One of my Dutch countrymen thinks of coming to Serre-Chevalier.
Obviously I can only encourage that
He wants to go 2nd or 3rd week of March. Asking me about chances of the Tabuc being open.
I've been to SC 3 times, but 2 times end of January, and the 3rd time mid-march. It was open all times, but I may have been lucky.
What is your experience on valley descends, mid march?
I think Prorel will probably be closed below mid station, but the rest should be doable in a normal winter, right?
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I all I am in the Valley this week anyone up for social snowboarding to show me all the secret stashes?
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?
@Onnem, Tabuc is an interesting one as it's basically an off-piste run (never pisted), and they often show it as closed as it can get a little gnarly in the mid section with not very friendly terrain.
I once made the mistake of taking a daughter down there, who whilst she was a competent skier was not up to the physical combat skiing of it and she really threw her rattles out of the pram and still talks about it.
If you happen to get fresh snow and you've gorged yourself in the trees of Cibouit and then ignore the snow-grouse area then it's the only way out and sometimes it's easier to ski in the trees than the actual piste. That said I have had some glorious first tracks down there after a good dump, but it needs a good dump to cover all the bumps.
Plus if you ski Montagnolle you end up having to ski the lower section but that is quite a joy after the Montagnolle single-track run-out
Mid March all the runs to the Valley are still good, though Prorel Briancon might be a tad bare, but they do a good job keeping it open.
On a day like today normally I'd go XC but the lungs are still not good and get easily agitated with the cold air, even walking the feckin dogs!
Depending on what forecast site you look at there's almost a chance you might not now see the Sun till Thursday, though hopefully a 10cm+ top up Tues/Wed.
@Weathercam, how is tabuc at the moment?
We're here for 2 weeks staying nr Aravet chair.
Pylons and casse du bouef were both very nice today with good snow and enjoyed the unpisted reds Rocher de l enfer.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Took Tabuc down yesterday. It's mogul-y, icy and bare in parts, holding onto snow well though considering. It's a nice, unique waymarked run. If it snows low enough in Monetier tomorrow it'll be worth a go over the next day or two
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@Weathercam, great piste conditions though, right? Montgenevre yesterday was very nice and most of the Italians were racing and so were obviously focused on the race tracks!
Turns out that the 5-10cm in Monetier was 15-20 in Sestriere and Sauze. Loads of easy slack country bits today and I'd imagine that with just a small bit of effort, there are some fantastic runs still to be had. Don't tell the La Grave lot...
@leggyblonde, some of the Swedish gang were based in Cesana last week and scored some epic days, judging by the photos I was being made to look at yesterday
They had some quite convoluted logistics, though that was alleviated by having two vans.
I should go and investigate Les Fonts with the e-mtb when the weather clears.
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.
Interesting conditions out there today! Blowing hard on prorel side but nice fresh snow in spots just off the top. Clot Gauthier area was very cruddy, expected more... Snowing heavily above Le French snagged a few nice runs there. Didn't make it over to Monetier but fun conditions hoping it continues to snow hard throughout the afternoon
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I'm just back from a quick ski tour up Vallons Fontenils, viz was a tad challenging on the descent but thankfully I know the options very well, a group of four who skied down just after me were nigh on 30 mins behind me, as I left the parking they were just coming back!
Lucky it was their skin track I used going up, but I then put my own in as wasn't happy with the route they were taking as a tad exposed.
But have to say had to work hard to find uber smooth untracked, never known it like that, must be the LG effect again, hopefully another 10-15 will fill them in, then maybe back up there tomorrow with the OH if viz is better?
And a postscript, OH decided to run with Ullr to Monetier as I left the parking at Boussardes so we hooked up at Sno for a well earned bowl of soup and a bunch of Swedes came in some who had been on the 08:30 first lift looking very dank, they'd been skiing hard from the sounds of things with at least a couple of Tabuc's and one dude raving about the Salomon Echo 106's he was testing, a freeride rando ski which he was going to buy and stick Shift's on.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Minimalistic dusting overnight
Just hope that it carried on snowing, enough to cover tracks in Fontenils, after I left yesterday.
Did suggest to OH to do a first-lifts from Monetier at 08:30 for a couple of pow on pistes runs and then go touring but that didn't appeal.
