La Grave 2008 (with mini-TR and photo link at end)

brian · Last edited by brian on Tue 11-03-08 14:05; edited 1 time in total

Thought a shiny new thread was appropriate. Very Happy

So I've sorted out my family weeks (9-17 Feb and 29 Mar to 6 Apr) and with family birthdays and Hibs fixtures I'm strongly favouring the w/e around the 8 March as originally suggested by JT.

That ties in with the eagles, right Arno ?

... but might be too close to easter for fatbob'n'phil ?

GrahamN, too far ahead to plan or are you up to repeat ?

A snowHead

brian, ties in nicely with my Eagles trip. If anyone fancies coming on that they're more than welcome. They will have to stump up the princely sum of £18 to join the club though. Details will be going up here:

http://www.eagleskiclub.org.uk/esctours.html

soon. PM me for the password you'll need when details start going up.

To give an idea of my plans, here's an extract from the tour description I've been putting together:

brian

Arno, what dates are you eagling ? Do you hire guides or is that anathema to true mountain men ? wink

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brian, i'll be doing Eagles stuff from 8 March. won't be bothering with guides

brian

Arno, so maybe Thu-Fri snowHead

-ing and Sat-Sun Eagles ? That sould suit me anyway, a couple of full on days with La Grave guides and then I'm more than happy to pay £18 to get to do some of the Alpe d'Huez stuff you've posted.

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Arno, ... I was hoping to spend a bit longer in La Grave area next season so would be quite interested in your trip + I am a 'feathered friend' already .... Toofy Grin

Eagle trip starting on March 8th ... until ...?

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

BernardC, My trip is from 8-16th (probably won't ski on 16th - will just be travelling back). The idea is for it to be a "club meet" (ie open to everyone, no particular plan - people just ski together as they wish) from 8-11th, then for a few people to stay on for the more serious stuff from 12-16th.

brian, good stuff. all the stuff about joining is on the website

After all it is free

Me N phil had a pretty strong preference for the weekend before because of the timing not leaving a lot of time for a full other hol before the kids etc are out for Easter. However I guess we have to go with the majority vote even if it is being heavily influenced by the Hibbies wink

brian

fatbob, I could do the weekend before as well. La Grave shades it over a home game v Celtic wink

Doubt Arno would want to be out 2 weekends in a row though ? Maybe we need transferrable votes. Confused

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I'm in..whichever dates suit me fine. Thinking 4 days skiing.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Two of my mates will be in LG next year.... They were thinking about late feb...altho' nothing set in stone yet.

snow reports

'wot airports is La Grave close to? I'm thinking of a late Feb weekend at the moment........

brian

kitenski, it's between L2A and Serre Chevalier so Grenoble, Turin, Lyon, Chambéry is a rough guess at the order of closeness.

Just checked with viamichelin, according to them it's Grenoble (1 hr 40), Chambéry, Lyon, Turin (all around 2 hours give or take 10 mins).

You know it makes sense.

kitenski,

Heather could handle it...if she really wanted to, but the others couldn't...

Dates on the table are wed 5th Mar-Sun 9th.

or

Wed 27th Feb-Sun 2nd may be an option...

Obviously, peeps could select the duration. If we ended up with larger than 6, then we would be need two guided groups....or we could self guide depending on lots of things.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

The founder crew... can you guys see any problems with the dates I posted just above?

A snowHead

4 days is good for me n phil my preference being for the earlier w/e but I suspect I can cope with the latter if forced. Any chance of Thurs-Mon?

A snowHead

fatbob,

I don't mind thur-mon. I may well tack on a few days anyway and just be in the area

Arno, can you come out on the week earlier as fatbob suggest or is that a little too close to your Eagles trip?

brian

fatbob, I fancied the Wed-Sun option if there's a late Sunday flight home to get 4 days skiing for my pre-negotiated 4 nights away. Otherwise Thurs-Mon is fine with me too.

JT, preference for later w/e but can cope with former if forced.

