 Poster: A snowHead
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Unfortunately temps were only expected to drop from tonight until sometime Friday morning. Details on Friday wont be great until tomorrow when it will be within the timeframe of the high res models.
Poor 3 year old started his first ski class today in the pouring rain this morning, Combloux cancelled them but the kids in Saint Gervais had to suck it up.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| devilabit wrote: |
| Poor 3 year old started his first ski class today in the pouring rain this morning, |
Not at all ideal! Though I guess he was with a class of his mates which will have helped the atmosphere.
Why didn't they take them up to the magic carpet at Freddy?
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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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My four year old grand-daughter started her first ski school in the rain at Christmas, but fortunately there were only two in the group, it turned to snow half way through, fortunately. Came back freezing, and damp (second hand ski jacket soaked inside) but undaunted.
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| j b wrote: |
| devilabit wrote: |
| Poor 3 year old started his first ski class today in the pouring rain this morning, |
Not at all ideal! Though I guess he was with a class of his mates which will have helped the atmosphere.
Why didn't they take them up to the magic carpet at Freddy? |
They only teach the 3 year olds at Bettex, would be an ordeal and require many instructors to get them up to Freddys. They have to be able to carry their own skis etc before they do that. Bettex is good for the 3 year olds as its enclosed and safe but not ideal today.
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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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any idea if it turned to snow anywhere on the hill at all?
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We had an interesting day of skiing in Saint Gervais. Very reminiscent of our first day skiing here last January, in that we got very wet! Visibility was surprisingly decent, loads of new snow up top, but raining below around 1600m. Very quiet on the slopes which was lovely. I’ve skied in far worse, but hoping we get less wet tomorrow.
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My eldest goes out this week every year as its Uni week & he got rubbish weather last year as well.
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@lottie, very similar experience!! Looking at chamonix metro they are saying snow limit 1100 tonight and 1400 today so hopefully less wet!!
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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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Much nicer out today, snow all day, very heavy at times. Got over to cote 2000 from st gervais despite delayed start drying gloves off that were still wet from Thursday. Stade Descente was run of the day!
Sadly was raining about 1500m as we came back around 5pm but I think it’s snowed right down to StG during the day.
Just checking on the bus to jailett, we can get that without going on rocharbois? We just walk around to the road instead of to the rocharbois?
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Stade Descente Is a fantastic run. Love the first knuckle & the finish
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| kitenski wrote: |
| Just checking on the bus to jailett, we can get that without going on rocharbois? We just walk around to the road instead of to the rocharbois? |
Correct. Or down steps to left of gondola up Mont d'Arbois. Bus stop is same side of road, it's obvious when you get to the Le Jaillet gondola.
Yes Stade Descente fun, real feeling of being on a switchback.
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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 had a great day of skiing today. Pistes still quiet but snow was great. St Nicholas was fabulous (unexpectedly so), just a shame about the rain later in the afternoon. Fingers crossed for a dry day tomorrow - planning to head over to cote 2000.
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White weekend next weekend https://www.ski-saintgervais.com/en/white-weekend
Interesting day visibility wise, we saw the sun for two minutes at the top of Torraz around 1pm and then the cloud dropped and so did the visibility!
We got over to jaillet very quickly, but there was a sign saying the liaison to giettaz was shut at the top of christomet. The live map showed a pause sign and said low snow.
We did a lap of the button (the red was horrible heavy lumpy wet fresh snow) and a run down gypaete and when we got back up the sign had gone so we headed over. The reds were good, the blacks were unpisted with a breakable crust so skipped them! Not many lunch choices, ate outside at the snack bar and got cold! For future reference is the cafe at the top of torraz heated inside at all?
By the time we got into megeve and up Arbois you could only just about see one piste pole in front. I skied the red and black twice down to princesse. The snows good for most of the runs but brown and stony for the last sections on both runs.
My brother then nipped off early and tried to get into le spot at bettex around 3:45 and they said they weren’t letting anyone else in at that time! Strange way to run a business!
Hopefully we can actually see the area tomorrow, we are thinking of heading to cote 2000 again as suspect the views over there will be great if the sun does show and the snow was pretty good over there yesterday. We considered les c but my brother needs to return his skis in bettex before we goto gva!
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You know it makes sense.
