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Our first day out and the only thing to do was to drive over to Flaine (we're in Samoens).
The pistes were quiet as it was mostly raining at the bottom, but with some fresh snow near the top. Limited piste skiing but we enjoyed what we skied.
Got a bit bumpy in the middle and brown with bare patches and stones near the village. Lots of people walking down carrying skis as the visibility in places was limited to a few metres and the light very flat.
Snow is forecast, however the temperature definitely needs to drop.
Locals were saying that some closed pistes are dangerous with crevasse holes and big ice patches (I think these were some red and black runs). No temptation to have a go in powder when this is the case.
We can but hope that the rain turns to snow much lower down.
There are some nasty holes off piste in Flaine. Dangerous with or without lots of snow.
In La Plagne at the moment and the conditions are remarkably good. There’s thin spots and patches of ice, sure, but they’re easily avoidable and largely in the obvious high traffic areas.
Yesterday we got probably 10cm of snow and it’s been snowing all night too so suspect at least the same again. Last day today though so need to make the most of it.
Lovely moonrise over the Stony Sea last night
Am in montegenevre, it's brilliant. Good base and it was snowing yesterday so quite a bit of nice powder
Mate of mine in Morzine says they had good snow overnight.
Hope it’s better now…
2 weeks to go, lets keep the snow coming please! Although we will be in Tignes so hopefully high enough to not have any major problems.
I'm excited already and watching weather and cams, but still 2 weeks of work to get through, sigh ...
It's been snowing all day with lower temperatures. Light still flat and again poor visibility, however bit sections of lower pistes now have snow.
The snow canons were working too and it looks as though there's enough at the top to start farming again.
If this continues, the next few weeks are going to be grrrreat.
Interestingly the friend I'm with has today, just bought some Nordica rear entry boots. The shop owner said he's almost run out of stock as they are so popular.
RE: Rear entry boots.. Saw a few Mono Skis about in La Tania at NY. More than I have seen in quite a long time. Maybe my old Killy all in one and bum bag will be back in fashion soon?
Back from La Plagne now, had a superb day yesterday with first tracks down towards Champagny and then freshies under Verdon Sud on the reds and blacks. It was snowing hard when we got our pick up back to the airport at 4pm so today should have been just as good. Any concerns about lack of snow above about 1800m should now be largely unfounded.
Actually had a full off piste day today, absolutely knackered.
We were first down a few places we went which meant finding a way through around 2’ of snow in places.
After a Covid hiatus had a short trip to a Backcountry lodge in the Purcells for some ski touring. Whilst we've got more snow than Europe we still don't have as much as normal and the avy is spooky (technical term) so lots of low angle glades were the order of the day which was totally fine by me.
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Tignes and val d isere today after 30 cms or so last night and blue bird weather - paradise.
Any recommendations for a short trip at half term / mid-Feb (3 days skiing). It would need to be closer to one of the major airports, so Geneva, Munich, Milan (others?) to provide more flexibility and cheaper flights. Happy to rent a car if need be but taxis/vans are preferred (there is likely to be five of us). Piste-wise I'm not bothered about a massive area (40-75km fine, will take more), ideally a decent mix of blue-red-black but not massively important.
@sweaman that looks mint!
Turin is okay from some UK airports but sadly for me, only weekend flights from Bristol makes it unhelpful for short trips.
5 people would be cheaper in a hire car I expect.
Geneva then train to Sion is a cheap route to several smaller resorts in Switzerland.
Maybe one of the closest Austrian resorts to Munich, so Soel, Scheffau etc.
Innsbruck also an option?
Good call. Igls is nice.
Assuming the issues with coverage are sorted by then (and signs of some decent snow in the next few weeks), then somewhere like La Clusaz might fit the bill. Also done Grand Bornand which is a really nice little area which would keep you busy for a few days and suspect might not be as busy as other more obvious resorts in half term.
Just looking at a quickie to Zermatt end of Jan with a couple of mates.. spousal acceptance permitting!
It would be different if it was somewhere less significant, we found out she was pregnant in Zermatt. She was skiing like a doughnut and getting upset about it..
Thanks all. La Clusaz / LGB looking promising…
@Scuttler I'm doing 3 days end of half term too. Alpe dhuez, staying near bourg in a cheap Airbnb. It's pretty close to Grenoble airport. Nice high resort, so snow pretty reliable.
We are driving down Thurs/Fri overnight and back Sunday night. The kids might be as little tired and grumpy...
