 Poster: A snowHead
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@RickBoden, might be worth dropping the hotel an email about parking and charges. It was always free up there, but it may have changed.
Le Repere is the closest pizza place, it was decent last time we ate there in summer a couple of years ago.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Just a quick one to say we had an amazing week, and thanks for the inputs on travel. Apart from the crazy traffic along 1091 it was all good, if we attempt again might time our departures slightly differently, but get the feeling it is pretty awful all day on those Saturdays...
Interesting comment on ski school sizes - we used Ski Experience for the kids based in Chantemerle, and they kept the class sizes pretty sensible at around 8 per instructor, with some flex as they progressed also. We also got the &Joy after Day 1 and it was a godsend for actually getting anywhere. Did feel a bit like a more money than sense type though
Best conditions I have experienced in years, couldn't quite believe the level of snow that fell. Also made me realise I'd forgotten how to properly ski after years on ice / hard packed man made snow...
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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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| Hells Bells wrote: |
@RickBoden, might be worth dropping the hotel an email about parking and charges. It was always free up there, but it may have changed.
Le Repere is the closest pizza place, it was decent last time we ate there in summer a couple of years ago. |
Cheers. The hotel want €225 for me to park outside for 2 weeks. That’s more than heated underground parking at most places I go. I’d rather not give them the pleasure if there is an alternative nearby.
We will be in town for two weeks, so looking forward to trying all sorts of different restaurant options 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@RickBoden, FFS, that's expensive ! Even Oxalys in Val Thorens isn't that much and that is underground.
We'll be in SC in Monetier for those 2 weeks. It does quieten down after the French holidays are over, so I expect there should be free parking spaces. There's a decent sized car park at Pre-Long opposite the Pierre et Vacances apartments, which was free last time we used it last summer. Not too far to walk back to the hotel.
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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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| Hells Bells wrote: |
@RickBoden, FFS, that's expensive ! Even Oxalys in Val Thorens isn't that much and that is underground.
We'll be in SC in Monetier for those 2 weeks. It does quieten down after the French holidays are over, so I expect there should be free parking spaces. There's a decent sized car park at Pre-Long opposite the Pierre et Vacances apartments, which was free last time we used it last summer. Not too far to walk back to the hotel. |
I know re Oxalys. I’m parking there for the EOSB. Same with Le Taos in Tignes. Cheaper and underground.
Maybe we meet for a ski or a beer the first week then (we’re guiding the second week). We can always chat about Framwellgate Moor.
Only 10 days until we head off. I’m getting very excited now.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Jeeees over Chalet Serre Blanc snow is like 14:00 late March
And temp sensor in the sun on our terrace reached 21.6° at 14:30 !!
Maybe road bike tomorrow ?!
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It was bloody warm up the hill today that’s for sure. I spotted my first mamil heading from Briancon to Monty up the col today……
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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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| RickBoden wrote: |
| Hells Bells wrote: |
@RickBoden, FFS, that's expensive ! Even Oxalys in Val Thorens isn't that much and that is underground.
We'll be in SC in Monetier for those 2 weeks. It does quieten down after the French holidays are over, so I expect there should be free parking spaces. There's a decent sized car park at Pre-Long opposite the Pierre et Vacances apartments, which was free last time we used it last summer. Not too far to walk back to the hotel. |
I know re Oxalys. I’m parking there for the EOSB. Same with Le Taos in Tignes. Cheaper and underground.
Maybe we meet for a ski or a beer the first week then (we’re guiding the second week). We can always chat about Framwellgate Moor.
Only 10 days until we head off. I’m getting very excited now. |
Definitely, just drop me a PM, neither of us are doing SoPi this year. I am guessing it is you who have nabbed Gavin C for your second week ?
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So tour of the car parks tonight for @RickBoden, 
The locals car park next to the Aigle has the barrier broken, and surprisingly a few spare places.
The car park next to the cemetery had quite a few places when we walked past at 18:45 but on closer examination the sign said Interdit 20:00 - 08:00 !
Ore de Bois was lovely but we dropped €200 for 3 but it is Haute Cuisine and impeccable, but many will still prefer a pizza/cheese fondue.
Skied a fair bit today as daughters birthday, over to Chalet Serre Blanc for early coffee & muffins at 10:45 before the hordes, and there is also a tad pricey.
