Live TR La Thuile 15/1-22/1

A snowHead

I’ll try and find time to do daily reports over the week.
TO a holiday with Crystal to Hotel du Glacier in La Thuile on BB basis, single room for just myself
Flew from MAN at 07.55 this morning, check in busy but move it well, although I’d checked in on line on Friday, they made everyone use the snakes queue, then at the end if it asked if you had checked in on lone, if you had they redirected you to the self serve bag machines and drop, can’t think why as it made the queue bigger. It only took 15 mins from arriving so no issue, then on to the longer queue for security which took about 20 mins to get to the front, I sailed through without any issues.
Flight boarded on time and left within its window, landing in TRN at 11.15.
Queue for passports moved quickly whilst being busy, I took the left hand lane which was for the auto readers, they seemed quicker than the manual check lines, and then a quick stamp of the passport done.
Bags took a while to come through 35 mins or so, at which point I noticed that my well loved Zamberaan Gortex boots had decided to start shedding their soles, I had to walk gingerly to the transfer bus to try and keep them intact and functional !
Transfer bus left within 15mins, however the journey was longer than expected due to a recent landslide on the road up from Pre St Didier to La Thuile, meaning uphill traffic has to take a smaller route from Morgex, it’s quite narrow with lots a hairpin bends, the rain in the valley turned to snow as we increased in height, and the driver stopped to put on chains for the descent down in to La Thuile.
Checked into the hotel and then went out to pick up my hire skis, and hunt down some new boots, as I have only brought the one pair plus crocs ( no comments please ! ) for inside, €95 lighter and I have have a nice new pair of boots.
First impresssions of the hotel are very good, it’s very clean and cosy.
Off odt now for some dinner and will add that on my return.

A snowHead

@geoffknight, keep up the reports. I love reading them

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Stayed in Du Glacier a few years ago. Excellent B&B. Loved the Owner, Suzanna. Any questions about the town, or dinner bookings required, go to her.
Enjoy the skiing.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Monday 16th report.
I’ll start with dinner last night, the hotel owners booked a table for me at La Tata which is the nearest to the hotel, after an early start I didn’t fancy too much walking. Very nice meal, I have a pizza, simple but a proper wood fired one, really tasty and well cooked, a small beer and 25cl of house wine, rounded off with a tiramisu.
The weather from yesterday is still hanging around today, and with a vengeance, snowing but calm at resort level, once up at the start of the ski area, it was heavier snow, 100m or so of visibility and about 15km winds, not all runs or lifts were open, so I opted to lap the Chalet express lift 8-9 times between a blue and a red, the red was difficult in places due to the poor visibility before stopping for a coffee at Chalet Foyer €2 for a cappuccino, brilliant value, as the wind was picking up and the visibility getting worse. Conditions didn’t change after coffee, after one more lap on the blue I opted to see if the runs down to the village were any better, the only runs that were open were either red and black which I found to be hard work in the poor visibility although it was out of the wind making that more comfortable, once I got down to the village, I decided to stop for lunch and hope that the visibility improved. I then got back on the mountain just after 2 o’clock. I took the gondola back up to the start of the ski area, and as the lift increased in height the visibility diminished, the notice board was showing visibility as poor, and a number of runs and lifts had been shut since I was there earlier, so I took a quick look outside to see for myself and it didn’t initially look too bad and decided to do another couple of laps and see how I would get on, I went back inside and got properly dressed for the conditions as it was still as windy as earlier and the snow was heavier. Once I was all wrapped up in my kit I went back outside only to be hit by an increase in wind and significantly reduced visibility, marker poles were disappearing, which maybe decide that as it was my first day and I was skiing solo the sensible thing to do was to turn right around and take the gondola back down to base call it a day, not wanting to either hurt over over exert myself on day 1 so that I can ski for the rest of the week when this flipping weather system decides to disappear and give me some much-needed sunshine. I decided on a quick pitstop and had a Bomba Dino before returning back to the hotel. Walking back to the hotel confirmed my decision, the wind and visibility were worse than earlier, it would have been pretty miserable up top.
Dinner is booked for La Tata again, and the snow is still falling, forecast shows similar for tomorrow, starting to clear away on Wednesday, I’ll be really happy if that forecast happens quicker, please, please please snowHead

