 Poster: A snowHead
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Can’t see any thread so creating one.
My first venture back to France for 25 years this year after 20 years of no skiing and going to Italy exclusively since starting again 8 years ago aged 36.
Anyways was getting a bit concerned about the lower slopes conditions in L2A but hopefully this weekend has sorted the base out for the rest of the season.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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4 of us heading out end of Feb. Not skiied since Covid or been to L2A before so longest break we have had. Looking forward to getting back into it.
Looks like a new speed lift has been installed recently to get you to top in about 15mins with so Blue runs high up if conditions are not great lower down.
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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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Quiet thread.
Setting off on Friday to ski from Sunday. Not visited L2A before, but conditions look / sound decent?
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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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In L2A currently. Conditions are some of the best I've seen at this time of year... even Vallee Blanche is open and running. Some of the long flat sections are running slow and the wind/visibility has made things interesting, but having a great time.
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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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In L2A currently. Conditions are some of the best I've seen at this time of year... even Vallee Blanche is open and running. Some of the long flat sections are running slow and the wind/visibility has made things interesting, but having a great time.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Doofenschmirtz, yep, was here sane week last year. Was decent then, but snow cover & quality just now is wonderful.
Took the Venosc to Allemond bus yesterday to ski at AdH. This picture shows the seamless cover over at L2A as seen from the Sarenne ski run.
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Spent the past two weeks at LDA
Snowfall of 20-30cm on both weeks
Snow conditions fantastic
No queuing
Lovely boot top to knee deep powder last Tuesday
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I’m close to booking accommodation at L2A for the weekend of 18/19 April, as I’m pretty confident they’ll still have good conditions up top. But, anyone know if Fee sector will still be open by then?
I’m not expecting Vallée Blanche to be but when we went a couple of years ago around the same time Fee was shut and wasn’t sure if this was due to snow conditions or if they start closing down parts of the resort simply due to lack of demand.
Not the end of the world if only Toura, Signal, Puy Salie and the like were open (though would ideally need Belle Etoile, Cretes and Diable to be open as can walk to Belle Etoile from the accommodation I’m looking at).
Any and all advice appreciated. Oh and any clues on the new parking set up. Looks a faff.
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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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If I had the cash I would have stayed
Bit of rain down low this week but snow up high
Should be great for some time
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@bigtuboflard, we skied late last year in L2A due to Easter being very late and it was decent; everything below Super Diable/Belle Etoille technically shut (some of it skiable, lifts running though) and Fee area not lift served, but loads of snow elsewhere. I did wonder if the positioning of Easter had a bearing on things staying open that late - there was petty much zero snow on Valleee Blanche to keep that open anyway and only after a mega dump was there any snow for Fee, so guess it was a safety call.
We had a great time and TBH, even though I guesstimated that 30% of the domain was unskiable/closed, we still had enough snow and area to keep us occupied.
We stayed up near the Diable lift so it was a short walk but we did wander to Jandri3s one day and there was no queueing, despite 1600 students being in town for a big trip. Belle Etoille lift was running fine to get ski schools up the hill.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@bigtuboflard, I've skied L2A end of March/early April 4 or 5 times now & have never known it as snowy as this year. There was oodles of snow in Fee sector last week, oodles on Vallee Blanche, and there was oodles even on the run down to Mont-de-Lans at 1300m with just some mud on the road bridge at the end. Unless there's a really brutal thaw between now and then, I'd guess it'd be lack of demand rather than a dearth of snow that would get Fee closed.
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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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Thanks all, that reassures me that there will be at least as much open as my last trip there in April, and hopefully a bit more open besides. I’ll drop a report in here once in resort.
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If you're using the navette between Venosc & Allemond (departs 7.30 am and 9.30 am) to access Alpe D'Huez, be prepared to board the bus in socks, or take some crocs or trainers because ski boots aren't allowed worn.
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You know it makes sense.
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Just back from a stunning 6 days of skiing in L2A staying in a private chalet up the Route des Alpes at the Venosc end of town. For an Easter week of skiing, zero queues, full area open (well, we didn't try the Valle Blanche side to be fair), pistes which stayed in fantastic condition despite the warm, sunny weather (especially anything above Jandri 2) and a good range of pistes in general. Our only gripe (our fault) was that where were staying we needed to do a walk down a reasonably steep road with boots and skis (we'd not booked lockers) at the beginning and end of the day; we did try our usual "return to chalet" for lunch on the first day but soon realised we'd lose buckets of time every day doing that, so it was baguettes at dawn for a picnic lunch in the sun instead. If the road down had been anything other than bone dry, it would have been a potentially slippy route to the pistes each day.
We do feel we've "done" L2A now though; maybe because the off-piste wasn't so great this week (according to others - I don't touch the stuff!).
