 Poster: A snowHead
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Had an offer from iglu, but haven't frequented this part of the mountain.
also seen many  discuss the vendue and thought the question might spark fiery opinion
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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What is your experience? What are your expectations?
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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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Yes.
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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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Also, no.
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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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WTSS 2008 says this...
+ve
High, snowsure, varied slopes, including an extensive glacier area.
Lots of good off-piste terrain.
Excellent sunny nursery slopes.
Stunning views of the Ecrins peaks.
Lively resort with varied nightlife.
Wide choice of affordable hotels.
-ve
Piste network modest by mega-resort standards and badly congested in places.
Home runs are either steep and icy or dangerously overcrowded - so people queue for a lift down instead.
Virtually no woodland runs.
Spread out, traffic-choked resort.
Few appealing mountain restaurants.
Have you considered La Rosiere?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I hate it! although I am going again this year... 
as for the 'Why' to me it's an ugly, taffic torn, characterless town (I prefer the brutalism of Flaine say), and a strange, strung out ski area.
When there are so many better places - why bother?
(I got an invite I couldn't refuse...)
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Thanks all
bh1, experience relatively comprehensive, expectations 3'+ powder, blue skies
Ray Zorro, tentatively
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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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Skied at LDA last year at Febrauary half term, when it should have been at its busiest. From last year my comments on the -ves would be
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Piste network modest by mega-resort standards and badly congested in places.
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Only the former is true and how large an area do you need. We never had any really bad lift queues at all. It did get slightly busy for the main Jandri lift first thing in the morning, but you could take the white eggs instead which was always quieter. Lifts serving some of the nicest skiing when we were there were empty.
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Home runs are either steep and icy or dangerously overcrowded - so people queue for a lift down instead.
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Yes most of the return routes are blacks, but when we were there you could avoid the busy pisted and icy areas by coming down the unpisted mogul fields which were much quieter and a lot more fun 
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Virtually no woodland runs.
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Well it is a high snow suer resort, what do you expect!
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Spread out, traffic-choked resort.
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Never noticed, but we were there to ski and ski we did, didn't leave the general area of our chalet all week except on skis or foot to the shops. We could pratically ski in ski out. The nearest ski run was about 50m from our front door.
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Few appealing mountain restaurants.
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No idea, we cooked for ourselves
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To be fair to WTSS it issuea pluses and minuses for every reosort and as an overview I find the book pretty reliable.
I have skied L2A quite a few times on day trips in winter and one week on the glacier in the summer. I have really enjoyed it every time.
Looking at the pluses and minuses and from my experience.
If you are looking for a lively well priced high altitude snow sure ski area it should be very high on your list.
If you are looking for a cute village with wooded village to village skiing it would not be.
With regards to the crowds my own experience has been in high season when other resorts have poor snow putting greater pressure on the system.
The main runs were very crowded but it was not difficuolt to find very quiet and enjoyable pistes nearby. Some people just seem to stick to the main runs without thought of going elsewhere.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I've spent 4 weeks there over the last two Winters and would largely echo what T Bar, and Dave Horsley, have said. I've always been late or early and have never experienced the busiest periods but queues then have never been bad. Mountain restaurants aren't a strength but there are 5 I believe and the only one I try to avoid is the glacier one (too much like a service station for me). Others range from OK to very good. Off again for 10 days at Easter so I'm convinced.
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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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dingbat,
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Lack of "fun" runs back to the village; the long green is really, really boring and the blacks can be lethal if you're not fabulously skilled
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Depends what your looking for. I'm not exactly fabulously skilled - never had a lesson in my life on snow, I ski on tele kit with low touring boots and I had no problems with the blacks back to resort. I prefered to stay away from the pisted sections because they were often busy, with skiers skiing too fast, but there was plenty of unpisted runs back down which were much quieter. Even encountered the most tele skiers on one of them on the last day when I ran into an ESF class of tele skiers  . Was pleased to see that they were all doing parallel turns down the moguls just like me. Though seeing how easy the instructor made it look I did feel commited to try.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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one of my friends who was with us was on his second ever week skiing (the first time was 15 years ago!) and he got down it ok.
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This is why I generally use the Diable or the Y instead of the Valentin. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Prefer ADH myself, but L2A has Easiksi 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Went there for my second skiing holiday and had a brilliant time. Largely agree with what T Bar and Dave Horsley said.
The resort doesn't have old rustic charm nor is it concrete high-rise like Tignes. Whilst it might not be pretty compared to other resorts I wouldn't call it ugly either imo. There were quite a few wood framed buildings about.
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Piste network modest by mega-resort standards and badly congested in places.
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Are there really skiiers who never ski the same run twice in a week? Fortunately it snowed for about two days mid-week when I was there so the same runs were totally different experiences. If it's varied terrain, a different line gives a different experience.
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Home runs are either steep and icy or dangerously overcrowded - so people queue for a lift down instead.
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The hotel I stayed in was less than 100m from the Belle Etoile chairlift which can take you up the mountain as well as down so our group avoided all the queues at the main lifts.
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traffic-choked resort.
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Sounds a bit strong from what I saw, certainly not like a town centre in England. I think the road through the resort ends at the Venosc end so there's no through traffic going elsewhere.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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i actually think that the runs back to the town (Valentin and that terrible green track aside) are some of the most fun there
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Arno, I like the Y. But why do I always end up nearly crashing into that bush when it's the only obstacle on a wide and otherwise completely uninhabited piste? 
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Lizzard, you need to look where you want to go, not where you don't want to go 
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Have been to L2A and Alpe d'Huez and would definitely could ADH every time. The terrain is just too one-dimensional, you can't really go to little town's on the edges of the resort: there aren't any. It is just go up and go down the same way. Off-piste is great in L2A though, but that doesn't win it for me.
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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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FAQ
Off piste was great.
By the end of the week I felt like I was running out of slopes
Village not pretty (not important to me but important to some).
and had a great time. Didn't have to queue too much for lifts but it did get a bit busy on the lower half of the mountain at the end of the day and there are a couple of places that are a bit flat like the blue run Gours - get some decent speed up on that or you'll be walking! Don't bother with the green run home, you're taking your life in your hands heading down there, and I only did it once... Head down Valentin instead, the black run nearest the green. It's a little tricky at the top but one of my friends who was with us was on his second ever week skiing (the first time was 15 years ago!) and he got down it ok. The best mountain restaurant was at the bottom of Fee and Aymes, the red and black runs respectively on the left hand side of the piste map about half way down. Great views, good food (lovely omlettes!) and cold beer. Perfect! 
However there are a large number of old stone buildings especially around the Venosc end, many of which are 200+ years old.
