 Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks for getting back so quick. Group lessons, sunday to thursday would be good for the skier. Sunday for the boarder to get him going maybe see where he is like cause their are a few boarders with us who can teach him aswell. I think english native would be best but what would you recommend?
Hope this helps.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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dougals69
For the skier... native english speaking then unfortunately our school (the only school that ONLY has native English speakers) do not do group lessons on those days and besides we do not do beginner group lessons. The next best options IMO would be Progression, Mountain Masters or New Generation ski schools (easily found and contacted via email if you google them) - but ask who you may have if you want native English as they are all international schools with some Italians and French etc. The subtleties of the English language and communicating a highly technical sport like skiing means that many people do prefer native English speaking instructors... many schools use the phrase 'lessons conducted in English' which does not suit everyone when they realise that the grasp of or lack of English to any real extent is an obstacle to learning... of course there are others who do not mind this at all!
Snowboarding side of things: group lessons - don't think any school will offer a one off group lesson - especially on a Sunday with a solid English speaking instructor. Our ski school can offer snowboarding lessons - on private basis in native English... otherwise I would highly recommend a COURSE of group lessons with someone like Ed at New Generation, Steff or Roddy at Pro-Snowboarding or possibly the Alliance Snowboarding guys and girls.
Hope that helps.
Steve
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Beautiful photo of the town from Radio Val D'Isere, thanks Steve.
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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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Thanks Steve il fire some emails about see how i go.
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Phew how did you manage to keep the camera still - I think everyone has been on a piste with it howling (but not like you by the sound of it!) its days like this when you look out of the window and say nope I think it I will spend the time with Baileys today 
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Indeed Piccadilly - Radio Val always have their photographer out and around town snapping away at the goings on.
No worries dougals69 - good luck - shout if you need anything else.
Kiters - yes indeed - it was certainly meaty out there... I took my gloves off for about 1/2 a second to snap that photo whilst the client was zipping their jacket ALL the way up the last few mm's to keep the wind and snow out. Sometimes I wish I could have duvet days but you can't do it when people are paying to be taken out for a lesson.
The weather has cleared up a little now.... but the avalanche rating is going to 5 in some parts of the alps this evening - not sure at this stage whether this will include Val d'Isere / Tignes or not.
Still more snow forecast....
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Steve, what is your schedule like for the 26 to 29th Jan, Im investigating the possibility of my first introduction to off piste?
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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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| Quote: |
Radio Val always have their photographer out and around town snapping away at the goings on.
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Does the presenter then describe the picture the photographer has taken 
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Hey Mad4snow - thanks for the message. Personally I am available the afternoon of Thursday 26th, available all day Friday 27th, unavailable on the Saturday and finally available the afternoon of Sunday 29th... have had a look if we have the clinic 'intro to off-piste' running then but we don't I am afraid therefore it is private sessions only! We can offer private share sessions whereby if someone else comes along that would like to share the cost and session with you then we can do that.
Peter S haa haa - not quite. The Radio Val website is our source of lots of local info as well as being the radio station.
Snowing heavily again now out there....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Steve, what's the cost of a private afternoon or hourly rate?
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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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Mad4snow Have PM you...
***********************************************************************************************************************
HAS BEEN SNOWING HEAVILY HERE ALL NIGHT LONG best get on the road... its gonna be a long day!
***********************************************************************************************************************
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Steve, apologies for hi-jacking....
Just back from an amazing week in Val. Had been snowing heavily last night (Friday 30th), must have been a good foot or more in the village, and was snowing as we left at 5am.
On Friday 30th, pretty much most of Val was closed, the only lifts open regularly were Village and Rogonet in Val central, apparently the chair at La Daille was open for a while, mostly due to the high winds.
They were blasting when we left at 5am, but not much wind at that time.
Top tip - they do open some lifts at 9am... and then close them. I got up the Bellevard chair at about 09.30... it was running for about 5 minutes, and the small group of about 30 people who were lucky enough to get up it had the lower part of the Face, with anything from knee to waist deep powder, to themselves on Friday morning.
