 Poster: A snowHead
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I spent ages looking for tha appartment as it is quite a rabbit warren
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iscream, that's nothing. I once lost my chalet in Meribel and was walking round in ski boots till dark, looking for it. Nobody in the grocery shop knew it (it was mid December and the chalet staff were all new) and the wretched place was like a council estate with every road looking like every other. Eventually decided to knock on the window where a friendly looking group were sitting round, and discovered it was my chalet, but approached from the other side.  We'd been taken to the slopes in a minibus in the morning, and I hadn't paid attention.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Glad you are having a great time folks. What time did you arrive? We looked for you and didn't bail out down the hill until 17:15 - did we see you driving up at that time, I thought I had spotted you in a car? It's nice to be able visualise where you have been - we did lunch in the Solan yesterday 
If you get over to Belle Plagne we would recommend the Carlina - esp. on a blue sky day sitting on the terrace Not cheap, but truly excellent food - great if you want a special meal - you ski through Belle Plagne on an obvious blue, swing past the first restaurants and head around the back of the buildings towards the Arpette lift and its on the way down on the right, roughly under the Gondola, but the piste isn't named on the map I have. Also, if you get over on the VE, the L'Arpette area over towards Belle Plagne if full of wide open straightforward cruisy blues, great confidence building territory and an easish route to and from the VE all on blues. However, if its a cold day its bloody freezing up there - def. 3 layer thermal territory!! The Bijolin chair lift was one cold experience  .
Back in Les Arcs if you get too cold try the Altiport or Arpette restaurant where they sell something called Xante - a mixture of hot apple juice, cinammon and pear liqueur Iscream I sympathise with your problems in the appartment block - it is indeed a rabbit warren  Hope you do better than us on your last day - the closest elevator in the appartment block to the underground carpark was out of order on our last day  N.B. Don't forget to Validate that car parking ticket either  That slope is quite a challenge if you have to drive back to the appartment because you forget to do so!!! I remembered just in time - we had just driven up the slope and I decided that descretion was the better part of valour and walked back to do it!!!
Have a great time - looking forward to your continuing installments in the blog, which I've renamed for you!!
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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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HiMegamum, yes we were driving up at about 1715, in fact that's when we were struggling up the last few yards without the chains on - we must have just missed you.
Thanks fro renaming the blog.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Thanks Boredsurfing, it looks like it's a trip down to Bourg then (I haven't checked out the Sherpa in VIllards yet!)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Glad you're all having a good time. Apologies for the lack of a Freddie PaellaPan - have to confess to not knowing what one of those is! I'll add it to the list of stuff I want to buy for the apartment.
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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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An excellent second day, though still very cold.
I found my way down to 1800 on the free navette this morning to pick up some bread and croissants. We have yet to find a way of getting bread easily - no shops in Chantel.
Our plan for the day was to see if we could get to Villaroger but we knew that Iscream would have to do some of the red on Aiguille Rouge and that this might be a problem.
However the first problem was once again getting Iscream organised to get out of the apartment. Mrs Paellahead and I have had to go through the rigors of getting three small boys organised with all their gear and out to the slopes, but this does not compare with the trials and tribulations of making sure that Iscream arrives at the locker room with all her gear (and is not still wearing her pyjamas  )
Eventually we were able to ski down to the Vagere lift and across on Charmetoger to pick up Transarc 2 - we had to squeeze in individually in various cabins.
From there we took the blue Col de Chal. We are mystified why les Arcs appears to have no green runs and this particular blue required more poling than I have ever done on a blue before
 We continuse along Valee de l'Arc into Arc 2000. I came to the conclusion that Arc 2000, a bit like LDA, can only be accessed via the excessively flat or black runs (not sure how steep as not attempted... yet).
Richard E and I left the ladies in Chez Eux (yet another good  s recommendation - the ladies ordered themselves a vin chaud each and were presented with pint glasses  ) to check out Aiguille Rouge - up the Lanchette chair and then down the red. We fairly rapidly came to the conclusion that [ b]Iscream[/b] would not yet be ready to tackle this, but Richard managed to "accidentally" to ski past the bottom of the Droset lift and we were therefore "forced" to ski down to the bottom of Plan des Violettes before returning via it and Droset to take reservoir back down into Droset. We arrived at Chez Eux to find two very "relaxed" sisters.