So it's back to Boussardes again.
Weather is clearing here from the looks of things so will be good here up the hill.
Hopefully slack-country stashes will wait till tomorrow
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.
2 days ago I was looking at the weather for next week and thinking it would be quite chilly most days, now it's swung to mild and mostly sunny the whole week. Who knows what we'll actually get??
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@Snowtunes, yes indeed, could well be Spring conditions the way the forecast is looking currently.
As for today went back up Boussardes with KenX and the OH hoping for better conditions than yesterday, but we also wanted peace and quiet away from the hordes and hopefully a good ski.
Snow and viz was better for the climb, though again the snow was a little on the heavy side making for hard work when breaking trail after I'd lost the skin track (skied over by others), and had a bit of glopping going on (see amusing video below), which is the most frustrating aspect of skinning ever!
The forest was beautiful on the climb, though a tad eery when the cloud came in.
And the weather was a lottery one moment sun breaking through and the next back in the cloud.
At the transition the view back down the valley was stunning but you can see the blanket of cloud that we would be skiing into.
I would have liked to have gone on further but the children and my blisters thought otherwise
Unlike yesterday we skied the forest rather than out in the open glades where it was far more tracked, in fact as the viz was better than yesterday I've never see so many (25+) tracks coming down off the Pt Etendard, has to be the La Grave effect. It is a tad depressing
Once we were in the cloud it was better to be in the forest, though lower down it did become heavy and challenging to ski to say the least. As the viz was so bad it was a case of sticking together and waiting unlike yesterday, so in fact we did spend a lot of time skiing rather than a straight blast.
Back down having a drink I was talking to a dude who runs a few shops (to say the least) and a restaurant about the tracks in Fontenil and I expressed my concern that now people have discovered the lines that they can do they'll come back for more, to which he responded that everyone thought the same during Covid when touring boomed and then it quickly dropped off.
Trouble is these guys are powder hounds and a totally different demographic to the COVID ski-tourers.
And even though I've been back down a good while, an American friend over from La Grave has had a great ski here today, rather than come touring and only at 15:00 he texted me saying he's just found a lovely stash under the Gauthier and the either side of the drag in Monetier were again empty and still groomed at Noon.
Had an excellent meal in Le Triptyque last evening, and we've not been for a long while, and will definitely be going back; has to be one of the best meals I've had in the valley for a long time.
And somehow we made the 08:30 lift this morning feeling quite shabby, I did have a cunning plan in my back-pocket but that was quickly destined for the bin when I saw how windy it was, and then as we made it to the top I was not at all optimistic as most off-piste areas had been trashed by the wind
Did a quick blast all the way to the bottom on the untracked corduroy though the vibrations with my light touring skis did not help the head
Then it was back up and another lift and on with the skins, and I was quite worried if we'd be able to ski at all, as it was very wind affected with a crust or frozen crust from the freeze/melt as we climbed up, and I had visions of us having to put big wide turns, or even downhill kick-turns in to get out of jail.
However we struck gold, and must have been one of the few untracked and skiable lines left in Serre Che
At times it was so windy, OH did two climbs and I gorged myself on a 3rd.
So Valentines Day gift well and truly delivered
It was so windy that my climbing track was just about covered over each time, and the wind's caused the Monetier link to shut, and the queues were massive, as you can see from a friend's photo!
Think tomorrow it's out with XC skinny skis as pistes were looking good but they need to soften up a little, and hopefully nowhere near as windy tomorrow.
Then looking like Spring snow ski-touring next week, but that's after going with a friend new to touring* and a guide on Sunday, so it will be interesting to see what he suggests, as there is a part of the world he knows well and not at all popular, and we toured there a good few years ago after his suggestion when he was my neighbour way back when.
*he's done some slack-country with me
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Ski-tour this morning up the Combeynot face which is the big one over the Lautaret, which this time of year is mostly in the shade.
Team Swedes went up part of the way yesterday and a couple today wanted to go higher.
I took my 186's as normally the climb is pretty straightforward, but the skin track had been put in by some masochist with a sense of humour and the lack of snow in the gulleys meant the face had not filled in, so was 25+ kickturns in a gulley which you can just about make out on to the right of the picture below.
Once above there the route bears around to the right.
