 Poster: A snowHead
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Careful what you wish for @AlIre2024..! We skied over to Peisey from 1800 a few days ago just after the last big snowfall. The pisteurs had clearly been out quickly thereafter to smooth out some of the key blue link routes.
Except whoever was driving the machine was totally deranged. They had forcefully scraped Plan Bois so smooth it was terrifying. I’ve never seen so many people slow to an absolute crawl as they feared to put in a turn!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
Today should be an all time classic day out there with fresh snow and blue skies, but it’s all to wall moguls already.
I don’t recall this issue at other French resorts.
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A friend of mine complained that the piste bashers were not out during the day while it was snowing to scrape the fresh snow away. I pointed out the danger of having huge machines crawing around the pistes while people were skiing on them.
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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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@johnE, having encountered a piste basher in Austria making an early run before the slopes were clear of skiers, I can vouch for it being terrifying and clearly not something you want to encounter.
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In the years before health and safety was a thing in the mountains I’ve often skied down from the Arpette night playing dodge the piste basher! It’s a lot more carefully controlled these days!
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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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In many years I've never seen a piste basher working on an open piste in France.
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@gendal, I also experienced this exact thing, must have been the same day! I think you can appreciate there is a happy medium!
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@sugarmoma666, but what about those who want the piste to be…piste?
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@johnE, not suggesting this happens during the day, but this latest dump of snow arrived well before lifts opened this morning. I’d also argue people would accept a delayed opening tl actually have piested pistes!
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@AlIre2024, I rarely get up for first lift. However, on a fresh snow morning I could easily be queuing as they open. I think you'd be in the minority in wanting a delay while they bash the lovely fresh snow into submission.
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@AlIre2024, the piste bashers start around 6.30pm, and finish around 8am. It's a full night's work. It's simply not possible to delay the start of the night's programme and still get the work done by 9am. Today, for example, it didn't finish snowing until around 6am. If they had started work then it they would have only done a fraction of what they normally do. Fresh snow getting mounded up as the day goes on is a fact of life in ski resorts, it's just something we have to deal with. If they delayed the lift opening just to bash a few more pistes there'd be a riot, with flaming ski poles and everything!
Best day of the season for me, so far. Not as much snow as 23 December, but unlike that day we had perfect blue sky so visibility was as good as it gets. How many people dream of overnight snow, then perfect sunshine during the day? That's what we woke up to. I was on the first TransArc but for some reason the top section didn't open at the same time as the bottom section, so I headed towards Vallandry initially rather than Arc 2000. First couple of laps on piste were magnificent - this is the bottom section of Myrtilles:
After farming some fresh tracks around the 2300 lift, then down Combe and Ecureuils via the Grizzly and Peisey chairs, I headed to Arc 2000 for some off-piste laps around Lanchettes (x1) and Varet (x2) plus a bit at the top of the bowl. As usual, the queue for Arcabulle was grim, but Lanchettes was empty and the Express lane on Varet avoided the worst of that queue. I met up with @JimW for lunch at Trois Saveurs (the American sandwich really is too big!) then a steady slide back to 1800 to rest my weary legs. It was a pretty full day even though I finished by 2.30pm. It's now clouding over with a bit more fresh snow in the near-term forecast. I'm heading back to the UK tomorrow for six days, so I hope piste conditions will be decent when I return next weekend.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| AlIre2024 wrote: |
Tough out there today. Bit of a bone to pick with the piste maintenance. Why don’t they look at the forecast and piste bash after the snow? Today should be an all time classic day out there with fresh snow and blue skies, but it’s all to wall moguls already.
I don’t recall this issue at other French resorts. |
I've always accepted that I have to learn how to ski what's on the mountain. 
Unrealistic In this environment to expect it all to be smoothed over immediately any change occurs.
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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'm jealous @rob@rar, I'll be back on March 9th for a week and again at the end of the month. In the meantime I'll check if the snow is as good in Niseko
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| johnE wrote: |
| A friend of mine complained that the piste bashers were not out during the day while it was snowing to scrape the fresh snow away. I pointed out the danger of having huge machines crawing around the pistes while people were skiing on them. |
I've never seen piste bashers working when the lifts are running, but very occasionally I've seen them being moved around the pistes if there's been some sort of change to their routine. This, for example, was 24 December this season, when the pisteurs were working hard to secure and open the Aiguille Rouge after the heavy snow of 22 & 23 December. These three bashers were out of place and I guess they needed to return to their garage after the extra work they had done on the Aiguille Rouge. As others have said, it's really a big deal when piste bashers are on a live piste. What isn't shown in this photo are the two or three snowmobiles with blue lights and sirens acting as outriders and four or five pisteurs on skis keeping people a safe distance.
If this scenario goes wrong it can be horrific.
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You know it makes sense.
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There are people with enviable life styles on this thread! 
