 Poster: A snowHead
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A bit of fun for those visiting Val d'Isere or Tignes this season.
I was in Val d'Isere last week with a bunch of friends and friends of friends. As the week went on it became clear that a dedicated few of us were up for skiing harder, faster and longer, so we thought we'd set ourselves a challenge...
The 4 Points Tour - Visiting the 4 corners of the ski area in a single day, starting in Val d'Isere: Tignes glacier, Tignes Les Brevieres, Val glacier and Le Fornet. Not a bad challenge but we figured that wasn't really enough. There were only 2 of us up for it on the final day, so we accepted the further challenge of meeting everyone else for lunch at the restaurant above Le Fornet at 2pm. That would mean doing it in 5 1/4 hours. Still not challenging enough, we started the day by recording a video of La Face in "a one-er" first thing, so didn't actually get started until 9.30 after a bit of faffing about, meaning we had 4.5 hours to do it. Now that was a proper challenge, we thought!
We reached the Grand Motte (Tignes glacier) just before 11am; Les Brevieres at 12.05pm; back at the bottom of La Face in Val at 1pm; top of the T-bar on the Val glacier at 1.45pm and went past the restaurant at bang on 2pm, reaching Le Fornet cable car at 2.07pm.
For those who fancy trying this you should know that to do it we only stopped on lifts, ie skiing every section/piste in "a one-er". This means some pretty hefty non-stop vertical drops - Grand Motte to Val Claret is around 1500m; Aiguille Percee to Les Brevieres is around 1250m, the Bellvarde Face is just under 1000m. The worst queues are in the first sector, up to the Grand Motte, so have patience. Once past the Tignes snow park we encountered virtually no queues as we traversed the whole area at lunchtime.
After a short celebration at Le Fornet, we continued back to Val d'Isere, arriving at the bottom of Solaise at around 2.45pm, making the entire round trip in around 5 1/4 hours.
So there's the challenge - start wherever you're staying, take in those 4 destinations and finish within 5 1/4 hours. We're sure it can be done as I'm an advanced skier but unfit and my buddy is a very good intermediate and very fit. The lifts are the lifts and they'll take as long as they do but if you can ski faster, you'll beat us. Short cuts would be taking the Sache down to Les Brevieres and the Foret down to Le Fornet. We didn't do the Sache to save our legs and the Foret to save our lives as we were a tad tired by then.
Good luck! It's a great day's skiing anyway but the time challenge really pushes you to ski at your best with a rhythm to preserve energy but keep the pace up.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Is the cable car going to the very top of Grande Motte open again? Its been out of action most of season
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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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patricksh, yep, it's open and that was the biggest wait. we used the 2 chairs to reach the cable car rather than the funicular. the run from the top all the way down to val claret was fantastic.
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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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Going down Bellevarde Face without stopping is good going. Even the experts seem to like taking a breather on the very few flat bits- you gotta be ready for the steep bits, one slip and you can have a long fall. But even if you had stops, I'm guessing it would still be quickest run of day
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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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when the face is groomed, ie in the morning, it's really not that bad. when we did it on the tour though, it was covered in developing slushy moguls and was probably the most taxing part of the whole escapade. i very nearly rested below the transit piste between the 2 chairs but was determined by then to do the entire tour without stopping!
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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 remember Face last year when it was icy and worn, I reckon the most difficult skiing I have done, on or off-piste. This year only got there in afternoon in fading light and always overcast or light snow so I took it easy. Sache is another run which is like an easy red after being groomed, but incredibly strenuous when mogulled.
You could do a 5 corners tour, descend into La Daille also. Those reds are so fast and funival so efficient it probably wouldn't add more than 10 or 15 minutes max
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we did the sache on thursday and it was fine until we hit the genuine black section at the bottom which was where it got really heavy and given it hadn't been bashed either, they were big, slushy moguls which was hard work.
like the la daille suggestion, that would be a good blast from the top of the aeroski all the way down and then the funival.
what doing the tour showed us was just how much you could potentially ski in a day. we could both have carried on but last week the snow below 2400-ish was porridge by the early afternoon and on 3 days, well before that. with good snow we could have comfortably skied faster and further with less effort.
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I will try to beat ur record next year
I am going to les Arcs in a couple of weeks. 4 corners there will have to be very serious- aiguille rouge- villaroger- bellecote- aime la plagne (or champagny ?)- will have to look at piste map and see exactly. Even more sprawled out than EK but lift connections, slow lifts, and queues worse in paradiski esp la plagne side, so reckon it'll take most of day
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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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| patricksh wrote: |
I will try to beat ur record next year
I am going to les Arcs in a couple of weeks. 4 corners there will have to be very serious- aiguille rouge- villaroger- bellecote- aime la plagne (or champagny ?)- will have to look at piste map and see exactly. Even more sprawled out than EK but lift connections, slow lifts, and queues worse in paradiski esp la plagne side, so reckon it'll take most of day |
Good luck, not sure thats possible. If you are really serious, you need to visit montalbert also 
Will need to be up Aguille Rouge first thing else the queues will get you there, sadly can't avoid slow lifts out of villaroger!
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| kioksor wrote: |
| Will need to be up Aguille Rouge first thing else the queues will get you there, sadly can't avoid slow lifts out of villaroger! |
Are they all both slow lifts out of Villaroger - and does it mean it keeps the traffic volumes low?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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