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Either of those weekends look reasonable to me. If it's a stand alone I'd probably vote for a Thurs-Mon trip too. I have to say though I'm very tempted by Arno's Eagles' week, and Snoworks also have a week in Gressoney starting that Sunday, so I may be in favour of running LG into either of those. I don't really want though to commit to anything definite until I see what the SCGB's programme is and how things fit in with that - and that probably won't appear until late July/early August Sad

.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Ok, let leave it as based round the W/E of the 8th (wed-sun,thurs-mon) as 1st choice ..and confirm when flights and courses become available.

My feeling is that the 'group' will be a bit more fluid will people dashing off early/arriving late for one reason or another and we may well have a few more bodies anyway.

Personally, I'd be happy with a day or two unguided, if the vis is good, so we may not have that to confine us..plus we should have a few personal contact numbers ( Francois, Manu and even Joe Suitcase ) should we need to do things nearer the time. As long as the dates do not coincide with anything special in LG, we'll be ok.

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JT,

I'm basically in agreement re the self guiding stuff , assuming conditions are acceptable and I know the group. Certainly a warm up day and maybe a trip to Serre Che we could certainly manage.

A further variable - admin has asked would we consider throwing it open as an official snowheads bash. I'm not sure we are far off in concept if not name but it would be critical that all attendees have the experience and skills to deal with what is very committing terrain and are capable of organising groups between themselves in order to ensure that feelings are not hurt. Not being elitest here as my skills were obviosuly lacking a fair amount of the time last time but I thought we tolerated each other quite well. Maybe an adhoc meet format would work better ie. here is the place and dates - organise yourselves if you want?

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

w/e of 8th is best for me too. going away for a long weekend then away for a week immediately after might try my wife's and my employer's patience a bit!

i think fatbob is right about the official bash side of things. first, i am not sure any of us wants to take on additional organisation. second, if someone turns up at la grave and isn't up to it, they are a bit stuck. it's not like Val Thorens where there is a bit of something for all abilities so if you can't keep up with one group you can go and pootle around somewhere else

After all it is free

fatbob,

One of the best things about last year was that I thouight the group was well matched. Of course, you will get off days through tiredness and all sorts but the waiting around was minimal in what were pretty testing conditions.

One or two thoughts.

Skiers have to be comfortable getting down anything is whatever snow and visablilty. That was demonstrated last year in bad vis with tired legs. There aren't any real bail out places, its the lift station or nothing.....and no pistes, although there is the track...but that might not be very easy to find all the time.

In essence it really isn't the place to learn, you should be comfortable with self navigation and have the ability to cowboy anything.
If you don't feel confident in some of these things, then you'll need a guide at ALL times, and with that comes a lot more organisation and the numbers becomes relevant for costs alone.

For these reasons alone, I've been wary of widening the scope. Like it or not, or dare not say it, but if peeps are struggling too much then that will put a large strain on things and groups will form .... My view is where do you avoid that issue, before we go or at the breakfast table on day 2...????

I like the idea of a lot of faces ( the essence of the snowHead

, for me) but how practical it might be in this situation, I don't know.

I believe we are committed to go but how do you 'invite' someone...?? do we have a set of criteria, who sets it....? fromal interviews..committee... Laughing

I know this sounds like 'up your bum' type stuff ...and we are no ski gods by any stretch, but I think we can look after ourselves.

I don't know what else to say. It is a responsibilty...

I think a by invitation only approach is totally against the ethos of snowheads so I'm sure we wouldn't be in that camp neither with the vetting. So I guess that leaves people to self organise if they wanted to be there at the same time much like we did and are doing. It might give some flexibility for individuals to swap groups but it definitely shouldn't be an expectation. I suspect that as last year some of the more traditional elements of a bash e.g. late night carousing might be lacking due to sheer knackeredness. wink

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fatbob,

I think G and BC did a fair bit of late night carousing....and Robin might demand it although he did close the bar on us a couple of times...when they'd drunk all his whisky...!!!