Then skied back and more refreshments at the Bivouac and arrived there at 12:20 and managed to get a table by 13:00 all gone.
Then skied down on empty lunchtime pistes.
Then spent the afternoon getting all our docs printed and passport photos taken for our Carte Séjour renewal RV at Gap Thursday am, and that's a giant feck-fest!
Weather wise one Jack Russell had to be extracted from the rotten snow below the terrace just about sums things up, that said walk back tonight very slippery on the black ice but temps not low enough overnight for the all important freeze melt cycle.
It's almost that there's too much snow to freeze to get that all imported frozen hard layer that will hold your weight rather than sinking straight through it, a la rotten snow.
But pistes are lovely, and it's piste Spring skiing strategy now!
Don't think I'll be on the road bike tomorrow as all my various batteries will not be charged, school boy error!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Hells Bells wrote: |
| RickBoden wrote: |
| Hells Bells wrote: |
@RickBoden, FFS, that's expensive ! Even Oxalys in Val Thorens isn't that much and that is underground.
We'll be in SC in Monetier for those 2 weeks. It does quieten down after the French holidays are over, so I expect there should be free parking spaces. There's a decent sized car park at Pre-Long opposite the Pierre et Vacances apartments, which was free last time we used it last summer. Not too far to walk back to the hotel. |
I know re Oxalys. I’m parking there for the EOSB. Same with Le Taos in Tignes. Cheaper and underground.
Maybe we meet for a ski or a beer the first week then (we’re guiding the second week). We can always chat about Framwellgate Moor.
Only 10 days until we head off. I’m getting very excited now. |
Definitely, just drop me a PM, neither of us are doing SoPi this year. I am guessing it is you who have nabbed Gavin C for your second week ? |
Yes. That’s us with Gavin. I loved the Off Piste bash last year but not the hotel. Particularly the fact that it had no soft furnishings on any of the walls so we struggled desperately to hear anything from returning from skiing to the end of dinner. Spoke to Gav about it at the EOSB and we hatched a plan to go guiding the following week instead. I hope the snow and safety gods favour us then.
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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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@RickBoden, if you're here for a couple of weeks, then there are a few others if you're willing to chance the valley buses in the evening, not too sure I've posted this before, but this is a real-time bus viewer, but is a tad glitchy.
Works better on a desktop than a mobile, so at least you can see where the bus is before you leave the house!
https://monaltigo.monbus.mobi/2clock/livemap?n=1
As for today was another warm one and I opted to take the road bike out up to the Lautaret, if only to take a look at the snow etc
On the way up a mate of mine was bizarrely just crossing the road at Pont de l'Alpe having walked up from Le Casset so he took this picture.
So don't mind being a MAMIL better than what I actually am which is an OGIL*
You can see videos of what the snow was like at the Lautaret here
https://www.strava.com/activities/17517644813
Had a chat on the way up with a couple of Brit ski-tourers who had just come down from the Refuge Galibier on good spring snow, but on the whole considering how busy it is there is not a lot of activity going on up there for obvious reasons, the Galibier side looks a better option than some of the other sectors I think.
Once back down headed to Heidis next to the Grotte as OH had walked there with the dogs and bumped into Ben Birt who wryly smiled when he saw me, had a good nag about snow, and if we'll ever see anymore cold snow, or if that's it, and the potential ironies of ironies in that we have all this snow and it might just stay too warm to do anything interesting off-piste, at least at low to mid altitudes.
Off to GAP tomorrow early for our Carte Sejour first RV so fingers crossed we have everything required, the photo shop next to the old Aldi/Lidl was fantastic in doing everything that we needed, from passport photos through to printing our various docs and scanning/copying our marriage certificate which is an unusual size.
*old git in lycra
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You know it makes sense.
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Heading out to SV through Turin AIrport Saturday 28th - anyone have recent experience of the EES delays there and is Fastrack worth it? cheers
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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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Heading out in two weeks and have been watching by the weather, excitedly until this week. What a turnaround.
What are the conditions likely to be like in two weeks if the spring like conditions continue?
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Poster: A snowHead
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@kinger123, if you're skiing the piste then I'd say don't worry, if you're after lift-served off-piste then that will be an issue if we don't see any more snow, that said now a few forecast sites do have something showing 6th - 8th March, but as ever that's too far off to be sure, it's when all the sites show something that you can be sure 
@w4hammer, daughter came in through Turin last Thursday and wait time was not too bad, but she was one of the first off the plane!
