 Poster: A snowHead
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fatbob, nice work. if there is snow on the ground i reckon an nice small economy would be less scary
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brian
brian
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fatbob, good stuff, thanks. I have changed my Edelweiss booking already. I don't think I'm going to take my own skis (I'll probably just leave them in Switzerland for the winter) but either car scenario is fine by me.
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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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brian,
You are way too organised....we are going to have to give you a role, or be a task master of the day or something...
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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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JT, He's used to organising 2 small children - old habits die hard!! Do you and Graham N want me to introduce you to Francois during the Mondial? He doesn't live in LDA but might come over for a jar in the early evening. Let me know and I'll call him when I get home.
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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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Great idea Charlotte, anytime is good for me. Fatbob and DM/S are there for the weekend as you know, but whatever date you can arrange would be nice..
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brian
brian
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easiski, I'm hoping everyone can be trusted to look after their own passes on this trip
Incidentally, I know it's still months out but I wonder, since Graham reported Francois is good value and we'll be splitting his fees 6 ways, if we shouldn't book him for the Saturday as well ? We might be better placed for Sun/Mon if he's had a chance to assess the level etc. ?
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I wouldn't need too much persuading to get Francois for the Saturday too
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Anything else we want to ask....anyone got a route they want to do...?
I haven't done much research yet but I hear St Christophe is nice...but if everyone else has done it then we can hold that one back for later..etc..
Any ideas..?
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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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not sure we need to start specifying routes just now. there are a number of ways to St Christophe. i've done one from somewhere towards LDA which was a lot of fun.
www.skierslodge.com has pics of lots of the routes - couloir rama looks great and apparently is doable despite appearances! it's also on the St Christophe side
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brian
brian
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Arno, wow ! I've just spent a happy half hour watching little red lines snake down my screen. Assuming I can cope, I wanna do them all 
Seriously, I'm happy to give anything a go if the guide is happy to take me.
I don't have my own safety or climbing gear (well I might have a harness if I can find it), I'm assuming this will be easy to rent in LG ?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I'm good for the extra day's guiding. Arno pm'd you re Edelweiss. I'll book one economy car early next week & dig out the link again (on home pc) for brian/Arno to book the other.
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brian
brian
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They look good to me and very entertaining link... as long as I can film it...!!
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You know it makes sense.
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Think that's better than my rate by a £1 or so I think - do you want to book yours?
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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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JT, There are several routes to St Christophe. I think Arno's done the one from the top of Toura. I've done 2 routes from the top, they join after the first couple of pitches. It's pretty avalanchy though and you have to be careful. If the snow isn't prolific then you have to walk a long way from the bottom. I'll see if he can come up on Sat evening and have a chat with you. I'd say you ought to suggest routes you'd like to do, and leave it to him to pick the routes depending on snow and conditons etc. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Charlotte,
Saturday sounds fine for me.... I'm open to whatever he thinks and the rest of the guys think, not having seen the place in anger. Of course, everything rests on his decision on the day.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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brian, francois will almost certainly be able to supply a harness. if you don't have a shovel, bleeper etc, i don't think it will be hard to hire them in LG or francois will be able to supply
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brian
brian
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fatbob, did you see any mention of snowchains on your economy quote ?
I've been messing about with quotes just now and I see Hertz say that chains aren't available on cars smaller than compact. We're almost certainly going to get hit for chains/winter tyres as extras in which case a bigger car might be better ?
Europcar can do a standard estate (the example is a Passat estate) for £89
inc. chains for £113
inc. chains and winter tyres for £156
inc. chains and winter tyres and 2nd driver £173
The equivalents for an economy are £52/£76/£119/£137
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brian
brian
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Arno, thanks.
I don't have my own xcvr/shovel/probe, JT, could you ask Francois if he'll supply or would rather I hired ?
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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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brian,
Will do.....
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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brian,
Renting in France I assume there won't be chains as standard - I've a couple of old sets of which 1 would usually fit & I'd look to chuck in my ski bag. My experience is that its hard to get snow tyres specifically on hire cars outside Switzerland.
I have no strong preference re cars - it was more the ease of getting skis in without ski racks etc etc.
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[anti-jinx] I hesitate to say it for fear of being proved wrong but.... I'll be very surprised if we need chains to get up to LG. It is a pretty main road (as these things go) and they do a good job of keeping it open at least as far as LG. same goes for ADH, plus you can drive to one of the lower stations (Vaujany or Oz) if it is looking a bit hairy [/anti-jinx]
JT, bus from Lyon to LG won't be straightforward but bus to Bourg d'Oisans then taxi from there might well work
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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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Arno,
Thanks... LG being a bit of a backwater, thought a bus would not go that far
I will ask Charlotte about taxis when I am out there in a few weeks
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JT, I think there are about 3 buses a day between Grenoble and Briancon, stopping in La Grave. So it's doable but unlikely to be very convenient
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Arno,
I love the way you just flag a bird down to hitch a ride. 200eu...? not too bad, but as you say, needn't to make a habit of it.
Good pics. any from your Vid cam..?
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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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JT, the photos are from my video-cam. all the video from that trip is rubbish except some footage of the heli landing and the film of the flight (all 3mins worth). anthony the mountain guide seemed to have some sort of mental block about operating the camera, even though it is really easy. also, i hadn't realised that he has very unsteady hands, so what footage he took is all wobbly
the heli was a fun experience but I wouldn't make too much of a habit of it. i'm in danger of getting all hippy here, but landing on top of a mountain in a heli just isn't as aesthetic as climbing up it!
