Monday Night Snow set to continue…

Snow this afternoon, in to the evening and looks set for tomorrow morning too. Big flakes and remaining cold so should be the real light fluffy stuff in drifts high up.

Snow showers possible on and off through Tuesday & maybe Wednesday.

Thursday looking like the best sunny day of the week before more snow coming in on Friday and in to the weekend.

Night Webcam views below, Powder Rules will apply tomorrow…. Go hard!

And Saturday’s Video Snow Report…

First pictures from the new logo event last night

The new logo below:

Snow Forecast Saturday 21/3 – Especially PM

It’s looking more and more like significant snowfall this Saturday, 21 February 2015 (especially pm) and probably for Tuesday & Wednesday next week too.

There have been so many poor forecasts this season already when expected snow hasn’t materialised – or is it just the mass smart-phone forecast general summaries that everyone is looking at (and posting on social media) that just makes it feel that way?

This time however there is a much more solid front pushing in from the Atlantic with a much more Southerly direction and only a day or so away so looks like it won’t break up and spin West like so may previous systems have (the Tuesday / Wednesday weather front could still do this).

So Snow Chains / Tyres advised for Saturday arrivals but on the bright side it should be great skiing next week… Believe…

Video Snow Report from Thursday’s Logo Launch and the Torchlight Descent

La Tania Resort Logos – A New One Revealed Tonight…

The new La Tania logo is revealed tonight (Thu 19 Feb 2015) with a special evening of entertainment, ski show, tourchlit descent, fireworks and music.

There’s been a few over the years – anyone got any others?

And a new ice sculpture revealed today too!

The other formats of the logo shown below.

Video Snow Report & Another Poor Forecast

T Wall reporting from the La Tania Stade at The Gus Cup on Saturday.

The 3 Valleys has 100% lifts & pistes open but once again the predicted snowfall at the weekend failed to materialise as only some snow showers for short periods occurred.

While some Western and Southern Alps enjoyed decent amounts of snow the fragmented weather fronts hitting the Savoie area meant snowfall varied in intensity. This seems to have been the case many times this season and “Have you seen the Weather Forecast”? becoming a bit of a joke among some locals.
Read more

Snow coming in now… & tips for half term

Snow started around 9:30 this morning on a grey poor visibility day in La Tania. After a week of sunshine no one is complaining though but one of the busiest transfer days of the season may see some travel disruption.

So a decent top up of snow this weekend is promised although different forecasting models are giving mixed results. Not looking like too much snow today and clearing up early tomorrow morning but by mid afternoon on Sunday there could be heavier snow right in to the late evening – could be a significant fall too. Further snow showers are in the forecast Monday & Tuesday but probably with breaks of sunshine as the front breaks up, swirling in from the West.

The weather pushing in from the Westt – temperatures around average for the time of year should keep the snow/rain level below resort.

100% lift and piste opening in The 3 Valleys – just the odd reserved competition piste closed. Here comes half term everyone… Good Luck!

Ski early, ski through lunch, (have a late lunch), ski 1650, ski La Masse and ski Folyeres in the middle of the day. Think about possible bottlenecks at peak times, remember there’s nearly always an alternative route except out of the 4th Valley and St Martin 2.

Enjoy, and Go Hard…

Snow and Opening Update plus Latest Video Report

Great skiing last week and on Saturday the return of blue skies and sunshine – see the video report above.

Last weekend’s snowfall has now been managed and pistes manicured… Just about 100% open in the Courchevel Valley now. The only marked pistes closed are Grand Couloir and Mur plus the Stade runs reserved for competition use only. All 53 lifts running except for Stade drags, with Gros Murger drag in La Tania running now and even the piste down to St Bonn is officially open.

A huge swath of green across the Three Valleys Map now, Meribel 100% open even the lower Villages run down to Les Allues is open and the Belleville Valley also all open – only a couple of temporary delayed opening of lifts due to mechanical / maintenance issues.

High pressure is keeping clouds in the lower valley areas once again today – makes for some spectacular photos though and feels great to be up high in the sunshine and out of the murk…

A Night in The Saulire Cable Car or the Ultimate Party – Courchevel Madness!

Courchevel has always been full of extremes from the smoothest perfectly groomed green runs to The Grand Couloir, snack bars to Michelin Star restaurants and now a room for the night in the Cable Car and another ultimate party…

Airbnb are offering the chance to win a night in the Saulire Cable Car that will be transformed in to a proper hotel room – and surely the chance of first tracks from the top in the morning (although they don’t mention that!). To enter click here at https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/4596095 and tell them in 100 words or less why you’d like to spend a night there.

Meanwhile another huge party is being planned in 1850 – looks like this could beat the bash that the Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk held in 1550 (where the new Aqua Centre is being built) back in 2010. No doubt it wll be all over Hello Magazine etc in the coming days and already freelance photographers are closing in… So far confirmed sightings and/or social media postings of Madness, Jessie J and Simple Minds playing!

The new 2015 Escapade – In a Day Possible?

Above is the new 2015 Escapde – note Mont Vallon and Le Praz (and no La Tania as that’s not needed as we start from there anyway – and we invented the Escapade in a Day – the history here)

Full Size Map of the new Escape here

Looks impossible at first look – but here’s an email we received… GOOD WORK!

Hi Toffa

We thought we might let you know about our first attempt at the 2015 Escapade today. We’ve done the previous full version a couple of years ago, but noticed that this year’s route seems a fair bit harder due to slight variations such as additional checkpoints in La Praz and on top of Mont Valon. Given the extra time required to do the route, and the fact that the piste and weather conditions haven’t been great this year we thought we’d report on our successful single day attempt (although with a couple of caveats mentioned below)

The attached image is a (rather scrappy) version of our route. I’ll do a better one and email it over at some point. Our final lift was the Foret lift in Le Praz, which we arrived at 5 minutes later than the official close time. We had to use some heavy persuasion on the guy manning the lift in order for him to let us through.
We also “cheated” in a couple of places where the check point on the map is shown as being at the bottom of a lift. We interpreted this as meaning that we had to visit the bottom of the lift, rather than actually travel up it. Therefore we went through the gates, but skipped out going up the lift, saving valuable minutes. We did this at Dent de Burgin and Plan de L’Eau. You’ll also note that the route we did starts in 1550, which makes for an even earlier start!

I’m sure that later in the season, once the lift times change and the weather conditions improve, the route will be possible even without our “cheats”, however with conditions as they are at the moment, this is the best we think we can manage.

We’re popping down to the lift station tomorrow to pick up our certificates and badges (if they are still doing them). The three successful route runners were (left to right): Aidan Dickson, Ben Waterworth and Claire Brown.

Cheers

Aidan