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@bunnyhop, Yes should be normal behaviour, goes hand in hand with helping little kids on chairlifts, doesn’t it.
Except on a powder day, obvs!🤣🤣😂⛷
Except on a powder day, obvs!🤣🤣😂⛷
🤣🤣
Although that’s not been an issue this season really! 😞
Lift back over to Risoul from Vars yesterday. All felt a bit summery!
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Most people are great at helping others. It was the fact that the piste was empty and only 4 people passed, so it was absolutely obvious I was having difficulty. Oh to be young again.
As Ed said, I turned myself around, released the bindings, struggled back onto the piste and it took ages to get going as my goggles were filled with snow (face plant) :o)
Could I ask that people stop/slow down if they see a LONE person who has has a tumble. just to check they are ok.
I saw loads of this in Austria. Fortunately it was me doing the asking / checking / picking up (3-4 times a day) rather than being helped, but a mixture of single kids and adults generally being ignored.
"OK?" with an upward inflection at the end is pretty universal as a question.
I think it was the run down into Val Thornes (from the hotels to the chair at the bottom) I remember being a learner there too, I passed poles back to a few people who were strewn across the piste. It felt good to pay back the favour as people have helped me in the past.
I think it was the day the over confident learners had decided they were done with lessons and could go solo, carnage all over.
I do tend to stop although I have a guilty feeling about 1 person who looked fine and was getting up but it was at the start of a long flat section and I should at least have checked they were all ok, sorry!
I stopped recently in Saalbach to collect a guy's ski after he wiped out. Picked it up, danced gracefully down to him...then slipped on ice and took him and his three mates out! he did see the funny side as we were all hurtling downhill in a cartoonish bundle of arms and poles.
My Favourite crash was when the missus was stood at the side of a steepish red minding her own business and waiting for a quiet moment so she could start with a wide turn when a chap appeared around the blind corner above her and took her out - he did have the good grace to let her sit in his lap all the way to the bottom (of the piste you dirty minded guttersnipes) asking her if she was OK and apologising all the way down.
Target fixation.
The piste is empty and the skier/snowboarder spots the target, doesn't need permission and bam, you're both in a tangled mess :0)
Yesterday's visit to Les Arcs was not as enjoyable as hoped.
The scraped, hard packed pistes were busy. it was chilly so not much warmth in the sun to soften any snow. Still better than being at work :0)
Amazingly a Welsh woman who lives locally, told us that they don't get much snow in March (Tarantaise Valley), which seemed odd to me. We've skied many times in March and had decent snowfall.
Seems like an epic tour you've been on @Bunnyhop, I was out when you were but it feels like forever ago and yet you are still going, I'm just jealous btw!!
Just got back from a few days in Morzine. Hard pack first thing, slushy-ish by lunchtime.
Had a great time, it was properly hot yesterday - thermometer reading 23C.
Came a cropper getting on a chairlift* and have now strained the MCL on my right leg 🙁 strangely able to board fine to get down the hill but walking is more of a struggle…
* my fault, not paying attention but also the lift operator wasn’t paying attention either…
toby1 - Yes it's been great.
Interesting, challenging conditions for me even as an experienced intermediate skier. The sun has shone and the views are fabulous, food great and the French seem to be very friendly this year.
At the moment we're only skiing after lunch as it's too hard packed before then.
If you have the funds and time just do a few weeks, you won't regret it. We went self catering in a small apartment and drove. Time isn't on my side age wise and along with all of us on this thread we missed too much time in a resort.
Don't want to go home now :0)
Cervinia on Saturday with a nice 50cm forecast between now and then according to Snow Forecast, plus more forecast over the 10 days I'm there😎
We had a great week in Flaine again. Typical spring conditions of rock hard mornings, softer for a couple of hours then heavy going by 2. Forecast for 40cm of snow this week when we've come back which is what happened after our January trip.
No powder days this year but it was so good to be back in the mountains.
The bad news for bunnyhop and nbt - you won't be happy with a week of skiing again after your road trip this year....
Cervinia for us as well, on Sunday for a week. Get there early so hope for a half days ski.
sproolet - You are correct, so lovely having more time to ski and choose when to ski, especially certain parts of the were so rubbish.
Good news for all Easter skiers, the new dump will help with the poor pistes, you should have good conditions from now on :0)
Skiing on orange snow was certainly interesting (Sahara sand).
Setting off to Samoens tomorrow after work, wasn't really feeling it and was thining of maybe going to the Canaries for some sun instead. Decided we'd still rather be in the mountains even if the snow is crap. The new snow coming over the next few days makes me very happy. Was even thinking of dusting my powder board off but don't think it's going to be quite that good.
Can't wait now, nice chill week of messing about in the snow with the kids. I won't be upset if it warms up towards the back of the week though, few days of decent snow followed by a few days of sunning ourselves outside the bars with a bit of snowboarding in between will be good.
but don’t think it’s going to be quite that good
I think you'll find it's that good.
Got back from Cervinia / Zermat at the weekend. The pistes are still in amazing condition. It’s no good for the off piste guys but the actual runs are in great condition. Sure is a bit soft and sloppy at the bottom from lunchtime onwards but otherwise its running really well.