Rest of the day was play 'hunt the stash' off Rogonet.
Apparently Tignes had more lifts running...
Suspect the avalanche risk will shoot up with all this new snow being blown onto what was getting to be quite a frosty hard base.... y'all be careful out there!
h.
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You know it makes sense.
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Anyone have any idea what the hold up is on the road up to Val/Tignes is?
Sat in bumper to bumper traffic a few miles from Moutier and we've gone about 2 miles in an hour. Will take us another 5 hours at this pace!!! 
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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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Apparently the pad into Tignes is closed don't take that as gospel though, just a post on another thread. Good luck
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Poster: A snowHead
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Mark, just went back to check where I d seen it. It was martinm on the ste foy thread.......so sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Having msde that journey myself recently to be bumper to bumper at moutiers is a nightmare, the worst partbof the journeybstill ahead of you. Best wishes
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Markoncarp, sounds grim. this is from Radio Val D,Isere website
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| Il est tombé 75 cm à 80 cm de neige depuis hier matin dans la station. Comme c'est la règle en cas de chutes de neige importantes, des consignes de sécurité sont mises en place. Les routes du Fornet (entre les Richardes et le Fornet), de la Daille (entre Val d'Isère et le parking du Funival), du Chatelard (entre le Joseray et le Chatelard) sont fermées à la circulation piétonne. Le parking extérieur du Santel est fermé, le parking aérien du Manchet fermera ce soir. Les consignes sont aussi appliquées aux abords des immeubles concernés. Les volets doivent être fermés et il ne faut pas aller derrière ces immeubles à flanc de montagne. |
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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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Hi Steve,
We are coming to Val on the 7th staying at Hotel La Galise - just been trying to google map where we are in relation to Snowberry and it looks like we are just across the road - do you know if thats correct? We can sort our gear on-line if thats the case.
Are we quite central?
Can you recommend a good lively restaurant for the Sat or Sun night - we are celebrating 2 of our friends 40th birthdays whilst we are there.
How's the snow?
Thanks,
Tara
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billywifta, there's so much that no pedestrian traffic is allowed on some of the roads and many of the lifts and links are closed. So no problem about lack of snow!!
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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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...catching up... will do 'yesterdays' post in a moment... a few replies first.
hamilton dont worry you are not hijacking the thread... you left at 5am, me too - we must have 'enjoyed' the same journey. Yep sometimes a lift will open, they monitor the wind speeds if it creeps the wrong side of the safety limits they have to close them again... very often when we have loads of snow you have to be on your toes as to where and when you go to catch a lift opening or not... the STVI and the Pisteurs always do their best to get the most open as safely possible.
Yep the avalanche risk has been yoo-yooing (?sp?) up and down recently... the fresh snow, and wind has pushed it up to 4 out of 5... it ALMOST made 5... I suspect it will stay at 4 for 2 days and then back down to 3.... major problem is going to be wind loading with the temperature pushing up a little - yep BE CAREFUL out there!
Markoncarp and stefoy4me... I was in that traffic too - more about that below. Essentially what they do / have / had is virtually all 28000 anticipated vehicles to the Tarentaise Valley arrive at approximately the same time from lunchtime to early evening.... the problems (again see below) persist leaving from the resorts in the early morning. 2 lanes of motorway / dual carriageway have to condensed down into one lane with the corresponding reduction in speed limit. On top of that the police will not allow anyone who is not a local to leave the main roads for fear of blocking up all the back roads.... coupled with that the police in most places to get up the access roads were stopping cars and forcing chains etc to be fitted - that further delayed things............ basically it is always pure weight of traffic - simple as that.
billywifta The Hotel La Galise is close but not that close to Snowberry... walking distance but hardly a stones throw away.... or you could take the free resort bus - 2 mins away! Either way Snowberry have the option to everyone who hires from them to leave shoes with them during the day and then leave ski gear with them at night meaning no lugging gear around.