A good list of Audio books sorts ours out for the drive there and back. It’s the flat bit of northern France from Reims to Calais, on the way back that gets tiresome.
Anyone got a link to a get ski fit at home in a month style exercise routine?
I’d be doing squats, lunges, plank, side plank, stretching
Thanks
Actually, lunges often hurt my knees, if you find the same, switch to reverse lunges. I do mine with some 15kg dumbbells, go for reps over big weight.
Had a great day at Glencoe today. Very cold, but excellent snow and the new Rannoch Chairlift has made a massive difference.
Off to Glencoe in the morning. Conditions look fantastic and it should be very quiet!
Fab conditions near Flaine (Morillon). It snowed nearly all day with hardly any wind. No queues and the pistes quite quiet.
The area could still do with a big dump for the lower slopes, but a cracking day out was had by 8 of us.
Anyone got a link to a get ski fit at home in a month style exercise routine?
I do this pre-season to get the legs going.
https://www.backcountry.com/explore/train-eccentric-leg-strength-for-alpine-skiing
Heading to Soll / Skiwelt via Munich. Two dads, three lads, renting a car, staying in Kufstein town, driving in every day, 4 days skiing Mon-Thu. Thanks y’all. 👌
Should arrive in Tignes between 11pm and mid-night tomorrow Saturday/Sunday. I'm more than a bit excited, as usual. I just wish my knee didn't feel so not normal. Just been to see the sports physio, doesn't sound like anything too bad, mainly muscle and a bit of inflammation, sure it'll be fine and I'll just have a limp for amonth after.
Roll on that first run, woo!
At last, perfect conditions in the Pyrenees, a glorious day out.
Perfect conditions in Flaine.
All the pistes are being made ready for the weekend.
Have fun everyone.
We used sunweb this year and paid for their transfer. 2 hours stood in GVA waiting for the shitty company to stop making excuses and sort themselves out, eventually they just gave us a cab, don't think the driver had ever driven up this way before, he was nervous and then wanted to video bits of the drive even though it was pitch dark and 1am.
Would not recommend.
Ski-lifts.com were the company, well worth never using them in case anyone planned to. I keep saying it, but I really need to drive to see how it is as I'm fed up of crappy airport experiences!
A wait of several hours to leave Chambery airport was what it took for us to decide that Driving was generally nicer than a charter and transfer. Sat waiting and thinking that we could have been half way back if we had driven. Oh and eldest of the kids blew chunks on the coach down too! At least if you are in the car you can sort yourselves out.
The snow was delivered to Tignes overnight, lead to a lovely day today with mixed cloud and then plenty of sunny weather. My legs are shattered from just messing about, sometimes you don't need to go to the outer reaches of the map, or do the most extreme runs to just have a great day.
Trip #2 booked now, we got season passes for the Grand Massif so we're heading back out there. Was originally planning to get a place in Flaine but we've ended up booking a place in Morillon. This will also make it easier for us to visit Morzine for a day out - season pass gives us a day there and we have friends in that area so will be nice to get over when we have
a) some snow
and
b) a car to get there (we're driving this time, we got the train for trip #1)
Ortovox are doing a free Avalanche safety booklet if you sign up to their mailing list.
Seems pretty decent.
I’ve just downloaded my copy here, not sure if the link will work without signing up?
Yes it does. Ta, bit of bedtime reading.
Looking for short transfer alternatives to Morzine/Les Gets (since it seems the whole town is booked up at the beginning of March when we can get away for a long weekend).
Looking at Isola - anybody been?
Also, Heidi.com seems to have some good value deals - anybody used them before and had positive experience? Trust pilot is overwhelmingly positive for them, but not heard of them before this year so not sure
If you’ve got flights @jimdubleyou booked to Geneva then Isola isn’t a realistic option. I’d be looking at somewhere like Flaine, Grand Bornand, La Clusaz or Saint Gervais. SG has the option of also doing a day at Les Contamines which is a great little area and generally gets overlooked for bigger resorts nearby.
Not booked flights yet, so could go via Nice.
Turin for Gressoney in the Aosta..? Rent a car and stay at the hotel Dufour, which I've done before.
Chairlift right by the hotel and easy access into the centre of a broad network, the Monte Rosa region.
Sauze/Sestriere would also be an easy drive up from Turin.
Seconded, great skiingin Monterosa and the dufour is a LOVELY hotel
Lift passes and espressos are a lot cheaper on the southern side of the Alps and Italian lunches... Well.
