 Poster: A snowHead
|
Am off to Val in a month and have a couple of questions...
- Read in lots of places that the runs in Val are quite challenging, especially those back to the resort. Hard to tell from the piste map but are there any easy runs back to the village ?
- Anyone stayed at Chalets Les Sorbiers ? If so then whats the accommodation and location like ?
- Anyone got any good tips on what lifts to avoid and at what times? Reason I ask is that we are going in the 2nd week of the French half term and I hear that if your sensible you can avoid the mad crush for some lifts
Many thanks in advance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Most of the runs back into the Val centre are quite hard but not unmanageable, for example the 'le face'
but there are some easier blues and there is aways the bus along the bottom.
I have no idea about accommodation thou as i have only been to tignes,
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
Piste L down from solaise is blue, the bottom i expect VERY blue, haven't skiied it, but judging the route it takes it should be quite easy.
Santons down from bellevarde is also quite blue, but it was closed due to avalange danger... which leaves "nice gentle slopes" like La face and Epaule du Charvet (nice and black) remaining from the Belevarde area...
Other then that, very little gentle returns to val...
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Kel, the blue you refer to is the Santons that Ronald already mentioned. Piste M down from the Solaise is a red but is often icy. rooney, if you're worried that the runs into the town are a bit tricky, you can take the Olympique téléphérique down from the Bellvarde area and the Solaise chair or cable car down from the Solaise area. Other options are to ski down into le Fornet or le Laisinant to the east of the town or to la Daille. There's a very frequent free bus that runs all day.
The lift system in Espace Killy is superb and you'll rarely encounter long queues. However the Olympique is very busy in the morning unless you get there very early (it opens at 8:45 I think). If you're heading up to the Bellevarde area you can also get there via a couple of chair lifts from the town or even take the bus to la Dialle and take the Funival train through the mountain but that would be pretty extreme. The Solaise Express chair is also busy first thing but the Solaise téléphérique is always quiet in my experience although it's a bit of a hike to get to. Once you're up top you'll seldom encounter queues, even at half-term.
If you're skiing in Tignes, and you should as it's way better than Val d'Isère IMHO, beware the long queue for the Fresse chair back into Val at the end of the day. It can be quicker to take the Bollin and ski down to Tufs which will take you back up above Val. The Tufs is very slow but in line for an upgrade soon. If you end up on the Aiguille Percée side you should aim for Tignes le Lac and take the Aeroski bubble when you want to return. However, if this is busy, and it often is at the end of the day, you can get back by taking the Paquis chair out of le Lavachet followed by a drag that will take you above la Daille.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Tue 15-01-08 11:54; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Ronald wrote: |
| Piste L down from solaise is blue, the bottom i expect VERY blue, haven't skiied it, but judging the route it takes it should be quite easy. |
Hah, that's what we thought  Turned out to be the bottom of a sharp V-shaped valley, got no sun and was end of Jan last season so had had no fresh snow for ages. Result was a steep-sided ice rink from about 1/4 way down, skiers/boarders/instructors sliding on backsides left right and centre, long flat - even uphill - run-out into Val centre. Was very glad I'd experienced the PSB ice otherwise I'd have been terrified, it was just no fun at all. OTOH it's probably OK if it has fresh snow on it
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
eng ch
I think you may describing the Santons piste which Nick B pointed out to me(stand to be corrected) It was also late Jan last season when I was there and it was not blue.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Another vote for santons not being a blue. Its a narrow half pipe which tends to be very busy. If its snowed recently then the powder gets scraped into moguls, and if its not snowed recently the boarders scrape away the snow on top and leave it as ice.
If it was quiet and the snow was in good condition, then it would be a nice run. The reality is that its not a nice run, and there's a long flat/uphill section at the end which means loads of poling if you don't know where to go straight from.
Not a run i would take a normal blue run skier down. If they can cope with a reasonable red, they'd be fine. Otherwise get the cable car back down.
There aren't any easy runs back to the resort for beginners in Val. Its the resort's biggest failing in my view from a skiing point of view.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
Just back from Tignes/Val. Santons is classed as blue. But bumpy and narrow. The day we came down the snow makers where going the whole way down it was terrible not only was it bumpy, narrow and crowded but you coudn't see a thing!
Loads of people take the Gondola down. Also on the other side the Solaise slope (Red) can be icy and again loads of people take chair down.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kel, Aww well, I wouldnt know about that sort of senselesss stupidity and pride, me being one of the superior sex 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
Kel, I think you're getting confused. Santons comes down from Belvarde. Piste L comes down from Solaise to Laisinant and the long run out I was talking about is officially called the "traversée de Lainsinant" (the clue's in the name I suppose)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
Piste L is wider than Santons but is not exactly an easy blue, it has quite a gradient at the beginning and can also get bumpy and icy.
