 Poster: A snowHead
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A bit of a mixed bag really.
First day great visibility but holy ****, I have never been so cold. We had no snow all week so the off piste was non existent but the pistes were in great shape, as wide as promised and you could cane it like a loony without any danger of hitting anyone.
Only real gripe was the state of the the lifts. Our first 2 days we had -40 wind chill factor at the top of the mountain, the wind was like a hurricane and found its way through every nook or canny in your clothing on the lifts and you literally froze. One bloke we saw had frost bite on his face from the wind. The lifts were just so damn slow that the wind made it trecherous. It was so bad that the wives all called it a day at lunch time both days and the guys, all hardened boarders called it a day early on the first day as the thought of another 25 minutes on a reletively short lift was just too much to cope with. We were actually overtaken by a drag lift at one stage.
From our third day to our 6th day the sun came out and it was absolutely glorious. We had no fresh snow but the piste was excellent and such a beautiful village. The lifts turned from completely trecherous to just simply tedious in the end.
We spent 1 day in La Thuile. We went on the second day when it was absolutely freezing and windy and the weather was much better over there. The journey was a bit of a pain for a boarder, the drags are long and hard and on that day very cold (about 8 minutes on the first one alone) and when we got to the other side we seemed to spend a lot of time on "reds" that were horizontal for about half a mile !!!!
The runs over there were very good, a bit crowded around the resort as you would expect but essencially some good boarding and much better lifts systems. Much quicker and the chairs had covers.
Italy was cheaper than France but a whole lot uglier (if that really bothers anyone). We went with esprit with the kids so the last 3 afternoons we took them out on the blues in la ros which was great fun as my 6 year old tore down them like a loon for his first time on skis.
Esprit were very good; Chalets were a good size but with very basic furnishings, food was just food and was edible but nothing special, the childcare and the lessons was as usual better than perfect.
On the chalets night off we tried bowling and then a restaurant and to be honest the restaurants are very basic and fairly poor quality. I went to chatel a few weeks ago and the restaurants were top quality, I saw nothing of the same in La Ros. We had a pretty dire meal in a place called carte bancain. Steaks were cooked wrong, the burgers came with huge boiled potatoes and broccoli and the pizza was basically cheese with no topping or base. The pasta was flooded with 2 inches of oil in the bottom of the bowl.. not good. But they did forget to put the drinks on the bill.
Overall I thought the resort was exactly what it says on the tin, very small, excellent for beginners and kids, beautiful wide pistes that an experienced skier will ski out in a couple of days, very very cold until the sun comes out, very basic resort with little in the way of shops and restaurants.
It was perfect for our purpose of mixing a family holiday with some boarding but i would not go back purely on the basis that I like to try new places and now the kids can ski we can go anywhere next year. I would certainly recommend it and esprit to anyone with kids but to experienced skiers, there are mch better ski areas out there.
Final word... La ros really really needs some investment in the lifts. If they stuck a chair lift with a cover in place of the drags between the resorts you would see a huge uptake in traffic between the resorts and it would rarely be closed. This would surely attract more people as well.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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mheadbee, I was in La Thuile last week too. Totally agree about the two extremely cold days (Tuesday & Wednesday). I've never known anything like that in March. It was -20ºC with a wind chill factor making it feel -32ºC at the top of Chaz Dura Express lift. Brrrr!
I also agree about the La Ros lifts, there are a lot more drag lifts over there than on the La Thuile side and the two horrendously long ones on the way back dissuaded me from going again.
However, the village centre of La Thuile isn't ugly, it's fairly small but reasonably quaint and the river running through the middle adds to the appeal. I agree the Planibel complex at the foot of the lifts isn't particularly nice to look at but I've seen worse (Tignes or Les Menuires for example). There are definitely a lot of runs in La Thuile with long flat sections. Towards the end of the week I was getting the hang of where to build my speed up to avoid poling but at the beginning of the week my arms were definitely getting an extra workout!
Glad you had a good time. 
