 Poster: A snowHead
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After about 3 years lurking, I've emerged with a summary of the season so far. Not sure I'll update it that often but I'll try. This is mostly Le Seignus as I've not been to La Foux/Pra Loup for 3 weeks but conditions there were worse than here due to the number of skiers.
PRE-SEASON
Boat-loads of snow; more than 1m 25cm in our garden in the first week of December. Great conditions until...
WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS
3 days of rain. Boo.
CHRISTMAS
Snowed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day - maybe 25cm total
JANUARY
A bit of snow in the first week and that was it, no more than 5 clouds during the rest of the month. Good piste conditions although hard-packed, no issues with bare patches, ice or stones.
FEBRUARY UP TO VALENTINE'S DAY
One day of snow (5cm) at the start of the month then almost non-stop sunshine. A couple of patches of ice towards the bottom and "spring snow" on south facing sections. Upper slopes excellent, all skiing good although chewed up at the bottom in the afternoon. Near-piste snow (within 100m of the pistes) still skiable and fun although hard to find anything that hadn't been skied on.
15/16 Feb - reasonable snowfall, more than 30cm at village level over the 2 days. Should provide "fun" when the half-term oiks arrive from the coast this weekend and all think they're brilliant off-piste skiers.
From what I've seen, Isola 2000 (east and slightly further south from us) has had good snow, all season it's been first or second in France for village-level snow depth. For the third season in a row it looks like the southern French Alps have had the best of the early season snow in France. Does this mean it'll rain down here for most of March?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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ben wright, Still have fond memories of our week spent with you pre Christmas about 5 years ago now. Conditions were very nice then too - glad to see things are still going well.
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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.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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loatie, Anniepen, thanks - I often struggle to remember who was here last week but I do remember both your families!
I went out yesterday (23 Feb) but was a couple of minutes later than planned so ran into the ski schools starting out and had to wait 5 minutes for the button lifts at the bottom. The queue for the main chair looked to be at least 15 minutes and it's been longer than that this week. Higher up the queues were 30 seconds - 1 minute but I was back by 1100 so I'm not sure if it got busier later. I stuck to a couple of black runs and a bit of near-piste so only had to share the slopes with a handful of people on one of my runs, the rest of the time there was no-one else on the same bit of mountain. The blue run at the bottom was carnage with ski schools everywhere.
Non-stop sun and the snow was excellent, the near-piste was chopped up although you can still get turns (fall over in my case) in unskied snow. A bit of cloud today so I didn't bother to go out. Might have an expedition to Pra Loup tomorrow but it'll be even busier over there so I'll only go if our guests really want me to!
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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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Fri 25 Feb - La Foux and Pra Loup
Almost 10 minute queue for the button or chair which are the start of the trip to Pra Loup. After that, longest queue was 5 minutes mid-station in Pra Loup otherwise 2 minutes was the max, usually 30 seconds was enough to get you on the lift.
Snow high up still good, no untracked off-piste, plenty of nice (ie not massive and not rock-hard) moguls in near-piste areas. Bottom of Pra Loup really scraped so fast and was full of half-term kiddies = gleeful ambulance company! South-facing slopes soft in afternoon and heavily chewed up by the number of people there.
Pouret lift open - first time I've seen it running in almost 3 years although it does open holidays and weekends (the times I avoid) - so I had to do the unpisted black under it a couple of times. The chair up takes almost 15 minutes so it's a long, knee-jarring descent over moguls, yesterday's refrozen tracks and freshish snow where the sun hasn't got on it.
Overall, the snow in La Foux is better than Pra Loup but both aren't as good as Le Seignus which hasn't had as many people trashing it this week.
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Thanks for the updates Ben. Im over in La Foux the week after next. Hope the kids leave some snow for us
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georgedelaney, the new chair to the observatory is now open. I haven't been on it as, was inevitable, it's slower than the gondola it's replaced! It must have cost them at least EUR6m to make the trip up there no shorter - it starts from higher up than the gondola did so you regain some time that way.
There's a bit of snow forecast for this coming week so hopefully things will be fine once the half-term masses go home next weekend.
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Mon 7 March - Le Seignus
Warm the last couple of days (10C+ at village level). The front de neige has become a mess with a couple of puddles on it today but, strangely, the piste 5m away is fine. They bash the front de neige and it's more shaded than the piste.
Pistes in good nick - higher up you wouldn't know it has been a dry winter. Near-piste stuff softened up by 11AM so plenty of fun to be had. The moguls on Aubrevoir are BIG but by mid-morning weren't hard so not too much of a problem.
