Who's going skiing and where? 23-24
Discussion
cashmax said:
Well pretty epic powder day in Les Arcs today. A good 8-12 inches of the new white stuff in the last 24 hours and closed lifts and poor vis stopped much action yesterday.
Today had great conditions, although sadly, I experienced my first avalanche. 3 of us skied to a slab that was unstable, the edge fell off and we decided to go back. I had no choice but to turn, which unfortunately cut off the slab and the whole thing went. Upto my arms, stopped 5m short of a big drop off onto rocks. Nothing anyone above could do because they were still on what was left of it.
Took me 10 mins to dig myself out enough to move and then another 10 to slowly get across away from the drop off.
The experience will make me take more time to assess risk in the future and all in all was pretty scary.
All followed up by an all mighty screw up in the afternoon, which saw 3 of us having to walk out of a 1.2km vertical drop on fixed skis, no cell service and took us 5 hours of walking, with 3 of those hours having to make first tracks.
Having said that, even after a decade around Les Arcs, we are still finding new routes and some amazing terrain.
Bloody hell Today had great conditions, although sadly, I experienced my first avalanche. 3 of us skied to a slab that was unstable, the edge fell off and we decided to go back. I had no choice but to turn, which unfortunately cut off the slab and the whole thing went. Upto my arms, stopped 5m short of a big drop off onto rocks. Nothing anyone above could do because they were still on what was left of it.
Took me 10 mins to dig myself out enough to move and then another 10 to slowly get across away from the drop off.
The experience will make me take more time to assess risk in the future and all in all was pretty scary.
All followed up by an all mighty screw up in the afternoon, which saw 3 of us having to walk out of a 1.2km vertical drop on fixed skis, no cell service and took us 5 hours of walking, with 3 of those hours having to make first tracks.
Having said that, even after a decade around Les Arcs, we are still finding new routes and some amazing terrain.
! I’m not sure I’d have started the post with ‘epic powder day’. I think I’d have majored on got caught in an avalanche and thankfully survived with my life to tell the tale, and if that wasn’t enough had a 5 hour walk-out. And I mights have ended with BTW there was powder. Glad no injuries…or worse.
As it was there was some freshies in Heavenly today, ended up snowing all day but not much more than a few inches. But with the wind it was blowing into some reasonable stashes here and there.
I’ve had these new skis (Scott AM92Ti) all year and to date only really found crud, slush, ice, boilerplate and even some grass. They certainly power through the junk, do great solid monster fast carved turns but they need quite a bit of input to get the best out of them. I see some skis described as playful or lively…these aren’t! I’d say more ‘clinical’. But today for the first time I lucked out on some fresh snow and even with just a couple of inches they just transformed and came alive
Probably not wide enough for bottomless powder, but for powder over a harder base (which is typically the powder I can find as I only ski lift served) they shone . Much happier with them now. timlongs said:
I've been sat in the inversion all morning - I assume it's belting sun up there!
Pretty glorious, tbh!Some interesting “halo” over the Grand Col yesterday!
@tvrolet: Is it an age/experience/habit thing that mean you don’t wear a helmet?
I’ve no doubt you are an excellent skier, but surely the risk is from other “less excellent” skiers?
Talking last night with an experienced pal of ours: he was wiped out earlier this year, & maintains he likely wouldn’t be here now if he hadn’t worn his helmet.
When we started we just had the woolly hat for a couple of seasons. Then since the kids had to wear them, we felt we should lead by example…immediately felt much safer: I file it in the same category as seat belts: why wouldn’t you!
cashmax said:
Trash_panda said:
cashmax said:
Well pretty epic powder day in Les Arcs today. A good 8-12 inches of the new white stuff in the last 24 hours and closed lifts and poor vis stopped much action yesterday.
Today had great conditions, although sadly, I experienced my first avalanche. 3 of us skied to a slab that was unstable, the edge fell off and we decided to go back. I had no choice but to turn, which unfortunately cut off the slab and the whole thing went. Upto my arms, stopped 5m short of a big drop off onto rocks. Nothing anyone above could do because they were still on what was left of it.
Took me 10 mins to dig myself out enough to move and then another 10 to slowly get across away from the drop off.
The experience will make me take more time to assess risk in the future and all in all was pretty scary.
