 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi, off to Andorra next week, Grand Valira, I note on the piste map there are several rope tows
Can anyone with local knowledge tell me if these can be avoided or are they essential to gain height/access to certain runs/areas?
Reason for asking is my Mrs. hates them & as we all know, "Happy wife, happy life!"
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Russbost, "rope" tows? Really? Can't believe that.
It's not the Spital of Glenshee in 1978 you know!!
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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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Ooh a thread on classic acres the alps would be good… Zermatt, lech, vdi, not just beginners runs
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Several? The only one I can think of immediately is around Soldeu mid-mountain, to pick up a rise to continue toward El Tarter.
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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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There was one somewhere in Notre Dame de Bellecombe in the past - might be "modernised" now. It was a convenient way of getting up a bit of a hill between lifts. If my wife hasn't liked it, I'd have suggested she walk up..... it wasn't far. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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We got a new one in Tignes last year.
State of the art you know…
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| Orange200 wrote: |
| Several? The only one I can think of immediately is around Soldeu mid-mountain, to pick up a rise to continue toward El Tarter. |
There's that one. It's very flat and unless it's a howling headwind d you'd get 1/2way before having to grab it. There's another one but can't remember the location. It's short and you can get most I saw at new year. It's steeper but only short and you can get part way up by carrying speed down to it. I nearly got over unaided on a quiet day.
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I remember 3 from my trip. It depends where you are staying and how much you want to miss them! The one I used most often was the one on the piste from the top of Soldeu gondola heading to the fast chairs above El Tartar. If you get up enough speed, heading from Soldeu gondola, you can barely touch it or skate up the last of the uphill to the ridge. If you’re coming down Falco (best of the short blacks above), it gets right in the way and you have to use it.
There’s another on the other side of the top of the Soldeu gondola plateau (area signposted Espiolets) in the beginner area but you only need it to get back from a beginner tow so unless in beginnerish lessons, you’ll only need it to get out of a depression if you go the wrong way.
The 3rd one is just below Solana chairlift. It only comes into play on Serrat de La Posa or Obaga runs, you can take any of the other runs into this lift and avoid it.
The first one is completely avoidable but it’s a long detour, ski left instead of right from the top of Soldeu gondola, Solana then Assaladors will also take you to the top at Llosada. Assaladors is a slow lift though so it’s a much slower route.
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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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Some of these rope tows are pandering to the extreme idleness of we modern-day downhill skiers who never walk uphill. Reminds me of the old sailing adage that "Gentlemen don't sail to windward". Personally I would never grumble about any contraption which saves me having to walk uphill carrying skis!
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We used a rope tow in Meribel this year. I think it was near the Golf course
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The rope tows in the Grandvalira area are very short and not very steep,
The one on a beginner slope, is unlikely to be needed.
The one between Soldeu/Espiolets and El Tarter is almost flat, just there for the lazy and can easily be bypassed by poling/skating.
The one as you return from the Grau Roche side is steeper but very short, 50m ish
They are all there so skiers can avoid walking/sidestepping up short uphill sections, too short to install a full scale lift and can easily be walked or side stepped instead
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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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I think Steve Angus was saying the other day that the rope tow above Solaise Val Disere is missed.
Allenheads still use a rope tow on their ski field and so did Lowther Hills. Theirs was one of the former Harwood Common tows, just round the corner from Yad Moss. The rope tows at Yad Moss and over on Raise we’re eventually replaced in 1988 and 1989. Raise has since developed a portable tow to extend their skiing down the hill but I don’t think it has been used so far this year.
The rope tows did have a few advantages but I don’t miss having to dig them out of the snow 
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There was one on the glacier at L2A last time I was there.
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You know it makes sense.
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There are at least a couple in La Plagne. From Arpette heading for Les Coches (which is actually two in succession), and part way down the top part of Levasset.
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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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I used a rope tow at Ruapehu, New Zealand, one day - on a mad stopover, with a colleague, on a work road trip from Auckland to Wellington. I persuaded him to rent skis and go on the excellent protected beginner slope, with a rope tow. You had to hold on with your left hand and we went up it lots of times. The next day, at a meeting in Wellington, I could feel the relevant muscles stiffening up big time. But we couldn't let on that the reason we'd missed the official dinner the previous night was because of a stop over at Ruapehu, so I kept quiet about it.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Rope tows won't be a problem. Sh*t snow might be. Conditions are dire currently. Pray for snow
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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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@ElzP, 
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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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| Russbost wrote: |
Hi, off to Andorra next week, Grand Valira, I note on the piste map there are several rope tows
Can anyone with local knowledge tell me if these can be avoided or are they essential to gain height/access to certain runs/areas?
