Who is going skiing and where 2015?

Who is going skiing and where 2015?

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feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Wednesday 17th December 2014
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cptsideways said:
For those thinking where to go, shortly Val Thorens had excellent snow last week compared to everywhere else, it was about 80% open, excellent base conditions & fresh powder just last week.


If I was deciding where to go that would be No1 on my list
And this is Val Thorens this evening. It's coming down there too.


timlongs

1,718 posts

178 months

Wednesday 17th December 2014
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5potTurbo said:
My daughter's on a school ski trip in Les Arcs this week. There's not much snow. Sorry for thise heading away for Christmas, but unless there's a massive dump of snow soon, you're hiking.
I live in Les Arcs...

We just had a big dump and they're working mega hard to get as much as the resort open for this weekend. I'm confident everything will be fine smile

brickwall

5,192 posts

209 months

Wednesday 17th December 2014
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Well I'm off to the Portes du Soleil soon, but not holding out for much snow there. Ho hum.

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

197 months

Wednesday 17th December 2014
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feef said:
And this is Val Thorens this evening. It's coming down there too.

Looks amazing

feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Wednesday 17th December 2014
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brickwall said:
Well I'm off to the Portes du Soleil soon, but not holding out for much snow there. Ho hum.
Did you not see my post earlier? It's coming down.. How soon is soon? I'm out in 10 days and I'm hopeful

//j17

Original Poster:

4,471 posts

222 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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prand said:
I've decided that from today I'm not going to ruin my Christmas moping around looking for non existent snow reports and just wait till the day before before deciding if I need to pack any ski gear!

Even though we're driving I don't fancy the idea of scratching around the area trying to find a patch of skiable mnountainside with everyone else, our very small kids will make this very stressful and complicated, but I do home they get to have a play in the snow at some point, even if we don'a actually get much skiing done.
There's snow up in Avoriaz that shouldn't be at risk of melting/rain so either get the free bus or drive to the free car park at the bottom of the Prodains gondola and take that up so the young ones can play in some snow. Take your (possibly bananna-hammock - it IS France) swimware with you and more time can be passed in the Aquariaz water park, which should be another good child distraction.

Personally I'd take the free bus as world+dog will be trying to get up to Avoriaz to ski and the car park at Prodains will fill up very quickly!

feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
quotequote all
//j17 said:
prand said:
I've decided that from today I'm not going to ruin my Christmas moping around looking for non existent snow reports and just wait till the day before before deciding if I need to pack any ski gear!

Even though we're driving I don't fancy the idea of scratching around the area trying to find a patch of skiable mnountainside with everyone else, our very small kids will make this very stressful and complicated, but I do home they get to have a play in the snow at some point, even if we don'a actually get much skiing done.
There's snow up in Avoriaz that shouldn't be at risk of melting/rain so either get the free bus or drive to the free car park at the bottom of the Prodains gondola and take that up so the young ones can play in some snow. Take your (possibly bananna-hammock - it IS France) swimware with you and more time can be passed in the Aquariaz water park, which should be another good child distraction.

Personally I'd take the free bus as world+dog will be trying to get up to Avoriaz to ski and the car park at Prodains will fill up very quickly!
The Aquariaz is okay with swimming shorts, no need to pack the budgie smugglers.

prand

5,910 posts

195 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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//j17 said:
There's snow up in Avoriaz that shouldn't be at risk of melting/rain so either get the free bus or drive to the free car park at the bottom of the Prodains gondola and take that up so the young ones can play in some snow. Take your (possibly bananna-hammock - it IS France) swimware with you and more time can be passed in the Aquariaz water park, which should be another good child distraction.

Personally I'd take the free bus as world+dog will be trying to get up to Avoriaz to ski and the car park at Prodains will fill up very quickly!
Oh that's great, thanks for the advice,thumbup If Les Gets & Morzine is completely snow free, it's good to know there is a plan b and an option of getting the kids onto some skis somehow. It's going to be hectic I imagine though. Not quite the relaxed trip I had in mind, oh well, welcome to the huge faff that is skiing little ones, there will be more good times than bad I promise!

