 Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone got info on opening week, ie 22 November, its it just weekend, or partial Tignes area opens for whole next week ie 22 Nov - 29 nov?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Looks like it's the whole week (snow conditions allowing)
From the lift pass page on the Tignes website
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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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@ed48, the website says
Progressive opening of the Tignes ski area from 22 November* and then the link ski area with Val d’Isère from 29 November*.
*subject to favorable snow conditions.
9 degrees by Wed according to tignes.net, be interesting to see what snow hangs around, I'm out Dec 11th!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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great thanks! Lets see what the conditions are. Where is the best place to live in the beginning of the season?
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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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| ed48 wrote: |
| great thanks! Lets see what the conditions are. Where is the best place to live in the beginning of the season? |
The '22/11' opening will start with the glacier & runs off it, unless there is impressive early snow & if they can get the slopes safe and bashed, so your shortest commute would be from Val Claret. However there will be free buses (but not 24 hrs/day that early), so Lavachet and le Lac would also be OK. But not Brevieres or les Boisses, unless your accommodation provider is running a shuttle service.
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@Kenzie, many thanks, thats helpful
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Double M seems pisted to the bottom from a quick webcam check........
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Has anyone noticed what looks like a new magic carpet at the top of the Tichot lift in Val Claret? I can't find anything on any of the news sites about that in the plans (it seems to have appeared in the last couple of weeks)
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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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@Mr_Bennetts_Ski_Trip, they were supposed to be developing a new beginners’ are up there so it makes sense.
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I did wonder that, although the run back into VC isn’t that nice for beginners, unless the plan may be to download on the Tichot?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Has anyone used Snocool before for lessons? Left it a bit late and they were the only ones with availability to suit, had a look at reviews before booking and they seem fine.
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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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Well spotted, @Mr_Bennetts_Ski_Trip! I've often thought that that area would make a great beginners' space. I just hope they have left enough room and will put in some segregation so that more experienced skiers who want to dash off to Grattalu and Col Des Ves don't tangle with the beginners, who would find it rather unsettling...
Hoping @chocksaway might have some more up-to-date info, but when the Club Med was being planned that's at the bottom of Tichot lift, they were proposing replacing that chair with a gondola and moving the start location to make it convenient for the Club Med guests. That would have allowed the whole scheme to work well for beginners, giving an easy download option.
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Yeh it would have, didn't know that though
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You know it makes sense.
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Also Tichot sounds a small chair to make a gondola
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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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If any link needs replacing, it's Tommesues, highly wind exposed and not enjoyable to ride on most days. But, it is like 4,400 per hour capacity, so that makes sense. Would be nice to have a blend though.
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Poster: A snowHead
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It has often amused me that we have four lifts to get from Tignes to Val d'Isere but only two to get back... And the queue for Tommeuses at the end of the day can sometime be mental! So yes, some extra capacity and resilience on that score would be rather nice. But can't think of any obvious place to put it. Ironically, from the bottom of Tommeuses to Le Lac is actually flat or downhill if you head across the plateau above the Lac du Chevril, but I've never fancied having to cut under the Lavachet Wall. And the flat bit would probably still need skins.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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In Austria, there is a trend of having the same chair lift parallel, where there is high demand. I think it would make sense to do this, as there isn't really any higher capacity than what there is today, 4,400 per hour
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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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Ha ha - that did make me chuckle @joshyp. Before it was replaced with an 8-person chair, Tommeuses consisted of two parallel 4-person chairs!
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Two parallel 8 person chairs would be a great idea to be honest, but it isn't cheap. But it would be a great idea, and it would significantly reduce queues.
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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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Also nothing is currently planned within the L'espace Killy (I hate calling it what they call it today) for 25/26, at least nothing official or that me or skiresortinfo website is aware of
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| bobski62 wrote: |
| Ha ha - that did make me chuckle @joshyp. Before it was replaced with an 8-person chair, Tommeuses consisted of two parallel 4-person chairs! |
I remember...and not with fondness.
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Also, Tignes are now taking over the management of their own resort, which is particularly important in the grand scheme of things. As the previous organisation which used to run Tignes had destroyed multiple lifts on the glacier, resulting in heavy backlash from myself, and the shock removal of the chair on the side of the glacier last summer.
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| joshyp wrote: |
| Two parallel 8 person chairs would be a great idea to be honest, but it isn't cheap. But it would be a great idea, and it would significantly reduce queues. |
What would really reduce queues is some queue management during the busy times like they do in the US. You're not allowed to hang around for your mates. All seats are taken and if you leave a gap you're pulled out of the queue and sent to the back. Even at the busiest times there are still lots of 3-5 people groups going up Tommeuses due to people who are at the front not caring about those behind them. 
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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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Hoping my first year of non-rental skis lets them survive, without having my edges sliced by some annoying beginner who doesn't have any respect. But I hate the French lift queues, there is no respect for anyone
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The few times that I have used the new Tommeuses chair when slightly busy I have felt that people were not realizing just how high its capacity was. Chairs were hardly ever going up full. There may seem a lot of people in front of you but that is only a few chairs worth and you need to get ready.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Tue 4-11-25 15:47; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It is 4,090 capacity per hour, and 23 years old. At most if they replaced it they could get it to 4,400-4,600 seats per hour anyways
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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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@bobski62, I remember the old twin chairs during my first visit which I think was 1994. A guy who was skiing with his wife and daughter had a heart attack on one of the chairs, which didn’t have foot rests and just a rubber safety bar. He slipped straight off and was dead before he hit the ground. There was apparently a dispute between the lift company and his wife and daughter. The company would not give the two ladies a refund, so they continued skiing for the rest of the week.