It doesnt't look steep but it is and this is the view back down.
As you can see snow was a bit of a mixture of everything so could not quite open the freeride throttle out
We then took a different route down to where the other tracks are, traversing up and over a ridge (from where I took the photo) to drop us into another bowl.
Team Swede and our three tracks coming down after the ridge
Then took a gamble and went out into the sunshine to the left of picture, and that was very sweet indeed.
As you can see it's a big area!
Then a well earned lunch at Fred's.
Back in the valley and it's bonkers busy, OH left to go back to the UK early doors and Dean from Snowcabs said that they only had one coach to Turin but 5 coming back!
And we have three feckin families renting apartments that were sold last year, so dogs are allowed out to bark their heads off
Meeting an ESF instructor guide I know well tonight as have a friend who wants to escape the crowds and ski-tour; I've taken him on a couple of slack country tours but I don't want to be responsible for him on something more challenging, which is what we'll be planning for tonight, and Didier knows the region really well, though will be a tad ironic if we go to one of our usual haunts
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I know quite a few SHs are looking at the forecast with a view to the forthcoming Bash, but it's still a long way off.
Last evening I was looking at yr.no and there was nigh of 25cm of precipitation for the end of next week, and that's all disappeared this morning.
This week was looking to be gloriously sunny, but again, that's changed and now looks more overcast, so we will have to take one day at a time.
Interesting day yesterday as I went with @KenX, a good friend and an instructor/guide I know as said friend wanted to do some more ski-touring, in the past, I've taken him off the back in very lush skier friendly Spring snow as well as an early morning skin up the piste with the dogs in 10cms of fresh, and no issues.
That's why this time round I thought an instructor as opposed to a guide might be a better option as I suspected the snow conditions might be slightly more challenging for him.
The big question was where to go, and I know where I would have gone, but my friend was paying the Lions's share (75%) for the Guide, so I let the Guide make the decision. This was Saturday evening, and by the time we left Sunday morning and were driving up the road, Didier was still questioning with me where would be best.
In the end, the Pont de l'Alp sector was decided on, and we were well in advance of the holiday hordes.
I've only ski-toured up there a handful of times as access can be a bit PITA, and it can get busy.
The plus point was that they've built a new Refuge up there, and we thought that would be a good refreshment stop, that's if we knew where it actually was
Within ten minutes, Didier was coaching Jo on kick-turns, and it was rock-hard snow, and the first couple of attempts were not too bad, and the third was looking really good until he did the V of death and slid backwards quite a long way and had a look of surprise/terror on his face as he slid down nearly taking @KenX out
It was like a piste going up past the Summer village at the start of the Via Ferrata and we thought that's where the Refuge would be, but no!
We then headed off with a few more kick-turns being practised on more mellow terrain, and was interesting to see a fit guy start to breathe heavily as he did not have the required technique, understandably, for traversing, making the classic mistake of looking down at his skis, and hence hunching over and not looking forward with a straight tall back engaging his core.
I gave him my poles which are extended, forcing him into a more upright stance, and I took his piste poles, which were useless with tiny baskets, so that will require more retail therapy for him
I was seriously questioning why the hell we had gone there as the snow was absolutely shite, and looking back to see so many groups of people on snow-shoes.
As we made our way up to a much needed stop for Jo so I saw the Refuge and then understood why all the people were heading that way.
It was constructed last Summer and only opened its doors in January.
What was obvious was that the way we had come was not too user-friendly to get to the Refuge with skins on, and then another issue was that some potentially very nice lines with rock-star snow had come into view, and Didier could see that, however, he knew that to get to that might not be in Jo's arsenal of limited technique, so we made a call.
Didier would take Jo up to the Col de l'Aiguillette, and Ken and I would tackle the face that looked like it might offer some sweet skiing, and we would meet back at the same spot just over two hours later.
So again, two days in a row, I found myself on some technical terrain, and this time was nigh on 50 kick-turns, as I was breaking trail, I borrowed Ken's longer poles to help me giving him Jo's piste poles, and I didn't know who had the raw deal, if I had kept the poles to break trail or Ken having them to try and managed the kick turns
As I felt for Ken trying to manage the kick-turns with the short poles so I tried to bash a better skin track for him on the now very hard snow as we neared the summit at around 35 degrees, I think it was only three to go that I hit the snow so hard with the edge of my ski that the binding released and I so nearly lost the ski!
