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Got back late last night from a 4 day trip to Les Carroz/ Flaine/ Samoens.
We were fearing the worst given the temps being above freezing for 2 weeks but we were pleasantly surprised at how good conditions were. Off piste was an absolute write off but the pisteurs had worked miracles on piste. They were in excellent condition and only the really low runs struggled late in the day but we had glorious sunshine for four days and excellent riding.
Off to Cervinia on Saturday. Looks like there's going to be a reasonable dump between now and Sunday which might make the drive up interesting 😬
It snowed heavily around Morzine yesterday I'm told. Family there now.
My sons off tomorrow on a school trip to Wagain /Amade. I know nothing of ski things but hope he takes some pics for me to post in a week or so.
It snowed heavily around Morzine yesterday I’m told. Family there now.
I was happy to see that also, heading to Avoriaz on the 18th Feb so was hoping for some good dumpage before.
Driving overnight tonight to Alpe Dhuez, straight after work. On the slopes for 9am. Forecast is snow all the way until Monday. Glad I bought some snow socks for the van the other day! Boards+Skis freshly waxed and edges sharpened. Hope its not too much of a white out on the slopes.
A couple of other observations.
falling over hurts more than it used to. My brain thinks I’m a teenager. My body reminds me I’m 45. I feel like I’ve been in a car crash
is it okay to be both proud and irritated when you you can no longer keep up with your kids?
@speeder I love Menuires and access to the 3 Vals from there is great. Even if the score lower down is sketchy Val Thorens will be good (OK it might be hard pack but there won’t be lack of snow).
We were there for 6 days last week and had an awesome time.
Just finished 6 days in La Plagne & Arcs - I won’t be going back to Plagne again, too much flat, too many people and absolute carnage at times. Les Arcs was much much better and had a great day today, even had an inch of fresh.
Last day tomorrow, going for a short day from La Tania, will probably just get a Courcheval pass but might get carried away and get a full one…
Are you in your van again Phil? I've not been on Facebook for a while so not seen any 'winterised' posts.
We did La Plagne early April last year (Easter holidays) and it was dead! I've done Feb half term there before and it was crazy busy!
Yep in the van been away for about 3 weeks.
Something like… La Clusaz 1 day, Megeve 1 day, Menuires / 3 Vals 6 days, Avoriaz / PDS 3 days, La Plagne / Les Arcs 6 1/2 days, Courcheval tomorrow, eurotunnel Saturday afternoon.
We stayed in the La Plagne Aire which is a great facility, I can see why people like it, but La Plagne itself, not so much. We a tayed in Les Arcs last night after getting the dog wormed in BSM, seems that it’s tolerated as there were a few vans up where we were at 1800.
We moved around a bit to see friends and stayed high due to lack of snow. We got a half decent powder day in Menuires at the beginning and apart from 2 days pretty much clear skies and sun, mostly too hot! 🥵
I’m in Alpe d’Huez this week, for our annual family ski trip. It’s been freakishly warm all week. Snow is getting very thin in places and quite a few pistes are closed, as some south facing slopes are almost completely bare. Conditions are icy hard-pack in the morning but softening considerably by lunchtime, with moguls developing on all but the shallowest slopes by early afternoon. We’ve been opting to ski until 2:30ish, to make the most of the conditions, then having a late lunch, and a relaxing the rest of the day.
In the 40 years I’ve been skiing, I don’t think I’ve been to a resort in February, where it’s so warm, with so little snow.
Forecast is a lite cooler next week, but still only -5C minimum overnight, hopefully cold enough for the snow cannons to get to work.
We stayed here in Arc 1800 https://maps.app.goo.gl/DQri2jF1i2BaURVG6?g_st=ic
But here https://maps.app.goo.gl/ui77aaysc3Ce5NYXA?g_st=ic would be better as it’s closer to the access up to the centre of 1800. Next to the roundabout there’s a lift that takes you up to the shops, bus station (decent toilets & showers, although the showers look like they need a swipe tag to get in to) and the bottom of the lifts.
It’s €22 for the first 24hrs, gets cheaper the longer you stay I think.
There might be free parking in 1600 but we didn’t check it out.
My body reminds me I’m 45. I feel like I’ve been in a car crash
I've hit 46 this year and I feel banged up despite not having been to the slopes yet this year, I'm hoping a) I can get into better shape and have a comfortable back again by mid March and b) there's a couple of weeks of snow fall between now and then.
I miss the mountains.
Rain , snow, rain ... status quo. Skinned up this morning until the wind got unpleasant. Statistically this is the coldest week of the year. It's really mild, birds were singing around the pistes before the wind got up, skiing is ****ed.
Gnommmmm
Go on son. I'll meet you at the bottom!
Snow bridges over two crevasses, I wonder why no-one had tracked that line before him (no question mark).
They're not crevasses.
Looks remarkably like a bergschrund for something that's not a crevasse.
Yeah. It opened up in December when they had loads of rain after a huge dump. Then it all froze up again just before new year. It pretty much exactly the same shape as it was when we were here for New Year.
I Defo wouldn't have let him do that over an actual crevasse.
Or in early december. Or indeed when it warms up again.