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@bobski62 I thought I'd heard/ read that somewhere on this site that there was plan to put a bubble in but I couldn't find it today when I was searching after seeing the work on the webcams! Hopefully like you say, @chocksaway might have some more info. It would be good for us - my other half could do laps of a beginner slope there and I could happily lap grattalu but he's not fond of the blue back down into VC
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You know it makes sense.
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@joshyp,
There are a lot of lift changes in the Espace Killy that both VdI and Tignes would like to make, but the process is torturous, largely due to the Vanoise national park. Talks on linking VdI to Bonneval sA went on years (decades?) to no avail - though cash distribution could have played a part. @chocksaway and @Steve Angus could give more details.
I believe the Grand Motte lifts were taken out due to the state of the glacier.
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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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Well lots of rumour and fact to unpick here! For me Tommeuses is not that busy apart from at peak times in peak weeks. Prior planning avoids that! But it has shifted 17600 pax in a day in Feb 19. But for those reminiscing about Tommeuses past, imagine the burning thighs of doing it on the original T bar, with wooden pylons no less. The crippler for the links is Borsat, the most basic of 4 person detachables. And it’s the only contribution from Val D’Isere to the links (1 out of 6).
There is a plan to put a gondola in to replace Tichot to transport the gilded ski boots of Club Med clients. Though I think it is a bit back burner nowadays (not so subtle hint - Monsieur Le Marie changed).
And yes there is plans for a beginners area at Tichot, presumably why the Palet resto has had an upgrade from over priced hovel to overpriced. I think I did this in a piece on last years thread which I may plagiarise for this years.
@joshyp, I would point out that STGM don’t own the lifts they have the licence to operate them. All lift changes are ratified by a committee including the lift company, the pisteurs and cameras, the ski schools and the Town Hall. Up on the glacier the Rossolin went because the bottom became a lake and the Leisse chair was dismantled because it did not meet the requirements for licensing - rescues would have taken too long because of the height above ground as the glacier melted (especially at the top) and the difficulties of evacuating broken skiers at the bottom, so it’s really not fair to blame STGM.
Oh and don’t forget for 25/26 we will have a new Aiguille Percée 6 man.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I seem to remember the old Tommeuse was a twin triple that took 20 odd minutes with diabolical queues at the end of the day? On the other side I also seem to remember a surface lift (t bar) coming up to where Fresse now ends?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@brovert, Yesh Tommeuses was 2 x triples, about 17 minutes if it didn’t stop, which hardly ever happened.
I’m not old enough  to remember the drag to Col de Fresses, but I know people who do!!
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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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Tommeuse was a 2 x 3 person chairs that ran parrallel at a v slow pace and i remember they did break down a lot and when they did it wasnt a minute or 2 and it was freezing ! They replaced it with the lovely 8 man chair which is comfortable, faster and doesnt seem to break down. I agree theres an issue with all chairs in that the French liftees do not manage the queues and its annoying to be waiting when you get 3 people getting onto an 8 man chair. When i was younger we used to call people out for doing that but i cant be bothered now. You would think that skiers all had the same attitude - lets all get up the hill as quickly as possible and lets use all the lift spaces to make that quick and get skiing ? Sadly it happens everywhere in Val and T
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@chocksaway - re 25/26 Aiguille Percee 6 man - wasnt that brand new last season ? Are there any plans to upgrade Grand Huit ? Thats got to be one of the slowest/ oldest. Oh no I can think of even worse - the 3 man chair that goes up to the Borsat called Mont Blanc - that must be the oldest chair ? I accept new lifts cost millions but those 2 need upgrading. Can you give the committee members a nudge ?
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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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| Charlie333 wrote: |
| its annoying to be waiting when you get 3 people getting onto an 8 man chair. |
With largely full 8 man chairs having gone ahead, I'm often amused when a large group of 5-7 skiers behind me will let me (a dreaded snowboarder) take the 8 man chair in front of them solo, rather than join me. I usually take the left hand gate, and in such a case then have to shuffle to the centre of the abandoned 8 man chair.
Nowt so queer as folk.
Sometimes there are ESF/toddler & solo/express lanes at the sides to help the lifties fill gaps, but I daresay safety comes before maximum throughput.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Charlie333 wrote: |
| @chocksaway - re 25/26 Aiguille Percee 6 man - wasnt that brand new last season ? Are there any plans to upgrade Grand Huit ? Thats got to be one of the slowest/ oldest. Oh no I can think of even worse - the 3 man chair that goes up to the Borsat called Mont Blanc - that must be the oldest chair ? I accept new lifts cost millions but those 2 need upgrading. Can you give the committee members a nudge ? |
I think it was Marais that was replaced last year. Grand Huit in real terms isn't that old, put up in 1997. There are quite a few older lifts around, surprisingly it was built as a "slow" lift at the time when most were being built as detachables. Mont Blanc by comparison, a Val d'Isere lift was built in 1982. I'm sure chockaway can add more details.
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@stevew, Spot on!
I think the oldest chair in Tignes is now Col de Ves vintage 1981. The oldest lift - the Chardonnet Drag 1953 and still going (maybe a bit like Triggers Broom by now).
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Bet that has paid for itself many times over by now 
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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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Trigger's broom indeed, @chocksaway... A few years ago it was diesel and rather useful when all the other lifts stopped owing to a power cut. Last time I used it, it definitely looked like it had been given a new electric motor. At least it's not so smelly.
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@chocksaway, Yes, I remember the drag to Col de Fresses, the drag half way up Solaise to the left and quite a few more. (cue for a Monty Python type sketch)
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