More people around than I expected, no lift queues but there must be more than 100 people in the resort which is unusual for this time of year.
The forecast is for sunshine all week. Perfect.
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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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benwright, We stayed at Pra Loup about 5 yrs back. A great resort and we "nearly" met you. I'd love to go back there but it's a bitch to get to from Isle of Man.
There is a news guy who does the politics for the BBC called Ben Wright. I keeep thinking it's you. 
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Michael B, Pra Loup is difficult to get to from anywhere, the nearest airport must be almost 4 hours away in the winter!
I keep thinking that's me on the radio as well.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| benwright wrote: |
| loatie, Anniepen, thanks - I often struggle to remember who was here last week but I do remember both your families! |
Oh, dear
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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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13 March - Le Seignus
8-10cm overnight at village level. Snowing on and off most of today as well but without adding to the layer.
Conditions had been good except at the bottom so this just makes everything look a bit more wintry and covers up a few grey patches at village level. More snow forecast for midweek but not a lot of sunshine.
S_dding dishwasher has packed up. Can I face driving an hour and a half each way to buy a new one?
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15 March - Le Seignus
A coupe of extra cms by yesterday morning but by the afternoon most of the new snow that had fallen on bare ground had melted.
Guests report that pistes in very good condition - an improvement on Sunday when they had to walk down one piste because there was too much fresh snow!
Beginners' slope in Allos (1400m) like a Slush Puppy at 4PM yesterday. Didn't seem to put off the classe de neige who were down there.
Something falling out of the sky now - looks more like sleet than snow falling on our velux but (remember this every time it rains in a ski resort) "it'll be snowing higher up".
No sun forecast this week. Don't think I'll be going skiing then.
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You know it makes sense.
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16 March - Le Seignus
Rain, sleet and now snow (very fat flakes) at 1500m
Looks like constant snow above about 1700m; didn't go higher than about 1950m. Took 4 year old son out and ended up skiing twice down a black run which had 15cm of fresh snow on top of where the piste basher had been last night. He only fell a couple of times, not a bad effort for his first black run!
Visibility poor but more than made up for by the amount of snow - that's from a fair-weather skier.
Hardly anyone around - saw about 20 people in total, none of them on the same pistes as us, even though the kids are off school today.
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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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16 March - Le Seignus (pt 2)
Went out in the afternoon on my own. Visibility chronic but about 25-30cm fresh snow at the top. Fell over more times on one run than I have in the whole of the rest of the season combined but did do some reasonably good skiing as well.
17 March - Le Seignus
Fairly bright in the morning. My assistant reported perfect snow at the top, most of yesterday's tracks had been obliterated by new snow/wind. She had 3 goes making fresh tracks down one run and no-one else had been on it by the time she finished.
I went out in the afternoon and was so rubbish it's unbelievable. Nothing I did worked - (bl__dy expensive) goggles permanently slightly misted but wouldn't clear despite various efforts, took old skis (wider and longer than my current ones) but they haven't been waxed in about 6 years so they just stuck to the snow which was a bit heavy below mid-station and "spring-like" at the bottom, technique like a giraffe with a head injury. For anyone competent there was still loads of untracked snow on the one piste I did a couple of runs on. Near-piste practically untouched.
End of season (10 days early) party at the burger shed at the end of our drive. How many times can you listen to "Across 110th Street" in one day?
More snow forecast at the weekend. Looks like the southern French Alps have come up trumps again 
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Poster: A snowHead
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18 March - Le Seignus
Perfect conditions - no clouds at all this morning. Snow above about 1850m exceptional; lower down rubbish. The perfect visibility hadn't improved my efforts in the deep snow. Still fresh tracks to be had on some unbashed pistes and the near-piste still practically unskied.
Got caught by the ski school's 0930 start so had to wait 4 minutes to get on the lift. Grrr!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Had a great 4 days skiing in Val D'allos last week - 2 days in LA Foux, 1 day in Pra Loup and 1 day in Les Seignus. Pistes were in great condition despite the absence of significant snowfall snce Xmas.
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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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20 March - Le Seignus
Recent weather forecasts woefully inaccurate. The rain/snow predicted for yesterday amounted to a handful of clouds and no precipitation.
Today is very sunny and warm - car parks full but not many people on the slopes and no lift queues - maybe they were all at the top of the hills. Took a quick spin this morning and by 1145 the last hundred metres is too soft to be any use to anyone. For the first time this season, a piste is closed due to lack of snow - it's one of the branches of the blue down to the village and quite shaded so I'm not sure why it's suffered more than elsewhere but it looks pretty bare.