So it was obvious that the first few turns would be survival skiing, but it quickly became much better than expected on the predominately West facing aspect.
And unlike the day before the throttle could be opened up a bit more, though as you can see not powder, but more wind-blown cold snow.
We actually had a great ski down, getting to the RV five minutes early, and then we were a tad concerned that we could not see Jo and Didier skiing down, but eventually, they came into view and it was obvious that Didier had a very fecked Jo in tow
The ski back down took a while as Jo's legs were jelly, but once back down, you could see that it was a day to remember for him.
With the Refuge up there, it's now a sector offering oodles of potential if you only stay for one night.
And should add that they have a really good webcam there to look at the conditions.
Some good news for fans of Pizza Monet, who have a truck next to the petrol station. The truck was stolen in the early hours of the morning sometime last week, but has been found some distance away by the gendarmes. They are awaiting further news before being able to open for business again.
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?
One for the optimists
Interesting up to last evening snowforecast was not showing anything for next week compared to yr.no, which this morning, they've now changed, for the worse
Yesterday we went off the back at around 12:30 to ski lush Spring snow and then climb back up. That was not the case, and we traversed across the slope for 0.7km, trying various aspects and gradients but did not find anything we could really trust to ski well, so it was a very cautious ski all the way with a few downhill kick-turns which is always a sign of bad snow!
I've been looking on the map at an area that should hold cold snow well checking out risks/gradients and was interesting to see that three people had recently skied it.
And then rather than ski all the way down into the valley, we took a long traverse to save climbing, and ended up here!
We then made it to the Cucumelle chair, where it was very busy, and the ski back down from Vallons was truly horrific on lightweight touring skis on icy scraped boilerplate pistes. The best option is to stick well to the side or even off the marked piste. I then skied past Pi-Mai and took the Frejus chemin, which was empty, before dropping down Prairies, again empty but somewhat technical.
So I don't think I'll be doing that again this week!
As a postscript Swedish mate toured Tete Noire and had great cold snow at the top and Spring lower down, and no feckin hordes to deal with
And from someone skiing the pistes yesterday earlier on!
"Try visiting Ratier. I think that there are more week long skiers without cars but fewer weekend warriors with cars. Insane lift queues for the Combes and Orée du Bois today and some very busy pistes"
Out with the Suffer-Skis this morning me thinks - forecast was for cloud but currently brilliant blue sky?
The forecast as ever keeps changing, and now next Tues / Wed is showing a 5cm dribble and the March 1st weekend accumulations are now just the Sunday.
Yesterday I did a fast blast up to Monetier and back on the Suffer-Skis and afterwards my knee (patella tendon) was quite painful, which was a first, so not too sure what brought that about, but have two theories, all the feckin recent kick-turns and/or some stretching exercises my physio gave me
A shame as the XC pistes are in superb condition, but the XC definitely agitated something, so I opted for a genteel ski-tour with Ullr up from the Lautaret.
I was last up there on Saturday, and since then, the whole sector has well and truly been skied; now I know La Grave groups only have touring as an option, but is this additionally now a further result of little or no snow at lower altitudes so people are flocking to the Lautaret, and of course it's high season holidays.
It was a little disappointing seeing so many faces skied out, compounded by little or no snow on the horizon.
That said as you gained altitude climbing then better options came into view, and hopefully, they'll still be there tomorrow
Anyway Ullr wasn't bothered, though he was probably a little confused as there were no marmots whistling
I could feel the knee a little climbing and I tried to keep kick-turns simple, and the good news was that it was fine on the descent.
Snow was a right old mixture, predominately Spring snow but cold snow on aspects not so much in the sun.
This was windblown cold snow at circa 2,150m, spotted this stash on the way up and made the most of it
Today's production with Ullr nigh on obeying commands, that is until he sees a beastie
Interesting to read your remarks there@Weathercam, regarding numbers of tracks. I can identify with this quite closely. I took a mid - week tour with SAC, location north east of Zweisimmen.
Long gentle approach up a forest road skied into a "piste" , I begin thinking this is going to be rubbish! What I was unaware of was the vast area we were accessing. The tracks seemed to evaporate as we climbed. We skied one short steep north facing bank in perfect powder condition.
