 Poster: A snowHead
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Basically.....Perfect!
Lovely bluebird day, not too cold, not too warm.
Pistes are wonderful.
Crowds are minimal.
Queues are in the dictionary, not on the slopes.
Off piste is chalky, grippy or powdery depending where you go.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Off to Verbier tonight for a weekend of ski, sun and beer. Any updates on conditions? I'm guessing great weather, crusty off piste.
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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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PhotoTim, It's glorious! Warm, but the sun's not yet strong enough to turn the snow slushy. Not much powder about but still some nice variables off piste. There are some large bumps around if that's your thing.
The Medran lift is broken so everyone is on Medran2 the 4 man from Le Châble. There are extra buses going up to Carrefour to allow people to join the system at Mayenset. In busy periods us good folk of Le Châble are being asked to leave every other bubble empty to allow the posh people up the hill to get on. It could be like this for a while. Apparently it needs a new 2.5 tonne motor!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Lift should be fixed on Wednesday.
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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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Lovely day today. Air temps a little cooler so not quite so slushy later in the afternoon. Also the cloud bringing tonight's snow came in from 4ish. All the itineraries are now big bump fields. Snow on Toritin still good though, no rocks and nice and grippy.
Tomorow's snow will be welcome though as it should be enough to make the off piste skiable again.
Quiet too, the holiday rush is truly over. No queues anywhere.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Yesterday was great. Had about 15cm the day before which freshened things up nicely. Clear blue skies and empty pistes. Staying nice and cool too. More snow tomorrow .
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Wonderful conditions. Pistes firm yet yielding in the morning, getting pretty slushy later on. Cover holding nicely. Quiet for the weekend
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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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any updates on the piste conditions? as i am heading out to villars on sunday and looking to do a day trip to verbier and was just wondering how the piste are holding up in this warm spell. thanks alan
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superal, I left on Wednesday and the pistes were holding up well. The weather was very warm at times and some runs were slushy later in the day, but there was still good coverage. With the temps cooling slightly and a chance of fresh snow I think you'll be fine.
The itineraries and off-piste were also much better than I'd expected.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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In verbier now, weather very warm 17 in resort with wall to wall sun. Classic late April skiing in March. Great cover still, but south facing pistes are icy in the morning slushy in the afternoon. Ski out is very brown and slow. Off piste is variable, south facing is baked but some high north facing areas are soft with some powder still to be found on the north face of mont fort.
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Richard Branston was in resort a few days ago.
Waity Katy also playing with her Willy there at the moment.
Verbier has been popular this season.
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You know it makes sense.
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Indeed. We saw Bertie (Beatrice) out there. Was with a group of very 'ammered people at Farinet.
It has changed a lot since I was there 5 years ago and even more so since my season out there in 2004.
Anyway, got back yesterday. We still managed to get fresh turns coming down the first lot of trees in Vallon d'Arby on Saturday but the ski out to Toumasz was very broken as was the ski back to Verbier. South facing Mont Gele was like water skiing, great fun whereas the north facing stuff was very hard. Pistes still holding up ok, slushy moguls in late afternoon but everything still open, even the main ski out. Generally in good shape considering. Park was running nicely til about 2ish, then the kickers were getting very slushy.
Think they are due snow over 2200m or so today/tomorrow but I dont care as I am not going 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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We got about 15cm at 3,000. Mt Fort was lovely as it was above the cloud and mist. Starting to see lack of snow impacting some lower runs.
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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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BobinCH, Ha ha! Hoping to get up the Petit Combin myself next Thursday. It would be a dream if conditions were as good as you had.
Murky today, a few cm of fresh overnight and snowing down to 2,300 this afternoon. Looks like the runs into resort below Blunt will close on Monday.
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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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Just on my way up the bubble from Le Chable and it is snowing. Visibility is poor but should hopefully brighten up during the day.
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Still snowing. Some lovely soft and fluffy powder to be found, and a
much needed top up to the harder lower pistes.
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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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I appreciate this is the weather thread, but can someone with local knowledge advise on the marked itineraries in the resort? I've only ever been down the Lac des Vaux to Tortin one, whose steepness is fine, but I find the massive moguls hard work, although today they were mostly soft and fluffy.
I'd like to try the others, but don't want to bite off more than I can chew.
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Whitters, If you're happy with Tortin then you'll be happy with them all. If you traverse long and right at the entry to Tortin you usually find some bumpless and nice snow conditions.
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Mosha Marc, Thanks for the reply. I avoided the leftmost part of the run as that was by far the toughest mogulled part, so maybe will try traversing even further right next time. It was certainly a massive area.
Are the other runs so heavily mogulled? I expect that this is possibly the busiest itiniery due to its location so might be effected the most. I don't mind a few moguls, but my legs would prefer something a bit smoother.
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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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Whitters, No problem. The parts of the itineries with the most traffic get the most and biggest bumps, natch. At first these are fun, but they tend to loose their shape once they get "slid" instead of "skied".
