 Poster: A snowHead
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
That's Saturday traffic in the middle of February. It normally takes me 2hr45min to get to Geneva from Arc 1800 at other times. If you can arrange your transfer day to Sunday it would be better, or any other day of the week for preference. If that's not possible leave much earlier than 10.15am (preferably), or much later.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
I guess it's pretty normal, a very busy weekend before 1/2 term
Personally I'd leave at 17:00 after a full day on the slopes and drive off the hill and find somewhere to crash (though hopefull not literally) on the way home...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Carlos_L,
Yes
| Quote: |
what's the best time to leave ?
|
Earlier than that 
(Actually, to miss the queues from Bourg St Maurice to Moutiers on a Saturday, you probably need to leave at about 8 (is that about correct BernardC?))
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Yoda, if the traffic is bad I think the local police try to stop people using the back road. Even if you can use the back road it's still very slow as you have to join the main road just past Aime (unless there's another back road that I'm not aware of which goes all the way to Moutiers?).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
rob@rar, no I think you have to re-join as you say (and I'm sure your local knowledge is far superior to mine ) but I have found that way to be (apparently - no direct comparison obviously) quicker on several occasions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Carlos_L,
That is what you expect during a French Mid term break on leaving Saturday at 10am. You might be able to cut it down to 20 minutes if starting earlier than, say 8:30am for the 17 to 20 miles journey.
Sorry to hear you missed the flight.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| saikee wrote: |
| You might be able to cut it down to 20 minutes ... |
20 minutes from Arc 1800 to Moutiers? That's simply impossible.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
Similar week, few years ago saw us have a 7hr Tignes to Lyon transfer. Holiday week to the Tarentasie would ALWAYS see us do Sunday transfers (to La Ros of course)
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| Carlos_L wrote: |
| Yoda, yes we're driving a hired car. Is this back road a road running in the left along the way between Bourg and Aime ? Could we save a lot of time using it ? |
Not a huge amount of time as the bottleneck is around Moutiers. The back road only goes as far as Aime - approximately half way between Bourg St Maurice and Moutiers (and therefore still the wrong side of the bottleneck). The only way to avoid the traffic jam is to leave very early or late. The Tourist Office in Les Arcs provides forecats for peak traffic volume on transfer days, so a quick check before you leave shouls tell you when the best time is to leave.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
rob@rar,
Never drive down from Les Arcs 1800 myself but BSM to Moutiers (or to the section with dual carriageway) is about 17 miles. I guess the section from Les Arcs will take time as I got a friend who skid his car off road and dropped 50 ft. When he went back to check the vehicle he found it was one of the three lying there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
saikee, 20 minutes from Arc 1800 to Bourg, 15 minutes if the traffic is clear and you put your foot down. It's about 50 minutes from Arc 1800 to Moutiers in normal traffic and normal road speeds.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
Carlos_L, If we do that drive, we aim to be through Moutiers by 7.30am - but these days we tend to ski all morning, have a decent, late lunch & leave about 4. But we never do it at half term - kids are beyond that fortunately
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
| Frosty the Snowman wrote: |
| Similar week, few years ago saw us have a 7hr Tignes to Lyon transfer. Holiday week to the Tarentasie would ALWAYS see us do Sunday transfers (to La Ros of course) |
La Ros - is that a good resort?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
About 15 years ago, once it took me 10 hours to drive the last 20 miles to Les Arcs on a Saturday - absolute nightmare.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
Carlos_L, The back road to Aime via Macot can help but Aime also becomes a bottleneck....take the right hand side of Lake Annecy via Talloires and the back road to Geneva not the motorway this can slso save time .....on a good day.........
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
stewart woodward, would you be talking about N...D.du..P
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
stewart woodward, redrunmarcus, 32 hairpin bends from Moutiers to N.D. du Pre?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fogliettaz, not much fun in anything bigger than a mini with winter tyres............I can see the locals loving a queue of Snowheads through their village every Saturday in Feb... 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fogliettaz, nice looking app- I have still not skied St Foy must do it this season
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
I did in a Renault Espace after the tunnel was closed due to accident, and probably will not do it again in a hurry. The road was very busy with a lot of cars coming the other way just to make things interesting!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MMM i did it in an x Trail ....only once
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
redrunmarcus, i did it in summer in an awd V6 Jag ..great fun (apart from the shopping in Cocktail Scandy at the end) but I would not want to do it in winter those bends are tight enough on a dry road.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| redrunmarcus wrote: |
| Fogliettaz, nice looking app- I have still not skied St Foy must do it this season |
You must do. But it has become somewhat crowded in recent years.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
boredsurfin, indeed I am not sure if the N de P road is passable in winter? It was hair raising enough in summer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| rob@rar wrote: |
| unless there's another back road that I'm not aware of which goes all the way to Moutiers?). |
depends what you mean by "just past Aime", you can get to Pombliere which is just on the outskirts of Moutiers. There is a method to get around the police roadblock.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
I must look at the map more carefully, although happily these days I don't do that trip on busy days so I don't get stuck in transfer traffic. Would love to know what the method is for getting past the police. Does it involve the risk of being shot at...?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
rob@rar, or folded notes ? 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
boredsurfin, I'd rather be shot at! I wonder if evidence of being a local taxpayer is sufficient proof of being a "local"?
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
rob@rar, I suspect it would be down to the accent 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
boredsurfin, you mean they stop if if you sound Welsh. Hardly fair!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Based on my experience - yes that's a normal time.
Last few times in Vallandry we have left by 6am and never had to queue
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
Thank you all for your answers.
Now it's clear to me it was a big mistake to leave at that time.
By the way, do you know if there's a similar bottleneck for the 3 Vallees resorts ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Carlos_L,
If there is any bottlenecks in 3V then it could only be the mountain road from the resort to the valley floor at Moutiers (equivalent from Les Arcs 1800 to BSM). Cars don't do stop and go in dual carriageway. The traffic dispersion at Albertille area may be slow though.
I haven't bottom this out but the traffic jam between Moutiers and BSM is not accident-related as far as I am aware. It is just the way people drive when there is a convoy. The road is absolutely fine on any other day but there is always a stream of day visitors coming into the valley every day in the morning and going out after the resort closing time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| saikee wrote: |
| I haven't bottom this out but the traffic jam between Moutiers and BSM is not accident-related as far as I am aware. It is just the way people drive when there is a convoy. The road is absolutely fine on any other day. |
It's just volume of traffic. Moutiers is the final bottleneck on the road down the Tarentaise and can't cope with peak traffic flow on the busiest days of the year. Easiest way to avoid the Saturday traffic is to travel on another day of the week if you can, but if not leave your resort very early or late.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Take the train, or ski elsewhere. The roads clearly can't cope. That whole area of France is becoming a choked disaster.
When I first skied Val, Les Arcs, Tignes etc. from the late 1960s it wasn't the megalopolis it's turned into. It's like some sort of transplanted urban nightmare. I think it was pistehors who reported amazing levels of air pollution in Tignes due to ski buses.
Too much greed, development, and lack of concern for people down the valley who have to suffer this air poison and noise.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| David Goldsmith wrote: |
| It's like some sort of transplanted urban nightmare. |
No it's not. Take a look at some of the photos in the relevant snow report threads (because you haven't skied there for some time so have no basis for making that claim) to see just how unlike an urban nightmare it is. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