Another skin up to a "top" for lunch then a terrific west facing slope which was in sublime condition, couldn't figure out why it had not been skied.
Regarding the numbers of tracks we are encountering, I think it boils down to a "huge" number of people who are moving away from resorts and putting the skins on.
Let's face it, once you have the kit it's a magic, cheap day out.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Well we have a first, in that for the first time ever our terrace (which you can see on our webcam) is totally devoid of snow and it's not even the end of February!
Yesterday, the temperature on the van in Monetier was 16°, and unfortunately, that is the end of the sunshine for what looks like a handful of days, on a more positive note (clutching straws), we might see dribbles upwards of 5cm, but probably only at altitude as it wil be rain in the valley.
The outlook, whichever forecast you look at, does look unsettled as far as you can see right up to next weekend, but the models are forever changing.
The positive spin, is that on the North side of the valley where the pistes are there is still plenty of actual snow, but due to the inordinate amounts of skiers this past and coming week the pistes quickly turn to boiler plate, and the best option if you are out here over the next couple of weeks is to do first lifts at 08:30 and ski the available corduroy.
Ironically, the XC pistes are in "impeccable" condition as the Nordic FaceBook proudly announces, but my knee isn't
Yesterday, I again went touring up from the Lautaret with a mixed-ability group, and this time we opted to ski cold snow, but what looked to be good was quite challenging to ski, though as ever there were some good turns to be had.
Clutching at straws again, we just hope that we get 10cm or so up there to make the skiing less technical as we're now going to have to wait for another spell of Spring conditions.
Couple of pics from yesterday show the amazing quality of KenX new iPhone 16Pro Max.
This is a still from the video he took from the ridge you can see behind me and Ullr (a scent suddenly distracted him) as well as the challenging technical nature of the snowpack
On a board, you'd be fine.
And you can't even see them on the ridge!!
And logic/ski strategy was to ski the snow in the shade, hoping for better cold, windblown snow, as any snow in the sun had a crust, though lower down that aspect was spring snow.
And if snow-pack, number of skiers etc wasn't enough to contend with just as we were descending so a handful of kiters on skis came up to that ridge and bowl we had just skied
And forgot to mention, whilst sitting outside Heidi's at the Aravet, in a Serre Che spell of unexpected sunshine, not as per the forecast, which is so often the case, that friends out walking yesterday took a photo of a viper circa 40cms !
After all it is free
After all it is free
So quick update and a tad depressing to be honest.
It's more like end of March than the end of February and that's with it being overcast.
There is no sign of any significant snowfall in the next 10 days and looking at Meteo Blue there's nothing on the horizon for the next 14 days!
That said, it surely must increase the chances for those coming out for the SOPB of timing it for the long overdue dump, which we've not actually had this season so far?
Again the pistes are holding up well and I was sitting outside the Grotte earlier and everyone was having a great time, and as ever when the forecast is for overcast weather it always seems that we get sunny intervals.
There's quite a few roadies making the most of the Spring like weather on their road bikes, having brought those with them for the holidays.
And this coming week is the last of the busy weeks, though various parking areas are not too bad?
Great evening yesterday in the 1420 watching the rugby with all the locals supporting Scotland.
We left there to walk home and ten mins later we were in the Off-Piste bar (above Pointless) where we met two Brits on the first night of their holidays who had just arrived staying at the Mont Thabor hotel and that was the only bar they could find??!!
Which is a bit of a sad indictment of how few obvious bars there now are around the place, though why the hell they didn't Google bars and they would have found 1420 and others?
Tomorrow doing a leg stretch skinning up to the new Refuge to suss it out, though the actual ski back down is not going to be brilliant, hopefully snow will be softer than last week below there?
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.
Unfortunately, there is little change to the above; in fact, next week is now looking even warmer, and the road bike could well see its first outing of the year!
Currently, we're clutching at straws in the vain hope that we might see 5+cms at altitude by tomorrow.
The cloud & overcast sky forecast for last weekend was not quite accurate, and we did see quite a few glimpses of the sun.
