Poster: A snowHead
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Off to Arc 1800 on Friday, assuming the diesel doesn't freeze before we get there and we don't freeze to death am looking for some recommendations for good snowboarding runs.
We mostly like to cruise nice wide blue runs, hate flats and not too keen on loads of moguls. Easy reds are OK so long as not nothing but moguls... Absolute pet hate are those really narrow shallow runs, easy peasy on skis I'm sure but torture on a board.
Anyway all tips on where to go / avoid gratefully received
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Enjoy Les Arcs then....
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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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Enjoy Les Arcs then....
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Oh no really??
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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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K Lance track should suite, not flat.
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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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Hey I'm off to Arc 1800 next month, maybe you can let me know what the runs are like when you get back
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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vickitav, Take skis
We are off to 1800 on Friday too, first time up there. Can't wait
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vickitav, Go to the derby lift and do laps of the blue renard and belette, when you get bored of that then try coqs and myrtilles down to vallandry. Renard and beletter are also good in low vis and also for some 'easy peasy' side piste stuff. To get back to 1800 then turn left of the derby and take the red reches and then hammer down to under the font de neige. This is not the most obvious run back and has a couple of steeper pitches/can get icy but avoids the flat section with a tricky right turn on the more obvious rhodos and maitaz back to 1800.
If a fluffy day I could spend all day doing laps of golf from the vagere chair out of 1800. a number of the other reds of this chair should be good too. If you really don't like flats then the mid-point of the 2000 bowl (below arcablue lift heading for marmottes) is pretty flat indeed..and can be an unstrap for lots of people. Either route to the grand col section will probably leave you polling too.
Still there's some good options for practising getting over flats - bottom section of vallee de l'arc is a good one - I found that I got better on them by (a) bending lower (b) being sure to ride an edge (until I was happy going flat) and going more balls out worked for me..
Enjoy the trip
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Can I add to bertie bassett's, excellent suggestions Cascades towards Pre st Espriit and Mount Blanc in 1600 as other runs very suitable for non advanced borders.
When I get bored sitting on lifts I try and survey the numbers of borders and skiers and notice that the number of boarders in Les Arcs is dropping. Over the last two years it has fallen from about to 8% to 5% of the population. Is it because Les Arcs is just not a very good resort for boarders or is there a general fall off in boarding generally? I accept that my samples are not taken over boarder friendly pistes (Grand Col , Cachette, Combourciere etc) so they may not reflect the actual number of boarders in the resort but the change is noticeable. Similalrly, though I haven't surveyed the ages of the boarders in general they appear older than the skiers, why is this?
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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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bertie bassett,
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Go to the derby lift and do laps of the blue renard and belette
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+1
Those two runs are excellent whether on board or skis. I managed to break the 50mph barrier on Belette. Lots of nice lumpy bits at the sides to play in too. I think we lapped them about 10 times a day
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johnE, I agree, very few boarders last weekend, maybe it was the cold. There did seem a lot of flat bits connecting lifts, bad enough on skis, horrible on a board. This was at 2000/1950 , seemed better at 1600.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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vickitav, Lot of cat-tracks around the place, but theres plenty of alternatives too. If you get over to La Plagne, try and get to the area beneth Colorado chair, between the Luge run and the Pollux/Arnica runs - great little canyon run, almost like a natural half-pipe. We wandered over there by chance, to find out what a mauve piste was (we thought it was a mid-point between a blue and a red - nope, sponsored by Milka, why knew). Have a look at the boardercross run at the top of Grizzly too, over on the Vallandry side.
Like sbirring says, find yourself a nice section and session it, rather than taking the whole touring view. We did the whole 'Aiguille Rouge to Villaroger' just to say we did it, IMO its not all that, reminded me of things like the ski-out at sunshine, you do it but it's not the best riding in the world.
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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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johnE, blahblahblah, Seemed to be plenty of riders about a few weeks ago - and a noticable increase on that when the snow moved in, particularly taking the non-piste lines under chairs and the like.
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Really nice crusing blue from the top to the bottom of the Plan Bois chair towards Vallandry. The reds down to Vallandry are lovely on a board.
Re. riding narrow flat sections - stop avoiding them, force yourself to spend some time just doing narrow cat track greens for an hour or two, and you will get the hang of it to the point that you don't even worry or think about it and you will train the muscles that get tense on those flat bits. There's one that snakes down to Vallandry. It keeps criss-crossing the reds, so if you have really had enough you can dive off down the red.
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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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Brilliant advice many thanks I will print out and take with me to examine with the piste map.
I have neve skied but am very jealous of you when I get stuck on a flat, or worse don't quite make it to the top of an incline and have to unstap for the last 10 feet before it heads off downhill again. Occaisonally a lovely skiier offers me a tow which is much appreciated!
In the right conditions it's fantastic fun, though, and we're quite happy to find a few favourite runs to do over while working on our technique. I'm sure youngest son & husband will be throwing theselves off the jumps in the park too - I'll be official photographer for that I think
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Poster: A snowHead
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Oh and Gazza will give the narrow ones another go, the kids love them but I find them really scary and almost always seem to end up face down at some point. Practice makes perfect I suppose....
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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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Bowl above Arc 2000 has loads of nice cruising runs, can avoid the flat with care! Go and have a go on the Boarder Cross course - it's pretty straightforward and fun
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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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vickitav, I, and group of my friends snowboard in Les Arcs every year - this is our 12th year returning there. We really like it! - bertiebasset has already pointed out some great runs, which I agree with - Bellette is also a particular favourite fast red.
Don't worry about flats.... IMO they are generally avoidable and struggle to think of any necessary evils that can't be avoided, and you can still get nicely around the resort.
Don't do Le Foret (over in Peisey/Vallandry) it's obvious from the piste map that it's a cat track thou, I think. And, as already stated, avoid the middle of the 2000 bowl where it flattens off at the bottom of the Arcabulle chair. This, however, has been improved in recent years (they've put in a rope tow for the lazy skiers to get through the flat section - ) but more importantly the Plagnettes chair starts higher up and you can ride to that and get back up the hill rather than hitting the flat. Top of the Arpette chair 'may' be a little flat - but it's a slow scoot for 100yds or so from the top of the chair before you gather some speed - don't think this should really cause a problem.
Snowpark / boarder cross are all great. Airbag - superfun!
Moguls.... not too much of a problem. Clair Blanc ('red') is horrible and often left mogully. As is the 'skiers' left side of the Cachette down to 1600 - but then the right side tends to get mogully too. Blacks of course, tend to get mogulled. But for flattering black - give the Ecuriels a go over in Peisey.... it's more red than black, tends to be less skied out and hence no moguls - really good fun on a board.
Have a great time... I'm over for our annual trip on the 22nd and looking forward to some great conditions!
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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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Oh, and you might wish to avoid top of Arandelieres from the top of the Varet bubble - it's a narrow track for a few 100m before you drop onto a decent bit of piste.
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