 Poster: A snowHead
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Combat skiing over rocks and bushes. Don't take your own skis !
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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All right, I'll take yours.
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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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NickW, apparently it's not too bad over in montengevre. If you pm Linds she may be able to get you in their bus over there?
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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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Dan, my friend was talking to Mark at the Moncron yesterday and he recons a dump is on its way (hopefully in time for the 27th)
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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it says that about everywhere...........i'll believe it though otherwise i'll be rocking hoping next week in France - it'll improve my olie's 
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Am back now. Metcheck got it completely wrong the w/e I was there.
Mark > top bloke. I spent a fortune in his place.
There were a couple of local Italian skiers and a boarder built a jump on the slope just above Clotes (lifts weren't open). For his first jump this kid did a backward somersault, skis perfectly crossed and landed it w/o even a hint of a wobble. Fantastic. Got a picture of him doing a 360 about 10' in the air. His mates were good but this guy landed every jump, almost nonchalantly (dodgy spelling ?).
Got to get my next trip organised . . . before the one to Jackson.
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Friend just rang from Sauze. Says he's spent the past couple of days mudboarding as high winds have blown all the snow off the slopes.
Link to Sestriere closed due to high winds as well.
More snow desperately needed. 
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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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Oh dear, this is not going to help finance those 2006 Winter Olympics.
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Link to Sestriere closed due to high winds as well
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Ha! been there... done that... We have video footage of me arriving at top of chair just before link to Sestiere as the lift ops shut up shop... a very expressive "B*GGER!" is heard/seen!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Is Mark the Scouser bloke?
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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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Tuck Thong, yeah , runs the Moncron bar
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Was in Suaze during Christmas and new year. It snowed like hell on boxing day and gave goog ski-ing but most of the runs had suffered badly by the new year.
There still hasn't been much snow since and most of the runs are closed.
My skies got a good hammering and I have only just got them back after servicing and small scratches can still be seen.
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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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Just back from a week in Sauze, and am happy to report that the slopes are much improved thanks to the snow on the 23rd Jan and a week of sub-zero teps allowing them to run the snow cannons 24/7. Unfortunately some of the upper slopes have been stripped by the high winds, but the principal slopes around Sportinia and Pian del Rocca are in excellent condition. 
The best runs are actually the runs down to the resort  , where work during the summer to widen the pistes and furious snow making provide some excellent on-piste conditions. Off-piste is still a no no as although everything looks nice and white there are plenty of rocks to catch you out  .
The gondola link over to Sestriere as it was very hit and miss, you could do one run and the signs would show it open, and by the time you got back to the top of the lift again it would be closed, and after the next run it would be open again !! Having driven to the resort we didn't disk it and actually drove over to Sestriere for the day, and the conditions were also excellent. The only lifts that appeared to be closed were some of the drag lifts to the highest runs which given the wind would not be a pleasant experience anyway. They also had the snow cannons going full tilt and on-piste conditions were fantastic- a covering of grippy snow over a nice hard base led to some fantastic high speed carving runs.
The suprise of the week was when we drove over to San Sicario (again the link from Sauze was closed) and found the place empty  . We parked the car down in Cezana, and got the new gondola up to the resort passing over the new bobsleigh run which has an uphill finish straight  !! God help you if you don't have enough speed to get all the way up it as it has quite a gradient and you will be going backwards at a rate of knots.
Anyway the conditions were really good as the south facing slopes allowed the sun to soften the overnight freeze, and with new artificail snow on top and only a handful of people about, high speed cruising was very much the order of the day, especially on the womens downhill run....excellent  .
One note of caution though, due to the restricted off-piste (none) and closed pistes in Sauze all the steep pitches get scraped clean very quickly leaving borders and beginners with a few problems. So unless you have race edges and can carve then the best bet is just to straight line them and worry about the speed when you hit the flat bits.
The highlight of my week was when I got to go free skiing with an ex member of the Italian national & World Cup ski teams whom now runs the hotel we were staying in. Plenty of tips were passed on and high speed cruising suddenly took on a new meaning .
Any  heading out there over the next week or so should not be too alarmed by the doom laden reports from recent weeks. The pistes are in excellent condition with practically no rock and loose stones (except around the beginners slopes in Sportinia due to the high level of traffic) so enjoy. Just use the oportunity to improve you on-piste techniques and leave the off-piste aspirations for another year.
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Tue 1-02-05 14:27; edited 1 time in total
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Poster: A snowHead
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"...whom now runs the hotel we were skiing in..."
I hope your skis were clean!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Red Leon, Ha Ha, yes I noticed that and sneakilly edited the post, obviously not quickly enough though 
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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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Big G,
You can't get away with much on here! 
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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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say hi to damien in vagabondi.
Kieran.
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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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Looks like I was in Sauze the same week as Big G, I'd agree with everthing he said on the conditions. We lucked in and found the gondola open and spent Wed, Thu and Fri over in Sestriere and the conditions over there by comparison were fabulous. We went from dragging our mob reluctantly down the reds to a day 4 (plus 6hrs on a dry slope) skier enjoying a black run, by comparison he hated the reds back in Sauze.
At least the hotel made up for it.
-27 on the hill I can take when I know that when I get back there's the sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and all that waiting for me along with a huge chunk of cheese and nibbles sat on the bar. The computerized heating going on the fritz for a couple of nights in my room was a minor niggle but I reckon that in a year's time the hotel will be well sorted and raring to go.
http://www.grandhotelbesson.it/index.html was the place.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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FenlandSkier,
Hotel looks great. Website isn't too clever, though - there's nowt but the intro!
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Red Leon, Looks like they have only got the Italian version up and running at the moment, none of the other languages are working. Not really surprising as the hotel is new this year.
By all accounts the owner has been pissing off the locals by flouting local employment and licensing rules, by employing non local staff, and holding parties/events until 4 in the morning without the correct licenses.
Maybe FenlandSkier, can comment on whether this is still the case.
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The barstaff were a mixture, one of them was definitely Italian but another was Argentinian.
The late parties were a minor point of contention for a couple of our group though. Basically they have a public bar that opens Fri/Sat/Sun nights and does karaoke and disco until well into the early hours. I stuck my head round the door just to have a look see and I think there may be video evidence of me dancing somewhere abouts but to be honest we were that zonked by that time of night so we just sloped off to bed. If you slept it wasn't a problem but if you couldn't get to sleep (like a couple of our group) then it's very easy to blame it on the thump-thump-thump wandering up from below and the sound of merry Irishmen wandering the corridor looking for someone named Brian (they did this a couple of times during the week  )
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