Yesterday with a flat light forecast, I opted to ski-tour up to take a more detailed look at the new Refuge with Ullr and a friend new to touring who was keen to stretch his legs, I did warn him that the descent would not be pleasant
We parked up at 08:45 before the holiday hordes, along with a couple of PGHM CRS Alpes de Briançon, both of who were quite taken with Ullr.
We took a somewhat more circuitous route rather than the more physical direct route (kick-turns) at the start as I wanted to see what the difference in time would be.
As the snow-pack was so frozen we should have really used our crampons rather than carry them in our backpacks, but as I explained to my mate, without them is good for your technique as using them can make you lazy, which he sort of got
But it has to be said, the approach to the refuge in that type of snowpack was quite challenging with more than a few arduous traverses, not at all Splitboard friendly, I would suggest, so think you'd have to take a slightly different route which would involve a slight descent (keeping the skins on) before climbing again, exactly what the snowshoers do, but losing height to go back up again is not so much of an issue for them.
The refuge is superb and I've written up a more detailed review of it here..
Dogs are not allowed inside, but Ullr worked his magic, helped by Estelle, one of the Guardians, having worked with a neighbour of mine, so a good relationship was already established
This is the terrace with a view of the routes to the Col de l'Aiguillette and Col du Chardonnet.
The omelette I had was one of the best ever!
And the less talked about the ski back down the better
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Took a chance that there might be more snow up at the Lautaret after yesterday's intermittent precipitation and was more than pleasantly surprised at how much there was!
In fact, I dropped a clanger on ski choice as I thought at best 5cm of dust on crust and went with the 88's but climbing up soon became obvious that was a wrong call, though not too sure as to how much of it was snow transported by the strong wind that was blowing.
I caught up with some Frenchies who had no idea as to where they were heading, though they sort of had Trois Eveches in mind, but with the cloud, you couldn't actually see it, so I ended up breaking trail for them, which was a tad ironic given that they were probably half my age.
Viz kept coming and going, though it was more off than on.
In the end, I made for the ridge whilst I pointed them in the direction of the Trois Eveches, which you could just about make out.
We were all hoping that the forecast would deliver the promised sunshine, but that was not about to happen; in fact, I had a mate in Montgenevre who sent me a photo of the blue sky there when I told him what conditions were like here.
At times it was well over boot deep up to Ullr's body.
I transitioned on the ridge and waited, and then after a few turns cursed at my ski choice, though think it was more to do with the viz as I couldn't really let the skis go to get away from the mutt, so not only wrong skis and poor viz but Ullr to contend with as well
By the time I skied back down, the new snow lower down had just about disappeared from when I started, so God only knows what will be there tomorrow.
Back in Sno in Monetier, I was talking to a mate who had driven over the Col last evening, and he said how it was raining heavily all the way up from the La Grave side but then eased right off once over the Col, and a friend who'd been skiing here said that there was hardly any fresh to be had here.
And back in the valley the wind is howling at altitude so not too sure what will be left.
I'll go back up Lautaret tomorrow and see what I can sniff out.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Bumped into Didier last evening and he has an "Off-Piste" group this week, and he said he scored decent first tracks top section of the Montagnolle and think he said Vallon Corneille, which you do after the Cucumelle hike, though he smiled when I asked him about conditions lower down
I was up in the same sector yesterday, early ahead of the groups, and there were just four of us in the Roche Noire sector, but the time I was skiing down there were probably 40 or more!
I was heading towards Trois Eveches but the cloud had other ideas, so I stopped after 800m. Ironically, if I'd gone later, the cloud lifted, but there was good viz in the lower section as you can see.
Once back down I've never seen the parking so rammed, and I was talking to some Frenchies on the way up and they said something like today was the "grand finale to their weeks holiday" but there might have been an element of lost in translation.
We'll nip back up there tomorrow to see what's left and before the weekend hordes then it looks like it could be game over, though next week resort skiing should not be anywhere near as busy so might venture out to ski South facing slack-country, hopefully.
And another sign of the new normal, the Co-Prop have agreed to turn the heating down for the building to save some €'s a month earlier than usual, let's hope that invokes "sods law" and we get a cold snap and the long overdue dump
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.
@Weathercam, The dog looks happy. Did you mention that it's a no go with them in the national parks ?
