Who is going skiing and where 2015?

[DoubleSix]

Well, the euro is in a good place for those of us heading that way, best exchange rate for some years.

Glad I'm not headed to Switzerland!

[Asterix]

A trailer of the La Plagne/Les Arcs trip.

Just had a muck about on the GoPro Editor last night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-RocM81ARE&fe...

Edited by Asterix on Friday 23 January 09:48

[taaffy]

For anyone heading to the Alps this week or next then this possible forecast will provide tremendous conditions...

http://www.weathertoski.co.uk/weather-snow/

[schmalex]

Fly out next Friday for 4 days near Megeve!

[taaffy]

schmalex said:

Fly out next Friday for 4 days near Megeve!

With bells on.
Gonna have to take both piste and fat skis with me.

I'm back in Samoens next Saturday, so after the poor xmas conditions we had this should be an epic week.
Back again end of Feb and my last trip in April is to Val Thorens... happy happy happy.

[schmalex]

My only slight concern is complete whiteout conditions. I'm going with my wife and son, who are decent beginners, but struggle in flat light / whiteout.

I'm sure all will be fine, though. It would be lovely to see a 50cm / 1m dump on Friday and then decent flurries for the rest of the weekend. Equally, it might be fun to have a 2m dump on Sunday night meaning that we're stuck in the village...

[taaffy]

schmalex said:

My only slight concern is complete whiteout conditions. I'm going with my wife and son, who are decent beginners, but struggle in flat light / whiteout.

I'm sure all will be fine, though. It would be lovely to see a 50cm / 1m dump on Friday and then decent flurries for the rest of the weekend. Equally, it might be fun to have a 2m dump on Sunday night meaning that we're stuck in the village...

Yellow goggle lenses will help tremendously in flat light.

[feef]

schmalex said:

My only slight concern is complete whiteout conditions. I'm going with my wife and son, who are decent beginners, but struggle in flat light / whiteout.

I'm sure all will be fine, though. It would be lovely to see a 50cm / 1m dump on Friday and then decent flurries for the rest of the weekend. Equally, it might be fun to have a 2m dump on Sunday night meaning that we're stuck in the village...

The other concern I'd have is that with relatively thin cover and low temperatures, there may have been a layer of depth hoar developing over the past week or so, which is a rather horrid weak layer to dump 2m of snow on without some form of freeze/thaw or rain to consolidate the underlying snow pack.

I foresee a potentially risky week or two with folk suffering from pow fever and venturing out in scary conditions

[schmalex]

Agreed. I've promised them that we are sticking to green / blue runs to help them boost their confidence so, hopefully, the pistes will be OK!

Everyone is all kitted up with yellow or rose lenses for flat light. I'm prepared to invest in better for everyone if it helps them a lot.

[DoubleSix]

schmalex said:

Agreed. I've promised them that we are sticking to green / blue runs to help them boost their confidence so, hopefully, the pistes will be OK!

Everyone is all kitted up with yellow or rose lenses for flat light. I'm prepared to invest in better for everyone if it helps them a lot.

The lower beginner slopes are normally well tended and marked.

Perhaps give them some guidance on orientation in white out. Basic stuff like how to know if you are on the piste using the reflective tips of the poles that run down one side of the piste - easy to think you are on piste when in fact you are on the wrong side of the piste markers.

Basic map reading and emergency numbers saved in mobiles all sensible but often overlooked.


Right Hand Marker:

Edited by DoubleSix on Friday 23 January 12:10

Edited by DoubleSix on Friday 23 January 12:17

[schmalex]

yep. I saw, earlier in the week, that the forecast was looking interesting, so have already started planning basic safety information for them. Worst case, we'll just go sledging, build snowmen and find a nice bar!!!

[robsuddaby]

Welshbeef said:

Personally I'd be classing an intermediate skier as a confident Red skier with the odd taste of black

Beginner (as in beyond novice) should be comfortable on blues with the odd Red run to gain experiance.


Am I wrong?

Yes yes, symantics back to the point...!

[robsuddaby]

a311 said:

As for Courmeyeur half day passes are possible but you may find as I did that half a day isn't half the cost of a full day but cheap if you think how much a couple of hours in a fridge costs.

If you're not ready for reds Courmeyeur may not actually be for you as it's mostly long but wide reds. I've taught there and it's ideally suited to what I'd class as proficient intermediates, but there's very little available for progression for total beginners, the beginners area AKA 'Baby Bowl' is up the mountain which is good but from there, there are some blues that have one or two relatively steep sections in them. Courmayeur is an old area, pre where they bothered too much or had access to heavy plant machinery that could be used to 'sculpt' the mountain for pistes.

There is or at least there was a free tow in Dolonne. For reference if saying in Courmayeur proper you have to upload or download in the cable car Dolonne is a small (very) hamlet over the river from Courmayeur but has it's own gondola and you can ski right back down. For mileage hungry piste skiers you can easily ski it in a day and I think the resort are liberal with the KM's of piste so it's ideal for a long weekend or the gateway to some of the best off piste around. But if you're happy with quality over quantity, quiet pistes, with friendly and reasonably priced mountain restaurants with awesome Italian food you'll enjoy it. Day trips to other resorts in Aosta are included on you're pass and easily accessible.

thanks!

[NRS]

feef said:

The other concern I'd have is that with relatively thin cover and low temperatures, there may have been a layer of depth hoar developing over the past week or so, which is a rather horrid weak layer to dump 2m of snow on without some form of freeze/thaw or rain to consolidate the underlying snow pack.