Lunch was now in the offing, and so we skied past Disneyland (arc 1950) down a very pretty run called Cascades. I tried to get Iscream to try face a little more down the slope (rather than throwing her shoulder especially on the steeper bits) and decided that a good technique for ladies was advise them to point both nipples equally down the slope - this works BTW and then on to the Pre au Gourmand restaurant for a well-deserved bowl of delicious vegetable soup (yet another s recommend).
After lunch we went up Pre St Esprit (cold, slow and long) back into the Arc 2000 bowl. Yet another walk allowed us to ski down to Bois de l'Ours and thus up to l'Arptette. We came down Clair Blanc and I brought us towards the Arpette restaturant (thinking that more refreshment might be in order - but was disabused of this suggestion) so took the Arpette lift back up again. We came down the first part of Clair Blanc again but then something very significant happened - Iscream did her first bit of a RED RUN down part of Col des Frettes and then on down to the Clocheret lift.
Two significant sightings from the Clocheret lift -
1. A group of twenty (I counted) learners being taught by one instructor and one assistant
2. A very large bird - it reminded me of griffin vultures that we have seen in the Ardeche - largely dark undersides with a light tail tipped with black - any twitchers on s who know the answer?
From there we came down Clapet - Iscream actually led the way away from the lift much to the rest of our amazement Mrs Paellahead and I were very happy to recognise this slope as the one on which we have a very treasured piece of video of our boys skiing in 1999.
A CRIME HAPPENED HALF WAY DOWN THIS RUN. Iscream tripped me with her pole (there is video evidence) so I became the first faller of the holiday
We then proceeded along Belvedere and back down to the Alpage bar before returning to the flat.
rob@rar, (now rechristened robroy by Iscream for some unfathomable reason ), you may be pleased to hear that following Boredsurfing's suggestion, Richard E and I found our way down to the Lidl in Bourg St Maurice via the buses and funicular - there were no paella pans but Apartment A6 is now the proud posessor of a large deep frying pan which enabled me to cook my signature dish
I expect that others may now refute/argue with some of the detail.
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Sun 7-02-10 21:59; edited 2 times in total
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Glad you sorted out the frying pan. My biggest problem was a lack of lids on the saucepans - it made cooking things like potatos a long term prospect. A v.large deep pan suitable for enough pasta for 4 would also have been useful. Have I met Iscream? With mention of PJ's in the locker room, but then facing her bust down the hill I am a little perplexed 
Arc 2000 is probably best accessed from the top of Transarc 2. Of the blues that run down the inner one - Plan des eaux requires less poling. We didn't try Plagnettes - we were going to have a bash at it, but the light was truly flat and I didn't fancy skiing a piste that may have had steeper sections in it effectively 'blind'. Arandelieres (the red from the top of Aiguille rouge) I found a tough ski. From the mid station the blue goes down though if its open (it was closed because of a competition when we did it) so Iscream could take the cable to the top very top and enjoy the view, then descend back to the top of Varet 40 and ski the blues (vallee de l'arc and col de la chal) down to 1950. (NB. I don't know if you continued Arandelieres from that mid station, but the worst of that red is the first 200m that you see from the top, after that its not too bad and mostly of a blue standard). The Bois de l'Ours chair brings you nicely back over to take Aprette (blue) back down.
If you go over to Vallandry the red - Myrtilles is a nice constant pitch of predictable skiing that might suit Iscream if she gets confident enough to want to try a red - it constantly crosses the blues that run through the forest so there is a decent get out every now and then.
Hope you have another good day tomorrow.
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You know it makes sense.
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hi there, there is a wee shop in the top chantel (at least their used to be) next to the restaurant and ski hire..it sells crossiants, baguettes etc.. however if you are in the bottom chantel it should only be a five min walk straight down to 1800 (the end with the spar) and there is a nice bakery down there as well... anyhoo hope that helps a bit..
not sure about the new buildings though and their proximity to anything.