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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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| johnE wrote: |
| In the meantime I'll check if the snow is as good in Niseko |
Have a great time. I'm itching to get back to Japan. Must plan something for the next season or two...
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Poster: A snowHead
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@rob@rar, you paint a lovely image, but you were done by 2:30. Yesterday was a like example of first to last lift skiing in excellent piste conditions.
I understand I need to improve to ski what’s on the mountain, but to say that it’s optimal to have ungroomed pistes is disingenuous.
The vast majority of skiers cannot skie confidently or safely on days like today.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
I understand I need to improve to ski what’s on the mountain, but to say that it’s optimal to have ungroomed pistes is disingenuous.
The vast majority of skiers cannot skie confidently or safely on days like today.
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I beg to differ, but IMHO it is the over bashed rock hard smooth pistes that are the more dangerous. It is after a long period of no snow and crowded pistes when most accidents occur and because the speeds are higher they tend to be more serious.
ps most of the pistes are bashed most nights. Only the natur pistes are left unbashed (with the exception of Combourcier which is rarely bashed)
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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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| AlIre2024 wrote: |
| ... but to say that it’s optimal to have ungroomed pistes is disingenuous. The vast majority of skiers cannot skie confidently or safely on days like today. |
I didn't say it was optimal. A lot of skiing takes place in less than optimal conditions. Poor light, highly polished snow, breakable crust, irregular doorstep shaped bumps, etc, etc, etc. But it is what it is, and we just have to cope with what the mountain gives us. Where I disagree with you is that it is somehow the resort's fault that fresh snow gets mounded up and some people find it difficult to ski. I've explained why it would be impossible to groom all pistes in time for a 9am start when it doesn't stop snowing until 6am. Some pistes were groomed early in the evening, some pistes were groomed late in the night (the short piste immediately outside my building had perfect corduroy this morning, for about 100m, so clearly this was late on the roster of pistes to be prepared, and was done after the snow stopped). Today was one of those rare days, that most skiers wish for, when it snowed late at night and then finished to reveal a blue sky for the opening of the lifts. But a consequence of that fresh snow is that the piste conditions change during the day as people make turns. In exactly the same way as if it had continued to snow during the day, when clearly "better grooming" is also not the answer. I think the answer is not to complain about conditions, but to adjust your skiing as best you can to cope with the challenge (maybe even enjoy it), and to improve your skills so that those kinds of conditions are easier to manage.
I fundamentally disagree that the vast majority of skiers were not skiing safely today because of the conditions. That's just plain wrong. The majority of people were skiing more slowly than they would have done on perfect corduroy, and many might have found the experience less than optimal, including me at times, but that's what skiing is like.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Sun 26-01-25 17:02; edited 2 times in total
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| AlIre2024 wrote: |
| Yesterday was a like example of first to last lift skiing in excellent piste conditions. |
Indeed, as I said above, yesterday was a very lovely day. But we'd be in trouble if we had a long string of days like that in January, with no snow and significantly above average temperatures. Piste conditions would get very polished, lower slopes would suffer significantly, stones would start to appear. It's the fresh snow which gives the pisteurs the opportunity to bring piste conditions closer to optimal, but when it snows there is often a day or two when things mound up, especially when it's not especially cold as the snow clumps together far more easily.
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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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@rob@rar, that's the sort of day's skiing I dream of.
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| sugarmoma666 wrote: |
| @rob@rar, that's the sort of day's skiing I dream of. |
The morning was pretty good, I have to say. Not perfect, but probably the most enjoyable for me so far this season.
Having said that, it’s not perfect by any means. My favourite off-piste pitch from the Varet gondola is still struggling with exposed rocks ridges as a result for the very high winds last month, so despite trying to spot rocks I still hit a few. That seems fairly common on a lot of the higher off-piste terrain so far this winter, so you need to ski more in gulleys and keep a close eye for hidden sharks. Lower pistes were a challenge after lunch, with very polished patches of snow being exposed between the bumps that had formed as the day went on. Skiing just outside the piste margin avoided some of the unpleasantness, but that wasn’t always possible.
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| rob@rar wrote: |
It was a very lovely day yesterday, with hazy sunshine and mild temperatures all day. Felt more like March than January, with pistes in excellent condition (at least above 1800m, where I skied).
Today looks like it will be an even nicer day. The first of this week's forecast snow arrived overnight, perhaps 15cm at 1800m, and the day has dawned with blue sky and a temperature drop from yesterday of about 13 degrees according to the local Meteo France weather station. Forecast is for clear sky this morning then gradually clouding over and an increase in temperature as the day continues, in advance of more snow Monday/Tuesday. I don't think heavy snow is forecast to fall this week, but hopefully some nice top-ups to already very good piste conditions. As seems too common, questions around where the snowline will fall will see whether the lower slopes get rain or snow. |
I think there's a fair bit of snow coming over the next couple of days.
