 Poster: A snowHead
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brian
brian
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Hearsay ? Sounds like it.
Heresy ? Don't know, I've not been either
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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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dan100, I would counter that with Paradiski The largest linked skiing around with some of the most modern/newest lifts in the Alps.
Certainly Verbier or St Anton cannot offer the sheer coverage and variation that Paradiski offer's.
www.paradiski.com
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If your into off piste then La Plagnes seemed to get less tracked out than some of the places like Verbier or St Anton, I guess because it is perceived as intermediates place.
These pics were from a week in La Plagne, we would class ourselves as pretty good skiers and certainly were not bored, in fact we never made it over to Les Arcs as there was so much to do in the local area!
http://gregh.co.uk/albums/laplagne/
Cheers,
Greg
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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There's a very wide range of piste skiing in Les Arcs, although I've not been to St Anton or Verbier so can't compare these resorts. There is lots of steep piste (and near-piste) skiing off Aiguille Rouge, the Grand Col and Arpette. Some of the steeper pistes are left to develop decent size bumps, others are groomed more often. There's also lots of fast reds and cruisey blues, including lots through the trees above Peisey, Arc 1600 and Villaroger. I vaguely recall someone like Arnie Wilson saying he thought the piste skiing in Les Arcs was among the best in the world, although that might well be a figment of my imagination.
Obviously the link to La Plagne opens up another vast piste network. Although I don't know that side of the domain as well as I do the Les Arcs side, my overall impression is that there is not so much piste variety in LP as there is in LA (but I'd be happy to be proved wrong on this point).
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I love Les Arcs but....
The piste-based tough skiing does depend quite a lot on the Aiguille Rouge cable car being (a) open and (b) not too crowded. It's also a bit of a trek from over the Peisey side if I recall correctly. It is quality though, and is high enough and north/east facing to ensure enjoyable snow conditions providing there's enough of the white stuff (which there wasn't last Jan causing most of them to be shut, which I suppose is a (c))
Having said all that, if there's a group of you, and your mates really do ski as well as in their imagination, hire yourself a guide and get going. There's tons of fantastic off piste. There's a chap based in arc 1800 under the auspices of the non-esf ski school (aventures??) who can get you started. It's the only way !
d
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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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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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kitenski, you've got some great pics there 
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You know it makes sense.
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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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| Quote: |
| I'm out on the 1st - perhaps we can meet up on the 2nd? |
Could do. I'm overnight on 3rd so that's a possibility too. We'll be in Les Coches.
I'll pm you nearer the time.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| skanky wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I'm out on the 1st - perhaps we can meet up on the 2nd? |
Could do. I'm overnight on 3rd so that's a possibility too. We'll be in Les Coches.
I'll pm you nearer the time. |
Excellent. Meeting at the Squirrel or somewhere on the other side of the Vanoise Express sounds good.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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dan100,
I have been to all three resorts though Les Arcs was quite a while ago, I was in La Plagne last year. Different people have different meanings for challenging skiing and what challenges me would not challenge some  's however this is my take.
If you are sticking purely to pistes you will find that St Anton and Verbier probably have slightly less challenging skiing than Les Arcs most of the more dificult runs in both resorts have been reclassified as ski routes or high alpine trails or whatever the Mont Fort bumps being a noteable exception. Most skiers will however be interested in skiing these routes and many will happily do so. I would say that the St Anton and Verbier have a little more though Les Arcs has plenty for most people.
If you expand the skiing to include the off piste and I hardly saw a piste at La Plagne last year all three areas have tremendous potential and certainly runs beyond which I am comfortable with.
I think to dismiss any of these areas shows a slight lack of imagination as to what they can offer people. They can all offer first class skiing for the overwhelming majority of recreational skiers. There are certainly differences in the style of the towns and the nature of the lifts but I cannot conceive of many skiers that would be dissapointed with any of them if they keep their eyes open and the snow conditions are reasonable.
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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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NF Bellecote
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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N. D. du Pre 
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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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JT,
Is it a piste now 
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NF=North Face, apparently very good off piste, the vis wasn't good enough for a guide to take me there last time I tried though 
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For what it is worth. I went to La Plagne last January and Verbier last March (I think or could have been April.)