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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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| lcw wrote: |
| hi there, there is a wee shop in the top chantel (at least their used to be) |
Unfortunately it doesn't sell bakery goods anymore. It closed last season (not enough business to keep it going) and this season has re-opened as a bar/cafe which opens at lunch and the evening til late (does nice pizzas).
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Poster: A snowHead
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If necessary, we used to ski down to 'town' at the end of the day, pick up a loaf or other odd item, pop it in a jacket pocket, back up the Chantel lift and home. Can't be doing with morning shopping. (Admittedly I never buy baguettes, which are usually stale before you're got them home! The good bread shop has some very interesting breads.)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I can't be fagged to go out in the morning to buy bread, I'm afraid. There's no very reliable bread near to our apartment (there's a wee shop which might well go the same way as yours has done but even that is a little way down the hill and too much effort especially with icy roads) and I have long ago worked out a very efficient system to make it - using a bread maker on the "dough making" setting to do the hard bit, then cooking it in the oven so it's nicely finished (I dislike the output of breadmakers). I bag up nice flour mixes in advance and the whole thing takes no more than two minutes of my time. Baguettes are all very well once in a while but they have very poor GI and they don't keep more than two hours.
Poor rob@rar, having the shortcomings of your kitchen exposed for all to see. No paella pan, indeed! You probably haven't got one of these, either http://www.cutiegadget.com/banana-slicer-the-silly-kitchen-gadget/
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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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Not at the moment I don't, but now I know the existence of such a life-changing gadget I might well get one! My favourite skiers' breakfast (porridge with bananas and honey) will for evermore be perfectly sliced...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Poor rob@rar, having the shortcomings of your kitchen exposed for all to see
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Hear, hear. As far as I was concerned, it had no shortcomings. Perhaps it's all the gîte holidays I've had, but I had no difficulty at all improvising with what was available. And I've never had a gîte where one could listen to The Archers while lying in the bath! I can't wait to go back, just loved 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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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iscream, I think all those gnarly mountaineering guys sleep in their thermals, don't they?
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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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eventually stopping for lunch at 1600
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Richard E, when I read that I thought you'd not eaten until 4 pm!
Sounds like a good day. The snow everywhere seems just terrific at the moment.
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Richard E's route planning is clearly better than mine because we managed to miss Arc 2000 altogether today and therefore to miss huge lengths of poling .
The forecast had been for cloud so we were pleasantly surprised to find sunlight for the morning, sometimes "watery" but never the less sunlight. Overnight there had been a few centimetres of snow and the pistes were in superb condition.
We were able to leave the aparmtent in time to be at the Vagere chair just as it opened - this was thanks to my emptying the dishwasher loudly in order to rouse the lazy stay-a-beds 
In the course of our circling of the Clocheret chair, genepi texted me to say that she and stiff drink were off on an off-piste adventure - I thinked I wished them well but it's amazinly difficult to text on a moving lift while wearing gloves At one point I heard a lady's voice shouting at iscream, "turn now" (she turned) "turn now" (she turned) etc. - and then I realised that Mrs Paellahead was standing beside me and that she was shouting at herself
The morning's skiing was excellent and by the time we arrived in 1600 for lunch (at the 3 Arcs - great views fron the restaurant, food moderately good) we had already covered 11 miles.
In the afternoon, we went up the Mont Blanc chair to do the Mont Blanc run - it was snowing at this stage - and were much amused to watch a group of French military trying to negotiate the slope. Within about 1 minute of the first of them being told to "Allez" there were about four bodies strewn on the ground and another crashed in the trees The light became progressively more flat butg iscream insisted on continuing to wear her sunglasses rather than her brand new Bolle goggles - she said that she couldn't see with them on but we thought that perhaps she had had too much wine at lunchtime. Richard E eventually offered to swap (the goggle frames were pink ) and then realised that the rfeason that she couldn't see was because there were huge scratches on the inner surface which were right across the middle of her vision .