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@kitenski, does sound interesting. In La Giettaz there is actually a nice restaurant about 20m behind the snack bar - leave your skis there and walk if you are going again. Or if you are a cheapskate (we sometimes are if we have a restaurant booking for the evening) there is a Salle Hors Sac the other side of the bottom piste, over a little stream.
We've never eaten in that shack (caravan) at the top of Torraz. On a clear day though the view from there is spectacular. As you say the blacks down from there are mostly unpisted and can be pretty severe, we learnt our lesson and stick to the reds.
Both the red and black down to the Princess mid station are really nice runs, but they won't be much fun if you can't see where you are going. Particular the black which swings from side to side. I don't know what it is about the bottom, I think it gets the afternoon sun from the west on warm days which makes it slushy and muddy. That sector doesn't have snowmaking, so there may not be much base.
Forecast says you should have a clear chilly day tomorrow. Cote 2000 doesn't actually do that well for views, but on the way you will have the top of Mont d'Arbois and Rochebrune which are better. (If you haven't done it, you might alternatively work your way along to L'Epaule and down to St Nicholas). The best vista is inevitably of the Mont Blanc massif, also good from Bettex if you have time for a final pint (best from the outdoor seating in the Fleche d'Or slightly up the hill rather than Le Spot, if you can put up with the higher prices).
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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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We spent the day over in cote 2000 today. Snow was amazing, visibility less so! It wasn’t terrible though, we could see where we were skiing but no nice mountain views. Had lunch at the restaurant at the top of pre rosset, which was as usual excellent. Headed back over to Saint Gervais and had an interesting run back down to better where we could barely see from piste marker to the next. My friend ended up off piste in a heap quite by accident as she just didn’t see the side of the piste, no harm done though. Looking forward to some sun tomorrow, planning to get straight over to cote 2000 for the morning then back to Saint Gervais for the afternoon to get up epaule, before heading back to Geneva at 6pm.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@lottie, how would you say the snow in the cote 2000 area compares to the st nic area? We’ve not skied down to st Nicholas nor done any runs in that area but also thinking like you that an early start over to cote 2000 would see the best snow!
@j b, I think we looked at the menu for that place just past the snack bar, seemed expensive and limited choice.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@kitenski, as I tried to imply you are paying for the vista rather than the menu. The food is OK but you can do better for less on the mountain.
And to be fair, @lottie's lunch stop is also on the pricy side, though a well located and pleasant stop. I always spend my time on the terrace there plotting how they might put in a link across to the part of Espace Diamant you can see across the valley.
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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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@j b, sorry I meant the place at the bottom of La Giettaz, not sure there is a vista there (well there certainly wasn’t today!)
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To be fair the snow in St Nic has been good this week, so if you’ve not been over there I would definitely recommend. It’s very pretty and usually quite quiet compared to the rest of the resort. We were over there yesterday and it was lovely.
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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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@kitenski, sorry I thought it was still about Le Spot and alternatives.
For that La Giettaz one, not a big menu but freshly cooked and good. Seemed usual mountain prices, but might have gone up this year.
Hope you have a good day tomorrow (@lottie too), we are keeping a close eye as we are out in a week. Temperatures rising a bit during the day I see, but hoping that doesn't do too much damage as long as there is no rain.
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Super skiing today. Heading over from SG to Cote 2000 first thing, lovely to see blue skies and sun. Back over to SG for lunch at the bottom of Freddy, then spent the afternoon in St. Nic before aiming back over to do Rare and Etudiants (lush reds which are always empty - we had them to ourselves despite the resort being relatively busy today) and heading back home. On the plane at Geneva waiting to fly home, it’s been a fabulous 4 day trip, we’ve certainly seen every kind of weather but got a lot of skiing done.
Anyone heading out this week is going to have great snow!
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@lottie, I was on etudiants about 2pm,
probably favourite run of today.
We discovered Marmiee as well this morning which was lovely and skipped the huge ski school queues at bettex. Was still pretty good later on with the cannons blasting. They were also running the cannons this morning on the St G home run.
The wind was howling at the top of Epaule. The black was unpisted but me and my 76mm wide GS skis made hard work of it!! St Nicholas was in and out of the sun this morning.
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Yes there are some good runs. Those reds off the Edutiants drag are great, they are real reds that reward you for the work you put in. Marmire does depend on conditions being good (it is quite low at the bottom) but enjoyable, and the little restaurant on it just above the Monts Rosset chair is a nice low key place for lunch.
