 Poster: A snowHead
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Was in Flaine this half term and the blacks there were geting seriously mogully, most of them seemed to drop down a cliff edge for their starts. Fun though 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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MJS, yes, we were there last week. Thought Agate (top right hand corner of the piste map) in particular looked fun (i.e. can't imagine myself skiing it in a million years, at least not in the condition it was in when we saw it).
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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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I was there a fortnight before you NatalieG, and Agate was certainly challenging, but far from impossible. The top of Aigle Noir/Blanc (?) in Samoens, on the other hand, was an icy cliff face... and I was very glad I was taken down it by my instructor,
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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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It's an old one, not shot by myself
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So who helped you shoot 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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I'd just like to brag about how I did the tunnel on opening day without a mogul in sight, just fresh lines in waist deep powder! Don't think to many people get to see it like that, dream day! 
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I've skied the top of Sarenne in ADH Easter 09 with hardish (?) snow and would say it's on the limit for a red run skier (which I guess I am). Fun though. I skied past the entrance to the tunnel but realised I would be out of my league. In any case I was on the last run down and had to drive to Dijon that evening so didn't want to be a medical centre candidate. Having said that, we all want to do it, don't we......
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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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| Having said that, we all want to do it, don't we...... |
If your greatest desire in the skiing world is to ski through a tunnel... go pot holing!
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James the Last, er, is that a joke? In case it isn't, you should know that you ski through a short tunnel to get to the run. There is nothing tunnel-like about the run itself.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Out of interest how does Le Tunnel compare with the Coqs and Morbleu blacks in La Plagne?
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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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I am still contemplating whether, given the opportunity, I would ski it again in a hurry. I am also contemplating whether I could get Mrs Monium through the Tunnel, and if I could, whether she would choose to do the run or go back through a tunnel that she would hate every second of. I think she would probably do the run. And then punch me repeatedly in the head at the bottom.
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James the Last, Erm, the access tunnel is the easiest bit - we could all do that. A friend of mine who can ski properly told me about all the second thoughts types he encountered walking back up the tunnel......
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You know it makes sense.
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So how does Le Tunnel compare to Verbier's Mont Fort or Tortin.
I went twice to LDH way back when, and was a crapp skier then, frankly the only thing I remember about the place was that the ski area seemed long, high but thin (as in width) and even that memory is probably cobblers!
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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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rungsp, i think you're thinking of Les Deux Alpes 
I'd say the Tunnel is similar to Mont Fort but there is something about the entrance to the steep bit of the tunnel (maybe the fact that you emerge from a flat tunnel into a big alpine face) that sketches many people out the first time they do it
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Poster: A snowHead
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| James the Last wrote: |
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| Having said that, we all want to do it, don't we...... |
If your greatest desire in the skiing world is to ski through a tunnel... go pot holing! |
Thank you, I have been through that tunnel and levelled off some of the bumps between it and the bottom!
It was the comment above "we all want to do it" that I didn't understand. It's a ski run, "much like" any other. Some are harder, some are easier. I like to do runs that I can ski, or runs that push just beyond what I can ski. Doing runs that are way beyond my capabilities does not count as something I "want to do".
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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James the Last, fair point, but the trick is in getting this bit right:
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runs that push just beyond what I can ski
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I definitely misjudged it/myself - a pity, because the resultant yard sale caused a long-term diminution of nerve. 
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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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Too true. As I mentioned somewhere well up this thread I found myself by mistake the wrong end of the tunnel on the first morning of my third ever week's skiing. Moguls as tall as me. And I got down it (eventually) in one piece and strangely it gave me the confidence that I could go anywhere on the mountain at all.
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First time I went down the Tunnel a guide for a well known TO, on her first day in ADH took a group on near beginners down ahead of me, carnage ... ski's and poles everywhere, which meant nowhere for me to turn! I have done a couple of trips to ADH, and whilst I admit to side slipping on the first attempts of the tunnel, on subsequent runs I learn't to do the turns (I took an instructor with me to sort out my technique on one occasion) before reaching the edge of the "piste" if that is the right word for it, and actually began to enjoy it!
Actually I think there is more opportunity to make an a**e of yourself on the run into to the entrance of the tunnel than on the run itself. Also you have the whole build up on the lift going up of watching the skiiers falling over.
My question is, how does Le Tunnel compare with the Courchevel couloirs? I was quite happy with the Tunnel, but my mates keep persuading me to ignore the tempation of said Couloirs! Hence everytime I leave the 3V's I regret not having ticked them off the list.
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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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James the Last,
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It was the comment above "we all want to do it" that I didn't understand
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I just assumed that most skiers who are competent on reds and easier blacks (like the top of Sarenne) would be very "curious" about how difficult "Le Tunnel" actually was so may/would want to do it themselves. In Flaine, where I go regularly, the Diamont Noir is quite tricky at the top (comparatively) but I did it to "see what it was like" I didn't endanger anyone, I did it slowly and carefully but it's not a run I'd want to do regularly. There are two other blacks there I've never done (Agate and Gers) but I'm curious about them and, when conditions are good (for me) I'll do them. Isn't this what skiing is about?
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billb, If you can do diamont noir, then you can do agate and gers, gers being the most fun of all of them. Lots of choices on the way down, the "piste" is just a little bit of it. The only awkward bit of gers piste is the very last bit, mainly becasue its a small half pipe, and people get stuck becasue its narrow, but just go up and down the sides (trying to avoid the fallen down people!!) The off piste way from the other side in reasonable snow is much more pleasant
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It all depends on the snow or lack of it (exposed rocks?), size of moguls, ice, presence or absence of bodies scattered about which run is the most difficult. I have skied all the pistes mentioned in Europe - not done Corbets Couloir and don't think I will. Did the Swiss wall about a month ago and only problem was getting into the bumps as it was all scraped and traversed. Once in it was OK. Done the runs mentioned in Flaine (Gers was lovely in Feb 2010) and la Plagne and I would say they are much easier. Did the ADH tunnel many years ago and it was a challenge then but think I would find it easier now. Also remember several Verbier bump runs that hubby says I'd be fine with now.
Good place for steep bumps across the pond is Grouse Mountain at Beaver Creek. One mountain with one lift that gives access to double black diamond runs that can never be pisted. Not the sort of place beginers can stumble across so there are no traverse tracks!!
My scariest run ever was getting into the Grande Couloir in Courchevel several years ago at Christmas time. I had skied it several times before so didn't think anything to it but it was early season and little snow getting along the top of the ridge for access. Its a gentle very narrow slope but had a sheer drop both sides. I was scared I would fall over the edge!! I was much happier once in the bumps. At least there is a rock face each side. Hubby says Telipherique couloir in Couchevel is the steepest - but I haven't done that one. All 3 couloirs used to be on the 3V piste map as black runs when we first went to 3V in 1990!
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FAQ
to the amusement of the chairlift.