The easiest descent is probably the blue going down to le Fornet which is quite path like but with some bare/icy bits as well. The other option is the green down to la Daille which is ok in good snow and no crowds but can get crowded.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
I generally find a better option is to hop through the barriers at the last restaurant (can't remember the name) and ski the last bit of the competition piste into La Daile, rather than forcing your way through the crowds....
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
| Guvnor wrote: |
| I generally find a better option is to hop through the barriers at the last restaurant (can't remember the name) and ski the last bit of the competition piste into La Daile, rather than forcing your way through the crowds.... |
It's le Triffolet, but that run can also be a bit tricky. I've skied it with knee-high bumps before now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
NickB, Very true - but it is also often the best pisted, especially if it has been used for racing/training - they usually open it up in the afternoon when this has finished....
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| Guvnor wrote: |
| NickB, Very true - but it is also often the best pisted, especially if it has been used for racing/training - they usually open it up in the afternoon when this has finished.... |
Then you get shown up by the 10-year old kids from the local race team 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
agree with everyone about santons. if it's open it tends to be carnage as it's the only run below a black into the centre of val. if you don't ski blacks confidently forget any suggestion that you should ski le face. that's the sort of advice that get's you broken limbs. take the cable car.
conversely, if you don't mind coming down into la daille and taking the bus i would suggest using the OK run. the blues here tend to be congested with bad skiers (same problem as santons) and while ok allows plenty of room to ski carefuly down as long as it isn't icy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| goaty wrote: |
agree with everyone about santons. if it's open it tends to be carnage as it's the only run below a black into the centre of val. if you don't ski blacks confidently forget any suggestion that you should ski le face. that's the sort of advice that get's you broken limbs. take the cable car.
conversely, if you don't mind coming down into la daille and taking the bus i would suggest using the OK run. the blues here tend to be congested with bad skiers (same problem as santons) and while ok allows plenty of room to ski carefuly down as long as it isn't icy. |
Very sensible advice. Le Face is IMHO opinion a proper black. I was always confident when a less experienced and when I first went to Val d'sere Iwouldn't ski it and when I was there last when more experienced was amzed at how many inexperienced skiers either alone or with more confident skiers were trying to get down it scaring themselves in the process when they should be following the advice above. Le Face is a fun run early in the day when there isn't the end of day carnage.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
rooney, don't take any notice of people who feel it is not acceptable to take a lift down into Val D'Isere - especially at half term, when even if you are a competent skier you could well be taken out by one of the many incompetent idiots who won't go down in the lift.
| Quote: |
a natural halfpipe which you have to ski to get into Val. |
Is this what my son, who's worked there, calls the "piste perdu"? He was going to take me and his sister down it, one day last year with extremely bad vis. We stood on the top of what looked like a bottomless drop - he said "we just drop down into this little gully...". She and I looked at each other and said no, we weren't dropping into any "little" gulleys we couldn't see the bottom of. Was there an alternative? Yes, there was the famour "green" run down to La Daille. We were both more than competent to ski it, but it was very busy, and very mogully in places and icy in others. I felt it tested my ability. No way was it green. We skied it rather slowly and carefully, it was the end of the day and the run was very busy. The upshot was I found it more difficult and far less enjoyable than the black "Leisse" we had skied earlier. Then we got the bus back up to town.
Take the lifts - save your legs for the far more enjoyable runs at the top (and I agree, by the way, that the Tignes side is much preferably, not that I know the area very well).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
pam w, no the Vallée Perdue is an off-piste route into la Daille. Santons is a 'blue' piste that runs from the Bellevarde into the back of the town of Val d'Isère.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
NickB, yes, that makes sense, because we were about at the top of that green when we came over all wimpish about "dropping into the little gulley"
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| dan100 wrote: |
| Very sensible advice. Le Face is IMHO opinion a proper black. I was always confident when a less experienced and when I first went to Val d'sere Iwouldn't ski it and when I was there last when more experienced was amzed at how many inexperienced skiers either alone or with more confident skiers were trying to get down it scaring themselves in the process when they should be following the advice above. Le Face is a fun run early in the day when there isn't the end of day carnage. |
As blacks go, i think Le Face is fairly straightforward. Its pretty steep, but very wide so if you want to ski wide traverses you can.
The hardest bit is the narrow track halfway down, but if you get the chair up from Val you can miss this bit out anyway.
But its not a run to take inexperienced skiers down because it is so steep. I went down it aged 16 on my 2nd ever week's skiing with a group of friends who were better skiers than me. I can honestly say i've never been so scared on skis before in my life and i hated it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
. But as for taking the lift down, now that's not the done thing 