All good. Junior has got to a stage where I trust his judgement more than my own in terms what's skiable, and my own judgement as to whether I can ski it. 🙂
After years of skiing my lad has just switched to snowboard which had the unexpected benefit of mrsfoo joining us on the slopes for the first time in 5 years, she figured we wouldn't be going as fast and steep as we had previously.
We've mainly been at Port du Mont Blanc which has lots of pleasant tree lined blues but boy is it like spring conditions, the lower slopes are pretty soft by the afternoon and many home runs are closed. Megève home run is just hanging on but with no snow forecast until the end of the month it's looking a bit sad.
After bailing on the Jan trip have booked a 3v trip to La Tania for mid march.
Daily weather watching will now commence. If it's awful conditions I might have a 1/2 day lesson on a board 🤯
There's a bit more natural snow here and it was a lot better today both on and off piste than Monday which was particularly depressing. Valentine's day so up and down with Madame. Daffodils out in the garden.
Bump! It's snowed properly at last! No pics cos I'm posting from the phone but it's very white out I promise.
Off to Italy on Saturday where they've had well over a metre since last weekend. Looks like even more to fall this weekend then a week of bluebird skies😎
Change of plans for us as we couldn't find reasonable accommodation in les Menuires - so we're off to Tignes instead.
Haven't been there for nearly 15 years so pretty excited.
I like Tignes, something for everyone straight out of the door and 2000m
@Speeder, I was there last year and 2 years before that. It's probably had some decent lift/chair upgrades since you were last there, it's a very very good area.
10 of us heading to Tignes on Saturday. Apologies in advance if we're in the same restaurant.
St Sorlin d'Arves this week, in the Maurienne. Has exceeded our expectations, both for cover, which is excellent, and for the lifts, which are coping with a fair influx of French families. It's a proper wee village attached to a very large ski area, although not generally well known on the UK market.
We had a decent dump at the start of the week, around 10" in the village, significantly more at altitude and it's still white at village level, 1600m. The off piste is genuinely excellent and is not anything like as rapidly tracked out as in better known areas. This place is more extensive than we expected from reviews and the backcountry is surprisingly accessible. There's a refuge just outside the area at 3Lacs, downhill to get to it and a quick and easy skin back inbounds. That's also the start of some stunning touring opportunities, including up onto the glacier; perhaps on another visit. Prices are a notch down on better known French resorts and food both more generously portioned and a bit more reasonably priced.
Negatives? Minimal tree cover in some sectors and there are still a few drag lifts about but the majority of key lifts are modern six packs. There are not many mountain restaurants, so it can be just as well to return to a village for lunch sometimes.
Happy days.
Great to hear you enjoyed the area @highlandman
I ski a lot in the Belledonne, so the range on the other side of the col de croix de fer.
Before the middle of last week it had been looking like Spring and thoughts were turning to spring high altitude touring. However....
It's been (and continues to do so) dumping it down over in the east on the Italian border due to 'le retour de l'est'...so Haute Maurienne, Val Cenis, Queyras etc. Been sent some phenomenal photos. I was planning a day hit with maybe a night out over in the Queyras (I live in the Chartreuse) over the weekend as but now the avalanche risk is currently high. If not one thing it's the other right!!
I have a pal currently on a week long, hut to hut trip down in the Queyras. She's having fun.. although grumbling that it's not been built around hunting out the best descents, more focused on travelling than getting freshies.
Definitely looks like quite a bit of snow about across large parts of the Alps. Stability seems likely to be fairly sketchy for a while but hopefully sets up later season well.
On another note, does anyone know of a good place in the UK to buy skins? Prices seem to have crept up a lot and options fewer than in the past. I was looking at g3 gear ( https://genuineguidegear.uk/) for some cheaper options but can't tell if they ship from across the pond and are (a) gonna take ages and (b) get stung for taxes/duties. Has anyone used them? Or any other tips?
We were in Mayrhofen last week. Great snow up top but sod all down low. Thankfully they got a big dump the day before we got there.
Not skied there before but it's very good. Zell area is also very good, possibly better.Tux glacier was nice. Mixed weather whilst there but a good time was had
I took a comedy tumble and ripped my ancient Rab winter soft shell trousers. They were already heavily patched up from many misadventures.
Has anyone seen any good uninsulated ski trousers in the sales?
I am considering a week in Le Corbier (Les Sybelles) for the 2nd week in April (from Sat 6 April), but despite @Highlandman 's glowing report above, the webcams are totally putting me off.
https://www.le-corbier.com/en/webcams/
Especially the Front de Neige Le Corbier. Brown snow is not a good look...
Am I over thinking?
Has anyone seen any good uninsulated ski trousers in the sales?
Decathlon do some good Simond branded ones.
Le Corbier in April? Not really high enough I fear.....
Aye, I think that Le Corbier would be too low for decent skiing by early April. I found it to also be the least inspiring sector within the network, with all of the local terrain below 2100m, so quite iffy in anything less than excellent, full winter conditions. It's a long way to the higher terrain above St Sorlin. There are some good, north facing reds above Le Tousouire that are better placed but depending on what you are seeking, I would think carefully before committing.