...a good lively restaurant.... I would always recommend Le Lodge for a lively atmosphere... or perhaps Victors... google them both - they have good atmospheres IMO for what you are after.
THE SNOW.... RUBBISH.... DONT COME... I WANT IT ALL TO MYSELF.... haa haa - no it is AWESOME
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you'd think that with so much information freely available people would think about arranging to arrive, and leave, resort at times when they are a bit less likely to encounter such horrendous traffic. It's so predictable, and the bad weather was signalled well in advance. It's not so unthinkable to plan to arrive in resort late in the evening, then spend the last day out on nice empty slopes, and leave in the evening, is it?
Hope everyone has a fantastic week, after such a hassle at the beginning. 
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Steve Angus,  What a day! That would be a good read for the people who moan here about the cost of transfers.
Why don't you buy yourself some snow tyres?? New Year present to yourself. That was only the first busy weekend of the year!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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pam windeed... we include the transfer FOC but otherwise £300 each way sounds like a lot but there can be an awful lot to it and secondly since a large proportion of the transfers all want to be at the same time it is supply and demand!
Snow tyres... 1) we have weird therefore expensive sized tyres 2) 99.9% of the time my car does fine without snow tyres / chains on. That was only the 2nd time in 6 years I have needed to put them on 3) Val / Tignes road is so well driven that more often than not it is bare therefore snow tyres would get worn away very quickly... more cost 4) EVERY vehicle yesterday was forced to put them on in the end - even 4x4's with snow tyres so it was a must yesterday anyway.
Im contemplating getting them though.
Weather looking quite nice out there but MAJOR snowfall forecast later this week again.
Off out to teach now.
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| Quote: |
therefore snow tyres would get worn away very quickly...
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not really - they don't last significantly less long than ordinary tyres, I think, so apart from the cost of changing, it doesn't cost you much more in the long term. I bought two new ones this year because our oldest two had too little tread to be 100% effective as snow tyres, though they'll be legal for a long time yet, and we'll use them in the summer. And for the vast majority of the time that you don't have chains on, in Alpine winters, they're still going to give you much better and safer performance. Driving a long way on a very snowy motorway to the Frejus tunnel on Friday I was very glad of them, though thanks to surprisingly good driving by all around me I had no need to test their braking performance! We encountered none of the madness you describe, though I did listen to a series of warnings on 107.7 about a vehicle driving the wrong way up the motorway between Albertville and Chambery - thankfully after we'd been through that sector.
We do have to pay to have the tyres changed, which is annoyingly expensive, but we often find that bashing around on poor and often snowy/lumpy roads for a few months means the tracking is out a bit anyway, and get that checked, which enhances the tyre life. On the whole I don't feel it costs me much (that's what I tell myself, anyway). We did have two extra rims and change them ourselves on the old car, but now just get them changed at our local garage at home in the UK.
I often do (unpaid!) Geneva/Grenoble transfers for friends and family and wouldn't do it for less than quite a lot of money on a commercial basis! I find even one return trip a day quite tiring in bad weather, especially when it's usually combined with a big supermarket shop.
Hopefully teaching will be more enjoyable today than transfer driving!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thanks Steve - Sounds like we're in for a good one!
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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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pam w you could have tempted me with your persuasive points there.
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| I did listen to a series of warnings on 107.7 about a vehicle driving the wrong way up the motorway between Albertville and Chambery |
.... what the heck... I missed that on the radio - don't generally listen to 107.7.
I would consider getting a whole set of rims with tyres actually... and change them myself in the UK to save a bit as Roady down in Bourg charge a fair whack I have been told for the swap over!
...teaching was fun today... more on that in a moment.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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DESPITE THE FORECAST.... its looks quite nice out there this morning ... no snow or clouds looming yet a while (they are still forecasting it to come in today... ill report all later this evening).
Temperatures were cold enough to help not only dry out but also solidify the snowpack last night so early doors should be AMAZING out there. Avalanche risk down to 3 - which is still 'considerable.'