Not sure if there is a direct bus from Les Gets to Prodain, which won't be fun changing in the centre of Morzine with the hordes of people with the same idea, plus I have heard that Prodain is pretty hellish even at the best of times.

I guess we could also try Ardent if it has reasonable snow up at that level (I've stayed in Montriond before and Ardent was a handy lift with a big car park to get up to the Lindarets ski area). Again, I'd imagine, like you say, the world and his wife, kids and dogs will all be thinking the same thing, we'll have to be getting up early to get a parking spot.

A taxi may be a good idea too.

And you just reminded me about packing my budgie smugglers for France too, a great excuse to annoy my wife and give them an airing! EDIT - I don't need them after all, boo! smile

Edited by prand on Thursday 18th December 11:26

feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
quotequote all
prand said:
//j17 said:
There's snow up in Avoriaz that shouldn't be at risk of melting/rain so either get the free bus or drive to the free car park at the bottom of the Prodains gondola and take that up so the young ones can play in some snow. Take your (possibly bananna-hammock - it IS France) swimware with you and more time can be passed in the Aquariaz water park, which should be another good child distraction.

Personally I'd take the free bus as world+dog will be trying to get up to Avoriaz to ski and the car park at Prodains will fill up very quickly!
Oh that's great, thanks for the advice,thumbup If Les Gets & Morzine is completely snow free, it's good to know there is a plan b and an option of getting the kids onto some skis somehow. It's going to be hectic I imagine though. Not quite the relaxed trip I had in mind, oh well, welcome to the huge faff that is skiing little ones, there will be more good times than bad I promise!

Not sure if there is a direct bus from Les Gets to Prodain, which won't be fun changing in the centre of Morzine with the hordes of people with the same idea, plus I have heard that Prodain is pretty hellish even at the best of times.

I guess we could also try Ardent if it has reasonable snow up at that level (I've stayed in Montriond before and Ardent was a handy lift with a big car park to get up to the ski area). Again, I'd imagine, like you say, the world and his wife, kids and dogs will all be thinking the same thing, we'll have to be getting up early to get a parking spot.

A taxi may be a good idea too.

And you just reminded me about packing my budgie smugglers for France too, a great excuse to annoy my wife and give them an airing!
Don't need budgie smugglers in the Aquariaz, shorts are fine.

For the bus from Les Gets, you will need to change in Morzine. The Balade d'Aulpes bus runs from St Jean d'Aulpes via Montrionde and Morzine to Les Gets and back again. In Morzine, you have the option of the free wally-wagon/little diesel-train which shuttles around the town center and will drop you at the bottom of the Super Morzine bubble, or the shuttle bus to Prodains and the new cable car up to Avoriaz. If you're coming with kids and looking for easier terrain, then I'd suggest the Super Morzine routes as the slopes between there and Avoriaz are quite wide and gentle and tend only to get busier towards the end of the day when they become a route back to Morzine. However, as you'll need to get back to Les Gets, there's a good chance you'll be gone before they get too busy. I believe they've also replaced the dog-slow Serrausaix chairlift for this season so that should reduce bottlenecks too.

SilverSixer

8,202 posts

150 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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Off to Jahorina in Bosnia in February. Will be my third trip there. Brilliant conditions (usually) and dirt cheap - lift passes for a family of 4 for a week were €120 last time I went (Feb 2013).

Marcellus

7,111 posts

218 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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Morzine have just announces they will not be opening this weekend.

Edition87

582 posts

138 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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Me and the mrs off to Tignes 27th to 3rd.

Im a little worried theres not much snow about frown the resort webcams all look ok, but ive read there are only about 10 runs open all up at the glacier? frown

cptsideways

13,535 posts

251 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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Edition87 said:
Me and the mrs off to Tignes 27th to 3rd.

Im a little worried theres not much snow about frown the resort webcams all look ok, but ive read there are only about 10 runs open all up at the glacier? frown
I was there last week, that was case until Saturday when they opened loads more up, its fine now though

a311

5,789 posts

176 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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Was coming down quite hard in Tignes Le Lac today by all accounts.