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Pleased to read that Du Glacier hotel is still going strong. Perhaps the most charming hotelier in the Alps! La Thuile can be a bleak place in poor weather and I think Geoff made some sensible decisions in the conditions.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Tuesday 17th report
The forecast report of the weather been saying today as yesterday was absolutely spot-on I woke at 7 o’clock looked out the window and it was still snowing heavily, I decided to rest for a little bit longer and then went down to breakfast at 8.30. Out of the breakfast room window I could see it was continuing to snow heavily so I decided to wait a while before heading out onto the mountain. Eventually headed out at 11 o’clock went up to the base station and the visibility wasn’t too bad, there were only 3 lifts in operation from 2200 today, Chalet, Chas Dura and Argillien expresses, I did a couple of laps on the Chalet express lift on the second lap the visibility deteriorated very quickly to how it had been yesterday, I decided to pop inside the café for a coffee and whilst there the weather improved slightly then worsened and the visibility decreased so much so to barely 10 yards visibility. I decided to have a bite to eat to see if it clear but at 2 o’clock there was absolutely the only change was that the wind increased further reducing visibility so I downloaded once again. Forecast for tomorrow is for the weather to improve, here’s hoping, I’m booked into the same restaurant again tonight as I don’t fancy walking too far again and it’s a nice place to eat. Looking out the window its still snowing but has eased off, a good sign I hope.

After all it is free

Gosh - not a great day! Hope it improves and you enjoy your supper. snowHead

Snow and poor visibility isn't always fun to ski in but it's much better to have it towards the start of your skiing week - which appears to be the case with you.

Hopefully the sunshine along with fresh snow later in the week will make it worth it!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Wednesday 18th report
Well what a difference a day makes, I woke at 7:30 this morning and looking out the window I could see that there was no snow falling and the mountains opposite the hotel were actually visible, things were looking promising after 2 days of poor weather for skiing.
After breakfast I headed off to Only Ski Express where I have hired my skis and their the locker room where I store my skis, changed and went up on the gondola to the base of the Ski are, I initially dropped down onto the Chalet express lift and did a quick run back down to it, then back up one more time, from there head across to the Argillian express lift which when looking at the map is the furthest on the left hand side, and when I have skied here previously during school half term it’s been the quietest area of the resort, from the top I then did the red run back down to its base. The sun whilst it was out was fighting with a large layer of cloud over towards the French border, and it was just about poking over the top of the cloud line, during my 2nd ride up the Argillian lift I noticed that the resort has started to open up a little and that the Chaz Dura express was now running right to the top, I skied down to it and joined it at the midstation where you can access it if there is an empty chair coming up. From there I did a couple of laps of the reds which run down from there turning onto the blues on the way back down the start of the Chaz Dura, after doing this a couple of times I took a quick look over towards the French link to Le Rossier and could see that the Belvidere lift was running which made me think that the Fourclaz would also be running by now so I droped down to the top of it however it wasn’t running so I decided that as there was still the heavy line of cloud threatening to come across I would stay within the lower parts of the ski area in Italy and after a couple more laps, I stopped for a coffee as the weather had started to close in and also to warm up touch as it was well below zero and quite cold. After the coffee and warmup when I came out the clouds had lifted and it looked a lot better, so I then did more laps up and down the main area using the four chair lifts that were open today, just before 2 o’clock the weather started to close in and the also wind started to pick up, I decided to have a bite to eat in LA Foyer Hut, and whilst I was there the weather continued to close in, after having finished my lunch I decided that as the weather looks good for the next three days I would call it a day for today and took one more run down to the top of the main gondola and then back to the village, rewarding myself with a Bombardino.
During all of my enjoyment today the slopes were incredibly quiet in the main, I only shared one lift all day, solo skiing in its literal sense!
I have ski tracks app on my phone, today was the first time that it was worthwhile actually turning on and recording the activity and it tells me that I skied for a duration of three hours 29 minutes, 27 kms and 11 runs, it would’ve been more accurate if I had turned rather than a couple of laps in.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@geoffknight, have stayed at the Glacier too. Excellent coffee if you ask for it at breakfast, rather that the standard pot.
Pepita is a lovely restaurant, same side of the river as you. In the rather inauspicious setting next to the filling station. La Lisse is cheap and popular with the Italians, good honest fayre, their raclette is a bargain. Nothing wrong with Lo Tata though!!

snow reports

Nice report and update….it’s been so many years since I skied there. Good memories snowHead

There used to be a fabulous piste side restaurant, I think it was by piste no. 7 and/or 8 (to the right of Chaz Dura?). I can’t for the life of me remember the name but, it wasn’t overly large with a charming terrace to the front. Adjacent was a public loo that was, without doubt, the cleanest public facility I’ve seen in my entire life Laughing

In spite of snow being tramped in etc etc etc, it looked like an attendant must have gone in for a quick clean up after every visit Shocked

Hope the weather stays good for the remainder of your trip snowHead

@Cacciatore, I think your referring to Roxy’s bar, at the foot of the Fourclaz lift on run 7.