Had two nice meals out too - once at Trattatoria Pasta Mia (not exactly French!) and on the final night at Le Trappeur (could only get a Friday booking despite trying to book at first on the Tuesday!)
Lessons via European Ski School for one of our party were great too - private lessons for a young man with learning disabilities, and they treated him absolutely perfectly and got him doing jumps bigger than I do on the snowpark.
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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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@larkim, agreed on the going back for lunch thing - the family we travel with are always on about heading back at lunch for a bit of a relax but invariably, taking ski boots off means them not going back in. Plus, like you say, it’s a fair schlep down and back up - probably not the resort for that type of ski day I think.
Although it’s not massive, Valle Blanche is a nice spot IMO - last year at Easter it was closed, as was Fee sector, so we had less skiing available, which was a shame as I remember both those being good, especially VB, which felt relaxed and always empty.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Fee was my favourite spot, not least because the red allowed me to finally crack my "all time" speed record which had stood for many years of me getting more and more cautious since just about hitting over 60mph on the top of the Orelle run in Val Thorens. Childish really, though I think all three of my sons properly schooled me by straight lining that one down from the top and clocking over 70mph.
Four of our party did try to get up to Vallee Blanche on the third day, but they arrived at the Super Venosc end bubble which was moving but not allowing anyone on, so they retreated.
For the last few years in Tignes we've been able to get back to accommodation pretty swiftly for a bite to eat, which has been nice and taken little longer than sitting by the side of the piste would have done; but also last year it was quite wet and soggy out, so even the concept of a picnic was unappealling. This year on the other hand - some of the nicest moments we had under the perfect skies in stunning locations. I even spent two nice lunches in the new picnic spot underneath Jandri midstation, which sounds daft given how nice the weather was, but because it was nice it was quiet in there and my son (a 23yo with Down Syndrome) was more suited to an indoor lunch with the chance to take off some of the outer layers. Ironically picnic rooms are nice places to be on nice weather days, and horrendously cramped, damp and unpleasant on the days when you really need them!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Returned to L2A in mid-March for the first time in over a decade and must say as a resort its massively improved (eggs gone / Jandri Express / new lifts etc) and was great for our mixed ability group. Perfect snow obviously makes a difference irrespective of resort, as does volume of peeps on the slopes. Didn't see a single accident / clang the entire week so maybe my view on France will soften . . .only neg was the food - too many restaurants doing the same cheese laden ting with mirror menus. . . .was pining for meat and two veg traditional French style (Coq au Vin etc) which other than the canteen at 3400 I couldn't find anywhere . . 
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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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Funny about the accidents. We saw more helicopters evacuating people off the pistes than ever before in the Easter week. Though very few bloodwagons.
We ate at Le Trappeur on the Friday night, it was excellent; plenty of the cheesy / potatoey options, but also some nice (French) meat and two veg options. I'm barred from mountain restaurants by my better half so didn't get to sample the delights on the mountain.
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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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Very good first day here today, pistes on Crete first thing were very hard but also softened very quickly too. As you’d expect, working the direction of the slope and altitude made sure you could get the best out of the day and had plenty of near perfect turns on soft snow which held an edge wonderfully.
Although the ski outs to the resort were still open I think the green has had it, looking from the download it looked in terrible condition. The blue looked a little better but reckon it’ll not last too long either as it’s really warm in the resort now.
Only downside was my nephew who met us from Paris (I’ve never skied with him before) took a fall on the first few runs but also managed to slice his trousers on his ski edge in doing so and also needed seven stitches in his leg as a result. He carried on skiing though and shrugged it off with Parisian indifference.
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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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Second day of the trip was as good as the first, learnt to judge the timing of moving between sectors a bit better than day one and as a result managed to improve the snow underfoot, especially down to Pierre Grosse and around Toura. Did some wonderful reds as a result and made the effort to go to the very top drag lift (forget its name) for some short but enjoyable turns.
It was a little bit busier on the Sunday compared to the Saturday but still never really queued for a lift and straight onto every chair, often alone.
Weather was also typically sunny and hot, though the day did start with a very brief snow and graupel storm which lasted about 10 minutes. For a moment I was doubting my choice of clothing but it all came good from about 10am. Conditions on the runs down to Crete at the end of the day were very sloppy though, and wisely downloaded on Belle Etoile.
Final eventful part of the trip was the main D1091 road being closed on Monday for our drive back to Geneva, so detoured via Auris and along the D211A to join up with the Alpe d’Huez climb. Perhaps the most frightening single piece of driving I’ve done in 30+ years. The road for those that don’t know is single file with cliffs to your right and 500m drop to your left with a small concrete wall between you. And given all the locals were using it as a shortcut it was busy. Lots of reversing and tight squeezes (Google
Street view to give a small sense of the experience).
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZzpbQcwhMPuuY3nL8
Not recommended!
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