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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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I dont want to be negative (the base is much better than last year at this point) but a word of warning is that the snow depends on the aspect and altitude. Some runs or parts of them can be very icy especially below 1600m after all the rain and then the freeze. The thin layer of snow on top is often very superficial and I saw a number of people going down yesterday even randomly on runs especially snowboarders and they werent beginners. Dont ever remember the home run in LC being so icy. The last bit of Chateluy as you come on to the red bit at the end was also lethal at the end of the day yesterday.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@kitenski, your photos are certainly atmospheric!
If you look carefully the ordinary piste map shows showshoe, cross country, and touring routes. It's just that they are dotted lines rather than the very much more obvious solid lines for pistes. Whether there are more doing it than in other places I don't know, but you certainly see people on the gondolas heading for those routes.
@devilabit, most people don't notice, but the designated green Chateluy piste doesn't actually join the red run (other than for a few yards) but crosses it towards a track through the trees that joins the very bottom of blue Finance. So in freeze-thaw conditions you can avoid the icy end of the red - but the blue bit gets pretty slushy by early afternoon in warm weather.
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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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Lovely up in Les C the last couple of days. Sunday was very busy - 13 coaches bringing ski clubs from all over the region - so pretty much anything sensible that didn't require skinning got skied out but the pistes are in great shape
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@jedster, I think half of the locals went up the hill based on the forecast and the subsequent queues coming down!!
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You know it makes sense.
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| j b wrote: |
| If you look carefully the ordinary piste map shows showshoe, cross country, and touring routes. It's just that they are dotted lines rather than the very much more obvious solid lines for pistes. Whether there are more doing it than in other places I don't know, but you certainly see people on the gondolas heading for those routes. |
Hmm, not on the app piste map (I try not to use the paper ones)
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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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@kitenski, to be fair it was a paper map a couple of years old, I have one hanging around the living room. They will have reprinted this year to include the new lifts linking down to Le Fayet.
I have never used the phone app (isn't it a faff, needing you to remove ski gloves?) but I could imagine they might expect you to click a different menu option for cross-country etc.
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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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| j b wrote: |
@kitenski, to be fair it was a paper map a couple of years old, I have one hanging around the living room. They will have reprinted this year to include the new lifts linking down to Le Fayet.
I have never used the phone app (isn't it a faff, needing you to remove ski gloves?) but I could imagine they might expect you to click a different menu option for cross-country etc. |
I remove gloves to unfold a paper map, so not more or less faff in my view!
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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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Does anyone know if there is luggage storage in Le Fayet station? I'll have 5 hours before I can check in to our Airbnb. Wondering what to do.
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Any ideas on what the forecast is looking like beyond next week, as far as predicting mountain weather is possible anyway? It’ll be my first time heading to St G at the end of the month and very excited and itching to go!
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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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@Chico, short answer: no. But we will be out then too so keeping our fingers crossed!
As far ahead as I can see from forecasts the weather should stay pretty cold and dry but ending up a few degrees above freezing on the lower slopes in the afternoon. I am hoping that won't have too much impact on the snow as long as there is no rain, but given the base is fairly thin anyway low down I am hoping they will use the freezing temperatures at night to make artificial snow.
@strmin, sorry no idea. You could perhaps phone tourist information to see if they know.
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@strmin, I don’t know about Le Fayet (you would have thought so bearing in mind the location and the new lift) but if not you can always leave stuff in lockers in St Gervais gondola station. Should be much extra faff taking them up and down as you will be in a gondola anyway. We are hiring some in a couple of weeks time. Here’s the link https://booking.myskicase.com/saint-gervais-chatelet
It might depend how big your cases are but they are 4-5 person in size so hopefully big enough and about €11/ day.
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You are not getting a case in those lockers
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| Jonny996 wrote: |
| You are not getting a case in those lockers |
Maybe I should have said it depends on whether you have cases or holdalls but take your point that they are ski lockers, so tall and narrow rather than wide, but they will need to be big enough for boards so might work depending on what the luggage is?
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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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Anyone up in Les C today? How are the pistes, icy/scraped or not really?
Considering using my Ski Découverte day tomorrow
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@j b, fingers crossed for cold weather like they had a week or two back. The pictures on their instagram all look great but I worry that without any additional snow it’s going to be thinning out by the time we get there.
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FAQ