I much preferred the skiing in La Plagne vs Verbier but I don't venture off piste really. We went to Les Arc for the day and it was phenomenal but that was a day when the snow was at its very best. It is all a bit subjective and depends on the conditions whist you are there. Verbier was a bit flash, the lifts seemed quite old and slow and the pistes were a bit bitty with the need to get the odd bus etc. Also, many of the top lifts were closed due to the amount of snow, so again I may not have seen the best of it, we seemed to ski the same pistes over and over again.
Paradiski was easy to get around with loads of pistes so it was very hard to get bored. If others are saying that there is also plenty of off piste in Paradiski then it would seem to have a great deal going for it.
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I would very much dispute the idea that Les Arcs is samey. As a piste skier, I found Les Arcs to offer rich variety in a compact area. There are good runs at all levels and you can do high and open, or tree-lined as you wish. There are even some blacks I could do which probably menas they are red really.
Totally agree with T Bar, in that a domain is what you make it.
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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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I'd say that Les Arcs has more tough blacks than Val d'Isere. They aren't all on the Aiguille Rouge, though I admit most are: how about l'Ourse and Comborciere. Almost all the good tough stuff IS in the Arc2000 valley though, along with most of the off-piste (plus over the top to Villaroger, of course). But Val d'Isere has more off-piste, obviously, being a much more spread out resort.
If you just ski the 1800 / 1600 side (or the centre of the 2000 valley), then the description might be reasonable.
I've never skied La Plagne except on the Tarentaise tour, since I gathered it didn't have much tough skiing (except, obviously the Bellecote North face, previously mentioned which is a special case and ends outside the resort. The routes starting as high as you can traverse to, and then climbing up a bit, are some of the steepest I've skied (and I've looked at others there that look more extreme than I do). If you do it the guide will ask you to tighten your bindings. You don't want to lose a ski! When we did it last, people picnicing nearby came to the edge to watch us start down. (There are more gentle routes if you ski down a bit before turning right.)
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Thu 7-12-06 0:21; edited 1 time in total
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snowball, I've skied Comborciere! With PG in fact. Do you rate that as quite hard? I must be better/braver than I think I am!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Les Arcs is fantastic. I've been there the past few winters and the variety on offer is amazing, plus you've got La Plagne if LA is not enough. A good skier/boarder would struggle to cover the whole of the paradiski in a week.
As for Peisey, i stayed there last year at Seventy3 Chalets, the guys who run that offer a great week and probably some of the best food you'll get on a chalet holiday. They even showed us about the slopes and i ended up doing the best tree runs i've ever encountered and this was on the Peisey side of the resort. Hired a guide for a day, who took us over to the Bellecote !! 2000m descent, powder all the way. I can't stop raving about LA and paradiski. Peisey is slap bang in the middle of the two, so in the morning just decide which resort you want.
There is no way that the pistes are samey, tree lined with loads of hits in Peisey-Vallandry, motorway cruising in 2000, and serious descent off the top of the auguille rouge down to villaroger .
You've got to go to Peisey, no doubt, and check Seventy3 chalets too
have fun
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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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snowface, welcome to snowHeads! Sounds like you had a good time in Les Arcs 
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There is no way that you could say that the Les Arcs skiing is Samey in any way. I@m mostly a piste skier and really like Les Arcs for the Variety
Wide, steep, narrow, short, long, open, trees etc etc - It's all there in buckets
ps my season pass arived today so am very excited
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You know it makes sense.
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You really have to go far to beat taking the Aiguille Rouge from the top all the way down to Villaroger and then have a good lunch at La Ferme or the Aiguille Rouge Restaurant.
If you luck in on a fresh fall then the off piste on the Villaroger side is pretty damned good too - if you can get there from the main Les Arcs area of course!!
Roll on end of March for our next trip there
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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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You should know up front that Rob an myself, amongst others have apartments there, so we will be a little biassed: on the other hand, have been there for a great number of weeks now, and still find new and interesting things to do. Mostly though we don't talk about them because, well they are nice when empty!
But just because I like you all, here are some secrets... (but not all!)
I would recommend Malgovert red for a 'challenge' - you think you know reds?; - you will have not seen anything quite like this. But you can't explain it, you have to experience it. Truly a unique run.
