 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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Zero-G, good recommendation, I enjoyed that video too, (stumbled across it on Arcteryx).
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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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nozawaonsen, perfect way to while away the time on a grey, rainy London day. I watched his other vids too and am really looking forward to the third installment.
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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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anybody know the name of that track with the french girl singing (after 5.00)?
good driving music.
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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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ALQ, if I remember correctly, the tracklisting appears in the end credits. It was Beatrice Martin (though I could be wrong).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Well worth a watch! Also, it's worth checking out ep.1.
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ALQ, Zero-G, there are credits on the front page as well, it sounds like a remix of Comme des enfants by Cœur de pirate, Spotify has them.
Thats classical stuff isnt it 
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Stunning.
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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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Lovely footage. I spent 4 days in La Grave a few years ago... fantastic little village.
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LIVETOSKI - thanks, found it on youtube...great remix.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Hurtle, Scarpa, this little film has put La Grave very firmly on my 'to ski' list. Though with my skiing skills, I have no right to be going there. But I must. Woman against mountain.
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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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Zero-G, I wish. But for me this will never be.
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Zero-G,
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this little film has put La Grave very firmly on my 'to ski' list
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Its been on mine for a while, maybe this season, my son is in Oz this season its only about half an hour to La Grave from there.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
| Zero-G, I wish. But for me this will never be. |
Nonsense - perfectly skiable for someone wth your ability. easiski is more than happy to take people over there and ski the "main" 2 routes. I know everyone feels obliged to portray it as some totally extremo place but the reality is it depends on route chosen plus basic Avy/navigation precautions. Plus it is beautiful and different.
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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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Had fun on a trip there last year. I was definitely in the weakest 25% of skiers on the hill 
It will be interesting to see what they do when the time-expired lift finally expires.
Looking to go back sometime. A gem sandwiched between LDA and Serre Chevalier - and spared the excesses of development of both.
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Poster: A snowHead
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fatbob, ah, interesting, I thought it was only for super-gnarlies. It looks so, so beautiful. And what a lovely village too.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Zero-G & Hurtle, Vallons is fine for anyone who can ski blacks and has a little experience off piste. I went with easiski and the terrain was fine... just search on youtube for Vallons de la Meije and you will see 
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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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Hurtle, if you can ski a heavily mogulled red and stop when you need to then much of the terrain at la Grave is within your reach. The entry wall at the start of Vallons can be intimidating and the traverse back from Chancel can be an amusing mess of all kinds of nonsense but otherwise the main routes are not especially hard. I'd add in the col de la Lauze down to St. Christophe as a possibility also.
It is a really nice vid btw. I will never ski the Pan de Rideau: traverses where an error will kill you terrify me. It took me what seemed like ages to manage the Banana traverse of doom on Mont Gele this year. Voute, though, which is the first line in the film is the one that got away. I'm going to have to go back for it.
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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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gorilla,
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if you can ski a heavily mogulled red and stop when you need to
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I suppose the answer to that is 'yes' so long as you put the word 'ski' within inverted commas. 'Get down' might be a better description. 
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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 is absolutely within your reach Hurtle IMHO.
The main difference of skiing off piste is one of responsibility, not difficulty. It's about choices and decisions that relate to risk and so, with a decent guide, a proportion of that weight is lifted from your own shoulders immediately.
IMO the only really significant thing on a technical level is that because the terrain tends to be more changeable, certain bad habits, easily ignored on-piste, can become a more significant issue. But these are only minor things that one would need to fix before long anyway - that said, there are plenty of bad habits that U can still get away with too
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| stoatsbrother wrote: |
| It will be interesting to see what they do when the time-expired lift finally expires |
Wait... what?
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| admin wrote: |
| ...that said, there are plenty of bad habits that U can still get away with too |
*cough* Naughty!
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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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It's a beautiful place, and that is a great video clip!
Some pics from 1998 when I and some friends went with a guide we hired from L2A. We were all ok black run skiers at the time....and had a mono boarder with us.....and the moguls weren't that bad
http://www.gregh.co.uk/html/lagrave.htm
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kitenski, When I did it there weren't any moguls 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Can anyone shed more light on stoatsbrother's statement about the time-expired lifts?
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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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Zero-G, Its just very old, that's all. It's in the video, the strange looking lift you won't have seen anywhere else in the world!!!
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Zero-G, part of the charm of LG is the antiquated lift. you have to feel that it will become uneconomic to keep repairing it at some pointso the question is whether it will be replaced (i would think so) and if so, what with.
the current lift is slow (takes 30-45mins to get from the car park to the top station) and doesn't carry many people. the good thing about this is that it limits the number of people on the mountain. there may be a small huddle of people near the top station when a group of gondolas has gone through one everyone heads off you often won't see anyone else until you get back to one of the intermediate lift stations. they also are able to keep the old lift running in fairly hairy wind conditions - don't know whether a newer lift would be quite so sturdy
most people who go to LG have a soft spot for the lift - hopefully they can keep it running
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You know it makes sense.
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My own TR from a few years back:
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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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Great Video...
The la Grave telecabin is perhaps the best lift in the word for off piste skiers ?
(Its either LG or Aiguille du Midi - but LG has more variety).
