yeah genepi is great, total convert - can't wait to make some if I get back up this summer. finally uploaded some other pics from the other day fwiw ...and maybe my favourite lump of dodgy rock that I keep eye-fornicating:
Still pumping it down, but the wind has stopped so now it's falling in a more vertical direction in comparison to the horizontal stuff that was blowing around this morning. I think I'll be in bed early tonight, tomorrow will be very interesting.
Broke out the gopro for the first time in ages the other week too, need to refine things somewhat and behold my sucky skiing and hasty editing
A small line of ants taken when we were last there. Only 4 weeks until we are in Austria !! Woohoo !!
Jerome is big on first tram and getting down the arete quick-smart - then you can relax for the rest of the day. CG didn't even know there was a cafe up the Aiguille. The aim is to be behind the hardcore locals but ahead of the guided groups - hard to pass them on the arete.
Yeah it sucks being at the mercy of the laissez-faire organisation of a group of french guides we must have sat around for an hour before even getting in line, which by then, was huge... Bah. Was a fun day though.
That's because they don't want to get down the VB too quickly and have to go to the GM or something for the rest of the day!
Wow ... what a day!!! It started off with light snowfall and flat light ... but then the wind kicked in, clouds moved, temperature dropped, moisture was sucked out of the snow so it was absolutely delightful both above the tree-line and in the forests. Close to the best day of the season!!
Another big storm has settled in with huge snowflakes and strong winds. Snow was exceptional this morning but access has been limited by the closure of most of the upper lifts. Snow forecast this afternoon and overnight and then sunshine tomorrow.
I'm declaring today the best day of the season so far. Perfect light snow, cold enough temperatures and sunshine from mid morning onwards. I'm not so good at taking pics myself, but luckily a friend I was riding with this afternoon had a decent camera with him, and he took a few. Hopefully there's something decent amongst them that I can post in the next few days.
yeah that was my first thought although the booking is just for 1 vb descent so I just put it down to frenchness, it is charming but I was freezing my titties off standing around!
A few pics from yesterday. Snow quality was exceptional. This last one was the track of one of the locals who skinned up earlier in the day.
There was nothing wrong with your timing IMO. I'm a big fan of January. The problem this year is that we had a very unseasonably warm start to the winter, hence the better conditions have come a bit later than normal.
It certainly was bloody warm. T-shirt weather at times. Still had a bloody good time though, and that's what counts.
Quick day trip to Les Arcs yesterday to squeeze one more day of skiing in before I return home. Magic day there. Sun, cold temps and good snow. Didn't know much about the place, just chose it because it was easy to get to by train but it actually seems like a pretty cool resort. Have loved my euro ski trip and can't wait to get back and try out some more areas here.
After a couple of great weeks including the last two amazing days of sunshine and perfect light powder, it snowed again overnight and this morning, but this afternoon it all turned to shite with warm temperatures, rain at village level, heavier snow mid resort and then high winds with zero visibility above 2000m. Freezing level at 2500m tomorrow, but more snow on Sunday and into next week, so not a completely disastrous start to the French holidays this week.
It's been snowing for almost 24 hours, albeit wet heavy snow and very bad visibility. We had about 10cm at village level overnight and big snowflakes have continued to fall all day. The forecast for tomorrow is colder temperatures and blue skies.
hahaha, I had the same comment from a friend on Facebook, and the answer is that my trusty Laguna jumps trees
Now for the bad news ... a big storm came through last night and it brought with it a decent amount of snow, but unfortunately it also contained very fine granules of sand from the Sahara ... so now everything is a shade of brown/yellow. To add to the misery, the temperatures rose considerably soon after the storm, so we now have brownish yellow porridge throughout the resort.
It's indicative of the sort of season we've had so far. No two consecutive days have been the same. I've had friends here for four days, and every day they've been here has had completely different weather, snow conditions, visibility, temperatures.
Great pics and vids all, please keep 'em coming. I spent 2 weeks at Val D'isere, but based on comments and images here, I’m also kinda jealous of those who went to Cham. Not that I'm complaining mind you - cham next time We splashed out on a guide between 2 people for a full day and a half day, and did another half day in a group of 6 with 4 excellent Fins we met on the mountain the day before. The full day was the highlight thanks to the weather forecast coming in exactly as promised; about a ruler of fresh, followed by perfect bluebird, so we had the guide show us round on The Day of the trip - v. nice! My friend living in Cham put this vid together for me (even though he wasn't in the guided group). What a champion: The routes we covered: 1st half day: Col Fond Du Fours (spelling?) It had been a while since any fresh so our guide took us for a bit of a walk. A fantastic day away from the crowds into a really beautiful valley. Nothing too steep or overly exciting but a really fun half day, and even found some decent snow - pretty amazing given the conditions elsewhere at the time. Passing under the classic off piste run 'The Vale of Cugnai' on the exit our guide took the trouble to stop and explain the best way to ski it and suggested that we go and do it after he left us. We took his advice and this was a fantastic run too, and though the snow was ordinary, we got the best of it thanks to the guide’s tips. Fullday: With a ruler of fresh, our guide took us straight to the Face Du Charvet for a warm up powder blast. Although lots had already been through, it was basically an untracked powder bowl heaven – just awesome. Following that, we headed to the Bellevarde, where we climbed the final 10 minutes to reach the summit proper (also the start of the ’92 Olympic Downhill). From here we skied La Table d’Orientation (The Panoramic Table) another beautiful powder run with an interesting couloir at the top and some fantastic tree skiing at the bottom of the valley. In the video there is footage of our guide pushing off a small slide at the entrance to the couloir. Expressing a desire for some more couloir action (fun!) we then headed back to the Charvet to take on The Couloir des Pisteurs – a run that probably looks more intimidating than it actually is. This was the highlight of the day (and possibly trip) for me – just a really exciting and fun run, and in very good condition. The upper section had not filled with enough snow for skiing (shame) so we side slipped a long way to gain access before any turns could be had. Once it opened out a bit the terrain was sublime. After this fun, we switched back to powder hunting, heading over to the Le Fornet side of the mountain to Col Pers. Another superb, long and fun run, well away from the masses. Eventually we arrived back in the valley where our guide decided that we should definitely squeeze one more run in, so we hitched back up the mountain for a run down Le Grand Vallon – another classic off piste route in the area. That was a pretty full day and we were all badly in need of some hydration at that point so we legged it to the first pub we could find. Probably one of my best days ever on skis and just shows how much you get for your cash when you shell out for guides. 2nd Half Day: Not yet satisfied with what we’d had, we booked another half day for 2 of us. First up we had fresh turns in good snow down the promisingly named La Spatule (The Ski Shovel in English). Really good deep snow, but a known dangerous slope. Our guide told us a story about a guy who was buried several metres in a hole (built to protect lower parts from avalanches) with no beacon. After an hour of probing the area they found him and pulled him out unscathed – remarkable. After that we headed to the Couloir Du Chardonnets via another powder field that I’ve forgotten the name of – near the Envers De Campanules run. The Chardonnets was a terrific route, but definitely less exciting than the Pisteurs. From here we ventured over to the Aiguille Percee for a run down the Vallon De La Sache another fantastic off piste run in a beautiful valley far from the crowds. Legs were starting to burn a bit by now, but we were able to cruise over to Bellevarde for a run down Le Cairn to finish the morning – a fairly iconic route in the area, with lots of fresh powder to be had. A fantastic 3 days for sure. Can’t wait to go back to France.