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| SnowVillan wrote: |
| I think there's a fair bit of snow coming over the next couple of days. |
Yeah, just seen the most recent forecasts and there's going to be a lot of weather this week. Snow line looks too high for some of the time, but the upper slopes should benefit without too much damage to the lower slopes. Hopefully a decent snowfall will finally cover up some of the exposed rocks that introduced themselves to my ski's bases today.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| SnowVillan wrote: |
| I think there's a fair bit of snow coming over the next couple of days. |
Yeah, just seen the most recent forecasts and there's going to be a lot of weather this week. Snow line looks too high for some of the time, but the upper slopes should benefit without too much damage to the lower slopes. Hopefully a decent snowfall will finally cover up some of the exposed rocks that introduced themselves to my ski's bases today. |
Yes, I had a few rocky moments today, too.
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Bloody awful conditions today! Heading back home for a lazy afternoon.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@SnowVillan, Phew, justified my day off. What was the main issue? Visibility or snow conditions?
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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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We headed to La Plagne: wet and heavy snow, flat light, grey skies and hints of rain. Hope it was better for you @SnowVillan but doubt it.
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People braving it today?
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You know it makes sense.
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| AlIre2024 wrote: |
| People braving it today? |
Sadly I’m back in London for a few days, but from the webcams I suspect it will be a terrific day to be skiing around Vallandry, so think I missed a good one.
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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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Seems to be brightening up. Can anyone report on snow/vis conditions out in Les Arc today?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Looks like an awesome day on the webcams!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Was in LP again but suspect it was similar. Visibility came and went. Deep new snow to roll in and occasionally ski through. Great fun but I’m cooked.
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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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Tuesday was great ... but today has been stellar! Lots of new snow and beautiful bluebird day. So much offpiste skiing was available and duly skied! We don't get many days like this in the season, but today was definitely one of them!
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Yep. But knackered now.
But powder. So deep I stopped at one point.
I don’t think I’ve had a day like that before.
A very good day was had.
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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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| Wi11iam wrote: |
Yep. But knackered now.
But powder. So deep I stopped at one point.
I don’t think I’ve had a day like that before.
A very good day was had. |
Of course, we're knackered! There was so much to ski! 
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Hi all, I'm staying in La Plagne this week with a group of mixed ability skiers and we're planning to venture over to Les Arcs tomorrow. My partner is a beginner level skier and is keen to try her hand at her first red run.
Could someone with some local knowledge recommend one or two of the easier reds on that side of the resort? With all the snow in the last couple of days I'm conscious I don't want to take her down an enormous mogul field if I can help it. Ideally in the Peisey, Vallandry or Arc 1800 area for ease of getting back.
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@PrinceJohn, FWIW. If your partner is a Beginner, with only a few days under their belt - I would stay away from Red runs - as the risk of destroying any confidence that has been built up, is very high.
Les Arcs is great - but stick to easy runs. Taking your beginner partner on stuff that is too difficult is a recipe for disaster.....Been there; got the T Shirt.
Only do a Red run that the Instructor has taken her down first (with the class?), which will likely be in La Plagne.
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Sorry, she's not an absolute beginner. This is her third week skiing and has done ski school and had a fair few private lessons. I'm pretty confident she'd be able to handle (albeit a little slowly and carefully, no bad thing really) most reds that I've skied. It's just that I don't know the area as I've never been so I'm not sure what would be a good one to "break her duck" on.
The definitions of beginner, intermediate and advanced are always a little subjective!
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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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| PrinceJohn wrote: |
Sorry, she's not an absolute beginner. This is her third week skiing and has done ski school and had a fair few private lessons. I'm pretty confident she'd be able to handle (albeit a little slowly and carefully, no bad thing really) most reds that I've skied. It's just that I don't know the area as I've never been so I'm not sure what would be a good one to "break her duck" on.
The definitions of beginner, intermediate and advanced are always a little subjective! |
Fair enough.
I'll let some of the Les Arcs local  give advice.
FWIW with over 2 weeks experience including lessons, she is no longer a Beginner.
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You should try them out yourself first but two reds she might like are Clocherets (in the Arpette area between 1600 and 1800) and Arandelières (off Varet in the 1950/2000 area). The thing that works in the favour of both is that there is a blue diversionary route at the top of both, so if she doesn't like the look of the drop-in she can descend a bit on the blue and then rejoin lower as they widen and get a bit easier. So she gets to say she 'did a red' whilst also avoiding the bit that probably caused them to be graded red in the first place. (And they're both lovely runs to boot).
Alternatively, go up the (slow) 2300 lift in Peisey. The piste is super wide. Most of it is graded red, but I've never really been sure why. Indeed, I'm pretty sure that's where we spent most of our time with our group instructor when we were learning ten years ago.
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FAQ