We are leaving Scotland tomorrow evening for trip to the Haute Maurienne. We have first week in Valfrejus, with the pass also allowing us unlimited skiing at La Norma and a day at Aussois, Bonneval and Val Cenis. Our second week is in Val Cenis with my siblings and their families - 11 adults and 11 children from 1-11yo. I am glad we all have separate accommodation.
I think you’ll find it’s that good.
Woop, Woop. Better get the waxing kit out again then! I'm driving down so may as well take it.
Getting excited now!!! Heading to L2A in the motorhome at the weekend for 5 nights, then might try a few days elsewhere (maybe Alpe d'huez)
I've got a real hankering to spend some decent time in the Park....not really ridden freestyle since smashing my knee in 2016!
I've not been to L2A before, not actually been to a 'new' resort since 2017 either. Just need to get my board waxed now.
We are leaving Scotland tomorrow evening for trip to the Haute Maurienne. We have first week in Valfrejus, with the pass also allowing us unlimited skiing at La Norma and a day at Aussois, Bonneval and Val Cenis. Our second week is in Val Cenis with my siblings and their families – 11 adults and 11 children from 1-11yo. I am glad we all have separate accommodation.
Trip report please, pref in real time, that's one of the areas I'm looking at for next year - though we'd probably go in January. Also considering Montgenevre and possibly (but less likely) Serre Chevalier
@Tom-B the L2A Aire isn’t the best, it feels like a bit of an afterthought at the end of town and a bit grubby.
It’s perfectly fine and does the job well enough and the service point works well.
ADH was much nicer when I was there, but the water Point is a couple of minutes drive away. Take ramps for ADH as It’s on a slight slope.
Les Monetier Les Bains at Serre Che was ace, brand new nice clean Aire. Lacking snow though.
Ooh cheers for the info Phil. We're actually staying on the campsite in Venosc as we didn't like the look of the Aire at L2A.
Interesting about Serre Che, I've never been but do fancy it. Maybe next season.
Booked to be in VT from Sunday. Daughter has come down with 'something', currently testing -ve but poorly so we're on a waiting game, tomorrow will be the decider. Utter PITA but these things happen.
Anyone else out for Easter? Great conditions in Tignes so far, a delightful mini dump of fresh on Sat gave us some fresh tracks yesterday. Looks like temps on the up and rather more unsettled weather for the rest of the week.
We've done 4 days in L2A and 2 days in Serre Che. Some of the best ski and snowboard days ever for me. It felt like we had Serre Che to ourselves over the weekend! L2A had a crazy amount of snow whilst we were there. Will sort some pictures when we're home.
Venosc is great isn’t it @Tom-B? Easy access to the ski area but proper little mountain village feel to it, being on a dead end road. I stopped in the hostel/gite there with the Dutch owner, really nice family too.
Wife and Jr at Les Arcs, arrived yesterday and skiing today. Can’t wait to hear how it goes for them, hope good!!
These resorts needed a big dump, as conditions were getting bad when we left a fortnight ago.
Friends in Les Arc said they had fresh snow yesterday, but the rest of this week could be spring conditions.
Yes, Likely to be spring condition’s. 😀
Surprisingly not too busy here in Tignes, mostly brits.
In Les Gets at present. Yesterday was the last day of the season but we’d planned on going up to Avoriaz anyway.
Last couple of lifts of the season in LG yesterday afternoon were fun, with fairly empty slopes and spring snow holding up well.
Avoriaz was spectacularly good yesterday morning, but variable today. Even Avoriaz got into the teens centigrade today.
Spectacular spring skiing weather though. And no real queues.
Sorry, just saw the request for an update. We are in Val Cenis now, having stayed for the previous week at Valfrejus. While at Valfrejus we had everything from perfect bluebird days, to fully hostile windy snowy "Scottish" conditions. We skied at Valfrejus 2 days, La Norma 3 dausand Bonneval Sur Arc for 1 day. Fresh snow up high has pushed the Avy risk to 4. Unfortunately I have taken something in my left knee trying to ski some nasty breakable crust. A stupid decision, but I have to limp with it. I am able to ski with theratape and anti inflammatory gel. I am taking it easy.
Overall the pistes are in amazing shape for this time of year. Above 1800m is excellent. Below that is being nurtured. Solid first thing, very very soft late on. Some of the lower link runs are very tenuous.
Frustratingly Val Cenis have closed 2/3 of the ski area. Not due to lack of snow, probably as this is the last week of the season and lower demand. When I reflect that the liftpass for an adult FOR THE WEEK cost 64€, I can't complain, as for that price you also get a day at each of Valfrejus, La Norma, Bonneval, and Aussois, although Aussois (South facing) looks very thin.
Our week in Valfrejus cost £534 for apartment and liftpass (same deal as above) for 4 people. Insanely good value. We even had a pool and a sauna!
Venosc is great isn’t it @Tom-B? Easy access to the ski area but proper little mountain village feel to it, being on a dead end road. I stopped in the hostel/gite there with the Dutch owner, really nice family too.