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Guys, I think that at the level that you're talking about, any skier who is suitable, will generally be experienced enough to know their limitations. I'd be interested, but I know that I'm not quite there yet in terms of bomb proof turns, and fitness and technique for the touring aspects. The people that you'd have to watch out for are the fantasy skiers.

snow reports

Kramer,

It is so difficult ... last year only 3 of us had skied together and that was all from the PSB which really isn't the place to get the best picture in this context. It worked out well in the end. I think fatbob's idea is the best in that we will all meet down there and have in mind a group set-up before we go. Any more than that we fix and make it up as we go along.

brian

fatbob, I really don't see what's to be gained by "official" status ? I don't want the hassle of being "organiser" but then again I'm quite happy to stick my oar in to the organisation Wink

Pretty much agree with all that's been said above. I'd be happy to see any other snowHead

s out in LG provided they feel up to it and aren't going to throw a strop if in general it's too gnarly/not gnarly enough to suit their tastes.

The other thing is it's a pretty concentrated few days, ie. fannying time must be kept to a minimum, imo.

You know it makes sense.

The level of gnarliness is always a chance that you take when you join a group that you've not skied with before. I think that all you can do is make it plain before the start, and then let everyone be responsible for their own decision.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I'm off to have look at a few hotels...

A snowHead

brian, I think that by making it an official snowHeads bash, it may make others feel that they could come along if they wished.

brian

Kramer, exactly. btw, I've not seen you ski but I can't believe you'd have any problems fitness wise given the time you're spending on an mtb these days. Last year's trip was lift served only and I think there's plenty to keep us busy without a need to tour.

brian

btw, my last point was re Kramer's level of gnarliness post.

Kramer, I see your point and I guess this could look a bit cliquey.

It really isn't though, I mean I basically gatecrashed in on a semi-formed group last year when I saw tentative mentions of people heading for LG in the skiing goals thread. They may have been cursing me right enough, but it didn't show. Laughing

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brian,

Only cos' we couldn't catch you and you're Scots .. Laughing

The dates may or may not clash with the MSB....so make that in L2A and everything is covered.. Laughing

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

brian, the fitness for ski-touring and mountaineering is one of the reasons I'm doing it. I'm not there yet though, but hopefully I should be by next season. Technically I'm still not quite confident enough off piste, especially in tight exposed areas. I'm hoping that improving my fitness will help in that area as well.

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Typically an entry to a gully might be less than two mtrs wide and less than that would be usable with a ski. Patou was like that, for example.
It would mean a steep sideslip for 4-5 mtrs before you could get a turn in..and then it might be a bit agricultural at best. you might then expect the terrain to widen and flatten. for me, skiing this type of stuff is hardish but on the whole, I just know I'll get through it ok in a reasonable time. Bearing in mind that it is one at a time and the 1st guys will be down there laughing at you whilst you have been waiting at the top, thinking why are they taking so long......!!!!

If you can do that, then that is half the battle. And that is just the stuff we know about, you have got to know you can cope, thats all.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

JT, I know my limitations. Perhaps the year after?

After all it is free

I don't think this should become an "official" event (I have told Admin that I think this), at least not to start with. The kind of skiing you guys are doing will only allow a handful of snowHead

s to join in, and you will run the risk of less strong skiers insisting on coming along. Maybe next year you could consider this.

But.... I like the idea of more faces...... and the idea of sharing these experiences is what a lot of it is about...like I said, so difficult.

Kramer,

You can't be fazed by these routes but they are an education. But it is not like LG has the sole ownership on runs like this. If you have picked off little drop-offs before, --- think of the Grand Couloir but much narrower...then its that sort of skiing. Most resorts would have a comparable or so. LG just has...err...lots more of the same.

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Thinking about it...a second group would be a nice idea and could afford to chose their own intinery. As long as people could organise themselves to a degree, it would be great, IMV

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La Grave 2008 (with mini-TR and photo link at end)

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Solo Skiers v Groups - Organising Trips