All followed up by an all mighty screw up in the afternoon, which saw 3 of us having to walk out of a 1.2km vertical drop on fixed skis, no cell service and took us 5 hours of walking, with 3 of those hours having to make first tracks.
Having said that, even after a decade around Les Arcs, we are still finding new routes and some amazing terrain.
Im guessing airbags or just lucky? How far did you slide and pictures?Today had great conditions, although sadly, I experienced my first avalanche. 3 of us skied to a slab that was unstable, the edge fell off and we decided to go back. I had no choice but to turn, which unfortunately cut off the slab and the whole thing went. Upto my arms, stopped 5m short of a big drop off onto rocks. Nothing anyone above could do because they were still on what was left of it.
Took me 10 mins to dig myself out enough to move and then another 10 to slowly get across away from the drop off.
The experience will make me take more time to assess risk in the future and all in all was pretty scary.
All followed up by an all mighty screw up in the afternoon, which saw 3 of us having to walk out of a 1.2km vertical drop on fixed skis, no cell service and took us 5 hours of walking, with 3 of those hours having to make first tracks.
Having said that, even after a decade around Les Arcs, we are still finding new routes and some amazing terrain.
I was very lucky because there were perhaps 8-10 others above me, waiting to cross. I shouted to them that the snowpack was unstable, just as the slab gave way. They didn't move a muscle until I was clear, if they had, it would likely have released the rest that would have covered me and potentially put me over the edge.
Photo taken by one of the others waiting, as ever, doesn't really show the full picture, but gives an idea and you can see the chunked up slab bits.
As for grand col - were you skiing down towards the refuge? In theory you can ski out from below there (I've never done it, even when I skied Mont Pourri in covid winter I skinned out from the refuge to Grand Col) but it would have been a s
tter yesterday. You made the right decision. If you have skins there is an amazing little ski tour that starts on the way down to the refuge from grand col then takes you up onto the shoulder.Anyway, glad you're ok. Reading reports of LOTS of avalanches in the Haute Tarentaise yesterday, so I think complicated snowpack and first proper bluebird day caused some interesting decision making across the board.
A friend was buried last year whilst skiing with 2 pisteurs in Les Arcs. He had an airbag on too. Was under over a metre of snow for about 9 mins. Pulled him out with no heartbeat but luckily brought him back. Ever since then I've basically semi-retired from skiing off piste. If pisteurs can make bad decisions with a s
t load more knowledge than me, then who knows how many bad decisions I've made and got away with. 
My opinion on off piste skiing is stark, but I'm a surgeon and we are a self believing group of opinionated asshats
Skiing off piste is like mountain climbing. You take the risks and your family and friends suffer.
Why?
People die every year doing it.
Everyone thinks they are safe and well prepared.
The mountain doesn't care. It will kill you if it wants.
Foolish risk tolerance.
Opinions vary of course
Skiing off piste is like mountain climbing. You take the risks and your family and friends suffer.
Why?
People die every year doing it.
Everyone thinks they are safe and well prepared.
The mountain doesn't care. It will kill you if it wants.
Foolish risk tolerance.
Opinions vary of course
oddman said:
cashmax said:
I got caught in avalanche
There's been quite a bit of snow and, more importantly, it's been very windy.What was the avi risk posted on the day of your slide?
timlongs said:
oddman said:
cashmax said:
I got caught in avalanche
There's been quite a bit of snow and, more importantly, it's been very windy.What was the avi risk posted on the day of your slide?
Yesterday's forecast for Haute Tarentaise is here
There's a wealth of information here including the historical precipitation, the altitude of zero degree isotherm and most importantly wind strength (very high)
In that context, I'm surprised it was rated as low as cat 3.
The_Doc said:
My opinion on off piste skiing is stark, but I'm a surgeon and we are a self believing group of opinionated asshats
Skiing off piste is like mountain climbing. You take the risks and your family and friends suffer.
Why?
People die every year doing it.
Everyone thinks they are safe and well prepared.
The mountain doesn't care. It will kill you if it wants.
Foolish risk tolerance.
Opinions vary of course
Why do anything that involves risk about one's person? Skiing off piste is like mountain climbing. You take the risks and your family and friends suffer.
Why?
People die every year doing it.
