 Poster: A snowHead
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Day 1
Arrived in La Tania early afternnon, Wednesady 17th Jan. Travelled down from Val Thorens. Below 1800m patchy snow, below 1300m snow non existant. All south facing non pisted slopes snow free.
Route up from Moutieres, surrounding fields all clear, not until La Praz is snow evident, and even then not a lot.
View of south facing mountian oposite side of valley to La Tania, snow line well above 2000m!
Afternoon spent, waiting to check into hotel, beers at the Le Pub sat in the sun!
La Tania village area icy and slushy. Slopes look surprisingly good considering the weather. Pistes are protected by being in the forest and generally north facing.
Amazing conversation overheard, of two reps, apparently glad for some sunny + warm weather! Auzzies! You let them win the ashes and then they dont know when to stop! Very close to handing them over to a lynch mob! 
Update of actual slope conditions will be posted on 18th Jan, if my knee survives! Going up the hill later this morning.
TTFN 
edited : to report 8:45 am it's raining! 
Higher up may be snowing!
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Sun 28-01-07 16:01; edited 2 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Day 2 - Thursday 18th Jan
Overcast at 8:00, by 9:15 light rain.
Temp was +3 deg C.
Had a 2 hour private lesson today.
Took la Tania bubble and Dou des Lanches to the Col de La Loze 2305m. Very foggy, rain increased, more like sleet. Instructor stated we will ski above CV1850. Poor snow in lower Meribel plus high winds and rain forecast.
At Chenus evidence of light covering of new snow, nothing more than a cm or so. Pistes in relatively good condition, at this height. Cleary they had done much work on them.
Loz Est to base of Biollay, in good condition. At the Verdun station and above, visability was almost zero. As you ascended the Biollay chair, rain turned to snow and sleet. Reasonable snow conditions on Biollay and Verdun pistes.
Basically, Verdun and above snowing. Any level below Verdun mid station it was raining, a soaking heavy drizzel. Clothing completely waterlogged, very unpleasant. Pistes from Biollay down to Courchevel 1850, become increasingly heavy. Occassional slush.
In the early afternoon i decided to return to La Tania (1400m) went via Chenus bubble. At top of Chenus particularly unpleasant, driving sleet. Used pistes Lanches and on to Folyeres. Both these started of heavy and got worse. Likened this to ski-ing in heavy lumpy porridge! Extremely tireing. The only reason Folyeres is open, is that it has full coverage of snow making all the way down. Moretta Blanche run closed, hasnt been open this season! Snow conditions have deteriorated considerable over today in La Tania.
Raining
In all my years of ski-ing I have never experieced a soaking like this, except perhaps a rainy February in Aviemore over 30 years ago! I could not have got wetter if I had stood in my shower with it full on.
To all the 'glass half full' people out there. This was a particularly unpleasant experience and an attempt to salvage what remains of this trip. Tomorrow we have the same forecast. On Saturday, sunny and high temps, maybe +8. Speaking to my instructor, he said all the runs below 1850, that were not protected and have snow making are in very poor condition or closed. He also expected more slope closures over the next few days.
There maybe a light at the end of the tunnel, forecast is for lower temps and possible 'light' snow middle of next week. Please let it be so!
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Fri 19-01-07 16:14; edited 1 time in total
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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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nasty, well done for sticking it out!! Can't say I'm a big fan of skiing in rain, was it snowing at the top of Courchevel (2700m from memory??)
Cheers,
Greg
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brian
brian
Guest
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| BMF_Skier wrote: |
| Basically, Verdun and above snowing. Any level below Verdun mid station it was raining, a soaking heavy drizzel. |
kitenski, I'm presuming by "Verdun mid-station", BMF_Skier means the top of the Verdons bubble/bottom of Vizelle bubble. That's about bang on 2000m.