Managed a few hours very enjoyable skiing this morning. The snow/cloud kept coming and going but the viz was generally good.

Following taken from Snowheads-very good resource for those who haven't heard off it.

1. It is going to be busy next week. Def busier than a normal xmas week as all the TO's will be filling their chalets & hotels with guests from lower resorts without any snow.

2. TO's/ski schools are currently transferring clients into Tignes from other resorts & I am sure this will continue next week. I saw a few ESF instructors from St Foy today.

3. The links between Val D & Tignes are open although at the moment you have to download into Val. Hopefully after this weekends World Cup race the Verte piste into La Daille will open but I do not think Santons has enough snow yet for direct access to Val D. Piste H into Val Claret is open & Trolles is nearly ready to open. Trolles is not going to be the easy black it normally is as the last section is narrow.

4. The pistes are going to vary a lot from v good soft snow to man made hard packed snow. If you want some control ditch those fat skis & get something with some shape to help you grip/turn wink

5. The offpiste is surprisingly good but you need to watch where you are going as there are lots of rocks/hollows/streams/paths etc still showing.

6. all the nursery slopes in Tignes are open.

After all the above please come, enjoy yourselves & have a good holiday. At least you will be skiing whilst unfortunately others will not be.


feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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There's enough snow in Tignes to cause an avalanche today:

http://www.ledauphine.com/savoie/2014/12/18/avalan...

Only 20cm deep, but enough to bury a couple of folk. All survived thankfully, but take care.. I know with the snow coming down at last we've got itchy ski boots and want to get out there, but the risks are still very real

prand

5,910 posts

195 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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Sounds like Morzine & Les Gets have just announced they will not currently be opening any pistes for Christmas. Avoriaz are tightly restricting lift access to those already purchased and those staying in Avoriaz & Morzine.

I really feel for those going for Christmas week on Saturday, weather is forecast to be very mild, so I guess I'm lucky I've still got a couple of weeks to go till 3rd of Jan when there's still a chance there may be some new snow and colder temps.

feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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prand said:
Sounds like Morzine & Les Gets have just announced they will not currently be opening any pistes for Christmas. Avoriaz are tightly restricting lift access to those already purchased and those staying in Avoriaz & Morzine.

I really feel for those going for Christmas week on Saturday, weather is forecast to be very mild, so I guess I'm lucky I've still got a couple of weeks to go till 3rd of Jan when there's still a chance there may be some new snow and colder temps.
Got any links/references regarding the restrictions?

And to confirm the situation in Les Gets at least, a friend of mine has just had his lift-passes refunded. He's driving out tomorrow. :S

Forecast is going downhill again. Another dusting due over the weekend, but then temps rise again next week. Currently been raining in Avoriaz itself.



Edited by feef on Thursday 18th December 21:08

lemmingjames

7,433 posts

203 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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Welshbeef said:
feef said:
And this is Val Thorens this evening. It's coming down there too.

Looks amazing
Are you here Feef?

ITs been snowing in VT for the past few days, fairly non-stop but today it was raining on the lower levels and stinging snow on the higher runs. However, tomorrow is meant to be a sunny day so should be good.

It could just be the amount of students here this week, circa 3k, but some of the runs have been stupidly over-packed. They do seem to have been keeping some of the runs closed ready for next week though

feef

5,206 posts

182 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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lemmingjames said:
Are you here Feef?

ITs been snowing in VT for the past few days, fairly non-stop but today it was raining on the lower levels and stinging snow on the higher runs. However, tomorrow is meant to be a sunny day so should be good.

It could just be the amount of students here this week, circa 3k, but some of the runs have been stupidly over-packed. They do seem to have been keeping some of the runs closed ready for next week though
I'm not, no. I'm still in the UK, heading out to Avoriaz soon tho. I've got a friend who's in Val T at the moment, and it was his photo.

The Moose

22,820 posts

208 months

Thursday 18th December 2014
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We're off to Les Crosets just after Christmas. Fingers crossed for a bit of snow!