Today we were down in Gap, so not up the hill in any variation, but we took the dogs out mid-afternoon, and I was walking in shorts & T and defo the warmest day so far.
I am hoping to take a look at a tour up from the Lautaret tomorrow if the temps are below zero tomorrow morning.
However, a mate sent me a photo he took from the Peyra Juana of a massive big wet slide and I'm 99% sure it's right where I was touring on Monday on the South side above Freyssinet, I don't as yet know what time of day it occured, but that is of a real concern as I'd classed that as a safe terrain when I was up there, just goes to show what two further days of warmer weather has done !!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@w4hammer, daughter came in through Turin last Thursday and wait time was not too bad, but she was one of the first off the plane! - thanks very much weathercaM
!
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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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Another day and another Col though this time by ski-touring up to it
I actually have not been up there on skis for a long time, and felt that given the precarious nature of the snowpack, this would be more of a sensible option, and twas Ullr's first time up there!
Temps first thing on our terrace were the lowest (-2,5) that they've been all week which bode well for the sortie.
Now the Cafe by the tunnel entrance is open as a refuge, there are far more people going up in that sector, and we were lucky to get a good parking spot that let us ski all the way back down to the van.
I took a mate who is relatively new to ski touring but he's strong and was able to cope with the demanding traverses that we encountered, using ski-crampons on the final approach to the Col, as the snow was still very hard in places.
We were also crossing paths with a group of much younger Danes with their guide and they were all over the place on the final approach as they had left it to late to put their crampons on and a few did not have them, and it was a bit of a, if you fell you'd slide down a long way!
And as all good guides do, he was using his ice axe to cut out an easier traverse line as some of them had very wide skis
By the time we'd had a rest and done the photos the snow was perfect for the descent, though not super smooth in the top section as the wind had created nigh on vertical ripples in the snow, which had been accentuated by the freeze-melt of the past week, but no complaints and then the lower half was spring snow carpet, untracked all the way.
Then once down was up to Fred's for some much-needed refreshments.
Twas pretty damn parfait, with views of the big peaks all around, from Mont Blanc to Mont Viso 
And not too difficult a question for the cyclists, but what is that framed in the middle of the sign below?
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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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Today was a total antithesis of yesterday.
Piste skiing, coffee on the mountain and then lunch 
As it was a high season Saturday, it was relatively quiet, first thing, even more so as Club Med don't have their lessons, so they do a relaxing start to the day.
So no queues for the drags once you come out of Pointless, so some nice blasts up and down the meadows, then coffee at the L'Alpage followed by a sublime descent down Le Bez that was empty and still corduroy in places even at 10:45, and I commented that the Spring snow was as good as the snow we were skiing on yesterday off-piste!
Then I booked lunch on the phone at La Cabanne and I was thrown by Hugo saying in French, something that I did not understand so had to resort to English. When I arrived there I asked him what he said, and it was "Midi pile" basically Noon sharp, pile being a word I'd never come across when talking about "time".
What was bonkers was how it was all booked, being the weekend, watching people all arrive, and very much locals or second home owners, as Marseille/ Aix still on hols, as opposed to those on holiday, but like I say, it was the weekend, and many were non-skiers having taken the Aravet bubble up.
After that circa 13:30 was another lovely descent down the Marteau and then on to the Casse, so pistes are in great condition, folks
And FWIW I was thrashing around on my Scott Scrappers 106 and they were great for the softer snow.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Sat 28-02-26 18:22; edited 1 time in total
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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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| Weathercam wrote: |
And not too difficult a question for the cyclists, but what is that framed in the middle of the sign below?
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Bloody hell, is that the top of the monument, that's about 10m high!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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yep, there is not a lot of it sticking out of then snow is there? I had a look back and found this one of it in the summer.
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@KenX, @Hells Bells, think my photo is distorting the perspective of it, here's another one when I was trying to be equally creative, and you can see that it's all just about there in terms of height, as there's the equivalent of a tree-well around it.
As to the answer to my initial question, it's the Monument commémoratif Henri Desgrange au col du Galibier, basically a homage to the man who founded the Tour de France.