There's a good mix of terrain; a visit down to Alagna is an experience in itself, such a bonny wee mountain village. Champoluc is a bit more sophisticated and is busier, more of a ski town. The skiing itself is both moderate and also as hairy as you want; some of the best backcountry access in the Alps with a couple of overnighting huts within easy reach. I wouldn't go there every year, far from it but it is a special place.
Went to Isola 2000 over New year for a couple of nights. Drove up from Nice, not the prettiest resort but it actually served us well for a snowboard introduction for our 9yr old twins. Got an appt for Eu100 per night overlooking the slopes/beginners area. Snow was good but we obv didn't venture far at all with two complete novices in tow. I did a lot of running up and down the slopes those first two days with them. When they had finally cracked the beginner drag lift on the second afternoon, mum and me could finally get on our boards too.
It was our first time back on boards since the kids were born.
Logistical nightmare getting everyone ready to go out on the slopes each time but we have already booked the appt to do the same next New Year, so it must have gone alright
We're off to Sansicario (Sauze d'Oux) soon. Flights to Turin and car hire to Air BnB.
Anyone familiar with Sansicario? I know it's small, but part of 'Milky Way'. Any tips appreciated, as fairly new to all this.
Hautecam isn't the kind of ski resort you'd travel across a continent to ski at - even if people travel from all over the world just to ride the road up to it. There's a 10km X-C loop and few button lifts to access a few kms of very pleasant pistes. It's like a trip back to the early 80s. It's at only 1600m, has no tree cover and is very exposed to sun and wind. Climatic change will close it before long.
All that said when there's fresh cold snow it's great. It snowed a few days ago, has been cold since and the weather today was anounced calm, cold and sunny - the day to go, 1°C when we parked up. The legs felt fine, the heart and lungs seemed to be working, and the ski waxing was spot on:
@boxelder
We've been to Sansicario but it was about 18 years ago. At the time it had 1 hotel, 1 restaurant and 1 bar. We had booked for Sestiere but got bumped to Sansicario due to overbooking 3 days before we were due to leave.
I think we saw 1 piste marker all week but I do remember some lovely treelined skiing.
I am sure the place has improved since we were there but it was no sestiere and that made for a bunch of grumpy ski holidaymakers
Thanks for the heads up. We were heading to Saulze D'oux, but then Mrs B saw accomm on Air BnB she fancied (no WiFi and three teens for a week.....). We'll have a car and the lift pass covers the whole Milky Way area - Sauce, Sestrierre, Mt Genevre etc, so I think things have moved on. Not bothered about apes ski especially.
Wait, you have 3 teens and DON'T want WiFi?!?!?
Well we’re coming to the end of a week in Cervinia, last day tomorrow.
It’s been mega windy and a lot of the lifts shut. Only one day we could get over to Zermatt in the afternoon, some days only 3 lifts open.
Went to Pila yesterday which was a nice change and actually managed to get some decent boarding in and getting a taxi to Valtournenche tomorrow in the hope that it’s a better over there.
Overall a great week with friends but the boarding / skiing has been very disappointing.
.
Anyone know anywhere other than ebay good for buying 2nd hand snowboard stuff?
What do you want? Someone on here is bound to have something.
I'm gonna buy a set of Flow bindings* but want to see whats going second hand. Got to be fairly new and not bottom of the range. Basically I want some of the new Nidecker ones, but they're not in stock anywhere and they cost a bloody fortune, so might buy a set of 2nd hand flows for now and get some Nidecker ones later....
*I'm sick of sitting down to strap up all the time. Actually I generally don't sit down and do them up standing, but i'm feeling very old and stiff and want to make it easier for myself nowadays!!.....
I’m flipping between Now and Flow at the moment. Neither for sale at the moment.
I prefer the Flow until you get damp snow which packs in them really easily. Yes you can strap in and out, but the Now does that better.
But most of the time the Flow is better speed off the lift and more comfortable.
Just remember to flip the back up as you go through the lift pass gate getting on.
yeah, think I'm ready to go down the rear entry route (😨🙄) nowadays. The last couple of seasons have shown me I'm not getting any younger, so I need something to change, fitness mostly, but just less faffing as well....
I know they or flows won't be perfect, but those Nidecker ones could be a game changer for me. Just need them in stock.
Cheers nbt, think those ones have sold now though. I'll keep my eye on there though.
Busy, busy, busy. All the zones on holiday together makes this the busiest week of the year. Juniors feet are spending over 60 hours a week in boots so we went shopping for some new ones. Failed to find any comfy boarding boots but picked up some Tecnica Cochise light free rando boots for instructing lower levels. They're GripWalk so I've been through our skis to check compatibility with alpine bindings.
