 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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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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@Steve Angus,
Interesting on not bashing every piste every night. I seem to remember that was the case until European resorts started copying the North American resorts, the latter using the fact that they bashed every piste every night as a selling point.
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@Steve Angus, getting a bit worried about the warmth for half-term! any on-the-ground experience you can share with conditions like these? was hoping for some fresh snow but at this point I Will be happy with lifts that are up and running (not affected by strike action) and snow that isn't slush 
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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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Kenzie - yea I think it has a little merit. A little. However I was reflecting on my time earlier when I first started teaching on snow out in Whistler, Canada 20+ years ago... I remember thinking how places like that are run a little like a theme park in comparison to Europe.... much of Europe are now being run like theme parks themselves.
mwhalber - it'll 10000000% be just fine. The pistes won't turn to slush. Combination of sun not getting high enough in the sky, altitude, snow temp itself and many other factors such as slope orientation means there will be no issue. There will still be some wintery powder available if you are prepared to do lots of walking too. So fear not.
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@Steve Angus, wooohooo! Can't wait! Thanks!
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Chilly
Apparently the wind was howling in the middle of the night - I didnt hear it personally but Clare was woken by it. Anyway it had calmed down a little by breakfast time thankfully and with the same plan for the kids today as yesterday it was go, go. The only real difference was that I was taking Ben to Village as opposed to Olivia to the meeting point.
However I did notice that the temps were colder than they had been. Just a couple of degrees thats all. Anyway I headed up with my am team to the Bellevarde and it was a noticeable cold wind that was the issue. I wouldnt say it was windy but enough that you wanted to get your head down on the lifts! Anyway my team was a lively bunch from Scotland. The 5 of them all skied at pretty much the same level and were recent retirees which meant they had a wealth of skiing experience on calm shoulders shall we say. Working initially on east terrain and polishing up a few elements of their technique we ended up doing a few laps of Fontaine Froide. It was a solid session and as the sun got stronger it made things a little warmer! It was refreshing to have people that understood plenty about the trials and tribulations of how the ski industry and technique has changed / is changing etc.
I grabbed lunch as normal before heading out for the pm session. It was the same booking as yesterday afternoon so I left off from where we were yesterday. There was a lot of talk about the initiation of the turn yesterday so we needed to look at the second half of the turn today. I think I balanced up the need for increased performance with not over doing it energy wise which meant he lasted the full 3 hours quite nicely.
Tomorrow we shall look at how to deal with lumps and bumps as he will be back in a few weeks time when it may well be quite slushy and bumpy out there.
Meanwhile on the mountain the new week and therefore the 'next' Tuesday came around which means the next round of the national strike action. So a little more momentum than last week. As far as I know there was very little effect here in Val - I certainly did not see any problems / lift closures or anything but then again I only skied a handful of lifts up Bellevarde all day. Over in Tignes there was about half a dozen lifts that were affected and it was slightly more than last time but again nothing that would spoil your day I wouldnt say! There were alternatives e.g. Fresse closed so you could come up from Val Claret via Bollin then Tuffs!
Meanwhile Ben was skiing with his friends from Village again - I saw him bomb past at about 100mph on the way to the petit cross with his group and then Olivia was on Club all day including lunch at a restaurant on the mountain - she loved the burger they were given! In the afternoon she had the Flèche GS race on the Raye stade. It wasnt her best day but she got the silver time... a couple of the kids got the gold time but those were both the boys in her group. She was reasonably happy with the result but hopefully next time she will get the gold time.
After work Clare was off to do the torchlit descent - apparently it was the iciest she has ever seen it... in fact I have heard from a few colleagues who were less than impressed with the conditions up there. Glad I was doing kid duty at home.
So im rather tired this evening so will sign off for now.
TTFN
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@Steve Angus, Interesting that the courtesy van situation was brought up at the recent town council meeting. I’ve seen the police at the bottom of the La Daille gondola twice recently trying to control the problem and persuade the drivers to use the area across the bridge near the Funival instead. Tonight I counted 8 vans at the lift pass office waiting for clients plus a further 4 at the Roséé, add in the inebriated from the Folie plus the totally gormless it is chaotic around 5pm.
Also thank Clare for her patience and valiant attempt with our guests over the past few days.
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| muppet wrote: |
@Steve Angus, Interesting that the courtesy van situation was brought up at the recent town council meeting. I’ve seen the police at the bottom of the La Daille gondola twice recently trying to control the problem and persuade the drivers to use the area across the bridge near the Funival instead. Tonight I counted 8 vans at the lift pass office waiting for clients plus a further 4 at the Roséé, add in the inebriated from the Folie plus the totally gormless it is chaotic around 5pm.