This morning early, I drove to Turin taking OH & daughter to the airport and I was surprised at snow levels below the forest of Sauze / Sans Sicario 5km down out of Cesana where the little pizza resto is, as I once skied down to the main road there through the forest and I always take a keen interest in the snow there and the little track that comes out on the road just before the pizza hut, and there was no snow! And I was expecting to see more snow on the slopes of Sauze, maybe the heat & temps of last week has done for it there?
Anyway, good day to be off-ski today as the light is very flat and grey, and walking the dogs I was surprised at just how flat the light was.
Hopefully, judging by my usual barometers of parking areas, next week will be nowhere near as busy, unless they're still en-route
This week looks like temps overnight / early hours should see a deeper freeze, and with sun, could again be searching out Spring snow off-piste, and pistes should offer better skiing than last week, maybe, but might have to take one day at a time.
And then back end of the week, it really does depend on what forecast model you think suits your requirements best
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Yesterday I opted for cross country and had decided on doing a long one (25km) up the length of the valley to Fontenil which is just before Les Boussardes, about 7km up from Monetier.
I left here at 09:30 and had a perfect hard cordouroy piste all the way up to Monetier, where then it started to get really soft, my only theory was that maybe the clear sky we had here was more overcast Monetier onwards, as by the time I made it to Fontenil what should have been an easier run back, with the underlying descent was feckin hard work nigh on having to pole on descents through the soft snow, and then once on the Monetier / La Salle return leg the piste was still good and firm, so that really showed just how localised conditions can be.
So that sort of made planning for today a little bit suspect, so I opted for an early start picking a mate up in Le Casset and then we headed up towards the Lautaret and climbed up Vallons Roche Noire towards Trois Eveches.
We were soon down to one layer, and after a couple of km whilst we were still on the flat I spotted a fox which luckily Ullr had not clocked, so managed to get hold of him as I knew once he'd get the scent then he'd be off, and then a few mins later I saw the reason the fox had been so close, as there was a fresh kill, another Chamois, quite a young one from the looks of things.
This is the second time in around 4 weeks I've come across fresh kills like this, and I think I may have only seen one other, though we have seen kills in a field around 500m from us, and obviously now there are many more sightings of wolves, and where I've been touring close to here on the South side, up from Serre Barbin, where I would normally see boar or obvious boar activity I've not seen any, so you can draw your own conclusions.
I've not put the image of the kill here as it's pretty gruesome, but if you're curious, the link below will take you to it, but be warned!
https://stylealtitude.com/images/chamois_wolf_kill_roche_noire.jpg
The image below is Ullr and I over it, and to our left, down the gulley mid-picture, the obvious hump in the terrain is the run-out of a truly massive avalanche that came down from above on the left from the Crete.
And then around 45 minutes later, we were crossing the avalanche debris which had come down across the Galibier road. A couple of other ski-tourers, French of a similar vintage took the photo. And that pretty well enforced our decision, in that this was my first tour up in that sector this season, whereas usually by now we would have been into double figures.
We only did 850m and the Frenchies carried on to the Trois Eveches ridge, which was around another 200m. I was looking forward to the cold snow we had encountered on the up, and that was very sweet indeed and then as I was switching aspect on the descent, I skied down with Ullr to these three guys, and one of them was my old guide mate that I first boarded with in La Grave in 97 !
And then even more of a coincidence was that his client was a Canadian I had met in Gap last Thursday when we were all down there trying to sort out our residency cards
What had become apparent was that it was way colder than of late, and together with the cloud, the all-important transformation was not as good as I thought it would be, but I'm being very fussy, but an hour later would have been good, so the guide got it right
But there again, I don't like being up there anytime after 12:30, but the weather has definitely changed in the last couple of days, as where we were sitting outside Fred's a few days ago at a similar time, in light layers today we were well wrapped up, and by the time I arrived home circa 15:00 where temps had been nudging 16 they were only just nearing double figs.
And the outlook does forever keep changing and whereas a few days ago, for next week, it looked like accumulations could be in double figs, now that is no longer the case, though I've just looked again at Meteociel, and Friday 13th is currently showing nigh on a dump!
https://www.meteociel.fr/tendances/1900/la_salle_les_alpes.htm
There is still plenty of cold snow, but probably not accessable from the lifts, or if so, would be a run down off the back into another valley, but then the snow will be poor at lower altitudes, so best option for next week is stay high and you may well have to hike/tour for the untracked, but really the forecasts are forever changing and I would not be surprised if the snow came back again for next week?