I have heard that la Grave has been threatened with closure many times... not surprisingly it simply doesn't make money.
However to their credit la Grave have resisted several (big money) attempts by Les 2 Alpes to buy out the resort.
The one saving grace apparently is that serious earth works would be required to put a red piste down the Chancel side.
And the Vallon is way too exposed to serac fall from la Meije for marked pistes.
Good news for off-piste skiers, as there is simply no where else in the world like it.
It's a real mecca.
As Arno says the rustic lift is clearly part of the charm.
And after 7000ft of variable snow you need a rest before the next run!
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Tue 5-10-10 10:11; edited 1 time in total
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Poster: A snowHead
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Ahh ok, thanks. I was having a shallow-end-of-the-gene-pool moment, thinking he had meant that the lifts had been installed for a limited period only (despite there being absolutely no logic behind that notion).
The more you all describe La Grave, the more I want to go there.
Mods, please delete this thread immediately - all information about this ski area needs to be deemed classified!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Amazing video thanks for posting, it's made me feel almost homesick,if you can get homesick for somewhere you don't live. Brought back so many memories, especially seeing that ab into Voute where you continuously get your board stuck in the rock corner before having to get off the rope on a steep icy snow cone against the rock wall as you only have 30 m ropes. I really want to do the Pan along with loads of other things not shown but that traverse scares the flying crap out of me much more than any of the other dodgy traverses out there.
AFAIK the lift is uneconomic to run even now without any major repairs although I guess they'd find a way (or you could pole over from the top of L2A). I hope it long remains as it is: I can't think of another lift where you can ride up with the cabin door wide open. Nor one that has converted a pylon into a lift station.
As others have said despite its reputation you don't have to be a great skier to enjoy La Grave: the easier routes down are wide, not that steep and within a day of snowfall well tracked and mogulled like nowhere on Earth. But the bumps are part of the fun more so when 4 out of 5 troughs have melted out.
There aren't many places where you have over 2000 m of lift served off piste skiing I hope to return soon.
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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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| Swirly wrote: |
| Amazing video thanks for posting, it's made me feel almost homesick, if you can get homesick for somewhere you don't live. |
I feel that way about Chamonix and pine for it in a good way.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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One good thing about not living permanently in the alps is that you still have a dream 
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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 have been to La Grave for the last five years and am going back again this coming season.
As far as the lift is concerned I spoke to a number of residents last season and nobody seems to be sure what is going to happen. I think its operating certificate or whatever it is that is necessary, runs out within the next five to ten years after which major expenditure will be needed.
This is all rumour and speculation however I was told that the owner who was responsible for the original lift construction and the last refurbishment and to whom all of us that love La Grave should be grateful, is now getting on in years and is becoming a little "confused" as those of you in the medical profession delicately express it sometimes and is therefore difficult to negotiate with.
Enjoy it while you can.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Haggis_Trap, that sounds like rationlisation. Many would rather live the dream
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True true... Though even when i have been doing seasons in the alps (i.e living the dream) I honestly missed skiing at humble Glencoe
For most off-piste skiers visiting LG is like a trip to mecca.
There is just something special about the location under la Meije...
The lack of commercialism and ethics there will appeal to a certain type of person.
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| ... after which major expenditure will be needed. |
According to locals L2A recently paid for the la Grave tele-cabin cable to be replaced.
Both resorts clearly need each other.
LG needs the customers on the lift and cafes and L2A needs the off-piste terrain.
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Tue 5-10-10 10:58; edited 1 time in total
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| fatbob wrote: |
| Hurtle wrote: |
| Zero-G, I wish. But for me this will never be. |
Nonsense - perfectly skiable for someone wth your ability. easiski is more than happy to take people over there and ski the "main" 2 routes. I know everyone feels obliged to portray it as some totally extremo place but the reality is it depends on route chosen plus basic Avy/navigation precautions. Plus it is beautiful and different. |
I think it is one thing for an instructor to take less experienced clients over to La Grave for a day when the conditions are reasonable, but a very different matter for that sort of skier to spend several days in La Grave, during which time the conditions might not be so favourable.
Certainly when the conditions are reasonable it's quite straighforward to ski down to P2, but going on down to P1 is a different matter. Even after fresh snow the routes through the trees lower down soon become challenging. For those who have not been there, I am not sure that these routes are even proper summer paths, but just ways through the trees to get back to the lift. Coming into P1 from either direction there is probably at least 1K of traversing downhill through the woods very often with icy patches, bumps, blind corners, tree roots, bare patches etc. with some stretches where it is difficult to control speed.
As well as the technical challenge it is also very physical. The other resorts I have skied a lot off piste in the last fifteen years, include Val d'Isere, St Anton, Chamonix, Engelberg and Alagna. Out of all of them I have found La Grave to be the most knackering.
You never rest on the mountain in La Grave. You have to work hard and concentrate all the time. In my view you need to be at least a fit upper intermediate skier to handle it and enjoy it, certainly if you intend spending several days there.
Well worth the effort though!
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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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| richjp wrote: |
You never rest on the mountain in La Grave. You have to work hard and concentrate all the time. |
Really? I remember stopping quite a few times and once for a decent spell whilst the mono boarder revived himself after the moguls through the forest.
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FAQ