Yeah we really liked it there. Had some mega snow too! However, we moved on from there via a fairly heart rate raising drive in snow conditions over the Col du Lautaret, and did 2 days in Serre Chevalier staying at the free motorhome Aire at Chantemerle....quite possibly my new favourite place in the world! We did 2 days there and it felt like we'd got the resort to ourselves 90% of the time!!! Slushy from lunchtime onwards (I actually enjoy it on a snowboard tbh) but hard to argue when there's 0 queues and mega snow above 2000m all day.
Serre che is a bit of an odd one. Everyone has heard of it but not that many go? It’s a tricky one to get to from some parts of the uk due to Turin flights but speaking to a mate who had a bar there it’s never really taken off. Club Ned investment may change that so if you have had quiet pistes there you may not next time! I love it there!
Our ski club has already identified a trip for next year.
Price seems significantly higher (£200) than what we paid this year.
The guy who is booking it is saying availability for next year is limited.
Of course could be the fact he is looking at booking 20 plus rooms!
@TroutWrestler, thanks for the update. It would be good to know how you think the various areas compare, which offers the most interesting skiing, what would be the best place to use as a base and so on. We're looking at the area for a two week trip next season, an we'd probalby travel down by train since it's pretty easy to get to Modane, so we wouldn't necessarily have a car available. That shouldn't matter IF the inter-village shuttles are useful - have you had occasion to use them? Can you comment? We'd probably base ourselves in one location for the two weeks and mostly ski there, then perhaps take day trips out to the others - which naturally points to Val Cenis as the logical base, since it's in the middle of the valley. Do you think Lanslebourg or Lanslevilard would be better? We're probalby going to use a hotel rather than two studio apartments (it's really difficult to find fully en-suite apartments in france - we want one bathroom (ont toilet!) per bedroom)
Val Cenis is the largest resort. In good snow conditions the entire strip from Lanslebourg to Lanselvillard is ski-in ski-out.
I haven't used the shuttle buses, but they exist and are running. All the details are on the HMV website. The bus from La Norma to Valfrejus runs back and forth constantly, and links in to the other resorts. It might not be possible le to go from every resort to every other resort every day.
I would love to come by train. It took is 21 hours of driving from Scotland.
I would love to come by train. It took is 21 hours of driving from Scotland.
That would be 3 days travel for us. It took us 2 days each way from Manchester to the Tarentaise (similar distance to Maurienne)
Train is doable, but can get expensive and it's only bookable about 3 to 4 months in advance.
Paris - Modane is only about 4 hours, so it's entirely feasible that we could do Manchester - London - Paris - Modane in one day.
Based on random dates of Sat 4th June - Sunday 19th June
06:03 Stockport - London 08:09 (could make it a later train based o 10:22 Eurostar)
10:22 St Pancras - Paris Gare du Nord 13:47
14:43 Paris Gare de Lyon - Modane 18:46
Return timings:
09:15 Modane - Paris Gare de Lyon 13:13
15:03 Paris Gare du Nord - London St Pancras 16:37
17:37 London Euston - Stockport 19:38
From Scotland, you may not reach King's Cross / St Pancras in time to get the 10:22 Eurostar, but that would just mean a train down the night before and an overnight stop.
On another note, what's the skiing like in the different resorts? We have just been to Ste Foy Tarentaisem, and had a day in La Plagne, Tignes Val d'Isere and Les Arcs. It was noticeable that in the larger resorts (Les Arcs and the Arc 2000 bowl especially) that rather than actively skiing, you were just pointing skis and sliding along. It just wasn't as enjoyable.
Tignes has some pistes that will have you very actively skiing, Leisse down from the funiculaire arrival for example. The face de Belvarde should leave you with legs full of lactic acid. In La Plagne et les Arcs it's the easily reached off-piste where the challenging skiing is to be found.
Difficult to assess these resorts in just one day!
Back late last night from 10 days in the Aosta valley.
6 days in our usual destination of Cervinia with one day over in Zermatt. Cervinia was great as always. Zermatt was pretty icy though we found some great spots. Couple of decent snowfalls over the 6 days freshened things up nicely.
Did a day in Pila, which I usually like, but was exceptionally icy when we rode.
We spent the last 3 days in La Thuile with a ride over to La Rosiere on day 2. First time visiting either resort. La Thuile is absolutely fantastic. Lovely wide open pistes and it was virtually deserted. La Rosiere seemed like a nice place but the slopes were sheet ice when we visited. The winds were brutal which had whipped off all the recent snow fall. Special mention to the drag lifts you have to use to get back to La Thuile. Even with 30+ years of snowboarding experience, that was one of the most traumatic experiences on a board. A massively rutted track which was also full of massive icy drifts that were doing their best to knock us off our boards. I can imagine many a beginner or intermediate rider will have struggled to get up these lifts and had to walk up!
Result, we have negotiated an extra day in the apartment in Tignes 1800. Ski Saturday (hopefully quiet due to changeover) leave Sunday morning to drive back. Fingers crossed for lighter and truck free traffic and an extra day skiing! We did consider skiing Sat then leaving apres ski but thought it more relaxing to stay here rather than finding a place 3 or 4 hours from here.