You know it makes sense.

Thursday 10th
Wall-to-wall sunshine and squeaky snow! I woke this morning to clear skies and very cold temperature forecast, initially I took the gondola up to the bottom of the main ski area and then took the Chalet express as a warmup run. After this I dropped onto the Chaz Dura express and did three or four laps from the top to the midstation +1 all the way back down to the start of it as the mid station was busy with people trying to get on. I had noticed at the start of the day that the information board has shown that the Fourclaz lift was due to open, so having done the laps I dropped down to the access point to the runs that use the Fourclaz, and initially took Route seven which involves a long shush and then a little bit of polling to get over a slight brow. I found that there was very few people in this area and the wind here was very very strong, with a lot of wind blown snow on top of the prepared pistes which was great fun, I then took run 7A down towards the base of the Fourclaz lift opposite Roxy‘s bar, I had the whole run to myself, something I’d normally enjoy and seek out but with the wind being very strong I decided to take lift back up as I didn’t feel it was the safest place to be as a solo skier, potentially, if I had fallen I’m not sure if I’d of been recovered before being covered by wind blown snow, not a risk I wanted to take on my own! I then stopped for a cup of coffee, and a warm up, the feel like temperature today was showing at -17 in the wind, and it certainly was feeling that cold, I had multiple layers on my top half of plus thermals under my salapettes +3 neck warmers of varying thicknesses including a very warm fleece lined balaclava, they were all needed! After coffee I continue to do laps in the main ski area utilising various lifts, stopping for lunch about 1.30pm again as it was cold and I was in need of some sustenance and to warm up. After lunch I put another hour or so in before my legs started to tell me that it was time to call it a day for today and save them for hopefully two more days of the similar fantastic weather conditions that I’ve had today. It continues to be very quiet on the mountain in most of the areas where I was skiing most of the lifts I I took I was only person on them once again. I covered 29 kms, over 14 runs in 3 hours 53 mins ski time, speed also recorded but I don’t use it to see how fast I’ve been, by head and legs tell me all I need to know.
Dinner tonight is one again at Lo Tata, they are happy to take a booking for a single, and I’m not sure my legs want to try coming back up hill after eating and skiing.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

So glad you had a good day in the mountains, finger crossed for the rest of the week, I am sure won’t be that quiet on Saturday, enjoy whilst it last.

A snowHead

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Friday 19th
Well it was just fantastic today, another day of wall-to-wall sunshine and squeaky snow, still incredibly cold on the mountain with the weather app showing a -17c. I made a reasonably early start, for me at least skiing by 10 o’clock this morning, starting off with the Chalet express taking in and a couple of warm up laps, and then dropping down to the Chas Dura for a couple laps of the runs running off there. I decided to go over towards La Rossier and explore that area of La Thuile, but not intending to go into France itself, but as things transpired, I kept going and going towards France and lo and behold I ended up in France where I stopped for a cup of coffee and a lovely blueberry tart which I haven’t seen here in Italy it’s one of my favourites, no so impressed with the prices though, Italian Cappucinos €2 French €4.50.
I also found that the Italian slopes are significantly quieter and in better condition than the French. After having my coffee and cake I headed back over to the Italian side and explored the runs off the San Bernardino express and Fourclaz lifts which were both open today, however tun 7 down to Fourclaz I found really quite difficult to negotiate as they had a lot of wind blown snow on the piste with were quite high ridges of windblown snow running across the piste at times make it very difficult to navigate.

Having done a few laps I’ve called into Roxy bar for lunch wanting just a sandwich and found out that they now only do proper meals, which whilst look lovely were not what I was looking for. I decided to go back over to the main bowl and stopped off in one of the restaurants on the mountain at about 2 o’clock. After lunch I did a few more laps in the sunshine but had to use the Chalet express lift as the Chaz Dura had technical issues and was not running. As the sun started to disappear from the pistes my legs also decided to tell me it was time to finish after a couple of twinges in both my knees and my thighs, and finished about 3.45pm, rewarding myself with a small beer in the sunshine at the top of the gondola. I hope that the Chaz Dura is running again tomorrow as there will be an influx of local skiers from making the area much busier, it was still incredibly quiet today something which I really enjoy, and is one of the reasons why I love skiing in Italy so much. Stats for the day show that I skied 31.2 km, 17 runs and a duration of four hours and 22 minutes.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

@Cacciatore, proper meals only now, it was rammed and fully booked at 1.30, it looked very nice, but more than I was looking for today.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Harrow lady, I’m hoping it won’t be too bad, the main road up from Pre St Didier had a landslide recently, most traffic is having to use a smaller route out of Morgex taking much longer, Ive just had notice my transfer pick up on Sunday is 6.25 for a 12.25 flight out of Turin Sad

You'll need to Register first of course.

