 Poster: A snowHead
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(I comment from the perspective of someone who isn’t a natural skier, learnt as an adult and despite having been skiing in La Plagne for about 10 years, still sticks to mostly blue runs in all but perfect conditions 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@chopkins13, Going to have to be a strong disagree on that run being suitable for absolute beginners (read: first week skiing).
Have you been in the school holidays, particularly this year?
The "steep" bit at the bottom of the Carella chair gets significant bumps on it when the snow is bad as it is now and it is chopped up by school holiday traffic - the piste tends to be very busy, as it serves as a major through route. My other half who is somewhat intermediate, always hates that run in school holidays but is fine taking quite a few of the reds in the area.
In the end we ate at the Borselliers restaurant, decent onion soup and as the weather was nice they had a BBQ going so I had some decent ribs too.
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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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@Ruswit, You got me, I’ll be losing my school-holiday-skiing-virginity in December this year - up to now had the luxury of having preschoolers or not taken the kids! Your description confirms my fears!!
Glad you got some decent scran though.
Weather forecasts seem to be hinting at turning colder in a few days, fingers crossed this materialises alongside some precipitation of the much needed white stuff!
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@chopkins13, The difference between Feb holidays and the weeks either side is absurd in terms of how many people are on the pistes, which can have a pretty significant knock on effect to snow quality at the end of the day. I cannot comment about Dec as I've never been, but I understand that the weeks that include Xmas and NY tend to be only second to Feb hols in terms of business.
I'd always recommend Easter hols skiing if taking kids, the pistes are quiet and the sun can be lovely. Sadly this seems like it is becoming more of a non-option as the years ago by.
As it is has been so warm and melty in Feb atm, there are loads more people in Champagny trying to get up for ~9 am to get good snow in the morn. This has lead to gondola queues of over 20 mins, with the queue stretching out of the ESF zone at the foot of the gondola into the streets nearby. If you wait until 10 am to go up, the chair lift lines are then huge so 
Have had good success with suffering the big gondola queue and eating a light lunch at 11-11.30 so that we can ski when the pistes are empty when everyone else is eating. Might be hard to do with kids in ski school, but that lunchtime emptiness is heavenly in school hols.
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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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@Ruswit, sounds horrendous!
Our secret weapon for New Year week will be non-skiing grandparents in tow…. We (wife and I) plan to drop off at ski school, then ski through morning and hopefully quieter lunch time, meanwhile grandparents collect kids from ski school then RDV for non-skiing family fun in the afternoon.
Trying not to expect too much and just hoping the young kids get the taste for it really. I’ll save my ‘proper’ skiing for my annual 2nd week of March boys long weekend trip on quiet(er) pistes.
Now back to praying for that cold and snow….
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We've done all of the options.
December (New Year), February half term, Easter and even taking them out of school for a week, maybe only once for the latter option. If they're in Year 6 or even 7 personally I don't think that they miss out that much at that age, but it's all down to personal circumstances and attitudes.
Easter does seem to be quieter, but of course outside of school holidays is quiet as well! Although there are risks in going late in the season.
We've done Esprit and Club Med before. Both were good.
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Christmas week isn't too bad in terms of busyness. Not as bad as HT or NY. And if you are not big into Christmas it's a good chance to get away from it all. Plus you have to take less days holiday from work.
The one time I've done HT it was liveable.
"Easter" is great and probably the pick if you can only do one.
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Big difference between years when Easter on 22 March and on 24 April. The former is probably great; the latter much more uncertain.
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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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@ecureuil, the term "Easter" can be confusing. Usually it means when the schools break up rather than when Easter actually falls. And the former is more consistent. I think the latest for me has been something like April 10th. Of course schools also have a two week holiday aswell. I usually go first week but have done the second. Actually, just checked, 13th to 20th April 2019. That is the latest I've been.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Layne, doned it 
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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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What is the snow like there at the moment ? We are probably coming out in a week's time - is there any decent skiing to be had 
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@eblunt, Not great but most things were still open - I last skied there Sat. Mostly hard packed snow and there was a LOT of slush the middle of last week, but you might get luckier with the temperature.
I found there was a sweet spot around 10.30 when the snow isn't as hard and hasn't yet been fully cut up by the day's traffic.
There was also a noticeable amount of debris on some slopes, especially on lower ones.
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You know it makes sense.
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I am a complete newbie to booking a skiing holiday, last one I went on was with school, so trying to get my head around snow reports... I've got a week and a bit free w/c 13 March. Does La Plagne ook like a good bet? Or should I head somewhere else? Thanks
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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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@macski1978, whilst it’s not shaping up to be a classic season by any stretch of the imagination, I’m heading out on 11th March and expecting to be able to ski plenty of pistes. Yes, without more snow, then conditions will be variable but we’ll still have a great time. I’d say go for it, and pick a high village to stay in if you can - I thoroughly recommend Belle Plagne.
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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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@boredsurfin, 3 out of 5 is 60% in my book - I’ll take that and keep doing my merry snow dance!!
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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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I'll be in Vallandry w/c 13th March so hoping that weather report is correct. If not, as Chopkins13 said, there will be snow even if we have to go up high so we'll still have a great time!
