 Poster: A snowHead
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As there are a few SHs heading in this direction in the next few weeks, thought it might be worth its own thread. This is "tell it like it is" - I have zero commercial or any other interest in talking conditions up, or down.
The good news is that Les Saisies seems to have the best snow conditions for miles around. The bad? It's still not that great, and clearly quite a few extra folk have bussed from other areas to find decent conditions. It was much busier this morning than I'd expect on a Saturday in mid-January. That's not to say there were any lift queues, but on the two major fast lifts out of Les Saisies most chairs had somebody on them; rather unusual!
The cover in Les Saisies itself is mostly still good, but the snow was still very, very hard at 11 am. Virtually no ice (and the few patches were well marked) but very hard-packed snow; I felt sorry for beginner snowboarders, who were struggling.
Some of the pistes with the "wrong" aspect (e.g. the Sangliers link to Crest Voland) were fairly grim, with signs saying "icy snow" and "poor snow cover". They were dead right. I've never side-slipped the steepest section of the Sangliers before! It's only a red.
Crest Voland was a bit rubbish, really. We went hoping that the snow would be softer, but there are big brown patches.
The deterioration in the last few warm days has been dramatic. I have skied here just about the whole of the last 9 Januarys and I have never seen conditions so bad in January (indeed rarely seen them so bad at any time). On the other hand it was a lovely sunny warm morning, Mont Blanc and the Aravis range were looking quite magnificent and lunch on a sunny terrace - sea-food salad with gremolata, was most pleasant. But it was bizarrely like April. As in April, there's nothing much between rock hard snow for the first half of the day and slush for the second half. But in April it's usually deep slush, not just a couple of inches.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Won't be so bad if it just stays sunny!
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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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skinutter, it's beginning to look just a tiny bit hopeful for more than "quelques flocons" tomorrow night and Monday. there was a lenticular cloud over Mont Blanc this morning but, more concretely, meteo chamonix is looking at 15 - 25 cms at 1800m.
"that view" was a lot whiter a week ago. 
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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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luigi, mine was only the remains of a bottle.
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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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There's a lot low cloud about, it looks quite snowy, but no precipitation yet, I think. Hope it holds off a bit, as it's still slightly warm - but dropping slowly.
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Thanks for starting the thread Pam. I have been watching the web cams rather anxiously hoping there will be more snow in les saisies soon. When we booked the end of Jan I thought it would be one of the best weeks for cold temps but may have made a mistake there! Keep the pictures coming!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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snowymum, we're keeping fingers crossed for today, but it's a long time before your trip. Too soon to worry yet though I'd be doing the same as you if I were coming out at the end of January. And you can be sure that whatever the conditions, Les Saisies will have better snow cover than most other places around. After some attempts to find better snow in the past (including at Flaine) we've concluded that the nearest place fairly certain to be better is Val Thorens, and that's a major hike from here.
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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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...was still raining in Val T when we went there a couple of seasons back to escape the torential downpours in Saises but hopefully it'll be fine - keep the faith
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Thanks for this thread - I'm keeping an eye on it as we are very close to some of the areas in the Espace Diamant and sometimes recommend them to guests with particular needs (e.g very nervous beginners like Crest Voland - which is where Paddy Ashdown has his chalet by the way). Plus, as I mentioned to pam w, before, self-drive dog-sledding in Les Saisies (70 Euros) - pricey but highly recommended for those who like a bit of a white-knuckle ride.
One thing I'd say about anyone coming out in a few weeks is to reiterate pam w's point that it's too soon to worry. When we got out here mid-December there had been some pretty devastating rain - so torrential it had caused a landslide and closed the road down in the valley between La Giettaz and Flumet for a few days. With no new snow forecast and season opening around the corner, things were looking more than a little dodgy and there was a lot of "keep the faith" mantras being repeated... then we got 50cm at village level in 24 hours and some great conditions from season opening up until the start of this recent bizarre warm stuff. The next week doesn't look particularly fun, but try not to drive yourselves crazy thinking it necessarily relates to what conditions will be like in 2 weeks + time.