As before, the snow higher up is in very good condition. Didn't go above about 1950m as had 4 year old with me and he was too chicken to do the half mile long drag lift to the top of one of the mountains and I didn't fancy taking him up the other mountain as it would probably have been busy there so just did a short black run a couple of times.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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22 March - Le Seignus
Same story; snow very good high up but soft low down.
There is genuine ice (yes, snow that has melted almost to water and refrozen, not just the "Ooh, it's a bit icy out there" tiny patches of hardpack that people mention two days after a 30cm snowfall) on most of the steepest section of the black run at the bottom. Luckily, I'd sharpened my skis yesterday so was able to get some sorts of turns even if I didn't look particularly stylish.
It was a bit windier today so quite fresh at the top but the slopes were almost empty again - I only had to pass three people in total on the 6 runs that I did and I was in a hurry. No lift queues.
The bottom of Valcibiere (long red run from 2370 to 1500) is closed so you have to divert via a forest track and the snow's too soft to maintain enough speed to make it all the way along there without skating/poling.
Forecast is for non-stop sun for the rest of the week - I hope this is more accurate than the snow that was expected at the weekend.
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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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23 March - Le Seignus
Groundhog day: Sunny; bottom pistes solid early, soft later on; higher up very good conditions. Nobody here.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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28 March - Le Seignus
The lifts here closed yesterday. Naturally, this explains the 10cm+ of snow we had at 1500m from midday yesterday as I now have to drive my son down to school rather than take the gondola which has closed. The snowplough won't come up to "our" car park out of season so it was a bit of a fag getting out this morning.
I might head up to La Foux at some point and report on conditions up there
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2 April - La Foux
A very short trip to La Foux this morning. I did one run down from the 6 seater (prob. about 2150m) to the bottom (1800m) with my son and was then lumbered with looking after my daughter in a restaurant.
Cloudless skies, reasonably warm (10c at midday?), snow sticky/chopped up/sugary crystals but definitely no worse than what you'd expect low down at the beginning of April.
A fair number of skiers around (always four or five people in sight) and, strangely, there didn't seem to be many heading higher up - they were all crowding onto the lower slopes whereas higher up it's bound to have been better. There wasn't much sign of people skiing on the other side of the valley (the start of the way to Pra Loup) where the better slopes are.
Afternoon spent in deckchair in our garden while my assistant tidied up the shed. Depressingly small amount of wine left in the stores; 750 teabags are a poor substitute for someone who doesn't drink tea.
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7 April - Le Seignus
The last bit of snow in our garden melted today - for both of the past two season we've still had snow in the garden at the start of May so it's been a comparatively dry winter and very warm end of season - daytime max. at 1500m probably about 20C for much of the past week. It's nearly 2 weeks since the lifts here closed but you could still find an easy route down to the bottom on skis/snow but you wouldn't want to do it using your own kit.
8 April - La Foux
Link to Pra Loup closed. Pistes on that side of the La Foux area very solid at 10AM but south facing ones soon softened up. The hut at the bottom of the Signal button lift is surrounded by a puddle that a pole probe showed to be about 25cm deep.
Nice conditions from the Observatory (finally went up the new chairlift this week) down to about 2000m but getting chopped up in places by 1130. The moguls on the unpisted red were easy - they were soft enough to blat them away as you skied down. On my third run down I saw a pisteur removing the piste marker poles so I thought I'd ask him if the run was still open. It wasn't. Some sort of signage to that effect might be nice given how weasly insurance companies can be if you have a spill.
Hardly anyone around, mostly concentrated on the right bank (Obseratory side) so the runs on the other side were empty.
Snow receding like my hairline but (ditto) with judicious grooming most of the bare patches that appear from time to time are covered up. Quite a few avalanches - from where they are it looks like they've been triggered to shift the snow before it does the job itself.
Two days of the season to go, they'll make it but no-one will be clamouring for them to stay open.
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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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10 Apr. - La Foux
The last day of the season, not many people bothered to go out skiing. Very warm again (20C or so at village level) but snow OK (nicely solid on the west-facing slope I went on) early on but soft all the way up to 2600m by midday and mashed potato from about 2300m down. A few new bare patches low down and it was skis off to get from the main front de neige to the chairlift that goes from one side of town to the other.
Saw 5 marmottes - a couple of them were up on their back legs having a bout of fisticuffs. What sort of commentary would Johnny Morris provide for that?
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FAQ
We too have very fond memories of OUR week with you and Catherine, so great to hear from you 