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Tuesday/Wednesday looks like being cold with a chance of a modest amount of snow- Finger's crossed!
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@boredsurfin, freezing level could do with dropping a bit… but certainly looks promising on the precipitation front! The drive up on Saturday when we arrive could be interesting.
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@chopkins13, yep, I was going down to BstM on Wednesday - maybe not...
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How bad are the conditions for those that are out there at the minute? Have the half term crowds inflicted damage?
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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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@chopkins13, I can't really comment as I'm not there, but from the webcams it looks like the pistes are holding up pretty well considering the lack of snow this season.
My go-to webcam is the one above Bellecote, showing Belle Plagne. Looking at the far slopes around Belle Plagne, you can see how much snow has melted off the pistes, demonstrating the lack of snow base. It looks more like early April than early March. But on piste I'm sure they'll be doing an incredible job keeping them in good nick.
https://en.la-plagne.com/discover/ski-area/webcams/snowpark-bellecote
Plus, by the end of the week things could be looking very different!
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Mon 6-03-23 14:55; edited 1 time in total
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| chopkins13 wrote: |
| How bad are the conditions for those that are out there at the minute? Have the half term crowds inflicted damage? |
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most of the returns are still skiable via snow tongues, except for Champagny which I tested and which I don't recommend.
At the top it's hardly better, the snow is either hard or soupy or full of stones in too many places.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I believe the picture above is Montchavin at 1250m as an FYI.
I had a message from someone who was in Meribel last week and said the pistes were holding up as did Steve on the Val D'Isere thread.
It's obviously not what you'd expect in the first week of March though.
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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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In La Plagne this week. Most Blue / Green pistes are open, but only half the Reds and less than half Blacks. Montalbert and Montchavin very thin. High up snow still in reasonable condition. Champagny side suffering more as south facing.
Lots of precipitation forecast later this week, but some sites are showing the snow line at well over 2000m, so at resort level everywhere it may be rain. Which could almost wipe out the lower ones. 
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| chopkins13 wrote: |
| How bad are the conditions for those that are out there at the minute? Have the half term crowds inflicted damage? |
Pisteurs doing an amazing job and we were surprised yesterday at how skiable the main runs were both in LP and Lea Arcs . Today though , it seemed worse , with unpredictable icy bits . It remains to be seen if the new stufff forecast falls as snow , sleet or rain .
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You know it makes sense.
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@boulevardier, likely to be all 3 at different elevations 
Let's hope the freezing level stays low as much as possible.
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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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Spent today in La Plagne. Some bits better than Les Arcs but other more scrappy and lots of closed runs. However a bright, sunny and generally cold da mad2 for a good time. Interesting to see how weather develops over the next few days
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Poster: A snowHead
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Hi, We have been at Plagne 1800 since 12 th Jan and the snow cannons have never been used down here. Even when it was cold enough. A ski instructor said it was because they are not allowed to use the water? Someone else said it was because of the cost of the electricity and they were running the lifts 10% slower for the same reason. Has anyone else heard anything? Peter
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@nashman, I’m sure one of the regulars/locals will be along to confirm or deny but I’m sure there are limits on how much water they can use each season. Can’t imagine how frighteningly expensive running the snow cannons is at the current electricity prices though!
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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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| nashman wrote: |
| Hi, We have been at Plagne 1800 since 12 th Jan and the snow cannons have never been used down here. Even when it was cold enough. A ski instructor said it was because they are not allowed to use the water? Someone else said it was because of the cost of the electricity and they were running the lifts 10% slower for the same reason. Has anyone else heard anything? Peter |
Yes. I was there in summer, and the problem is that the reservoirs are empty. Basically they knew then that if they didn’t get decent snow this winter that they were going to be in trouble.
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France has a serious water shortage brewing
The article says that the cooling of power plant is a major consumer of freshwater. That took me by surprise; I had though that water simply passed through the plants, with little net loss.
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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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@nashman, great reflexion/ question I'm in Bellecôte for the season. I've been so focused elsewhere that I didn't even notice this, but very true that there maybe hasn't been a snow cannon running (all season ?).
They do regularly dump quantities of snow on slopes and areas in need, like the evening of the Born to be show, there was a dump on the bottom part of the blue slope from Plagne Village to Plagne Centre; there have been dumps of snow on the front de neige in Bellecôte so the track in the direction of the bus stop keeps existing somewhat.
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Snowing in Montalbert now and has been for since 6 ish
Lets hope it continues through the night, temp is -1C
On the man made question they made so much artificial snow and stored it ready for February they used most of the stored water. Thus they couldn't make anymore until it rains/snows again.
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@boredsurfin, everything crossed that the forecasts have got the freezing level wrong for the next 5 days!
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We have been at 1800 since the 12th January and no man made snow has been made at 1800.
In previous years when the temperature was low enough they made snow all night and stored it in heaps until it was needed, but not this year.
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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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Snowing steadily this morning
and 0.8 on the balcony
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@nashman, I guess that none was made in 1800 to use the water in lower resorts and the high traffic areas.
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