Also thank Clare for her patience and valiant attempt with our guests over the past few days. |
Thanks - have passed that onto Clare. Had a nice chat with D in the bus yesterday when bumped into her... small world not only Ayrshire but Girvan at that.!!! haha!
Re the vans.... yes the area over the bridge is not that convenient for most people thats the issue! It is getting out of control down here you are right.... and then the gormless on top with the Folie lot - it is pretty bonkers you're right! On the gormless point - there are far too many in general... I always note that people come on ski holidays (im sure its most holidays actually!) and leave all common sense behind... e.g walking in the middle of the road / standing in the middle of the open door on the bus so no-one can get past... etc. Doh!
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@Steve Angus,
Plenty of gormless seasonnaires if I recall, especially trusitiferians or workers straight out of fee paying schools. Many seemed to think that they'd do what they like & everyone else would work around them. Perhaps that'd been their life experience until then. Admittedly some of them were somewhat near normal.
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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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Cold again
It was all systems go this morning (and for some reason I hadn't slept that well last night for some reason!) as Clare was working all day, Ben needed to get to kids club and Olivia to ski club. Actually on days like this its not too bad as Clare is up slightly earlier and we get ahead of the game early!
Anyway I dropped Olivia and headed to the meet point. It was chilly this morning - coldest day of the week by far but it will get warmer slightly moving forward. My am slot was a guy that I actually taught last year - he is here on the corporate trip again with his insurance company. Last year was his first time ever skiing and I had him for one lesson last year (his corporate trip is 3 days long) and got him on the big magic carpet. So today we headed up and worked on the big carpet once again. Sometimes people just struggle with co-ordination and all the elements needed to turn... and of course the brain thinks it knows better. So there was a lot of body twisting and leaning into the turn which we needed to correct. After a couple of hours we had made good changes on the carpet (that first hour is great when there is no one about and we go lots of laps in). Later on it got busier but he also got a little tired. Ultimately we finished a little earlier as he was tired. He / we hope that we might get up Madelaine tomorrow but I know that the brain trying to do the right thing might get in the way. Time will tell.
I took lunch at the Sun Bar again watching the mens Super G. What a race that was.... well done to Jack and Mark Tilston his coach - another great British skiing export!!!! I met with an old school friend of mine I have only seen once in the last 25 years for lunch with his wife at Sun Bar. It was nice catching up and hearing his news. I dont think his little 4 year old by the sounds of things was having much fun in the ESF pen in Tignes unfortunately!
Anyway the afternoon I had my seasonnaire team. One couldnt come for some reason, one had a poorly knee (!!!!!! - I told her she needs to get it checked out as her description of what happened to it (pain and then the pain quickly disappeared) is not a good sign) and then 3 of the others needed to leave after an hour or so. Anyway there had been a lot of talk that the seasonnaires wanted me to get them down the Face for the first time... they only wanted to do it with me as they trust me to get them down it. I explained that it was not a good time (yet) to do it as it is very icy out there... so lets hope the weather is good and we get one more chance at it after half term when the last session happens.
Yea so I think at the moment the pistes are getting jolly icy out there - firm is an understatement. As we move into half term I think there could be some nasty accidents happening out there - slow it all down folks and take a chill pill!
At the end of the day I skied down to La Daille and briefly saw Graham Bell. I guess he is doing some guest coaching here or something. Living off his famous name! Good luck to him.
Clares mum arrived for 10 days today too... so with Olivia back from club (she was doing stubbies today so loved having her shin guards on) and I collected Ben from kids club it was off home and much excitement and some presents all round! All good!
Tomorrow I am only teaching in the morning then doing some admin in the afternoon before half term madness starts.
TTFN
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@Steve Angus, good to catch up with your thread again. I’ve been in the Dolomites on the 2 Bashes.
Picking up on how icy you say it is in Val D and Tignes. I realise I may be comparing apples and pears, but there’s been virtually no ice out here around the Sella Ronda area. That’s despite temperatures being consistently below freezing throughout and down to about -17c at the lowest.
The iciest situations have been the exit from some chairlifts and village streets, some of which are treacherous.
Is piste grooming deteriorating in Val D’Isere? Do they think a degree of iciness helps maintain the ‘tough and challenging’ brand? Is it just the local microclimate?
My impression is that ‘high levels of iciness’ is pretty high up on the reasons people don’t enjoy their ski trip and may be reluctant to return.
Oh and well done to Olivia and Ben, who are clearly going to be leaving you behind on the slopes soon 
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You know it makes sense.
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@PeakyB, Two things come to mind. Race prep on Face for eg. And the torrential rain a few weeks back.
Over the last couple of weeks the Face has been as slick as I can remember it. If you ride up the Olympic gondola later in the afternoon and look at the first steep pitch (below Lemmings Leap) you can see large patches of blue ice glinting in the sunlight. Rhone Alps was also much more of a challenge.