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You know it makes sense.
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It's raining now, like the man said it would. Possibly snowing a bit at the top though I have no intention of going up there to check.
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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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Sleeting.....
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Poster: A snowHead
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pam w, loving the boozy lunch pic!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Raining again... no lunch on the terrace today. It's snowing up the top 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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Snowing proper now; the road's gone white. About to go out for supper with friends in one of the other apartments - just remembered the car is out, will have to go and put it in the garage en route. Yippee.  I thought I'd leave it out as a sort of temptation to fate. If I'd put it in the garage earlier it wouldn't have snowed.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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pam w, 
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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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Chucking it down now - really fat wet stuff, the kind that builds up a good depth quickly. Several inches so far. Getting colder - below zero now and, I guess, dropping through the night. We're hoping for a decent refreshment before the next wave of warm weather later in the week.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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As the guru suggested on the weather thread, the snow petered out during the night sometime and there's not hugely more than there was when I went to bed, though it's snowing lightly again at the moment. Still, enough to send up a snowplough some time earlier this morning and the path clearing contractor has been up with his fraise a neige. So, better than nothing and it is forecast to keep snowing lightly today, and heavier tomorrow. It's about - 2 right now (as forecast).
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10cms fell, according to the official figure - a b it conservative, I'd say, but it wasn't a mega dump, that's for sure. It was rather gloopy stuff, but has nonetheless transformed conditions.
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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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Pam
Great news about the snow fall. Hope you are enjoying skiing on the improved pistes. It looks as though more snow is forecast for Tuesday.
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snowymum, yes, we're hoping for more tomorrow. Had a good couple of hours this morning. The red and black (easy black....) pistes on the Legette were unpisted and presented just the right degree of challenge for my shaky "off piste" skills. The snow wasn't great, but as I was only the third person down the black, it was OK. (That's not because it presented such a huge challenge but because there were few people about first thing, other than ski school groups; in a family resort like this a bit of snow falling and poor vis does cut down the numbers - if that run were in Tignes there would have been loads of people down it before me).
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Hi Pam, great snow forecast, thanks for keeping us informed. Thanks snowymum for letting me know about the thread. 18 days and counting, snow snow snow lol. I am keeping fingers and toes crossed that by the time we come out the conditions will be good. Snowymum do you go before or after me?
Enjoying the reports Pam, thank you x
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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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Some nice conditions on piste this morning, and good visibility in the sunshine. Very quiet - when I got up the top about 0910 it was almost entirely deserted. As forecast it started clouding over at mid-day and it's now, I'm glad to say, absolutely chucking it down - decent quality snow, much better than Sunday night's effort. I am very unfit - combination of having that famous upper respiratory tract virus over Christmas and doing very little skiing because of being shally-maid. When I came back for lunch I fully intended going out on the snowshoes this afternoon, but it's snowing too hard - better confess that I'm not going and get out of my ski gear.
However, I have re-adjusted the bindings on my powder skis - fingers crossed for tomorrow morning - and my OH is mending them. They were borrowed by my son in law at Christmas and he hit a big rock. One of them, which was already a bit damaged, is coming apart at the tip. The son in law is still nursing a very sore hand from the same incident - the skis probably suffered less.
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Another 10 - 12 cms of snow yesterday afternoon and evening - it stopped around bed-time. Very nice conditions this morning, in consequence, and very few people around, especially in Notre Dame de Bellecombe - where all the lifties were wearing bibs warning that avalanche risk level was 4/5. That was the only thing stopping me dropping off the gnarly cliffs at the top of Notre Dame. The unpisted red runs in the Douce bowl were actually much more my level.
Sunshine, but with some dramatic cloud around. The Aravis range was looking absolutely magnificent in the sunshine from the restaurant at the top of Mont Rond (we got there just before 11 and were the only people there).
We didn't go very low. The (delightful) blue run down to Les Frasses in Notre Dame (about 1250m I think) was fine, but you could feel the old scratchy stuff underneath at times.
