I was driving along the A9 back to Geneva from Zermatt yesterday. It was nice to see the 4 Valley’s Rhône Valley facing slopes all looking white. Looks like next week could be tasty as well.
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?
Good news today with the symbolic first spade in the ground for the new lift running between Verbier’s Essert/Planards and the summit of Savoleyres. It’ll be built over the next two summers.
The finished route will comprise a hybrid of 10-person gondolas and chairs, replacing the bus from Carrefour to the Chalet d’Adrien roundabout and the ancient gondola up from there to Savoleyres. There will be a new run from Carrefour down to Esserts.
What’s not clear from the press release is how people going from La Tzoumaz to Ruinettes will get from Esserts up to Mayentzet, or even if that’ll be possible. The topographical map shows that Esserts and Mayentzet are both at around 1730m, but traversing this would be on the flat for about 600 metres, which is quite a long way to pole it.
In recent years, the run down to Carrefour-Mayentzet from Savoleyres has often seen the avalanche gate shut, forcing skiers to turn right and ski down to the road above the learner slopes. You then either get the bus up to Carrefour, or continue across the learner slopes, across another road, then down through a narrow route through chalets to a drag lift up to Mayentzet via a rope-pull at the top.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@LaForet, This is a real game changer – particularly for those of us who base ourselves in Nendaz and have quite a treck at present to the La Tzoumaz sector. We were discussing this on our 4 valleys whatsapp group when you posted and I was saying similar things to you.
I can see where the bottom and middle lift stations are. You ski down from Les Ruinettes and the new piste will take you to the left of Carrefour Restaurant and to the left of Rte de Golf. The piste runs through what is now woodland and you reach the lift station before the road Chemin des Esserts (with the chalets on the other side). The middle lift station is then just the other side of the higher section of Route de Golf, close to where the bus now picks you up (I think that is where the photo in the article is taken from?).
All great news. The lift time up at just over 12 minutes compares amazingly with the current: wait for bus, take bus, get the slowest gondola in the alps.
As you say though the problem is getting back. If the Planards-Carrefour link is open then it is no problem. You can ski round to the Mayentzet chair as at present. However, as you also say that route seems to be closed more often than it is open. The avalanche risk of the face above that piste is always going to be high. I am not sure there is much (anything) you can do about that. So it might be you ski down to the new mid-station and get the bus back to Carrefour as at present (the other route you describe probably takes longer and is not the most interesting stretch of skiing to say the least). What I would love would be for them to continue the piste down to the lower lift station (again it is through woods not disturbing any chalets). From the bottom lift station you could then have a relatively short drag lift running alongside the new piste to take you up to Carrefour.
I am looking forward to finding out.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Verbier at 1600 m today
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LaForet wrote:
You then either get the bus up to Carrefour, or continue across the learner slopes, across another road, then down through a narrow route through chalets to a drag lift up to Mayentzet via a rope-pull at the top.
This is the only way back up. I don’t understand why the new lift goes from the top of Les Esserts and not from Carrefour as that would solve the problem.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Anyway first world problems. First proper dump of the season for Western CH. Another one on Thursday night as is forecast and we’ll be skiing powder into town at the weekend
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
BobinCH wrote:
LaForet wrote:
You then either get the bus up to Carrefour, or continue across the learner slopes, across another road, then down through a narrow route through chalets to a drag lift up to Mayentzet via a rope-pull at the top.
This is the only way back up. I don’t understand why the new lift goes from the top of Les Esserts and not from Carrefour as that would solve the problem.
Definitely first world problems but I can’t help finding it interesting.
The lift station being at Carrefour would certainly be better for me. I wonder if they didn’t want to put it there because then the lift line would run closer to the area that is regarded as avalanche prone and which results in the Plannards-Carrefour track being closed so often. As we saw in Zermatt in 2018 when that avalanche took out several pylons and the Kumme bottom lift station in the far north of the ski area, snow is no respecter of lift infrastructure. Despite the old lift having safely sat there for 36 years when they built the new lift infrastructure they put the pylons quite a bit further up the (non-avalanche) side of the gully. Maybe with the bottom lift station at Les Esserts they think a Les Esserts to Les Planards line is less at risk from avalanche.
