 Poster: A snowHead
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To kick the new thread off for the coming season, news about a new lift, which should take the pressure off the existing drags, after arriving on the Mea Plateau from Pointillas.
By equipping the Méa plateau (2,300 m) with a new ski lift, the Pré de Jeanne, the resort of Serre-Chevalier is expanding its offer for beginners by offering quality skiing in a unique panorama. The Pré Jeanne, at the arrival of the Pontillas gondola, set up in 2023. "It's a 450-metre line that is in addition to the two ski lifts, Clot and Méa, and the 150-metre covered carpet already present on the plateau.
More here
https://www.mon-sejour-en-montagne.com/paroles-de-partenaires/serre-chevalier-etoffe-son-offre-sur-plateau-de-mea/
Our current game plan is to be back in the Valley end of November.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We head out on 14 Dec for 4 weeks (may be reduced slightly), will be our first Xmas/NY in the valley since 2019-20
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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@willh, now look at the photo in Weathercam's post
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I got you! Good spot ... yes, that's a bit naughty
I was hoping it would go a bit higher than that (in my head I expected it to go in a similar direction to the drags), but it will give a good option to open up that bowl, which can be a really nice spot for early intermediates to really start to get confidence. Great for skiing with kids.
Looking forward to seeing it for real
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Assume the new lift will give easy access over to Clot Gauthier? One of our favourites.
Got to say I'm suprised they didnt just send a chair all the way up to Col Mea?
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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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@RetroBod, a poma is a quick and relatively cheap workaround, hopefully at some point in the not too distant future they will replace the aging drags with a chair to the Col de Mea....
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So is it a new poma? I kind of assumed it was a chair? Kind of replaces Cretes I suppose....for the piste crunchers a chair from Frejus Cafe to the new lift top point would have been good!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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I saw! I swear there was nothing there when you posted the link to the new cam. I can see why poma installation is preferable to a new chair! I expect it will be a popular lift! Hoping to get out in January.....
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Covered in snow now!
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You know it makes sense.
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@pistemeister, oooooh. It certainly is ! (and yes, I know it won't last !).
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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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I'll be in Le Monêtier between 24-31 Jan, looking forward to it! My last time wasn't so long ago, though, in the final days of the Fréjus gondola 2 years ago.
The new drag lift is looking handy if it can reasonably give access to Sellettes towards Clot Gauthier, as when I saw the (unopened) Pointless Mk2, I wondered where all the people would go afterwards...
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Poster: A snowHead
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Still snow 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Frustratingly, I've been trying to buy our ski season passes this weekend, as we've decided we are likely to ski more days this coming winter, but every time, the blooming payment has failed, and I've tried different cards. Bank says nothing wrong at their end, but lift company are only replying with standard responses telling me to check with my bank.  And the option to pay in 3 instalments isn't showing either.
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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, I assume no early season discounts available ?
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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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@AndAnotherThing.., no.
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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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Mind be worth tuning into the webcams tomorrow.....
From the excellent Météo Alpes-Durance FaceBook
SNOW BULLETIN #1 of the Winter 2025-2026
Accompanied by a redoux, an active disturbance will land in the Southern Alps this Sunday evening! And I am going through Monday night.
In a first time, snow will fall from 800m high (or in the Gapençais temporarily) before the redoux wins over the next night.
Already waiting till Monday morning
- 3 to 6cm from 800m (2 to 4cm around 700m)
- 10 to 15cm beyond 1000m height (Including Embrun)
- 15 to 20cm between the Dévoluy, the Champsaur and the Écrins beyond 1200/1300m in particular.
>> On Monday, the disturbance will continue throughout the day. And snowfall will be plentiful at altitude.
The LPN will tend to rise up to around 1300/1500m west of the High Alps but could stay lower in the eastern valleys.
Until the evening, we expect up to an additional 15 to 20 cm beyond 1500m.
>> In total, more than 50/60 cm of snow will fall in the Écrins beyond 1500m! As well as 40cm in the Dévoluy and the Embrunais beyond 1400/1500m.
We're expecting about twenty centimeters in the Briançonnais and the Queyras.
- ALPS-OF-HAUTE-PROVENCE:
In UBAYE, we expect 20 to 30cm beyond 1500/1600m and up to 10/12cm in Barcelona.
In Haut-Verdon, it could fall up to 30/40cm also beyond 1600/1800m
So it will snow in Briançon (Up to 20cm), in Embrun (Up to 10/12cm) and a sprinkle a few centimeters between Chorges and Gap before the rain arrives.
So be careful on the roads Monday morning! As well as Tuesday morning with road rules in the forecast and a significant risk of ice.
Have a nice episode everyone
Tad frustrating as we'd normally aim to be out there for the first decent fall, but a family 80th got in the way and snow tyre issues, so we're travelling (hopefully) back end of this week.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Finally got the website to accept our UK card and buy the lift passes. I've moaned at them every day and today someone admitted there was a fault after all and it wasn't just because the Uk banking system is not compatible. 