Everyone thinks they are safe and well prepared.
The mountain doesn't care. It will kill you if it wants.
Foolish risk tolerance.
Opinions vary of course
Trash_panda said:
The_Doc said:
My opinion on off piste skiing is stark, but I'm a surgeon and we are a self believing group of opinionated asshats
Skiing off piste is like mountain climbing. You take the risks and your family and friends suffer.
Why?
People die every year doing it.
Everyone thinks they are safe and well prepared.
The mountain doesn't care. It will kill you if it wants.
Foolish risk tolerance.
Opinions vary of course
Why do anything that involves risk about one's person? Skiing off piste is like mountain climbing. You take the risks and your family and friends suffer.
Why?
People die every year doing it.
Everyone thinks they are safe and well prepared.
The mountain doesn't care. It will kill you if it wants.
Foolish risk tolerance.
Opinions vary of course
https://www.tetongravity.com/story/news/your-chanc...
timlongs said:
...If pisteurs can make bad decisions with a st load more knowledge than me, then who knows how many bad decisions I've made and got away with.
Reminds me of when i skied Valley Blanche back in 2018(?) with a rather elderly gentleman as our guide (he grew up there and i think one of the best Guides they had), warning of us about where we stopped and to look we hadnt stopped on a crevice etc.t load more knowledge than me, then who knows how many bad decisions I've made and got away with. Think the 2nd stop, everyone looked around about where they had stopped and yep, the guide had stopped on top of a crevice (small slit in the snow gave it away but probably not seen until you stopped on it or his stopping opened up the crevice top) so it happens to even the experienced/best of us
timlongs said:
Hey, thanks for sharing. Yes you are right - that section off Varet is normally bombed like mad. I guess that face has lots of different small changes in angle/direction so never perfect. Off piste is off piste I guess but I imagine 80% or more of people who ski down there don't have any avi gear. Did you see any pisteurs?
As for grand col - were you skiing down towards the refuge? In theory you can ski out from below there (I've never done it, even when I skied Mont Pourri in covid winter I skinned out from the refuge to Grand Col) but it would have been a stter yesterday. You made the right decision. If you have skins there is an amazing little ski tour that starts on the way down to the refuge from grand col then takes you up onto the shoulder.
Anyway, glad you're ok. Reading reports of LOTS of avalanches in the Haute Tarentaise yesterday, so I think complicated snowpack and first proper bluebird day caused some interesting decision making across the board.
A friend was buried last year whilst skiing with 2 pisteurs in Les Arcs. He had an airbag on too. Was under over a metre of snow for about 9 mins. Pulled him out with no heartbeat but luckily brought him back. Ever since then I've basically semi-retired from skiing off piste. If pisteurs can make bad decisions with a st load more knowledge than me, then who knows how many bad decisions I've made and got away with.
Saw no pisteurs, as you say most of the folks that skied in above us had no gear, but then it's normally pretty safe. Just goes to show I guess. The experience will be a learning one, I will take the time to properly assess stuff better from now on and perhaps an airbag might be on the cards. After years of skiing off piste, I would have zero enthusiasm for skiing on pistes, they just provide transit to the fun stuff for us. As for grand col - were you skiing down towards the refuge? In theory you can ski out from below there (I've never done it, even when I skied Mont Pourri in covid winter I skinned out from the refuge to Grand Col) but it would have been a s
tter yesterday. You made the right decision. If you have skins there is an amazing little ski tour that starts on the way down to the refuge from grand col then takes you up onto the shoulder.Anyway, glad you're ok. Reading reports of LOTS of avalanches in the Haute Tarentaise yesterday, so I think complicated snowpack and first proper bluebird day caused some interesting decision making across the board.
A friend was buried last year whilst skiing with 2 pisteurs in Les Arcs. He had an airbag on too. Was under over a metre of snow for about 9 mins. Pulled him out with no heartbeat but luckily brought him back. Ever since then I've basically semi-retired from skiing off piste. If pisteurs can make bad decisions with a s
t load more knowledge than me, then who knows how many bad decisions I've made and got away with. As for our Grand Col adventure, yes you are correct about the location. We skied to the hut, decided to have a look perhaps 100m below that and realised we were f
ked. Our only option to walk out, thought we were home free after we got to the top of the first ridge, but then realised we would have to traverse across that huge bowl below transarc/arcbulle and walk out from there, all fresh tracks and hugely heavy going on freeride skis.Edited to say that story about you friend sounds horrendous. I can understand why someone might reevaluate their position after that.