Saturday 20th
Final day on the slopes, booo, still very cold, and clear skies on waking up.
I was on the mountain a touch earlier with it being Saturday and expecting it to be busier with weekend a day trippers.
Slightly more of a wait to get on the gondola, but once up on the mountain it wasn’t really much busier than the weekdays.
I did my usual warm up off the Chalet Express lift then headed over to do some runs off the Argilian Express, which was lovely and quiet and in great condition, the Arnouvaz was open for the firs time in the week, I dropped down on to it, a boring red road through the trees, then took it back up, there were only 2 runs open down to it, from the top I took run 31 a red, from above it looked really inviting, it had hardly been skied and loads of untouched corduroy, my favourite, and it was great, although on the short side, would have loved it to be twice as long. A few more laps on Argillian followed before a coffee and cake stop. I then continued to lap around Argillian as it was very quiet, until stopping for lunch, I found it to feel colder on the mountain today than the rest of the week.
The weather started to close in with light could cover, so a few more laps after lunch, and I then called it a day as my legs for getting tired and lazy mistakes started to appear in my skiing.
Skis dropped off at the rental place, a great week and finished it intact.
I’ve not mentioned to hotel much, I would rate it very high for what is classed as a simple BB hotel, it was spotlessly clean throughout, a nice little bar for the evenings, and very quiet I slept really well throughout. It’s a little bit of a walk to get the restaurants in the evening, but certainly not far enough to stop me returning.
It was a 6 min walk down hill across a snowy field in the morning to get my skis, and then a further 1-2 mins to the gondola, 10 seconds to the chair uplift.
I’m sat in TRN airport now waiting for my flight, the inbound has been delayed 2 hours, I’m happy to see that the airport isn’t as manic as it was last January, I have a seat and have had some breakfast. The transfer to the airport was much quicker as the bus was able to use the road down to Pre St Didier.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Really enjoyed reading your reports geoffknight, thanks for posting them snowHead

After all it is free

@Cacciatore, thank you, I’ve enjoyed doing them.
Flight was eventually delayed by just short of 10 hours, plane went tech as we were leaving the stand, couldn’t be sorted so we had to wait for a replacement one to come over from Gatwick. I’ll now look up on how to claim compensation for the first time, not bad really at 62, reckon I’ve been lucky so far.

@geoffknight, thanks for the reports. Brought back some great memories, having stayed in Glacier Hotel a few years back. Sorry you had it a bit tough with the weather. We were lucky enough to get away with just one afternoon of bad stuff and really lived up to its name if ‘Little Siberia.’

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

@geoffknight, thanks for the TR, still undecided if La thuille is a good option for us. We love to ski blue slopes and to clock miles. Can you ski to other resorts using public transport? I read somewhere The pass to French side is often closed due to winds if that is the case it would make the resort very small. Puzzled

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@Harrow lady, Good question, the link to La Rosiere does close in high winds but that’s pretty much the same anywhere, ie the Grand Massive. I met a few people at the airport on the way home who had been to Cervinia last week, they lost 2 full days due to high winds on Friday and Saturday, La Thuile was beautiful on those days.
On a standard Aosta pass, you get 2 days on any other resort on the Aosta valley, or there is a pass which is a touch more expensive that covers all Aosta resorts, which is great if you have a car, La Thuile, Courmayuer,
Ila, Monte Rosa, Cervinia, plus the smaller resorts. We have had this pass previously when I went with my wife and son, we stayed in Courmayuer, skied there 3 days, 2 in La Thuile and 1 in Pila, and really enjoyed the variety. Without a car, it’s not so practical, although there is a direct local bus between La Thuile and Courmayuer, and to Aosta for Pila with a change in Pre St Didier.

snow reports

@geoffknight, Thanks for the ongoing trip report! I'm going for our kids' first family ski holiday in Feb half term and it was great to read about conditions. With a 6 and 8 year old, I can't imagine we'll be having too many 10am starts...

@parttimer, you’ll have a great time, it’s a great area for young kids as well as old uns Very Happy

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@EdYarker, How long is the bus journey Ed?

A snowHead

@Charliegolf, It’s approx 20-25 mins depending where you get off in Courmayuer or Dolonne lift

A snowHead

@Charliegolf, It’s approx 20-25 mins depending where you get off in Courmayuer or Dolonne lift

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Cheers, @geoffknight,

Help!!

Live TR La Thuile 15/1-22/1

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Resort Reviews and Trip Reports