The view from............ Val d'Isere and the Espace Killy

A snowHead

and it's lovely and powdery due to the cold temps........

A snowHead

Morning update........ about 50cm of snow has fallen in town overnight....... im about to go and dig ourselves out so I can get to 'work' (if anything moves first thing that is) for 9am! Wind speed not too bad down here in town but about 50km/h up top! Apparently 40cm of snow in Bourg even!

Av risk 4....... pedestrian route to Fornet closed. Freezing level dropping as the day goes on the amount of snowfall will reduce.

Preparations for the WC on Friday (free training day) being hampered so they have cancelled free ski day on Friday for the athletes.

Sorry about the bitty nature of the update...... will add more details later....... pic above courtesy of Radio Val!

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Steve Angus, sounds like fun. Wish I was there!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Well I did finally manage to dig ourselves a nice little path to get to work..... it took a good half an hour. Anyway got there in the end. Yep a good 50cm of snow..... now placed out of my path on the other snow that has fallen which means the 'wall' of snow that annually builds up over the season is about 1m deep...... it got to 2.5m deep once last year and occasionally gets there in previous season - I wonder how this season will fair!

Anyway when I got to the meeting point it was clear that nothing (not that I was at all surprised) was likely to open anytime soon. As you can see from the picture the snow was horizontal (after being nice and calm over night!). No one was around..... the lifties were trying to dig the path to the Olympic out and the Solaise Express had a lot of work to be done before it could open.

The road to the Fornet pretty promptly closed to all vehicles as well as pedestrians which left just three of us (me included) sipping coffee in the Sun Bar waiting for a news update. Clare did not go over to Tignes as the road was just too awful.

Anyway cutting a long story short the weather got worse for about an hour (then cleared up for about 30 mins) and in that time we decided to postpone todays action and move it to another day (if possible). So by about 11am I was back home in the warm and dry.

Since nothing was open (laterally a couple of lifts opened) Clare and I watched as the weather got worse and the path started to fill back in. Finally about mid afternoon Clare decided to have a short ski and battled the elements for a couple of hours before beating a retreat.

The numbers of people that actually managed to get up the hill to work today (such as pisteurs and lifties etc) was seriously impinged due to a car sliding across the road down in Bourg were a good 40cm of snow fell; this blocked the road for a good hour which cause further knock-on problems!

So I spent most of the day making phone calls trying to locate where my ski locker key is (our ski lockers were refurbished over the Summer and I have been hunting who may have the keys ever since).

Anyway I also did some business admin and generally watched the crap weather outside and it has only gotten more intense (the snowfall today) so we shall see what tomorrow has in store for us!

Perhaps another 50-100cm over the next few days coming in - oh boy!

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being stuck indoors in val is a million times better than being stuck indoors at work in wales. Loved it in val last year.

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Made the mistake of cutting across the nursery slope on my way to work at half 8 this morning. Took 2 hours for my trousers to dry off!

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Thanks Steve, another great posting. Your blog has become a daily addiction for me and many others. Although I have two weeks in Val booked for Feb I still check in everyday for an update. Keep it up...

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Hi guys,
Great thread been watching thinking about a cheeky pre christmas ski trip next week, anyone now what the weather is forcast for next week, bit nervous after last year losing 2 days and 3 off piste lessons due to wind/snow, looks the same pattern this year. on the plus side the skiing we did was awesome! Smile

Thanks

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^ I've ordered blue skies for my pre-Christmas week in Val, so book up.

Thanks for the update Steve, as ever. Super-exciting!! Keep warm!

I'll be there along with 360 Cardiff Students that week as well, can't wait!

You know it makes sense.

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njl1968, currently next week (9th to 13th) is looking a bit more settled than this week, however it's a long way away and it could all change....

A snowHead

Good morning

Need to leave early this am and pick up some off piste gear for my clients this am....

Anyway looking out the curtains I would guess we have had about 15cm of new overnight down here BUT with a lot of wind by the looks of things.

Still snowing heavily but small flakes (due to the wind I would guess) therefore likely to be wind and av clearance issues this am.

Forecast for today; light snow all day and then snow increasing this evening.

For those of you coming this Saturday (or leaving) early keep an eye on the weather as there could be delays getting up / down the hill as another front is due in on Friday!

Knock-on effects for the Mens World Cup this weekend are already been felt..... GS been moved to the Sunday and the slalom on the Saturday...... gives more time to clear more square metres on the Sat for GS setting on the Sunday! IMO I think this minor change could just be the tip of the iceberg but we shall see.

A snowHead

halfhand, absolutely! Manchester Uni are out there as well, brilliantly known as SKUM.