Reason for asking is my Mrs. hates them & as we all know, "Happy wife, happy life!" |
I am not sure whether you are referring to rope tows or surface lifts, so let me clarify both in Andorran context.
There are some rope tows. These are the ropes which you hold onto, to get you over a typically flat area. There are two flat areas ones, that spring to mind. One is in Arcalis, to get people on the big green run out of the La Coma area. THe other is at the back of El Tarter to get people from the top of the Soldeu area into the El Tarter area. There is also one in the Solana that is not flat and for that one you basically need a bit of speed to go through the dip and up the other side to get to the TLC. It then pulls you up to where the chairlift is. The slope is not that steep.
You can avoid using all of those is you are willing to skate (or side-step up).
As to surface lifts, most of them are button lifts. From memory there is only one T-bar in GV which can be avoided by taking the chairlift next to it.
Most of the button lifts are convenience lifts, and you don't need use them. The only three that I can think of that is mandatory is:
- The mild connector in Pal between the Cubil and Coll de Botella areas
- The backway between Grau Roig and Peretol (Actually this can be avoided too, uf you don't want to avoid crowds).
- The two pistes in the Montmalus area in Grau Roig.
Just a word of warning: Some of the button lifts that a solid metal pole, can give you quite a pull at the start, sometimes taking you airborne. Some of those button lifts go up st-e-e-e-e-p slopes and might even have a dog leg in them
HTH
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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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@ysb33r, the one to take you to the top of Arinsal gives me a proper wedgie!
The montmalus one is fairly gentle though.
There’s a second T-bar at Grau Roig too. At the top of the Coma Blanca chair out to a little side section to two blue runs. It probably won’t be running this week though.
The tow ropes are all avoidable and very gentle. The one that you might use more often is over near the Solana chair. The snow probably isn’t good enough at the moment to have enough speed to ski to the top.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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The button lift up the side of Oreneta really does give you a shock!
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| hammerite wrote: |
@ysb33r, the one to take you to the top of Arinsal gives me a proper wedgie!
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@hammerite, there is a trick to it. When you put it through your legs push it down further so that there is a gap between the button and your backside. So when that initial pull comes, you take the weight on your arm. THere after it can return to normal placement. I find it less stressful on the lower back as well if I I do it that way.
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@ysb33r, I shall try that in future. Most of the time I just use the chair though!
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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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The old skills of using a drag lift are slowly dying out. There are fewer opportunities these days and most people will choose a lift over a drag, where there is a choice. The invention of snowboarding forty years ago has hastened the end of drag lifts (and rope tows) and with that the practice needed to master them.
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| Russbost wrote: |
Hi, off to Andorra next week, Grand Valira, I note on the piste map there are several rope tows
Can anyone with local knowledge tell me if these can be avoided or are they essential to gain height/access to certain runs/areas?
Reason for asking is my Mrs. hates them & as we all know, "Happy wife, happy life!" |
Are you there yet? 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
The old skills of using a drag lift are slowly dying out.
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Similar happening in the world of sailing. The skills of mooring up between piles are definitely dying out - I did it in Yarmouth, IOW, on a Coastal Skipper course but that was years ago and I'd really struggle to do it now, with any kind of tide running. The piles at Yarmouth have been replaced with easy pontoons!
But I'm OK with drag lifts - just need to ready to engage core muscles, stay upright and not let your torso be left behind by that initial jerk.
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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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Somewhat belated I know, but just thought I'd do an update on this. To clarify, the original post was purely about rope tows, not buttons/T bars
So far as we ever found (though skiing was a little restricted due to lack of snow, closed lifts/runs etc.) there are just 2 rope tows, when we first arrived we found we were able to ski/skate fairly easily past the one between Soldeau/El Tarter (Gal de Bosc area if memory serve correctly), however as conditions deteriorated through the week we were forced to use it or have a long walk/push as you simply couldn't pick up any speed off the plateau, the other also around the Soldeau area IIRC was somewhat steeper & couldn't be avoided even if you approached at maniac speed!
Neither were actually that bad & she coped with them without much whinging!  I don't think they'd bother many people
It's a real shame that conditions were as rough as they were, loads of snow had been forecast for the previous week, hence our booking, but never materialised thus leading to the many closed runs, very thin snow etc., had the area been anything like fully open, it would have significantly exceeded our expectations, but I'd certainly go back there - maybe not so late in the season though unless I knew they already had high snow depths!
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@Russbost, it's a great ski area so shame about the conditions. If it makes you feel any better, most other places were suffering in the same way at that time - a lot of places hadn't had snow since about late Jan! Ironically it chucked it down at the start of April (at least across the Alps it did), so maybe this year later would have been better!
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