 Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone skied there recently? Just looking at it as a possibility for February next year (half term). Sounds small but friendly?
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brian
brian
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AxsMan, I think davidof might be a good person to pm, that's his locality.
I hesitate to spam in like this but if it's small and friendly and francophonic and available for up to 4 for 17/2-24/2 you're after, check the link in my sig.
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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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brian, Thanks for the reply. Accomodation would be sorted ( Residence Le Diamant) as its a timeshare swap-out that I'm looking at (which is what brought Villard de Lans to my attention). Feel free to 'spam' as much as you like, I don't have a problem with people offering me services as long as they are optional!
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brian
brian
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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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Thought for a moment you might have meant Lanslevillard, which with Lanslebourg make up Val Cenis!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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BUMP!
(snowball, you made that same mistake a couple of years later  )
This place has caught my attention, due to being incredibly close to Grenoble, which has a train station, do you see?
Seems surprisingly big for something the wrong side of Grenoble, and reputedly somewhat snowsure due to having a ton of snowmaking, but statements like this one from davidof worry me (although that was a long time ago, and a notoriously bad season).
So... this thread and that other one are pretty old. What's the craic nowadays? I might only be squeezing in a few cheeky weekends this year, if anything at all, and my research so far points to this (and Les 7 Laux probably) as being my best bet for a very short return journey to somewhere worthwhile. It pushes all my buttons - unspoilt French village, no tower blocks, 'enough' skiing, no Brits... But what do YOU THE ABLE SEAMEN OF THE GOOD SHIP SNOWHEADS think?
Speek yore branes pleez.
(Yes I know I can get to 2alpes and bits of AdH with only an extra hour on the road, but they lack the 'where? never heard of it!' charm of places like Villard.)
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paulio
We spent an afternoon of arrival day there on an epic snow weekend at the start of the Feb half term in 1999. Skied so many places since that all I can remember is that we had a great time and that it was indeed an uncrowded, very French, Brit-free area. Seem to recall that what we saw of the town was nice too.
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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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swisssnowbunny, are you sure you don't mean Lanslevillard?
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Soooo..... has anyone been recently then?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I've been twice in 2006 and 2007, It's small and during the week has quite a few schools having ski lessons but not so much as they get in your way. The snow isn't always great, in 2007 it was poor - but then it was everywhere that year IIRC.
There are/were snowmaking facilities on the main slopes, but the back ones not so much, and they can get sheltered from snowfall making them icy with no real depth. However when the snow is decent, it's actually pretty decent skiing and you can cover the whole mountain from left to right and back down again.
There isn't much tourism from brits as far as I could tell, in fact I don't think I saw/heard another brit when I was there. The locals are pretty friendly, but some basic French is appreciated rather than assume they all speak english 
The local supermarket was pretty cheap, but you need a car really, it's about a 5min drive from Le Diamant (which is where we stayed, in the apartment for ~8ppl). It's also about 5-10 mins to the cable car lift from the apartment, where you can park you car in the car park and walk to the lift.
The town is quaint, with a few nice shops - but not really anything going on in terms of Apres since it's a town not a resort really.
Anything else more specific you want to know?
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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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Scottland, good info thanks.
What are the lifts like? T-bars-a-mundo?
No Brits and having to speak the lingo is a big +ve for me. I can't stand the idea of going somewhere dominated by Brits like Meribel or Malaga.
Apres schmapres. Don't care. I make my own apres.
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No T-Bars that I saw, but quite a few button lifts and a few chair lifts.
In 2007 they'd just upgraded the lift systems to the touchless passes like everywhere else, there's 2 main cafe's up on the mountain - when we were there it was €3.70 for a 'jug' of wine/rosé and about €5 for a small meal (eg spag bol), chips were aboutr €3. There's also 2 smaller places up on the mountain, the creperie was our favourite and the staff there were really nice and often gave us an extra bottle of wine with our meals etc.
Take a look on flickr for some pictures of the place
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You know it makes sense.
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Groovy, thanks.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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So, er what part of 'you made the same mistake a couple of years later' is wrong then? This thread was 06, the link was to one from 08.
I don't think you can object to a hard and indisputable fact, sunshine!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Oops, I read it as 2 years AGO 
Must get my specs out.
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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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paulio, no, definately Villard de Lans...I will never forget it as long as I live. Granted, my penpal was a psycho and we were forced into doing work experience, and I was placed in an estate agents...but even the skiing part was rubbish!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Villard de Lans is great for a couple of days - plenty of gulleys and trees, not a huge area but the lifts are all quick. It is not very high so check the snow first. The whole area is very beautiful and you can get there either from Grenoble or from Valence. There are some ugly buildings down where most of the lifts start, but the village itself is fine.
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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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Villard was getting pounded the other day, this is a photo I took at les Cochettes shows:
grrrreat I hear you saying, only problem, the ski area there is closed, a victim of global warming!!!, and those lifts are up for sale to the highest bidder.
The seasons on the Vercors can be iffy but this year has been fine, as was last year.
The people at the Tourist Board are extremely pleasant (I promised to make a plug for them but they were so nice to us the other day).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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davidof, so is the ski area closed permanently now then?
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I think he must be referring to one particular area as I skied there Tuesday last week, in 15cm of new powder from a storm that seemed to come up from the south and stop over the Vercors. The sky was blue, the wind was brisk, the pistes were empty, and all was good in the world.
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| FranzKlammer wrote: |
| I think he must be referring to one particular area as I skied there Tuesday last week, in 15cm of new powder from a storm that seemed to come up from the south and stop over the Vercors. The sky was blue, the wind was brisk, the pistes were empty, and all was good in the world. |
No just the bit closest to the town at les Cochettes, the rest, a fairly extensive and interesting area is open as you say.
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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 like the town of Villard de Lans, and certainly enjoyed the skiing there a few years ago - I've no idea of conditions now, but the cross country area was huge and really nice.
One of the best bits is upstairs in the museum in the centre of town is (was?) an exhibition of yokes - the sort for carrying milk pails, or for getting cattle hitched to farm machinery, I'm not sure, but I doubt I'll ever see such a large collection again!
On a more serious note - in the XC area, you can ski to a village destroyed by the Germans when they finally invaded the massif, after D-day, and there are other sites worth visiting (eg Vassieux, most village squares) to get a feel for the wartime experience of the place.
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Ah good as I was planning on a return trip there at some point
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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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Planning on going to Villard de Lans first week in January 2011, will all the slops be open by then?
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