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@Hells Bells, 
Still no button to add &Joy to LynnX's Holiski, I'll pop in to the pass office when they open 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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@KenX,
do you think the &Joy is worth it on the season pass? We should get 5 weeks in this season (including Xmas/NY)
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@willh, definitely!!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@KenX, kindly put our heating on yesterday, though our journey is delayed by the passing of Kiki, one of our dogs 
With the power back on, our WebCam is back up, so you can see the snow in the garden and the valley floor.
We should now be back in the valley on Saturday.
https://stylealtitude.com/serrechevalierweathercam.html
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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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@Weathercam, oh, I am so sorry to hear that, there is never a good time for it.
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| willh wrote: |
@KenX,
do you think the &Joy is worth it on the season pass? We should get 5 weeks in this season (including Xmas/NY) |
Given you're there early season the only time it'll really come in handy is around Xmas holidays. You can add on the &Joy per day too I believe so you could add it in for Xmas/NY. Though I think you need to queue at the office to get it added on a daily basis
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You know it makes sense.
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I wrote this in the General Weather thread on Sunday.
I drove out to Serre Chevalier yesterday and around Grenoble you could see reasonably decent coverage up high, then further on towards Bourg snow was in the valley floor and looking up at ADH did look good.
Below La Grave it was positively wintry with still good amounts on the trees, so they'd had no wind, then after LG even the South facing slopes of Villar D'Arene looked inviting.
But alas, once over the Lautaret, the snow cover dwindled substantially, and I reckon a third of what was over the other side.
That said the last few days have been uber cold and last evening we could see the snow canons doing their thing, as many have lights on them now so you can see the snow mists, and the piste bashers were also up there working bashing down the mounds of snow canon snow, so it looks as if they are prepping the pistes down from Pointillas ready for opening this weekend; and have seen the canon working on the CDB but no bashers.
This morning I opted for XC at the Parc des Colombiers in Chantmerle, though not officially open, there were about ten of us skiing round the 1.2km boucle, though the piste was pretty sparse in places but elsewhere I could get gliding.
I then rang the OH and suggested she take the dogs up around the lakes at Le Casset whilst I see what the XC track was like up there as from the road on Saturday the circuit on the field looked good, however as I arrived there were about 25 jeaunes packing up after some their XC training so that did not bode well for the state of the piste, and sure enough it was pretty torrid, though for the few out on it didn't see that they were having issues.
I did one circuit and called it a day.
Forecast for tomorrow is for some white stuff though as ever how much will not know until it finishes, and then looking foward things are certainly volatile to say the least!
Though whether this precipiation falls as rain or snow and whether it all disappears who knows 
And if you're out here the end of January...
Le samedi 31 janvier, ce sont 80 freeskieurs/snowboarders - hommes et femmes - venus du monde entier qui viendront défier la face nord de l’Yret, point culminant du domaine skiable de Serre Chevalier à 2800m d’altitude lors d’une étape du Freeride World Tour Qualifier.
I'll find out a bit more tomorrow hopefully, as I'm meeting up with a bunch of friends (some geezonaires b'day), and the son of one of them is the top Serre Che free-rider and has already been on the podium at the Junior FWT.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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Looking forward to ski touring with the dog.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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All being well, will be there 3-weeks tomorrow, sure will be on one of the XC tracks for annual humiliation by boy
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Hells Bells, I’m sure there will be video evidence on Facebook 
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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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| Boris wrote: |
| All being well, will be there 3-weeks tomorrow, sure will be on one of the XC tracks for annual humiliation by boy |
Me too, but not on the XC track!
Fingers crossed for not too much rain this weekend & next, and some colder temps after the coming warm week.
One way or another, I’m sure I’ll get to use my new piste skis.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Yesterday I ended up ski-touring to the top of Vallons via Frejus and Le Pi Maï.
I took these two photos so you can see the snow depth on the North facing (10-15) roof, first one and then the view to the South.
After Frejus and in the forest below the chair, my skins started to glop really badly (snow sticks to the skins), which is always frustrating and even more so as these were relatively new!
So I opted to skin on the piste, slightly longer but no glopping from the corduroy.
Going up, as you can see, the Vallons were looking lovely, though on some aspects, it was very wind-affected.
After the transition I opted for a route behind the lift with Ullr duly following, however after around ten turns I had to wait quite a while for him to appear, once he did I then set off agin and this time an even longer wait, to then see he had diverted back to the piste which by then was a good 200m away, so I then had to traverse across back to the piste, missing all the lovely untracked for fear of losing him, though I should say that I skied into some wind affected snow to find it was actually a solid slab and came to an immediate halt!