The good news: compatible with Marker F10, Marker Esquire and some old Look.
Bad news: totally incompatible with all our Head and Atomic race ski bindings. The boot soles completely miss the slide plates and stick like glue on the imobile part of the binding - imposible to knock the boot out of the binding which I can normally do easily up to Din 11.
Looks like ski manufacturers have discovered how to make money out of changing standards like mtb manufacturers. Up until now the alpine standard hadn't changed since the 60s. My current Head Raptor boots work perfectly in the 1966 Look bindings on Rossignol Médaille de Bronze skis with screwed on edges.
Was just thinking this thread was a bit quiet and up it pops. Not a vintage season at home or elsewhere seemingly 🙁 Mid term holidays, most of Europe is off - someone must be enjoying the snow somewhere while the rest of us slave at work? Anyone got any up to date pictures/reports?
Western Pyrénées: It's dark outside so all I can see are the Pisten Bully hedlights. Today snow on piste was well-worn, much reworked but perfectly skiable, and off-piste it was lumpy bumpy moguls within easy reach of lifts and crusty refrozen transformed yuk beyond.
Old snow with no more forecast.
Just starting our second season jaunt to Cervinia. Blue skies and reasonable on piste conditions, but thin in places and warmer than feels comfortable. Quelle surprise and the irony isn’t lost either 😕
I’m in Megeve / St Gervais this week so quite low. It’s really warm. 12 degrees at 1500m today.
Blue bird sunshine so my girls are enjoying that but the snow is pretty ropey. Lots of south facing pistes are brown snow or grass / shut. It’s super slushy by after lunch. Feels like bitter end of season snow.
Lift company must be tressed about the rest of the season!
Pics here……
I'm off to Austria for 9 days tomorrow. Looks like it will be warmer in St Anton than it will be back in West Wales.
Alpe D Huez for a week on sunday.
Locals resorts in Massif central are busy but snow is melting fast.
Skiwelt running well! Pretty hard in the morning and south facing getting battered in the afternoon but considering the low elevation it seems to be holding up very well. Very rare brown patches and all the valley runs are open.
Bright blue skies and lift thermometers showing 8-10C midday so it is warm and you can ski in a jumper out of the shade. Probably not boding well for the rest of the season though.
Had my second trip of the season last week. Family trip to LaTania at NY and Zermatt last week with a few mates. Pistes were great, off piste was thin and old. I’m sure with a guide, good off piste could have been found. It was a short trip with a few piste skiers so that wasn’t on the cards. Zermatt is a lovely place to ski. Great modern lift system, big mountains, big lifts, long runs. We had great weather, and it was still cold. Next trip Easter, La Plagne. I May need to hide a bike in the car if there isn’t more snow!
Got back from Val d’Isere on Sunday. No fresh snow in the last 3 weeks, pistes are hard and icy in many places in Val, Tignes was a little better. We had a pretty good week, bluebird skies everyday, but with no snow snow forecast for next 2 weeks, it’s going to be sketchy for those going anytime soon.
@cchris2lou
If you need/want a lesson in Alpe D'Huez then I would recommend an English guy who works for ESF called Cookie.
He is one of the best (top 3) instructors I have ever had ! We had a private lesson with him, 3 people with very different abilities and all of us had a great lesson, had individual things to work on and he was superb at spotting things to improve.
I cannot recommend him enough !
I’m sure with a guide, good off piste could have been found
Off piste in many places is treacherous at the moment, there've been a few fatal falls due to the recent weather - including the director of Aiguille Du Midi cable car at Chamonix, a person who you would expect to have better knowldege of the ski conditions
https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=163608
It really is ridiculously warm and slushy…….
Holds a fair edge though….
I love spring snow…… In spring!
Thanks Sproolet, Wife and Kids might need lessons.
Bloodyhell creepers. I assumed that second photo was someone lying down after a fall!
Impressive riding
Third year in a row that we've not done our family Feb half term holiday. Wean has his prelims next week 🙁
I was thinking of trying for an easter trip but it looks so dire everywhere that I reckon there'll be sod all left by then. I'm sure some places will be closing early.
Have looked into Riks, but the flights are £450 each and the fly/ train option takes almost 2 days
Hmphhh
Austria has snow forecast for the last week of February
At what altitude? Looking at forecast temperatures it's going to be rain all this weekend up to about 2500 and a few snow showers that won't change a lot on 26/2. Pretty much the same in the French Alps.