Combine these factors with high skier numbers (90% capacity in January), I don't the standard of Piste bashing is an issue. You can push some snow back over the ice, but it isn't going to stay there with thousands of skiers on the hill.
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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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| GeorgeVII wrote: |
| ...And the torrential rain a few weeks back. |
Mostly this, the warmer conditions / high freezing level for the early season coupled with large amounts of precipitation. Rather than lay down a good base of snow, a thick layer of ice has been laid down instead. As you rightly point out, large volumes of traffic, again driven by poor conditions in lower resorts have only added to the situation. Even the best efforts by the pisteurs will quickly get scraped off.
The reds down into Le Brev in Tignes are the same at the moment in places.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@PeakyB,
Lots of people with poor technique leads to the snow being scraped off the pistes - often leads to the 'best' snow being at the sides of the pistes.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Fri 10-02-23 18:11; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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PeakyB - thanks. No dont think grooming getting worse in Val. Nothing about maintaining a tough and challenging brand no. And no to the microclimate! Yes ice certainly puts people off thats for sure. And yes they will be leaving us behind all too soon. Haha!
GeorgeVII - yes both those things will have had an impact! But as you say the numbers of skiers is the biggest factor ultimately!
NoMapNoCompass - yup!
but I think Kenzie you are the closest.
I know I am not the most eloquent person when it comes to writing and to be honest would love to write my thesis (preferably in the Summer when I a) have time and b) people could read it and we could have a proper discussion about it) on something like that... I have theories but then again it ties in to my overall impression and thoughts on how this industry is developing / changing etc. But anyway (and please try and link my thought pattern together where my words fail me) here goes.
Ice is ultimately there because the groomed snow has been scraped away.
Its been scraped away because numbers of slope users on the mountain.
Its worse in certain locations and altitudes and this is partly because of the rain / snow limit we had and temps etc.
Snow grooming is snow grooming at the end of the day.
But certainly if technique is not strong enough a skier users the second half of the turn to 'control' speed and direction.
People often attracted to Val / Tignes etc by the 'badge of honour' and the so called challenge of the pistes...
... and crucially this doesnt mean their up to that standard.
With a high price tag of the resort there is often plenty of 'all the gear and no idea' going on.
Its not helped with 'keeping up with the Joneses' going on and the 'blind leading the blind'.
Add in a bit of bravado / testosterone and everyone trying to outshine each other no matter their standard and you get a perfect storm.
You could call it a case of 'victim of own success' I suppose.
But all in all if you want my candid opinion I think if the industry could stop portraying itself as it does (how many people decide they need 5 different types of ski / get so brand or kit obsessed in the belief that spending £1000 on the very best ski suit but after one lesson decide that they will hack their way down a red run is sensible / go-pro's on selfie sticks / 'how many km's you have skied before lunchtime' app's!), take a deep breath and actually 'chill' somewhat everyone would stop trying to charge around out of control like a bunch of idiots scrapping the snow off. Dare I say and without sounding a little bit like an old man but the carnage created by nightclubs on the mountain etc dont help!
So getting back to the original point about why is it icy out there... well 'we' all help create that ice in some small (or not so small) way or another - and potentially without even coming to Val d'Isere.
I could go on
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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.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Are the hard packed runs just down to meteorology? The comparison made above is with the Dolomites. Most years the western alps receive far more natural snow than the Dolomites. That snow comes off the Atlantic and can sometimes be rather wet particularly if mixed with rain. When it gets compressed it tends to squeeze out the air but traps the water which can turn to hard pack, particularly on steeper slopes where it get scraped.
In the Dolomites the skiing is predominantly on artificial snow. As long as the snow is made in dry air and it doesn’t subsequently rain it seems to provide a dry surface that persists into the season. It takes an edge rather well and doesn’t seem to get icy? The Dolomite resorts piste their slopes every night using the milling rollers on their ‘Badgers’  one of the reasons they might do that is to put air back into the piste surface to prevent compaction ?
By the end of the season their snow must have rather a lot of wax in it !
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| Peter S wrote: |
Are the hard packed runs just down to meteorology? The comparison made above is with the Dolomites. Most years the western alps receive far more natural snow than the Dolomites. That snow comes off the Atlantic and can sometimes be rather wet particularly if mixed with rain. When it gets compressed it tends to squeeze out the air but traps the water which can turn to hard pack, particularly on steeper slopes where it get scraped.
In the Dolomites the skiing is predominantly on artificial snow. As long as the snow is made in dry air and it doesn’t subsequently rain it seems to provide a dry surface that persists into the season. It takes an edge rather well and doesn’t seem to get icy? The Dolomite resorts piste their slopes every night using the milling rollers on their ‘Badgers’ one of the reasons they might do that is to put air back into the piste surface to prevent compaction ?