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brian
brian
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I've fired off an e-mail to a couple of Oisans taxi firms.
There is a Satobus transfer from Lyon to La Grave but the times aren't up yet. No use for a 10pm arrival but might be a return option. Mind you, I hate buses.
I think hire cars are still going to come out cheaper for a weekend, not so sure about the 8 days though.
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You know it makes sense.
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| brian wrote: |
| There is a Satobus transfer from Lyon to La Grave but the times aren't up yet. |
this is very useful information for another trip I am doing. thanks, Brian!
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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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brian,
Maybe we can think of all travelling to the village together...probably 6 of us, I imagine, and G and I can get the bus/cab back. I don't think a car in the village for 8 days sounds too good. Maybe I 'll wait until Graham checks in and states an opinion.
You can tell I have lost track of this thread... I'll go back and read it through...
For our 3 days, I don't quite know where we will ski. I assume a couple of days on the LG lift and whatever little gem Pascal has in mind.
The Rama looks hairy from the front-on pic - don't they all? - but if you think its a goer then we have two more routes to cover.
I'm waiting for a guide book to be delivered. I might take a walk over from the the L2A lifts when I am there. Am i looking for anything in particular...? I don't expect to see much from that vantage point tho'
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Poster: A snowHead
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JT, don't expect you'll be able to make out too much if you walk over - probably just a very crevassed top bit of the Girose Glacier, the top of the telecabine and maybe over to the Col du Lac. Maybe if you took a 1:25000 map with you, you could work out the lay of the land though. You'll get some good views though
I assumed that the Rama was super-gnarly but the bloke Easiski set me up with the do some off-piste last year said, "next time you come we must do the Rama". I had skied like a bit of a loser that day so I assume it can't be SO hard. Maybe it was just a clever bit of marketing though...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Arno,
All sounds good...
How many pixels does your still-pic have on your cam.. ? Looks perfectly acceptable...
I have 1.3 on mine, I believe, but I have not used it so it will be a bit hit and miss. My other efforts on an old JVC videoed up quite well so I am exepcting to beat that standard by quite a long way... (it didn't take easy-stills tho') I don't want to carry anything but my Vid-cam this year.
I hope to have quite a bit of interesting footage this season
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brian
brian
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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JT, 5 megapixels. I picked it because it is tiny, works well as a standalone camera (at least for outdoor use) and has (allegedly) DVD-quality video. It records on an SD card. All together it's a very handy piece of kit for someone like me - ie videoing for a bit of fun, not really expecting professional quality results. Only gripe is that there is no socket to plug a headcam into.
It's a Sanyo Xacti VPC(? i think) 5
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brian
brian
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Arno, "skier of the impossible", where have I heard that before ?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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brian,
I'm still aching from my BOSU/Swiss ball session last night so the most I am going to do is a few errands
Arno,
My video wil be fine.... but the stills I've taken indoors aren't lit very well from within the camera so I expect outdoors to be much better. But since I want to get video footage this year and the stills are a bonus, then we should get some usable stuff between all of us.
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I think hire cars for the weekenders will definitely be hard to beat. I would have though it would be fairly even for JT & Graham, for an economy taking into account extra flexibility & having a car for trips to ADH or L2A .
FWIW my bro & I will probably have a Sony mini DV between us (with AV in if anyone can scrounge a bullet cam)
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JT, I think we'd be stupid not to have a car. If the wind gets up or it dumps snow, LG will close and we'll be stuffed without a car (or forking out huge amounts for taxis). We'll want to get to Serre Che for a day or two, maybe a day in ADH - and we'll need a car for that, or be wasting hours on public transport. We'd also need chains or snow tyres or risk getting stuck on the Col de Lauteret (last year the minibus we were in was fine, but the punter cars were sliding all over the place - the flics may even have been stopping people without chains).
When it all fell apart last year, and I was looking at going by myself, I spent some time trying to work out how to get between Grenoble and LDA by bus for the long weekend. If you do that, basically you can't ski the day you travel. Getting in the time we will be, I can't believe there's any alternative to car hire. On the trip I ended up on (to LG), one guy had his gf come out part way through the week, probably on the same flight, and her taxi from Lyon to LG was about €300 one-way. They were City types, so used to big spending - but that was a bit beyond the pale even for them.
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brian
brian
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Taxi out comes in at £360 for 6. Taxi back about £290 for either 2 or 4. Bus back about £30 pp. So minimum £90 pp.
That gives GrahamN and JT £180 to play with for a car which should be fine, eg. 9 days Europcar economy with chains + additional driver = £178.
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brian
brian
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Hmmm, slightly interesting as Taxi-Oz weigh in with cheaper fares:
€255 for 6 people outward 23/2
€240 for 4 people return 26/2
€230 for 2 peple return 4/3
Plus he offers 10% discount giving €650 total.
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FAQ
, and the chains came off at the main road. On these lines, I am not sure what G and I are doing about a car...so maybe we can get a 3 and 3, we keep one and you go back as a 4...or we might be looking to bus it... I haven't thought about it. I could ask Charlotte in L2A if she knows of a taxi firm for Lyon to LG