Later this afternoon the "Grande Odysée" dog sled race is coming into Les Saisies, where the main street will be covered in snow for the purpose. Good job it snowed last night or they'd have been scratching round to find enough.
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You know it makes sense.
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beats my morning welded to the phone onnever-ending conference calls...swap?
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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, Excellent reports, keep 'em coming.
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Poster: A snowHead
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no thanks. 
But I have to clean the oven now, before going to see the dogs. Woof Woof.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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suddenly the calls don't feel so bad compared to an oven clean before the dogs..you must be barking not to be grabbing another few turns in good snow....but then you have weeks not a week i suppose 
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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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must be barking...boom boom (when off to see the dogs!)
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Glad you had a great day skiing pam w - conditions were terrific here too in La Giettaz.
| pam w wrote: |
| all the lifties were wearing bibs warning that avalanche risk level was 4/5. |
Given how close we are to Notre Dame de Bellecombe, out of interest, and sorry to be a total thickie about this this - I will read up about it, but as you were in NDdB today I'd be interested in your thoughts... I know the avalance risk was 2/5 in La Giettaz today (some of our guests went touring on skins)... what is it that makes the difference (aspect? terrain? - we must have had at least the same amount of snowfall and the same temps as NDdB...?)... Whenever I go off-piste it's with an instructor who was born in the village and knows the area like the back of her hand, so I never even think to question these things (and I'm still too rubbish off-piste to do anything particularly gnarly).
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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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miranda, I don't know why the risk was so much greater there. No idea at all - it's a good question. I only do very gentle off piste - and there are only a few lift-served areas in the whole domain which present significant risks, anyway, given the topography.
The meteo France avalanche bulletin - http://france.meteofrance.com/france/MONTAGNE?MONTAGNE_PORTLET.path=montagnebulletinneige%2FDEPT73 - doesn't throw much light on the subject, giving a level of 3 for the whole region! And reading the small print the more serious risks are at higher elevations than we have round here anyway.
Maybe some more knowledgeable person can clarify?
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pam w, I'm glad it's not just a case of me being a total thickie then (though I am a dunce when it comes to this sort of thing).
The difference between 2/5 and 4/5 seems to much to put it down to one set of pros being over/under zealous (particularly as I actually saw the guys having a dig around and using various bits of test equipment today off piste).
Always figured we were in a fairly safe area, so it was intriguing to hear that a very similar area down the road was deemed much more risky today... and although I've been doing some google research, some knowledgeable input would be very welcome!
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The dogs were in Crest Voland today, with the vans parked up outside where I am staying.
The snow was pretty wet when I finally got around to going outside.
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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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rjs, we were wondering about CV about mid-morning tomorrow (when I think it might be quite icy up here - a friend who came down to supper tonight slipped and fell on a very icy path between the apartments.
But maybe it would be better to stay high?
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Well we did go over to Crest Voland. Huge contrast between slopes at the same altitude, depending on aspect. Excellent cover on the "Cernix" side, where the bottom of the lift is about 1200m I think, no sign of any brown or icy patches - but on the other side of Mont Lachat there were both. But the slopes were very quiet. It wasn't cold, but it wasn't super warm either - I started with a bare head but stuck my head band on on the way home, and because the sun was veiled the slopes won't have got too much of a caning. I saw a lad in a T shirt in bare arms on the Bisanne lift on the way back but he was a nutter - its always cold on that lift, and in just a fleece and my warm ski jacket (left off the merino base layers) I was just a bit chilly.
There was a hard frost last night - don't know whether they were blowing the cannons in the village but ours weren't going. No need, really - there's decent snow cover down to our lift at 1500m and I suspect it might not have been quite cold enough.
I have little doubt that the snow in Les Saisies will weather the week OK, given that it's going to get colder. The whole of the Bisanne side is white - no brown bits - so there'll be snow they can scrape onto the pistes. The lower parts of the Espace Diamant will no doubt fare less well, but people can easily come up here; plenty of room, no sign of even short queues. The pistes are fairly hard and fast; not much fun for beginner snowboarders but there are plenty of 4 year olds coping well so I'm not going to complain.
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