Val D’Isere 3-18-2025

Sbooker

Well-known member
Euan the guide said he was still in denial about the turn of the seasons so wanted one last chance to find us some cold winter snow. We headed up the Toviere gondola from Tignes and skied the meadows under the Tommueses lift all the way down to La Daille. There were some patches of lovely soft snow but depending on exposure some crunchy snow.
To avoid a lot of piste skiing we caught the bus from La Daille to La Fornet and caught the lifts up and skied the north facing Grand Vallons area. The snow was chopped up but nice and soft and dry. I didn’t ski it that well to be honest.
The main order of the day was to get to the top of the resort and hike to Col Pers and ski that valley. Euan found us some lovely untracked snow in a beautiful secluded valley. It was a great experience to be skiing away from the pistes. There was some hiking to get out of that valley but we eventually ended up at La Fornet for another Grand Vallons lap before an expensive lunch at the top of the tram station.
We headed back toward Tignes doing a few short off piste runs in variable snow. Another great day in a wonderful part of the world.

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^ Grand Vallons.
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^ Beautiful hero snow.
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^The exit to the valley.

Sorry I don’t have more detail. I am too busy trying to keep up to take more pics and work out exactly where we are skiing. I’m still out of my depth a bit and the variable snow brings out my bad skiing.
I’m having a day off tomorrow to go with Kylie down to Saint Foy for a casual ski day.
Euan asked if I would be up for an extra cost of 150 Euro on Thursday for “something really special”. I said I was in so I’m keen to see what he has planned.
 
Spent the 17th going over Col Pers with our guide Henry. The middle altitude section was crazy with hidden rocks though. Have to be very, very careful in that portion. Unfortunately while wifi is 'working' on flight home it is useable for text only so I'm not able to write up TR's in full with pics yet.
 
I'm jealous. Col Pers was not suitable for off piste in late January 2024 because the lower half of it would have been melt/frozen, and it's possible upper parts would have been wind affected.
 
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^That’s Euan the guide. A lovely bloke and tries really hard to show us the best snow and a good time.
 
Euan asked if I would be up for an extra cost of 150 Euro on Thursday for “something really special”. I said I was in so I’m keen to see what he has planned.

IDK - but maybe you are going heli-skiing over the border in Italy for a run/one drop? Probably creating false expectations. It seems inexpensive, too, but they might not have much business booked.
 
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Spent the 17th going over Col Pers with our guide Henry. The middle altitude section was crazy with hidden rocks though. Have to be very, very careful in that portion. Unfortunately while wifi is 'working' on flight home it is useable for text only so I'm not able to write up TR's in full with pics yet.

How did you find so many rocks in the middle of Col Pers? It's mostly a high mountain meadow. :(;):eusa-think: But again, it's the alpine, so anything is possible depending upon the line taken, wind, exposure, etc. However, I do not find Val d'Isere to be an especially rocky mountain compared to a Zermatt, St Moritz-Corviglia, Chamonix/Courmayeur Skyway, etc.

Did Henry post you guys on his feed? I scrolled through this.

I cannot imbed this properly.
 
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The snow was chopped up but nice and soft and dry. I didn’t ski it that well to be honest.

What width ski are you using? Are you on something wide enough for the spring-like conditions?

With such variable snow on the West Coast (dense powder, chopped-up powder, crud, spring, mank—anything but light powder), I am always using something fat 105 and 110. I own two pairs that differ in their flex—soft (for bumps and powder) and stiff (for everything else). However, I travel with the softer flex pattern for maneuverability.
 
IDK - but maybe you are going heli-skiing over the border in Italy for a run/one drop? Probably creating false expectations. It seems inexpensive, too, but they might not have much business booked.
One of the other fellows in the group suspects something like that. I dunno. The guide hasn’t lead me astray at any point last year or this year so I’ll go with his recommendation.
I’ve never been in a helicopter so if that’s it I’ll be happy.
 
What width ski are you using? Are you on something wide enough for the spring-like conditions?

With such variable snow on the West Coast (dense powder, chopped-up powder, crud, spring, mank—anything but light powder), I am always using something fat 105 and 110. I own two pairs that differ in their flex—soft (for bumps and powder) and stiff (for everything else). However, I travel with the softer flex pattern for maneuverability.
I’m on 102mm wide Rustler 10s and they are longer than I am. It’s not the skis. Sometimes I am making really nice turns. My skiing is inconsistent. I suspect yesterday’s inconsistent skiing may have been because my legs were a bit fatigued from the day before.
I’ve just got to do a bit more of this stuff. (Which is challenging from Brisbane).
 
Yep. I'm the first guy almost to him in the very beginning of that clip.



Henry said it has been a very wierd year for winds. He seemed genuinely surprised by all the only slightly buried rocks in the mid altitudes.
Our bloke mentioned areas of buried rocks in some of the gullies. There were a couple of spots where he stressed that we should ski within 2 metres of his line.
 
I thought I read about James having to navigate avi debris with his sore hip last year. My mistake.
That was the Tour du Charvet. A few weeks ago, I revisited the pix that Tony took of me A-framing through the debris on my hip and re-fractured femur. It hurt just to look at them.
 
One of the other fellows in the group suspects something like that. I dunno. The guide hasn’t lead me astray at any point last year or this year so I’ll go with his recommendation.
I’ve never been in a helicopter so if that’s it I’ll be happy.

The pricing works out for a heli-drop/run. Since you have the guide, it only costs chopper time.



Valgrisenche

Drop Zones / Summits = Red Squares

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The pricing works out for a heli-drop/run. Since you have the guide, it only costs chopper time.



Valgrisenche

Drop Zones / Summits = Red Squares

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I will report back in about twelve hours. I suspect you are correct. I joked with Euan that my skiing is compromised enough so the money had better not be paying for chemical additives. And my wife wouldn’t appreciate hired lady fun.
 
a heli-drop/run
We heard the fun story about France's ban on all Heli skiing. Basically a dictatorial decision by the former PM way back around 1980 or so and based on pretty much no data, just feelings. Ironically tons of helicopters were flying about the mountains on pretty much every single day of my entire trip. Just not for heli skiing purposes.
 
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