Edited by cashmax on Friday 5th April 18:07
Edited by cashmax on Friday 5th April 18:11
timlongs said:
Was risk 3 in Haute Tarentaise yesterday. 2/3 today with warnings of full depth slides due to the rapid warming. It's 25º in the valley today.
Pretty sure all the lifts have said risk 3 for the past month.Well,that’s it for us, the month comes to a close….
22 actual days skiing; 390km skied (I know - lightweights!); all kinds of weather enjoyed/endured; fun with several different pals over the month; many beers drunk; last one done in the sunshine for Tim’s (& Pascal’s!) Pension Fund:
Early out tomorrow, might take a drive into Lyon for lunch before stopping over near Dijon.
Fabulous month!
Warming up a lot here at 1800 now. Good luck with snow for those still heading out.
cashmax said:
Saw no pisteurs, as you say most of the folks that skied in above us had no gear, but then it's normally pretty safe. Just goes to show I guess. The experience will be a learning one, I will take the time to properly assess stuff better from now on and perhaps an airbag might be on the cards. After years of skiing off piste, I would have zero enthusiasm for skiing on pistes, they just provide transit to the fun stuff for us.
As for our Grand Col adventure, yes you are correct about the location. We skied to the hut, decided to have a look perhaps 100m below that and realised we were fked. Our only option to walk out, thought we were home free after we got to the top of the first ridge, but then realised we would have to traverse across that huge bowl below transarc/arcbulle and walk out from there, all fresh tracks and hugely heavy going on freeride skis.
Edited to say that story about you friend sounds horrendous. I can understand why someone might reevaluate their position after that.
Avalanche awareness course would be a much better investment than an airbag. As for our Grand Col adventure, yes you are correct about the location. We skied to the hut, decided to have a look perhaps 100m below that and realised we were f
ked. Our only option to walk out, thought we were home free after we got to the top of the first ridge, but then realised we would have to traverse across that huge bowl below transarc/arcbulle and walk out from there, all fresh tracks and hugely heavy going on freeride skis.Edited to say that story about you friend sounds horrendous. I can understand why someone might reevaluate their position after that.
If you're doing any more than lift accessed off piste then some hybrid bindings and skins in your pack can save a lot of hassle
cashmax said:
timlongs said:
Hey, thanks for sharing. Yes you are right - that section off Varet is normally bombed like mad. I guess that face has lots of different small changes in angle/direction so never perfect. Off piste is off piste I guess but I imagine 80% or more of people who ski down there don't have any avi gear. Did you see any pisteurs?
As for grand col - were you skiing down towards the refuge? In theory you can ski out from below there (I've never done it, even when I skied Mont Pourri in covid winter I skinned out from the refuge to Grand Col) but it would have been a stter yesterday. You made the right decision. If you have skins there is an amazing little ski tour that starts on the way down to the refuge from grand col then takes you up onto the shoulder.
Anyway, glad you're ok. Reading reports of LOTS of avalanches in the Haute Tarentaise yesterday, so I think complicated snowpack and first proper bluebird day caused some interesting decision making across the board.
A friend was buried last year whilst skiing with 2 pisteurs in Les Arcs. He had an airbag on too. Was under over a metre of snow for about 9 mins. Pulled him out with no heartbeat but luckily brought him back. Ever since then I've basically semi-retired from skiing off piste. If pisteurs can make bad decisions with a st load more knowledge than me, then who knows how many bad decisions I've made and got away with.
Saw no pisteurs, as you say most of the folks that skied in above us had no gear, but then it's normally pretty safe. Just goes to show I guess. The experience will be a learning one, I will take the time to properly assess stuff better from now on and perhaps an airbag might be on the cards. After years of skiing off piste, I would have zero enthusiasm for skiing on pistes, they just provide transit to the fun stuff for us. As for grand col - were you skiing down towards the refuge? In theory you can ski out from below there (I've never done it, even when I skied Mont Pourri in covid winter I skinned out from the refuge to Grand Col) but it would have been a s
tter yesterday. You made the right decision. If you have skins there is an amazing little ski tour that starts on the way down to the refuge from grand col then takes you up onto the shoulder.Anyway, glad you're ok. Reading reports of LOTS of avalanches in the Haute Tarentaise yesterday, so I think complicated snowpack and first proper bluebird day caused some interesting decision making across the board.