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.
I dug up the original public presentation from Téléverbier from way back and if it’s the route described there, then if you’re arriving by lift at Esserts (1725m) from Savoleyres, you’ll either have to walk ~300m up the road to Carrefour (1755m, so 30m higher), or there will still be a navette running the current route that will connect the two (rated at a pretty low 100 people/hour capacity). So this is effectively a missing link, if you’re on an excursion from La Tzoumaz up to Ruinettes etc., or returning and want to transit via Mayentzet to get back to Nendaz, Siviez etc.
The top of the drag lift to Carrefour will be shifted to the right about 7m and those coming up the drag from central Verbier will loop ‘round to the right and back underneath the drag in a tunnel, onto a new piste that will run down to Esserts.
The original presentation had one route option going to Carrefour, higher up than the one to Esserts. But the problem seems like it needed more, closer pylons in the woods above Carrefour; building in the woods would be more difficult and disruptive; and it would have to traverse the road to Croix de Coeur and so have to be higher. So all- in-all, would be more difficult and expensive.
Perhaps they’ll put in a short button lift between Esserts and Carrefour? No doubt we’ll find out eventually.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I've just had a report of people skiing down to Le Chable today - that's a lot of snow!
Does anybody know what's happened to this snow table webcam (https://www.teleport.io/feed/zrrxhkayanlbdg8zudsm)? I was looking to see if anything worthwhile fell overnight and the table is ... gone. Checked the history and you can see it getting removed on Monday
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
hold_my_biere wrote:
Does anybody know what's happened to this snow table webcam (https://www.teleport.io/feed/zrrxhkayanlbdg8zudsm)? I was looking to see if anything worthwhile fell overnight and the table is ... gone. Checked the history and you can see it getting removed on Monday
I guess the camera was broken as the images over the weekend were washed out. I’m sure they’ll replace it
After all it is free
After all it is free
under a new name wrote:
@BobinCH, didi you have a lot of wind during the storm? As usual you seem to get more accumulation than we do.
Yes there was a lot of wind with the snow last Thursday. Windward ridges were scoured but the right leeward slopes were delicious
Skied the Savoleyres sector today (Fri 13 Dec 24). From the PoV of a piste skier it was all pretty good conditions. No ice and no worn spots. Packed base. On the balcony temps were -1.6C last night, 4.5C this afternoon. Pretty quiet, other than various of the ski instructor schools out and about in groups.
View from Savoleyres looking towards the Vallon d’Arbi.
More runs open in this sector than at this time last year, which bodes well for Christmas and the New Year. As ever, though, a bit of topping-up would be useful. Forecast is for possible light snowfall tomorrow afternoon and Friday.
One tip: Pre-Christmas, don’t assume that a lift is active just because it’s running. They’re obviously setting things up at the moment, and seem to be running lifts to check on them, which can be misleading, especially if there are off piste skiers on associated runs.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Sat 14-12-24 10:03; edited 1 time in total
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Light snow overnight, with more light snow this morning and now quite heavy snowing at 1500m.
I also read an update on improvements to the Savoleyres sector for 2025/26 - they will be renewing the Tournelle chair on the south-facing side of Savoleyres, and there is also a plan to ‘replace and extend’ the Etablons chair which runs from the parking/roundabout and baby slope at La Tzoumaz-Etablons up to just above Chez Simon.
Today (14.12.24) there’s a big equipment trial event at Savoleyres, which might be interesting if any if you are in Verbier today.
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.
kitenski wrote:
@BobinCH, where's the real Bob on skis gone???
Snowboarders want you to make the track, clear the slabs and then grab the glory
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
There's been a lot of snow in Nendaz, conditions were such that the lifts were closed yesterday, back open today but the link to Verbier etc. still closed. Good fun today!
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Definitely first world problems but I can’t help finding it interesting.
