 Poster: A snowHead
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Just back from a week in Tignes. Conditions were not great. Spent most of the week on the Grand Motte, where the snow was pretty good, as you'd expect on a glacier. Even there, though, the bottom of the Leisse (a fairly easy black) was a sheet of ice by Friday, at which point they scraped an acre or so of the bumps from the side onto the piste, smoothed it out and created pretty good conditions for Saturday.
The biggest problem was caused by the Grand Motte cable car being out of action - after a scarey (http://www.ifyouski.com/news/newsarticle/?ObjectID=7183515) sounding accident. They were testing it all week, but it was not in use - which caused a nasty bottleneck at the top of the funicular and long queues at the Montagny t-bar.
From the funicular, you had two options: head down a few hundred yards on a short chair lift (very slow) or ski along a ridge, gaining as much speed as possible to make it across to the slopes. I thought the ridge was in pretty bad shape a week past Sunday - and it deteriorated markedly throughout the week. By Friday, you were basically skiing on a mix of gravel, rock and ice. I saw a weakish intermediate fall and very nearly go over the edge for what would undoubtedly been a fatal fall.
No work was done to patch up the ridge - causing a great deal of discussion on the lifts and in the bars. There were two schools of thought: the trusting said it was too windy and the snow too dry to make any improvements; the cynics that the resort couldn't be arsed to do any work until the weekend brought all the locals onto the slopes. The cynics also predicted that the cable car would be ready for action by Saturday.
On Friday afternoon, the piste bashers finally moved in and rebuilt the path across the ridge. The cable car also reopened. As the weather was warmer and the wind had dropped, it wasn't clear whether the trusting souls or cynics had been proved right.
Skiing back down to Val Claret was an interesting experience - again lots of rocks to negotiate at the top where the snow had been blown off; and then stones scattered across the snow the rest of the way down. Most of the lower slopes tended to be in similar condition - or were closed. My impression was that the snow cannons didn't really go into overdrive until the weekend was approaching.
There was a fairly easy off-piste cut-across that a lot of people were using to avoid the top of the run back to the resort. It was worth being careful though - there was a small avalanche Wednesday morning, as some skiers knocked off a wind-blown slab.
I ventured only a short way towards Val d'Isere, where many runs appeared to be closed. Did ski a closed red over there - and found it was not in that bad shape. Most of the traffic seemed to be from Val to Tignes though - indicating that the Tignes conditions were generally better. People were being bussed in from other resorts as well.
I had a great week, mostly on the bumps on the side of the Leisse - but Tignes needs snow badly. The guys servicing skis and boards were doing roaring business. After just a week, my skis were more battered than they had been by the end of the season last year.
If you're about to go out there, it's time to start praying for a big dump. And if there's no new snow, think about hiring some skis rather than taking your own...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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DavidS, thanks, good report. About sums it up really. We had a long period of warm weather, the cannons were out of action for ages. I reckon anything they did manage to make they were shipping over to Val for the O.K. piste and the World Cup!
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Mine were serviced at that shop just opposite Mick's - and a great job they did. Were you staying in the Toviere?
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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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Yes - were you?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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This could get interesting 
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yes!
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DavidS, Spooky..... Maybe we met?
Frosty the Snowman wrote,
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This could get interesting
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In what way? 
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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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