However, don't just dive in. Have a look round and choose your route; there are usually ways around some of the heavily mogulled areas.
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Whitters, Vallon d'arbi and col des mines are closed at the moment so the only alternative to Tortin is the col des gentianes. The entrance is much more straightforward than Tortin. Maybe deceptively so. The bumps were pretty icy this morning. There's some snow due tonight so maybe worth having a go after the snow?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Gentianes was in great condition early afternoon apart from the odd patch which hadn't had as much sun to soften it up. Snow forecast for 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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Tortin and Col de Gentianes both in good condition yesterday... As I look out of my window at 7.30am there is about 8cm of fresh snow which has arrived in last 2 hours.... so am hoping that above 2000m conditions are awesome. Snow looks set in at the moment....
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Today's snow report:
There was every type of snow!
Wonderful soft powder (about 30cm) in Lac de Vaux bowl, and on the usual north facing shoulders.
Wintery pistes.
Some ice.
Juddery fresh pistes where the snow has a high water content and skis slow and uncomfortable..
Lovely spring pistes (that just softened layer....smooooth and silky)
Deep slush low down
Brown mank at the bottom
Take your pick....all were available.
Weather too:
Sun
Fog
Snowing
Warm
Cold
Busy?
Almost deserted all day....but suddenly we were on the M25 for about 15 minutes....hoards of people, who just as suddenly vanished. Very odd!
Where did they come from, and where did they go to??
What a mixed up day!
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You know it makes sense.
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Cloudy....very cloudy.
Foggy....very foggy.
New snow topping up things nicely above mid mountain.
Lower it is pretty manky to be honest.
Today and tomorrow are Combat de Reines (Cow Fightng) in Le Chable.
I do love a good day of Cow Fighting.....if you have never seen it you really should give it a try.
BTW...no Cows get hurt, and no humans are involved....but the cows, they do love to fight.
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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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Groundhog day....
Still cloudy
Still snowing lightly above mid station
Still lovely up high
Still slushy down below
The ski to Verbier is 100% there, full piste coverage, no hint of the ground at all, but slushy and slow.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Still cloudy, and still snowing.
Snow level much lower today....freshies all the way down, and only the very last 100 metres or so is slushy.
Visibility not good though.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Fantastic day.
Intermittent blue slies.
Quite cold.
Fantastic pistes, top to bottom.
Wonderful powder.
Mont Gele lift running.
Hardly anyone to compete with.
Vey friendly...mutual smiles all around.
I hope that Bobinch took a day off and got a day trip in....he always posts good stoke, sadly I am a photo-numptie.
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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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It's baaaaaack
The clouds, the intermitent falling of snow, the dodgy visibility and the fantastic snow condidtions.
Forecast looks like it will stay this way for a few more days.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Quite possibly our best day of the season!
Savolyeres:
1. Deserted....we were seemingly the only people on the whole mountain at times. When really busy there were two other people seen on a top to bottom run.
2. Perfect pistes, just perfect.
3. Off piste was almost untracked when we started, and the only tracks added all day were ours.
4. Sunny....at last!
5. All the lifts that were needed were open.
One downside:
Chez Simon baked his last Tarte de Pomme yesterday....none left 
(It is the best Tarte de Pomme in the world....I'll chalenge anybody who has tasted it to say otherwise!)
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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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As Bob's pics attest yesterday was wonderful. Did a slightly tamer backside than Bob and the snow conditions were just incredible for late April. Came back up for some frontside Mt Gele fun before heading off to Cabane Mt Fort for a late lunch.
Tortin looks in lovely condition, but the Lac 3 chair is broken so it's a short hike or access via Jumbo-Gentianes.
Been snowing all night above 1,000m and it looks like some clear spells appearing. My last day of the season could be one of the best. What a winter.
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Currently having lunch in Verbier. Snow is in an incredibly good state, stacks of fresh powder to be found everywhere, I'd guess about 15-20cm overnight, hardly anyone about, and largely clear blue skies. My last skiing day of the season is shaping up to be one of the best too, in what has been a superb season.
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Wow, the snow on Mt Fort this morning was some of the gets I've skied all season. Fresh tracks right down the middle, gentianes a bump free zone all topped off with a sublime stairway. Oh and I forgot the Creblet-mayenzet that we opened up with. Very hard to think of a day to beat it in this stunning winter.
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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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We left yesterday morning....looking up at a bright sky with lots of snow that came almost to Le Chable.
Gutted to have missed yesterday....but what an end to the season!
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That's it - all over. High winds (180kph at Mt Fort, 130 kph at Ruinettes) mean that all lifts shut today and tomorrow. The Zermatt-Verbier leg of the Patrouille was cancelled for the second time as they reached Arolla, once more because of winds.
May do a bit of touring next weekend.
WHAT a winter!
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