However, it was still a lovely descent, though I had to wear my hood as the snow cannons were going, so the tactic is to ski really close to them so you are under the spray.
Then today was opening day, and we had a little later start, as all my metrics were well down, with my watch telling me to have a rest day.
In fact I opted for GS skis and stuck to the piste whilst the OH went off into the soft on the sides.
Piste was rather sweet in places and it enabled us to see what was open (Gauthier chair closed) and what wasn't, so if the weather is good we can do some more resort touring for fresh, whilst temps at altitude remain cold.
Skied down to Monetier, and coffee and hello to the team at SNO, and a good nag about ski gear and trends and then back over to here, but Mats was still closed, so no lunch time shandy.
Forecast for tomorrow is varied so we'll see what it's like before deciding.
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Well I waited all day on Sunday for the rain* that was forecast for here, and indeed what most of the Northern Alps ended up with, whilst here it was positively bright for most of the day, so ended up with a rest day.
*planned to test a jacket ski-touring in dank conditions
Then Monday had a physio in the morning and then waited in for a delivery, so another rest day as it were, as I knew that Tuesday might be a biggish day.
Snow-forecast.com have been wildly out (thankfully) with their overnight freezing levels and we've had a good -2 in the valley all this week, but it is like good Spring weather with temps rising rapidly in the day, and snow on the South side of the valley disappearing rapidly, but the pistes on the North side are hardly affected with many staying frozen as the days are short and the sun is low in the sky.
So we thought that we'd go up Granon way to ski some Spring snow. I knew we might be in for a long walk to get to some reasonable snow, and even with managing to squeeze past the snow blocking the Granon road and driving up to just before Les Tronchets (the road is officially closed but is open as it were as a few people live up there) we still ending up walking/skinning 3km along the road, and every time we rounded a bend I let out an expletive at the sight of lack of snow where I usually would expect to see skiable lines.
It was only after St Joseph at around 2,200 that we started skinning away from the road hoping to find a line that might transform to Spring snow for the descent.
But the snow cover was sparse, and we would have to be very careful with all the rocks, and probably the descent back down the road would be just as challenging with only a couple of cms in places with the tarmac showing through and in places we have to squeeze along stretches only the width of skis as well as biting the bullet and taking the skis off.
All that aside, as ever, the feeling of solitude up there as we sat on the tables was lovely, and no one else was around, as many walkers take a more direct route towards the Col in the forest.
OH with the pistes of Serre in the background.
Behind me, you can clearly see the route de Granon.
And then we did finally get some turns in but they were very brief and the only decent snow was on steeper gradients as anything remotley flat without the power of the sun was either frozen or had a nasty crust and downhill kickturns order of the day!
So for this week, it's more sun and sun, and we'll be putting the touring gear back in the garage as conditions don't warrant any more sorties, skiing the piste, and there are still quite a few sections & lifts closed, keeping the snow for the holidays.
There's also the 1.2km XC boucle at the Parc Columbiers to get a cardo workout.
As for snow, looking at Snow-forecast I see that there is heavy snow for Saturday 20th giving some straws to clutch at
Off shortly to get my Ski Mojo adjusted and then an XC sesh, not with the Mojo on I hasten to add.
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Must say that we had a superb piste ski yesterday, and I don't think I can recall the slopes being so deserted; it was bizarre.
And using the Ski Mojo along with my GS skis, skiing relatively hard had nigh on zero tweaks to the knee, and then adjusting them at a Cabanne coffee stop after reading an email from the new French CEO, having sent him photos after a shop here did the adjusting, and he said that they need another training session to fit them
On our last run down, we passed the Vallons chair, and then Cote Chevalier and there was no one getting on them.
The Le Bez piste seems to just be getting better and better in these conditions with lovely chalky grippy snow, though has to be said, especially the chemin down from Frejus Cafe to the Vallons is dire, and everywhere they are tearing up the snow to the side of the pistes ready to bring it back on to the piste to repair them.
There is still a good 30% of the resort closed, and should imagine that will open 20th along with the fecking buses working at night, as we went to take a bus midweek, asked for a return, paid our money to then be told that the late buses don't start until the 20th. I'm pretty sure that was not the case in previous years and it would seem that really the resort is taking longer to open as it were, and then equally so, the gradual closing down with a couple of weeks to go prior to the end of the season.
And I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with lack of snow, just the bean counters cutting their costs as it's so empty but it is a chicken and egg scenario, but we do like it this way 
Today, hoping for a cunning plan, that said the last plan didn't exactly work out
And as for the forecast, sun, sun and sun, though like yesterday or was it the day before, snow-forecast shows a dump and then six hours later it disappears.
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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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@Weathercam, yr.no shows snow falling next Thursday 16th and unsettled weather afterwards. Retour d’est? Fingers crossed, still a bit too far away but I’m hoping.
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FAQ