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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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LT/LR is well known for being windy at the top, which unfortunately is why those draglifts are there to serve the link between the two resorts. If that link was a chairlift, it would be shut absolutely all the time. Also that red (I forget name/number) when going LR->LT is a red for dubious reasons. In my view if it were anywhere else in the area, it would be black. But a piste map that shows 50% of its terrain as benig unavailable to all but 'expert' skiers wouldn't be quite so popular...
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paulio, in fairness it was only windy up there for two days. The other four days of my holiday were perfect weatherwise, maybe a little colder than I'm used to but it does keep the snow in tip-top condition. We only had a dusting of snow at the beginning of the week and no more fresh snow.
I thought the red down from Chardonnets to get to the two long drags back to La Thuile was a bit tricky but not black-level. It was just a bit narrow in places and didn't get the sun so stayed rather hard.
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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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| mheadbee wrote: |
| We had no snow all week so the off piste was non existent . |
but's that the beauty of European off piste, you ski what you find, you can still escape the crowds, ski some nice snow..... the chance of getting 2 foot of light fluffy fresh are slim based on the average UK pre-booked one week away a year................
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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 must admit i saw very little that i would consider a black. I saw quite a few blacks that should be red and quite a few reds that should be blue. I am not a super hero by any stretch of the imagination with only 10 weeks of boarding behind me (and no skiing) but I found the whole resort fairly comfortable. I prefer powder and long sweeping blues to stiff reds and blacks (I am 42 and suffer from cramp in my foot if it gets steep) but I found this resort very easy and nothing was too challenging. That was probably the best thing about it.
If you go to val disere, les arcs, chamonix or courchevel the blacks are avoided and the reds can be hard work, in lR/LT it was all fairly easy which suited me fine.
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mheadbee, I agree. Even the two blacks down to resort level in La Thuile (2 and 3) which were described in the Where to Ski & Snowboard book as 'serious stuff' I found quite manageable. The only black I didn't attempt was the 73% new piste 37. Normally I steer clear of black runs, I like to enjoy myself not scare myself, but these really weren't that scary.
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2 and 3, if it's icy, are fearsome runs.
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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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this steep enough for you? about 5 yards from the top of the la Ros lift system heading to Italy....
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mheadbee, thgere's a very good reason that lifts run slowly in high winds, it's called safety.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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If you think it was cold in march try january! Agree some of the chair lifts on la rosiere side could be updated. Particularly the one to the fort and the two man one back to la rosiere from la thuile.
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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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Just for the record, I have skied in many alpine resorts, and when I find myself at c.2500m in exposed areas, and it has, on occasion, been known to be cold, possibly even windy too. I tend to look on this as an accepted risk of having a winter sports holiday and dress accordingly, and try not to point the finger of blame at any particular resort for not accomodating my specific weather requirements. If I wanted to wear my shorts and get a tan, I tend to head a little further South, especially in March.
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Have you been to la rosiere voice of reason? It seems colder and windier at 2500 than other resorts in the same area. Wouldn't put me off going back though.
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You know it makes sense.
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snowymum, Have skied there many times, yes.....never stayed there though, and have no affiliation to any commercial enterprises there.
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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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The top of the Petit St Bernard sits between a couple of massifs and the weather including wind gets pushed through a bit more than most so it is windier than average. But its also snowier than most for the same reason.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I was also there last week. Tue 9 March was Siberia like weather. As the OP said, the rest of week was all glorious sunshine and plenty of enjoyment. Sat 13 was "the Italian invasion". The Italians invaded La Ros, but there was plenty of room on all slopes. It was my 2nd week and the resort is perfect for beginners. I did loads of reds, but struggled on 2 (Blanchot & Chamois). Bellete, Marmotte and Mouflon are perfect Reds for beginners. I plan to return next year to hone skills and develop speed. I will probably try to ski one day in Italy just for fun.
We stayed in a great catered chalet and the trip was simply 10/10. Can't wait to go back.
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