dam is. Is the old Tignes visible? Anyone been recently to give an update? Pics would be even better!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The water level was down a bit but looked relatively normal when we were there for 11 gloriously sunny days in July. We left Tignes on the 27th.
I suspect it would've needed something very drastic since then to expose the old village.
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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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Living in Val d'Isere year round I can tell you there is a LOT of water that needs to drop for the old Tignes to be visible. In fact as they intentiaonly lower the water level in the Winter in anticipation of the Summer melt filling it back up again the old village is never (unintentionally) visible. Id say the water level is slightly lower than normal for this time of the year (marginally) but the billions of gallons is managed intensely so if there is anything noticed then it will not be until Spring next year before it becomes apparent id say!
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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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Living in Val d'Isere year round I can tell you there is a LOT of water that needs to drop for the old Tignes to be visible. In fact as they intentiaonly lower the water level in the Winter in anticipation of the Summer melt filling it back up again the old village is never (unintentionally) visible. Id say the water level is slightly lower than normal for this time of the year (marginally) but the billions of gallons is managed intensely so if there is anything noticed then it will not be until Spring next year before it becomes apparent id 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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This dam? Looks like it was holding mainly silt on this day, hard to tell. Taken 17/3/2015.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks Steve and Mountainadict. No spooky photos any time soon then. Probably not enough interest for its own webcam though.
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I have just seen a photo taken last Saturday. The level is quite a bit higher than mountainaddicts pic. Steve is right the water is used in the winter to generate power when demand is higher and then it fills up with the melt and summer rain. If it is full then electricity is generated. Occasionally they also open the sluices to ensure an A Level standard of white water on the Moutiers Kayak course.
Interestingly it is still filling this year, as France has real generation capacity problems at the moment. Presumably they are importing electricity from Spain Germany and the UK as there is spare capacity in the summer and keeping the water for winter.
Scooter, your picture was taken when the Lake was last drained to allow maintenance on the sluices gates etc to be completed.
And now for the quiz question. When the Lac du Chevril is full, how many Olympic sized swimming pools would it fill?
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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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@chocksaway,
None - it doesn't drain into any Olympic sized swimming pools. 
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@Kenzie, Have you not seen the size of Guerlain's en suite in Brev?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| And now for the quiz question. When the Lac du Chevril is full, how many Olympic sized swimming pools would it fill? |
And in terms of the other usual Daily Mail (etc) yardsticks...The dam is the height of how many double decker buses or Nelson's Columns? 
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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 now for the quiz question. When the Lac du Chevril is full, how many Olympic sized swimming pools would it fill?
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OK the reservoir is 230 million m3 of water. All I need to know now is just how big an olympic sized swimming pool is. Or indeed how high Nelson's Column or a double decker bus are.
Just note that 1mm of water spread over 1000km2, which is slightly more than the county of the West Midlands, is 1 million cubic metres. Imagine the West Midlands flooded to the depth of 230mm. It is a huge reservoir.
I do recall walking down from the Barrage du Saut, up above Val d'Isere and trying to estimate how much power it could produce. It proved an interesting discussion with my nepthew with lots of estimates such as the size of the catchment, the amount of rainfall per second on avarage falling over the catchment, the losses, the efficiency of the generating plant etc etc. In fact all we really knew was the head at the power station ( g times the head multiplied by the flowrate gives power in kwatts). It was an entertaining walk with lots of mental arithmetic.
I just found this from https://en.tignes.net/discover/glacier-lake-dam/le-barrage-de-tignes
The Chevril dam is a truly spectacular construction. Here are some dizzying figures to get your head around:
180m high
300m long
43m wide
6 years of construction: from 1946 to 1952
230 million m3 of water resulting in a 3.2 km2 lake, the equivalent of 100,000 Olympic swimming pools!
Up to 5,600 workers in the summer of 1949
600 step descent
110m3/s: this is the water flow rate of a bottom valve! These 70-year-old valves are currently being replaced, which explains the presence of a crane on the dam.
Supplies the electrical consumption of 392,000 inhabitants annually, the equivalent of 80% of residential consumption in the Savoie region.
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All I need to know now is just how big an olympic sized swimming pool is.
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Based on the numbers further down, it's 50m long x 20m wide x 2.3m deep. I reckon that's a bit small - most "Olympic" pools are ten lanes now, so 25m wide. Deep is fast, too, so if the pool is 3m deep then the lake would fill a mere 61000 of them (not 100000 as quoted). So it's a bit like piste lengths - don't trust the resort's figures.
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You know it makes sense.
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When I was preparing an article for someone, I found a standard design size for the Olympic pool: 2500m3. There are a number of figures quoted for the capacity but I have the original publicity document as a picture on my wall which quotes 235 million m3. So my answer (others are available!) is 94,000.
PS Just like our local pub the quizmaster is always right, even when he's wrong.
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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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| Just like our local pub the quizmaster is always right, even when he's wrong |
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FAQ