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^^ +1 for the waist deep bit...begs the question about whether you can have too much snow!!!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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of course you can have too much snow, if you have to sleep in a school hall because the road to resort is closed, or are stuck in your car in a snowdrift all night with three kids, then get there to find all lifts closed and you can't even walk to the pub because of avalanche risk. And already, as linked to by Piccadilly, sad news about somebody who just couldn't resist. There were some stunning pictures last season (on this thread I think) of a lift which was so covered in snow it took them days and days even to dig it out, let alone test it and get it going. Great for the folks coming the following week, of course. wink

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These reports are great, really useful and help keep the appetite whetted.

We booked this morning for 3 February. Sixty days and counting snowHead

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Well you know, I don't like to go on... Toofy Grin

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Have just seen the avalnche report about Tignes, I do hope everyone is okay.

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jocrad, all snowheads are ok. Sadly there was a fatality from a ucpa group. There is a separate thread.

Awesome powder turns.

Ill start with what I know about this awful avalanche over in Tignes.

So apparently it was a UCPA (French sort of youth hostel association)...... anyway it was their 'formation' as they call it training with ENSA trainers (French version of BASI)...... they had been out here for several weeks doing Test Technique training etc as part of their first level of French qualification. They went up the Aeroski and headed down a run (which is never groomed anyway) right underneath the very top of the Aeroski lift. The run / sector was closed at the time (about 1130 this morning). This Pâquerette run was closed. Anyway a slide happened, three caught, 1 dug out quickly and is now back at home. 1 other was under for nearly an hour and has been taken to Grenoble after a cardiac arrest (young woman). In fact all those caught were in their 20's and were not wearing transceivers. Pisteurs from both Tignes and Val as well as a tracker with Avalanche dog along with several hundred volunteers (including several of my friends / colleagues) took part in a so called probe line....

That is what I am led to believe happened / the state of play at the moment is! This is after speaking with several people and reading a fair few reports / newspaper articles etc!

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Anyway as far as my day was concerned it was more action than yesterday. There had been about 30cm of new snow overnight... winds had been bad at 4am or so...... by breakfast time it had eased up somewhat and it only took them until 9.30 to get Solaise rolling. We took the first lift up and no surprises it was just the Plan M open back down. The snow was DEEP - waist deep in many places. The vis was pretty awful. Anyway some nice turns down there and then we headed up Olympic. I worked on 'variables' with my guys (that was about all we could do really).... several drills working on stance width, vertical movements as well as the importance of a strong separation between upper and lower body.... and other stuff. Anyway the wind and vis was not great and we ended up looping around on the runs down to La Daille (which were not too busy at all actually). We had some AWESOME turns actually....

Paul makes his way through some waist deep snow (and fairly heavy it has to be said) JUST about the bottom of La Daille (apologies for people in the foreground (it was the British Military doing some 'Winter Training' and skinning up!).

It was quite tiring all in all and by 1pm when we finished we were all ready for a rest.

This afternoon the weather has continued to bear fruit in the form of snow (and it is coming down even thicker and harder than ever). The winds are not too bad. However the avalanche risk being 4/5 could go up higher if this heavy snow continues overnight (which it is forecast to...... then a brief rest and then more heavy snow on Friday) - if accompanied by high winds. There has been well over 1.5m of snow on the mountain now in a little over a week and about 1m here in town.... but it continues so who knows what happens next!

My skis wait for their time this morning at the bus stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A good two foot of snow pilled wherever it can get a foothold!!!!

You know it makes sense.

Looking good Steve Angus, Not a bad start to the season hey!

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MORNING NEWS

Once again it seems to have snowed and blowed all night long. They are now calling, in all likelihood, for it to go to 5/5 on the avalanche risk scale in the next 24/48 hours! I reckon we have had some 10-15cm at least overnight in the village but I think the wind has been the main element overnight. Probably a lot more up higher.

Looks like I will have to dig the path out once again this morning!

The sun is supposed to appear for a few hours this pm - could be some CRAZY powder hounds pushing the limits too much this afternooon - BE CAREFUL. Personally (since I am supposed to be off piste myself this pm) I will not only be looking for shallow slopes - about blue run steepness max BUT (and for me this is the key) I am going to be spending most of my time looking [/b]UP[/b] the slope to see any people cutting above us or indeed big exposed slopes that could run out to where we are skiing....... that's where the real danger could lie.

More updates later.

A snowHead

Be careful out there!

A snowHead

Loving reading your daily news Steve Angus, take care Very Happy

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jocrad, Steve Angus,

Same here jocrad, I'm not even going to Val D'Isere or Tignes, but love the reports. Keep it up Steve!

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Steve Angus,great updates - stay safe!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Loving the updates Steve , reminds me of our 1st trip to Val in early March 2006 when it snowed almost every day. Coming back to Val in Feb for the 1st time since 2009 , even booked onto a TDC Development Course , cant wait....

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Hi,
I am comiing out to Val saturday Very Happy

and I need to hire some off piste powder skis, looking at skiset et al its difficult to see what they really have, can you give any advice best shop/price etc.

