 Poster: A snowHead
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Heading to verbier in a weeks time Friday to Wednesday and got a couple of questions. When and where in town for apres. And to ski down to Nendaz the first half of the run is an itinerary route. What’s it like. Is it very steep or just bumpy.
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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The itineraire from Plan du Fou down to Prarion is steep and bumpy, unless there's been some recent snowfall. But you should judge the conditions for yourself first - take a break and sit on the balcony of the PdF café. At the end of the run it's a black. But the bumpiness is not in the same league as the Chassoure mogul field which runs from Lac des Vaux down to Tortin. If you've done Chassoure, en route to Siviez (where you get the gondola up to PdF), then you can probably do the itinerary. I'll post some photos when imgur comes back online.
If you're capable of skiing the Plan du Fou/Prarion itinerary and especially if Chassoure poses no challenges to you, then you may find that the itinerary isn't going to be high on your bucket list for the Quatre Vallées: locals like BobInCH can probably recommend some much more rewarding off-piste runs, I suspect. You'll see various recommendations if you look back through the Verbier Topic. Of course, if your budget runs to it, try a heli-ski from Croix de Coeur.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Thu 5-01-23 22:54; 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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From Plan de Fou there is a steep black that goes around the side of the itinerary.
I would strongly, very strongly, advise you to watch other skiers going down it from the top of the gondola.
When the snow is nice it's just a steep run, but if it is icy it is a real horror story.
It's easy to see which end of thee spectrum the snow is at just by watching...I've seen many an instructor go down in one long deathslide all the way on one edge not daring to try to turn while the ordinary skiers are sliding around out of any control at all.
On the other hand if it's nice...it's really nice, it really is!
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On reflection, I think I'd strongly endorse @rungsp's advice to carefully judge the terrain and other skiers first. You can do that from the balcony of the Plan du Feu café or even just the summit area, before committing yourself.
Ditto the Chassoure mogul field - you can take the gondola down to Tortin and look back at the slope and make a judgement. My impression of it is that there often seem to be a few skiers who've clearly underestimated just how long the field is and look like they're completely exhausted, but are only 1/2 to 2/3rds the way down. And there are usually a few people bunched on the far side to the right who I suspect are traversing and traversing on the realisation that perhaps they have taken on more than they can handle.
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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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| LaForet wrote: |
On reflection, I think I'd strongly endorse @rungsp's advice to carefully judge the terrain and other skiers first. You can do that from the balcony of the Plan du Feu café or even just the summit area, before committing yourself.
Ditto the Chassoure mogul field - you can take the gondola down to Tortin and look back at the slope and make a judgement. My impression of it is that there often seem to be a few skiers who've clearly underestimated just how long the field is and look like they're completely exhausted, but are only 1/2 to 2/3rds the way down. And there are usually a few people bunched on the far side to the right who I suspect are traversing and traversing on the realisation that perhaps they have taken on more than they can handle. |
A big plus 1 for the advice regarding the Chassoure mogul field. It goes on and on. I’ve some videos I’ve taken with my helmet cam, all you can hear is me breathing out my bottom. The advantage the PDF itinary has is it’s much shorter can you can come home and tell people you did a 4V itinary!
The first time I went to the 4V, many many years ago, my first ever ski trip, we were told there was a green run meandering down and through the trees. It was in to the (then) cable car for me! As LaForet said have a good look first, once you’re over the edge there ain’t no way back. I’m out on Saturday and will have a look.
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Great let me know how the snows looking in general over the mountain. I skied the chassoure about 4 years ago. It’s definitely longer than it looks
And thought on where to see live bands for apres
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So here are some photo's: the first is a panoramic view and the second is the bit outlined in the box at the top right.
Tracouet (left [E]) - Planards (centre [C,D]) - Plan du Fou (right [A])
[1] is the first segment of the drop with the itineraire moguls on the right and a black run on the left. These converge at the top of [2] which is the second segment of the black down to Prarion [D]. AT that point you can either take the new télécabine back up to Plan du Fou [A], or the chairlift up to Tracouet [E].
This photo' was taken the year before they replaced the old drag [D] up to the old gondola base [ B ] up to Plan du Fou [A]. It's now all a single gondola between [D] and [A].
As ever, the angle of the photo' doesn't do justice to the steepness of the run down from Plan du Fou.
The area on the right marked out with an oblong frame is this:
Which perhaps does show the steepness/bumpiness better, given there's the (old) gondola in the picture to give a sense of scale. Both these were taken from the balcony of our apartment in La Tzoumaz, which you can obviously see from Plan du Fou and Prarion. The above with a 400mm telephoto lens.
This is the top of the itineraire from the balcony of the Plan du Fou café. Again, it doesn't really do justice to the steepness. The skier on the right is on the cusp of the actual edge from which you drop off.
Mt.Fort Glacier, 3300m
And just because I happen to have a shot of it in the same collection, here's the Mt.Fort glacier and mogul field. On the far right is the Col des Gentianes gondola station. From there you can ski off-piste on an itieraire down to Tortin. Last year they were running the zipwire descent from here down to Gentianes. To the left of the Col des Gentianes station you can take the long red run back down past the Cabin du Mt.Fort to La Chaux. A stop off at the cabin is worth it if you haven't visited before (and the weather is favourable). You can also stay overnight for a great sunset and some early tracks:
Cabin du Mt.Fort 2,457m
If you open the photo' in a new tab you can zoom in on it and see the Mt.Fort summit station on the ridge just to the right of the cabin's roof, and the red run down from Gentianes. Down below the balcony of the cabin to the right, is the La Chaux 'Jumbo' base station and in the distance, right across the valley are the runs of the Bruson sector, which you get to by going down to the Le Chable station.
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Sat 7-01-23 15:14; edited 11 times in total
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My vote goes to the Gentianes ski route. 
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