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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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We are off on the 27th to Courchevel , I have organised this trip for 8 people ,RESPOSiBILITY or what!! Do you think we may have some snow to slide on??? Hopeless at the chart thing
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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>> Do you think we may have some snow to slide on???
yes
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| kitenski wrote: |
>> Do you think we may have some snow to slide on???
yes |
thank god!!! 
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kitenski,
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| was it snowing at the top of Courchevel |
Yes, as it was snowing at 2000m it had to be at 2700 on Saulire. But, as I said stong winds and zero vz above Verdon
brian,
| Quote: |
| kitenski, I'm presuming by "Verdun mid-station", BMF_Skier means the top of the Verdons bubble/bottom of Vizelle bubble. That's about bang on 2000m. |
I should have referred to it as plain Verdun, that what is states on the maps, sorry for the confusion.
It's the freezing level thats the issue now, was a lack of precipitation before. Hopefully an improvement after this weekend, I'm relying on it! Positive vibes needed!
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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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Day 3 - Friday 19th Jan
No more rain overnight, started out overcast and warm! Sunny by early afternoon.
Piste conditions worse again than yesterday. Already very soft, temp +4 already 9:00 am! Many runs tried, following are samples of runs tried, all about the same, very soft or worse. Sli-able but I do not consider these conditions fun! I suppose it's what you are used to?
IMHO, no point in attempting to ski la Tania or any south facing slopes. Went up Chenus and down into CV1850, up Verdons. Main Verdons\Biollay piste now has dark patches of soil showing through, @ 2000m.
At the top of Saulire, poor viz, snow slightly better, but you could not see where you were going at times. Descended via Creux, piste OK (except for viz) until Chandrossa chair. I carried on down Creux to Pramereul (1820m). Part way down warning signs appeared. Huge swathes of slush, almost impassible.
Why not closed at the lift?
On Saturday, maybe try above 1650, Roc Merlet or Chandrossa if open.
Local opinion is for it to get worse over the next two days, (Zero deg level Sat 3350m) expect 7 or 8 Deg c at 1850m. Possible improvement Monday onwards, much colder by Friday. Possible snow showers late Monday \ Tuesday. But then this is all speculation anyway. We'll see what transpires.....
Hope that snow-forecast.com is right and locals are wrong!
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BMF_Skier, don't be too despondent - we had similar conditions for a few days of our stay last year, but they rapidly improved, even without snow, once the temperature fell (and we had +16 at Col de la Loze in January last year, and were skiing in t-shirts!). The bit at the lower end of Creux, and Pramereul do get slushy, largely because they are well used. I'm not surprised La Tania runs got slushy either. The other bad bits are the lower part of Chenus where several pistes funnel together, just before the Billay chair.
Of course this could all be wishful thinking as we are going there for 2 weeks on 27th, however all the forecast sites seem to be saying it is going to get a lot colder. With the snow cannons operating, and a bit of snow forecast for next week, we should hopefully have something to ski on!
Hope there is a lot of snow, because one plan was to ask the instructor for some lessons on steeper and bumpier blacks - no good if there is no snow on them
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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have you not looked at the webcams or visited www.latania.co.uk it dumped it down through yesterday and last night
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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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| radical wrote: |
| have you not looked at the webcams or visited www.latania.co.uk it dumped it down through yesterday and last night |
Yes, I've been looking at the webcams every day! This looks like good news indeed. Can't wait until Sunday to get out on those slopes! We only got 1cm snow in Tamworth, so no chance of outdoor skiing nearer home.
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Been out of contact, no WIFI in hotel! Snow situation resolved, as you probably know, Only just in time though. It was getting dire, considering the advance snow making infrastructure. The man made was like sugar and main slopes icy.
Moved from La Tania to CV1850 on Sunday 21st.
After the Wdnesday snow, temps dropped. The 3V's are now making and saving hugh amounts of man made snow, all hours of the day.
Just travelling back today, Sunday 28th. Dont think my body could have taken any more punnishment!
BTW No snow since Wednesday last week. Local forecast is none for the next 7 days! Still V cold!
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