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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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Steve Angus, Steve as a fledgling elderly BASI L1, how do you 'teach' in whiteout conditions? do some customers just pack it in and go home, I must admit teaching someone to snowplough turn or snowplough parallel in the amount of snow you've received must be "challenging"
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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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Steve Angus, what BASI qualifications do you have? i'm going to have the L2 by the end of the season. will this be good enough/legal for me to teach chalet girls/potential babes how to ski?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
will this be good enough/legal for me to teach chalet girls/potential babes how to ski?
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pdx, in your dreams... 
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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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Steve
I'll be in Tignes from Jan 15 to 22 inc. You taught me at Hemel and was wondering if I can join one of your group classes (preferable AM) for a week before I do my Snoworks course on Feb 5. Probably easier if you email me directly paul@paulkeene.com
Paul
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Hi kitenski indeed the word is 'challenging' and many people pack in early or cancel. The photo above of the Folie Douce - that was taken through the window as we took a coffee break... people like to stop for a break (it can be necessary when its bad weather) when the conditions are bad. We cannot control the weather therefore ski schools do not allow people to cancel lessons for a refund because of bad weather... it makes you a better skier on the whole if you get out there in the rough stuff and some people relish it because of the emptier pistes. Like everyone we stay low in the trees when the weather is bad. There are some tips like 'grounding' your poles to tell the lay of the land that I teach people. Work on psychological aspects of skiing are often covered when the weather is bad... e.g. trusting the technique, feeling your way through the turn, and tactical things such as picking a line are all things I work on with strong skiers / boarders when the conditions are bad.
pdx ... qualifications. Ski: ISTD Level 4 (with French equivalence), Race Coach Level 2, Freestyle Level 1; Snowboard: NZSIA Level 2, Adaptive; BASI Level 1.
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| will this be good enough/legal for me to teach chalet girls/potential babes how to ski? |
...I am assume you are kidding. If not then PM me and i'll explain how the qualifications all work in various locations around the world... it is quite complicated...many other threads here on SH cover this stuff.
cyberil Hi Paul... I'll also email you. How are you? Hope all is well. That week I am unfortunately already booked to teach in Les Arcs in the mornings and have several afternoons already booked back here in Val... however over in Tignes I am sure one of the guys there will be able to help. email: tignes@tdcski.com - also check out www.tdcski.com Hope that is OK.
Will do my daily post in a minute.
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Steve Angus, brilliant report on your airport run. We were on the transfer bus coming the other way. 8 hours it took us in the end but still managed to party like good snowheads to see in the new year with Mullitt at the moris plus enjoy all the fun of the town square snowballing at midnight. I love val d at new year!
Funily enough we spent most of yesterday afternoon looking out at the same view from inside la folie douce. It really was grim put there. Oh but what a difference a day makes. Perfect bluebird day today and I skied better today than I have for a very long time thanks to the ooodles of fresh snow. Am loving the big soft moguls on piste - does that make me weird?
Temp has really dropped tonight after a stunning red sky sunset. Hoping to get out early 2moro b4 the clouds roll in again to deposit something, what was it again, oh yes, even more snow!
Oh, and it is a little known fact that under the trees next to the solaise lift is a crazy golf course. I saw it at the beginning of Dec and I keep laughing about it every time I ski over it.
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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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Steve Angus, The 'OK' piste was named after Jean Claude Killy and Henri Oreiller. Although neither was born in Val d'Isere, they were brought up and based there. Killy won three gold medals at the Grenoble Olympics of 1968, while Oreiller won two golds at St Moritz 20 years previously.
Am I correct?
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Ahhh Damn it ibex you are 100% right... everytime I try and come up with something the SH community never fails to amaze me with their knowledge... yep OK stands for Oreiller Killy Piste.
You go top of the class... well you were the only entrant - so well done.
I suppose you know who the Mattis piste was named after therefore... or the Diebold piste... about bloody time they named a piste the Angus piste IMO - haa haa only joking!
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FAQ
Finally got to sleep at 2.30am (although woke at 4.30am and there were still people out there 
)