We returned to 1600 and exited using Cachette and then took Belvedere all the way to its finish, followed by a bit of Foret and Liaison Grizzly (to the Grizzly lift, funnily enough ). The run down Renard was punctuated by iscream having to learn to dodge (and get in front of) a snake of ski school little ones and she was much impressed to be get to the bottom of Derby before another relative novice 
The route back to 1800 was via Maitaz - a bit of a bomb-alley particularly at its final stages. A slow trip up Chantel and down Chantel led us to the Alpage bar. I must say that, although this bar has replaced the (essential) boulangerie, they are extremely welcoming (and have a Happy Hour 5-6pm - we arrived there at 16.45 which means that we should have skied for another 15 mins) 
With regard to the bread, robroy (wasn't he Scottish and not Welsh ), we think that we may have found the solution - we popped into reception in the Alpages apartments and they have agreed to order some for us - we'll see if it's there in the morning!
I would not want anyone to feel that we have criticized the apartment (other than the lack of a paella pan of course ) - the apartment is well-appointed, the builiding facilities are excellent, the beds comfortable and the position in relation to the slopes superb (rob, does that earn me the 15% discount that we agreed earlier ).
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Sun 7-02-10 22:03; edited 2 times in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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My day was mixed i did not feel i achieved as much as the previous days but when we were back at the bar analysing my day i realised why i was feeling so kackerd we had probably skied about 20 miles and i had been down part of a red run and several blue runs with tricky bits. So far this week i have probably skied more than all my skiing holidays put together so as i drank my second vin chaud ( it was happy hour ) i came to the conclusion that i had done quite well bring on tomorrow.
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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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iscream, usually at about this point in a holiday people have a Really Bad Day and feel like they're going backwards. You're not.
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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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pam w,
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Poster: A snowHead
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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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RachelQ, I was just thinking the same thing, IMO this weeks blog group are telling a far better tale than mine ever was, but I'm really pleased that everyone appeared to enjoy our efforts too. What I'm really enjoying is being able to visualise where they have all been We actually solved the bread connundrum thanks to a handy heads up from Rob before we went. We took enough part baked loaves to last the week and baked them in the rather natty little mini oven that Rob has in the Kitchen. IMV his kitchen was head and shoulders over the one we had in our appt in the Oympiades in VT last year, because it had two essentials for me - one was this rather good little oven, and the other was a Kettle!! It also boasts a microwave which is something I really miss when we go to Switzerland. I cooked some quite full meals whilst we were there, we had cottage pie and carrots; steak, peas and fried potatoes; Roast chicken; spag bol X2 etc.
However, I've noticed that team two can't get their system to do any pics. I can't do too many tonight as I'm working away from home on my PAYG dongle, but I'll see if I can pick out a few that show the snow we had last week to try and set the scene a bit for this weeks ongoing adventures. There is a great one of Minimum_2 that BMF_skier took when he found the edge of the piste after it did the deep stuff which I'll see if I can't get posted - Iscream I wouldn't recommend a similar adventure, you'll see what I mean when you see it
B.t.w. Iscream Don't feel too bad about your shoulders, its my week point too - I get laughed at and called a Gorilla, so as long as you haven't been subjected to similar comments you won't be doing too bad. It took me about 4 days before I started to iron them out and face back down the piste, so you have plenty of time to get it sorted
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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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Impressive pics - I love the last one. A bit bleak up there? How far do you have to go to find a tree?
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pam w, as Megamum said, Les Arcs has a high proportion of tree skiing (on and off piste) compared to the other high resorts in the Tarentaise and Trois Vallees.
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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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Just thought I should report that the morning bread saga seems to have been resolved. We now order bread from the neighbouring apartment block the day before and collect at 8am - there simple really
This morning seems warmer and another few centimeters of snow overnight should freshen things up again nicely. The forecast suggests more snow on Friday.
Planning for the day is still in proogress so more to follow later.
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| Richard E wrote: |
| Just thought I should report that the morning bread saga seems to have been resolved. We now order bread from the neighbouring apartment block the day before and collect at 8am - there simple really |
Excellent! Thanks for discovering that.
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