Anyway, I'm still now not too sure about tomorrow and timings and plan, let alone next week
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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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Something was hungry !
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Ski Shagger, it should be quieter around lunchtime I think as most people will be departing in the other direction this weekend too. There is a back road around the bottle neck towards Vizille, but someone else should probably tell you which exit to take from the road around Grenoble, as I'm not 100% certain and we don't usually use it. I'm stopping for lunch in Nuits-St-Georges so wont' be on the D1091 until around 4pm.
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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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@Ski Shagger, A few weeks ago there were gantry signs on the Rocade Sud that advised what detour to follow to the Oisans.
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@Ski Shagger, I think it is junction 5a from the Rocade for the Belledonne via Eybens and then back to D1091 at Vizille. I'm usually snoozing my lunch off with J in the driving seat by then.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Ski Shagger, best option is to use Waze and see where that takes you; and as has been said, most traffic, Parisians would be heading the other way.
In the past, I've used both the Eybens D5, but so do a lot of other people, so I head for Uriage D524, it's longer but nowhere near the traffic volumes, plus Uriage has some lovely restos
However, the vital element to taking either road is not to join the D1091 at Vizille itself, but go into Vizille centre and take the one way after the Chateau, and probably best to look on a map, take the long straight road, Av Aristide Briand, and the beauty of this is that it lets you out at Peage de Vizille 
Today had a lush slack country descent down to Chambran, possibly best ever and skied all the way down, and even had 8 or so chamois (alive this time), but did pay for the beautiful snow on the ascent which was really tough as I was having to bash a track on the slippery traverses, in the end on went the crampons and still was hard work.
Most of the slides that happen when the rocks heat up had all gone, and they were BIG !
Up near the col before traversing across to the lift, I was very confused with some tracks of one ski and footprints, so I thought someone's binding had broken or something.
Once at the lift, a liftie came out and asked if we had seen a lost ski, as someone with leashes thought it was better to take the leashes off in avi terrain; however, and I'm not too sure whether it was on the up or the down, a ski came off and shot off down to the valley below.
Because we left it later to go off the back we didn't make it to the Cucumelle lift until 16:00 or so and then after tansitioning it was circa 16:15 and it was hell skiing bcak down with very tired legs on touring gear and the moguls on the lower sections of the Vallons were causing carnage, and then down Le Bez it was like the M25 on a bad day, feckin horrendous numbers of people, and this week is quiet!
As for the weather you don't need me to tell you that it's all over the place and every model keeps changing!
Yr is the least optimistic for next week, Meteociel has lost the dump for the 13th and now MeteoBlue is the one to get your appetite going
Day off-ski tomorrow, my legs need a rest!
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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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Ouik, Serre Che app and pass grouping discounts.....
Heading to the SOPiB next week and it's triggered a traumatic memory of organising a group pass deal thingy on ouik....
I just downloaded the Serre Che app and you can add passes to your account to buy passes on there. Question is, does it apply the group discount to bookings of 4 or more as per the ouik online version which was a bit (ok, a lot) tricky?!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Weathercam, I still owe you that beer so if you're in the Alpen next week let me know! I know 6 nations is often shown there but I'd love to persuade them to put on the Stade Bianche on Saturday
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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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@leggyblonde, just the one beer, cheap skate
One forecast that is pretty sure, is that there are going to be a hell of a lot of groups next week chasing the best snow!
Not only the SOPB but UCPA Freeride & Rando groups are back en masse, and my mate last night told me he's looking after 35 peeps all here as well for Off-Piste next week, though a % of them are doing 2 nts / 3 days in the Chardonnet Refuge.,
I'll be up there (Alpen) next week as guy I've been touring with goes back to UK as his 90 days is up, he's been living in Le Casset and cycling most nights to the Alpen, he was well relieved, or his chain was, when I dropped him off, and I had a load of lube in the van.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Fri 6-03-26 15:07; edited 1 time in total
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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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Hi all. Does anyone know of ski rental stores in Montgenevre that have storage facilities?
Web searching is giving conflicting results
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FAQ
) to facilitate the journey to 