A friend was buried last year whilst skiing with 2 pisteurs in Les Arcs. He had an airbag on too. Was under over a metre of snow for about 9 mins. Pulled him out with no heartbeat but luckily brought him back. Ever since then I've basically semi-retired from skiing off piste. If pisteurs can make bad decisions with a s
t load more knowledge than me, then who knows how many bad decisions I've made and got away with. As for our Grand Col adventure, yes you are correct about the location. We skied to the hut, decided to have a look perhaps 100m below that and realised we were f
ked. Our only option to walk out, thought we were home free after we got to the top of the first ridge, but then realised we would have to traverse across that huge bowl below transarc/arcbulle and walk out from there, all fresh tracks and hugely heavy going on freeride skis.Edited to say that story about you friend sounds horrendous. I can understand why someone might reevaluate their position after that.
Edited by cashmax on Friday 5th April 18:07
Edited by cashmax on Friday 5th April 18:11
Hell of a walk out from that refuge without skins though! Maybe worth getting something like a pair of shift bindings and some skins, for future escapes! You've inspired me to look through our old pics of when we did Mont Pourri during covid. Started skinning at about 5am in Arc 2000... was a 2000+ uphill day!
On the way up
View from the top, 2nd highest point in the Vanoise
Fun ski out on perfect corn, with a good view to boot. Just looked back and we did it pretty much exactly 3 years ago!
Here in resort, 24C today. Lots of people touring in glorious weather.
I had some lovely, early skiing on hard pistes above Avoriaz on SL skis, arcing turns on the whole of the pistes as no-one except for the weekend race training folk were out at first lifts, and they stick largely to their slalom courses. It was soft by 0930 lower down.
Swapped to the fat, twin-tipped slush boats, and spent a happy few hours teaching the kids. That's hard work, but we could take steeper slopes as the slush was so slow. Had an excellent wipeout skiing backwards at very low speed. Can confirm that my new bindings release properly. I have video evidence of said fall, as was filming at the time...
Lovely day. Alps are beautiful in the warm sunshine. Someone remind me why I ever moved back to the UK?
I had some lovely, early skiing on hard pistes above Avoriaz on SL skis, arcing turns on the whole of the pistes as no-one except for the weekend race training folk were out at first lifts, and they stick largely to their slalom courses. It was soft by 0930 lower down.
Swapped to the fat, twin-tipped slush boats, and spent a happy few hours teaching the kids. That's hard work, but we could take steeper slopes as the slush was so slow. Had an excellent wipeout skiing backwards at very low speed. Can confirm that my new bindings release properly. I have video evidence of said fall, as was filming at the time...
Lovely day. Alps are beautiful in the warm sunshine. Someone remind me why I ever moved back to the UK?
Edited by Harry Flashman on Saturday 6th April 18:53
We left with amazing sunshine and T-shirts in the village.
My wife went swimming in the big pool in MZN, and wanted to swim outside it was so warm, but they drain it in the winter/spring for maintenance.
It was much colder in the UK when we got back and there was snow on the Fell outside my house !!
Anyhooooo the lifts/pistes close in a week or so, and 2023/2024 Alps comes to an end.
So, I've started a new thread for next year: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
pilez-vous in....
My wife went swimming in the big pool in MZN, and wanted to swim outside it was so warm, but they drain it in the winter/spring for maintenance.
It was much colder in the UK when we got back and there was snow on the Fell outside my house !!
Anyhooooo the lifts/pistes close in a week or so, and 2023/2024 Alps comes to an end.
So, I've started a new thread for next year: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
pilez-vous in....
Last day today and pistes were empty, so nice with the good weather as well …cracking hol and such a huge ski area to explore here between Les Arcs , Vallandry and Le Plagne. Will defo be returning to Club Med in Vallandry such a good setup if you have young kids and also met a few nice people over the week. Long drive back to the UK tomorrow and Monday but will have fond memories of the time here with family.
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