It also leads to some of the best tree skiing (that is between the stumps, not down the piste between the trees) in the area, above 1600
Comborciere can be a kitten, can be a bitch, depending on conditions, fwiw, my favourite black from 2000 is on the opposite side of the valley, Drosset, down to Pre St Esprit. Don't try this one after Genepi, you need your wits about you.
The moguls up under Varet are exhilarating, and make an unfit booger like me blow, the ones in Grand Col are perfect for giving it your all, top to bottom and legs like jelly. Clair Blanc - now that can only be marked a red to meet some tourist board conditions. No question, the top is a black. And terrific.
Villaroger is the place for a powder day. Bit a trek over from Peisey I admit, but you can get back in 3 lifts: 2 out of the valley to just above 2000, down past 1950 to Bois d'Lours, and ski straight back to the Vanoise lift, in 15 mins.  Edit for clarity: that's 15 mins from the top of Bois de L'Ours, not Villaroger)
Les Bosses black above Peisey is a narrow gully in fresh snow, and makes you feel fast, when mogulled has one damn scary pitch on it and only trees to bail into. Don't.
So, enough secrets for now... but hopefully enough to convince your friends that one piste is not necessarily the end of the story.
Crusiey reds all over?: yes. High bowl sking?: yes. Challenging blacks & moguls?: yes. Long runs?: Yes. Pistes between trees?: yes. Skiing in the trees?: yes Plenty of refreshment stops?: yes. Untracked powder available without risking life and limb after a dump? Yes.
I haven't even mentioned the off-piste because I've done very little of it (back of Aguille Rouge being my only experience to date), but from what my fellow owners tell me, there is plenty of touring capability off the back of the Grand Col and the Aguille Grieve. And then of course there is all of La P.
So, exactly what more variety do your friends want??
Boring? Not if you know where to look!
PS I am there 20 - 24th Jan, then April1 - 14. Looking to make it to the Squirrel at some stage on both trips: we need a Squirrel calendar on so Will can work out who is going to be where & when...
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Wed 6-12-06 22:54; edited 1 time in total
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Poster: A snowHead
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JimW, Don't tell them about Malgovert - It should be our little secret - Has to be the best red ever
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Kieran, I know, but it's almost always deserted, so a few knowing shouldn't hurt. And , lets face it, its not exactly on the main route to anywhere: no I think we are relatively safe...
But I certainly won't be nominating it for any awards - that would be really letting the cat out of the bag - or, heaven forbid, SMA upgrade the Comborciere lift access!
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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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| JimW wrote: |
| ... or, heaven forbid, SMA upgrade the Comborciere lift access! |
I think the Comborciere chair is due to be replaced by something a bit quicker in a few years time. At least I hope it is, it's painfully slow compared to most of the other uphill transport around the resort.
I agree that Malgovert is an interesting run - more like a rollercoaster than a piste
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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CP, Aah, La Ferme in Villaroger.... I go to les arcs everyear in late March ( since 2001 ) for a weekend trip with the lads - this year (06) was the first year the snow was good enough to take the runs from the top of Aiguille Rouge down to Villaroger. Thoroughly enjoyed my (large) plate of sausages and mash for lunch !
Heading to St Anton in Feb - so will be able to compare better after then.
In the mean time, be assured Les Arcs is a great and varied resort with routes to sort all abilities if you look for it.
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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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Richie_S,
The bike ride down to Villaroger in the summer is really good also - La Ferme stays open for the summer - Then you can freewhell back to bourg and back up in the funicular - Really good half day out
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JimW, very good round-up, you obviously know the place much better than I do. I haven't stayed in Les Arcs for about 15 years but I really should go back, it's a good place. Last time I did Comborciere it was icy moguls (and then it is a real black). I've only done Grand Coll round the back to Villaroger once, with a guide- I gather it is prone to avalanche.
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dan100, I love Les Arcs - I am sure you and your mates would have a great time there = it didn't seem at all 'samey' to me, just great and there are plenty of challenging runs...
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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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I think Malgovert was closed when we were there,...either that or we did it but I can't remember it. We certainly skied that bit quite a few times. Anyone got any pictures of it?
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FAQ
views on the piste skiing in Les Arcs.