Cheers
Neil

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WELL QUITE A LOT TO COVER THIS EVENING...... here goes

It cleared up very quickly this morning.... the sun came through but BOY was it cold out there today. Not only was the air temperature about -15 deg c up there but there was a strong breeze about too which made it VERY nippy on the skin when skiing along.... all zip up please!

As I made my way to the meeting point I snapped the following picture outside the Blizzard Hotel...

Yes the teams have started arriving for the World Cup this weekend.

Well done Scot_Ski for making the decision to come back to Val in Feb........ may just see you on the Development Clinic - not sure which group im doing which week on whatever that far ahead but you never know we may end up in my group!

....Anyway sorry got side-tracked then for a minute.

So as I said the sun quickly came out and it was actually only the last hour of the day that clouds starting rolling back in (it looks ominous out there once more this evening.... snowfall is certainly coming again).

As we went up the Olympic one time you could quite clearly see the work going on below on the Face to get it ready for this weekend...

Every 20cm or so they are injecting water into the hard pack snow underneath the soft'ish top layer to made it firm for the racers..... labour intensive for sure and made all the harder when you have 30cm of snow to shift first.... ever day it seems at present!

We worked on carving this morning and there were some great changes made..... and a couple of 'A' frames were reduced. Toofy Grin

As we made our way around it was evident just how unstable the snow pack was..... there were some HUGE slabs to be seen and some massive creep cracks. In some places.... for example in the (yet to be constructed) Val Park in one of the bowls it had gone all the way down to the ground..... some 1.5m crown wall and some 30m wide.... category 2 going on 3 slide and enough to kill for sure. Anyway anything North and wind exposed is lethal.....

..... so why were people skiing the MOST ridiculous lines out there today.... places like the closed Epaule du Charvet...... even the Face du Charvet were being skied by people who clearly were not with a professional and were putting their lives in the hands.

The cliffs down the front of the side of Le Face.... where that Doctor on the snowboard fell to his death.... below the Loyes Chairlift..... in-between the avalanche barriers there were groups skiing.

Anyway the pistes were in GREAT shape and they are working hard to get more and more open up.

After lunch (yummy Chevalot Club Poulet today!) I headed up the Olympic and the plan had been to meet some regulars of mine at the top of Olympic just after 1 o'clock (as they were coming over from Tignes). Anyway picture this.....

Early season Val d'Isere...... not a huge amount open yet a while..... brand new Fontaine Froide Chairlift undergoing finals tests before receiving its license to carry passengers from this Saturday.... pistes in the area of FF and Grand Pre not ready to open (just a single piste basher width for access for the moment)...massive Av risk on Santons and Charvet so certainly no point (if your sane) in skiing that way (IMO)........ a closed rope / banner etc across the top of Fontaine Froid run not in place for about 10 minutes.................. and what have you got....... about 100 stranded people at the bottom of Fontaine Froid and not very happy about it (as you can imagine).

So the people I was supposed to be meeting are now stuck down there and after some Euro argy bargy (sp?) and conversing with the lifties working on the FF a series of piste bashers start the evacuation...... one issue was that they were picking people up that were trying to walk back up the piste first which meant my lot were stuck down there (FROZEN, NO LUNCH and P****D OFF) until pretty much last. An hour later they appeared........ a stop at Marmottes for toilet, hot drink and mars bars all round and we finally got going with the lesson.

The moral of the story is that whichever selfish (we reckon this is what must have happened) person or people skied at high'ish speed at the closed sign and must have pulled the rope / signs down as they went past and it flicked to the side (out of sight somehow) so that by the time the powers that be realised it was down it was too late and loads of people had skied down..... to that person..... pause and think what the consequences of your actions are!

So there is a SEVERE WEATHER WARNING out for snow and wind to sweep down from the UK, across Paris and into this neck of the woods in the next 24 hours or so..... and as I mentioned this morning Henry of HAT reckons it will be 5/5 avalanche risk by Saturday..... we shall see.

OK time for bed as I am knackered and the -20 degress out there at the moment is filtering into the front room and I am COLD.

After all it is free

njl1968...... Snowberry have a great selection! Great service etc...... BUT if you only want price (can't vouch for them though) would be to try Ski Republic but Snowberry are helpful and central and the staff are TRAINED which is a step up from half the shops in town.... you could also try Pitte sports on the high street too.

Sounds like some real idiots out there at the moment, unbelievable. The pisteurs/lifties must despair of people. A powder run isn't worth getting killed for, or putting other's lives in danger.

Steve, do you think La Face will be open to the public from 16th Dec onwards? I can't imagine why it wouldn't be but thought I'd check!

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Steve Angus, great, personal writing, just love it.

Help!!

The view from............ Val d'Isere and the Espace Killy

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