By the end of the season their snow must have rather a lot of wax in it ! |
Wow quite intriguing!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Peter S wrote: |
Are the hard packed runs just down to meteorology? The comparison made above is with the Dolomites. Most years the western alps receive far more natural snow than the Dolomites. That snow comes off the Atlantic and can sometimes be rather wet particularly if mixed with rain. When it gets compressed it tends to squeeze out the air but traps the water which can turn to hard pack, particularly on steeper slopes where it get scraped.
In the Dolomites the skiing is predominantly on artificial snow. As long as the snow is made in dry air and it doesn’t subsequently rain it seems to provide a dry surface that persists into the season. It takes an edge rather well and doesn’t seem to get icy? The Dolomite resorts piste their slopes every night using the milling rollers on their ‘Badgers’ one of the reasons they might do that is to put air back into the piste surface to prevent compaction ?
By the end of the season their snow must have rather a lot of wax in it ! |
Wow quite intriguing!
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@Steve Angus, thanks for your fascinating answers about the ‘iciness’ issue. It seems to have prompted a good debate with other snowHeads too.
Every cloud has a silver lining. The private medical centres must be raking in the money.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Just catching up on the blog. Interesting on the scraped pistes. I’m a snowboarded and having tried to learn to ski recently it’s much easier to snowboard the 2 hr joke made me laugh. It’s very true the ‘ can get down it mentality’ on one edge.
I do always think as I go down the side of a scraped piste on my snowboard I’m helping redistribute the snow back to the centre of the piste!
I was in flaine a few weeks back and did notice they hadn’t posted everything overnight. I don’t think their logic works though as people just stay off those pistes and go to the groomed ones so I don’t think that logic works ! We just thought they were cost cutting!
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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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The get down it mentality exists at all levels, not just boarders. Last week we were out with a group of friends of mixed ability. My self and my wife are intermediate/advanced who are trying to improve our carving as stuff get's steeper. We had an instructor for a few days and had some really rewarding sessions bringing on our technique. By contrast we have some friends who are only interested in the blacks and not the 'easy blues and reds'. They get down those blacks stemming from edge to edge with regularly stops, no interest in getting better. The success of their trip is measured by the number of blacks runs, kms skied and of course, max speed. I despaired.
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PeakyB - there is a lot of money being made by the docs yes - even today I spotted 3 blood wagons coming down from Solaise ALONE before 1100!
therock - yes if you scrape the snow back to the centre always helps... I dont think skiers or boarders in particular are responsible for pushing the snow to the side! Just think Flaine will have a plan as to which to piste and which not too! Well hopefully.
NoMapNoCompass - FOR SURE it exists for skiers and boarders alike totally!
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You know it makes sense.
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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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Interesting situation in La Daille this afternoon/evening.
Twenty plus police were stationed at the Funival bus stop/van stop and every transfer bus entering town was pulled aside and a sniffer dog was then sent through the luggage compartment (couldn’t see if it was also sent in amongst the passengers)
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Poster: A snowHead
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| muppet wrote: |
Interesting situation in La Daille this afternoon/evening.
Twenty plus police were stationed at the Funival bus stop/van stop and every transfer bus entering town was pulled aside and a sniffer dog was then sent through the luggage compartment (couldn’t see if it was also sent in amongst the passengers) |
Hmmmm interesting. Obviously decided want to keep the resort a lot ‘cleaner’ this year or something!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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| Steve Angus wrote: |
as usual had an amazing lunch at L'Armailly - always good in there.
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Indeed, a properly run family restaurant, great service, value & actual real french food (surprisingly rare round these parts). It's gone straight into our top 3 this season (other two being Pignatta & Triffolet, since you ask).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Steve Angus, great photos! 
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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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I’ve come back to reading this. *Many thanks* for the local commentary and resort colour since you’ve started writing. We’ re on our fourth family (my fifth) trip to Espace Killy and reading these write ups makes me feel like know the place even more than just as a 1 week/year skier now.
On the police front. We are in the PetV at La Daille and shared a lift with some Gendarmes today going up to see about a call they’d had. Very strange.
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Ah ha. P&V La Daille. Hope you’ve a bigger place to live in than the tiny box we’re stuck in. Gendarmes were going up to floor 4 at 3.15 when I called it a day (the first to last lift life left me a long time ago). Right hand lifts block. Not your floor I suppose.
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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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Hi guys. Sorry been a bonkers day today culminating with dinner out at their hotel with my HT family so in a VERY rare occurance won’t make a post this evening. Hope to ‘catch up’ tomorrow evening. Sorry.
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Never any need for you to apologise, Steve.
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FAQ