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@AndAnotherThing.., broadly speaking, North of the road is ok for dogs, South not because of the Ecrins National park, did however see a guy with 2 dogs heading up on the S side today as we were touring up to the Col du Laurichard from the Col du Lautaret.............
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@AndAnotherThing.., you can go just so far into the Parc des Ecrins, there is a link to a map somewhere with the marked inner and outer boundaries. Outer area OK, inner area and they can actually shoot your dog on sight.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@AndAnotherThing.., I have taken the mutt into one area from Boussardes into the Park, but only in really quiet times, I'd never consider at busy times. And we tend to ski-tour there when there's been a lot of snow & high risk elsewhere, in fact I have video of having to carry the dogs as snow was so deep
Also I'd surmise that in Winter ski touring is maybe different to the Summer with more wildlife about.
@KenX, Laurichard is not in the National Écrins Parc but in a Reserve Natural and there are a few signs where the border is but more often than not they're buried, but that's why the snow kites are no longer allowed below the start of the Laurichard, again have done it in the past before the Parc was formed. That's also the reason the drag lift was taken out I believe.
In fact just had a look at my old digital IGN mapping software and both drags are on there and whilst is says "Reserve Naturelle de Combeynot" there's no obvious border which the latest IGN mapping has.
The whole sector up from Pont de l'Alpe where the new refuge is ok for dogs , as well as Granon Gardiole both this side and Val de Près / Nevache.
Other areas are Les Fonts.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Cheers all, will be good to ski tour with the dog again.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@AndAnotherThing.., are you bringing yours next week?
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?
KenX wrote:
@AndAnotherThing.., are you bringing yours next week?
Yep, he's hopefully all certified up, fingers crossed. Here is his when he was a bit younger ski touring in Italy:
@AndAnotherThing.., @KenX, great more photos of dogs for everyone
Opted to go XC this morning as it was a little hazy, and quite frankly, I find the hordes depressing as @KenX, knows only too well
At least I don't have to drive anywhere.
Pistes were quite icy and I thought that they would have started to soften up, but the hazy sky was just taking the edge off the melt.
I was only going to do 12km or so from Pointless, but the piste that used to be a circuit was no more, and once I took what I thought was still the circuit around the big field where they snow-kite past Monetier (La Chalp) the piste was one way I ended up having to go past Le Casset, so I ended up doing 18km
I reckon they'll work another week on maintaining the pistes, for the remainder of the holidays, and if there's no more snow in the valley, which now looks increasingly unlikely as any precipitation will probably fall as rain, then could be a repeat of last season, maybe even earlier and they'll wind down the XC, apart from the Stade, Monetier to Le Casset and maybe some of the reds, which are tough
This is just before Les Guibertes and the aspect/camber of the piste helps it keep the snow better. And on the horizon up the end of the valley you can see Pic Blanc and Trois Eveches.
I see that Snow-Forecast have some dribbles for next weekend, but they seem to be currently the only model showing that, and then it continues to be dry.
@Weathercam, ECM (eg YR.no) is also showing something for the 9/10th.
Hoping it comes to be otherwise I might have to join you on the deteriorating XC tracks!
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@leggyblonde, there's still the option of a long approach (hours walk) to the snowline on the South side (I was looking at it this afternoon) to then start skinning, or rent an e-mtb but then you're limited to Granon etc
And of course various sectors from the Lautaret but could be skied out by then?
As you're out for an intense week I'm sure you'll work something out, it's the others who maybe don't want physicality who might be left doing knee wrecking bald Off-Piste
But I think you'll like skating
And see YR have 19 for Sunday !!
After all it is free
After all it is free
Weathercam wrote:
....And see YR have 19 for Sunday 9th.....
So this morning that 19 was dialled back to 3.5
And the latest run has 15 for Sunday 9th and 16 for Monday 10th
Though other models as yet do not show their optimism
Weird weather this morning, quite bright and +7.5 and snowflakes falling, though it might have been some bizarre hail?
At first, I thought someone above was airing their bedding
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.
Any news of the conditions in the SC snow park? Just preparing for this weekend
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@dazzle109, what weekend are you talking about, this weekend or next 8th
As the forecast is for warm weather this week.
Just hope and pray that the Snow Gods serve up their usual delivery for the Bash, and as I said sooner or later it has to happen!
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
hoping it continues to snow hard throughout the afternoon