I foresee a potentially risky week or two with folk suffering from pow fever and venturing out in scary conditions

I would have to agree, with 2m of snow deposited in storm conditions resulting in wind loading etc, on top of some hoar means the avalanche risk will be very high. I'd avoid going off-piste with that, although I suspect there will sadly be some people who don't and end up dying. Here in northern Norway we have a lot of old very hard snow with a beautiful hoar covering (over cm long crystals). Looks fantastic, but it will mean avoiding ski touring for a while after the next snowfall due to the weak layer/ nothing to bind on.

[feef]

NRS said:

feef said:

The other concern I'd have is that with relatively thin cover and low temperatures, there may have been a layer of depth hoar developing over the past week or so, which is a rather horrid weak layer to dump 2m of snow on without some form of freeze/thaw or rain to consolidate the underlying snow pack.

I foresee a potentially risky week or two with folk suffering from pow fever and venturing out in scary conditions

I would have to agree, with 2m of snow deposited in storm conditions resulting in wind loading etc, on top of some hoar means the avalanche risk will be very high. I'd avoid going off-piste with that, although I suspect there will sadly be some people who don't and end up dying. Here in northern Norway we have a lot of old very hard snow with a beautiful hoar covering (over cm long crystals). Looks fantastic, but it will mean avoiding ski touring for a while after the next snowfall due to the weak layer/ nothing to bind on.

The biggest risk isn't from the surface hoar, which is pretty, but from the depth hoar which develops where the snowpack meets the ground. You can't see depth hoar, so have no idea it's there until it's too late (unless you've been studying conditions and expect it to be there, or dig a snow pit)

[NRS]

feef said:

NRS said:

feef said:

The other concern I'd have is that with relatively thin cover and low temperatures, there may have been a layer of depth hoar developing over the past week or so, which is a rather horrid weak layer to dump 2m of snow on without some form of freeze/thaw or rain to consolidate the underlying snow pack.

I foresee a potentially risky week or two with folk suffering from pow fever and venturing out in scary conditions

I would have to agree, with 2m of snow deposited in storm conditions resulting in wind loading etc, on top of some hoar means the avalanche risk will be very high. I'd avoid going off-piste with that, although I suspect there will sadly be some people who don't and end up dying. Here in northern Norway we have a lot of old very hard snow with a beautiful hoar covering (over cm long crystals). Looks fantastic, but it will mean avoiding ski touring for a while after the next snowfall due to the weak layer/ nothing to bind on.

The biggest risk isn't from the surface hoar, which is pretty, but from the depth hoar which develops where the snowpack meets the ground. You can't see depth hoar, so have no idea it's there until it's too late (unless you've been studying conditions and expect it to be there, or dig a snow pit)

It's a bit different for us, since we have a more maritime climate than the alps. Also since it's the arctic there is very little sunlight/ strength of the sun to destroy it. That means the surface hoar is more of an issue. The depth hoar is generally easier to see if you dig a snow pit, which I would do, particularly since I have the benefit of living here and seeing how the conditions are setting up the snow pack. Last season there was a lot of this for us, but it was easy to find with beautiful perfectly formed square crystals. With buried surface hoar it's very difficult to find even with a pit because of how thin the layer is.

[taaffy]

If in doubt, stay on piste.

[//j17]

taaffy said:

schmalex said:

My only slight concern is complete whiteout conditions. I'm going with my wife and son, who are decent beginners, but struggle in flat light / whiteout.

I'm sure all will be fine, though. It would be lovely to see a 50cm / 1m dump on Friday and then decent flurries for the rest of the weekend. Equally, it might be fun to have a 2m dump on Sunday night meaning that we're stuck in the village...

Yellow goggle lenses will help tremendously in flat light.

What he said.

Having bought yellow lenses after struggling with flat light in Jan last year...followed by clear sunny days and no need of them in March I finally got a chance to compare them to the standard ones last week in Morzine and I'm glad the voice saying "it's just a con, how can they make any difference" was drouned out by the one saying "buy a new ski toy!".

When things are at their worst you only get an extra meter or so, but that's the difference between seeing that little hump that's going to try and knock you off balance and hitting it blind and being knocked off balance.

Usually things aren't that bad though and in those conditions it's like the difference on a sunny day when you ski from a sunny section of a piste in to a shaded one.

[schmalex]

I've got some yellow lenses in some pretty old Bolle goggles and they do make a big difference.

I was tempted to buy some design your own from these guys http://www.melonoptics.co.uk/ , as they seem to be pretty reasonable!

[TomCI]

Last night in Meribel tonight for another year.

Conditions in the 3 valleys have been mixed to say the least! Meribel has been an ice rink all week with the exception being last Sunday after significant snow. If you are coming in tomorrow or Sunday, get over to VT as the snow is a lot better over there although everyone else is doing the same and it is very congested. Courcheval has been a lot better than Meribel and not as busy as VT but the skiing isn't as challenging so you soon get bored.

Off piste was good earlier in the week thanks to the fresh drop but it is now crusty crud and I would stick to the pistes until the next significant snowfall. Off Mont Vallon and down to St Martins off the top of the Roc are horrible to be perfectly honest!

Forecast looks promising for next week though with a few cms expected early week then a huge dump on Thursday/Friday (c30cm both days).

Luckily I am flying out to Geneva next Saturday but haven't booked anywhere yet. Probably hit Port du Soleil as conditions look good over there at the mo. Does anyone have any contacts for a 2 bed self catering apartment there? Need availability for 31st Jan to 7th Feb.