Val D’Sur Arc 3-20-2025

Sbooker

Well-known member
Best day ever as the kids say.
I think the title gives away what we did today. We had a fast piste ski down to La Daille and then a bus ride to La Fornet. A series of lifts took us to the top of the Val side. From the Montet drag lift we traversed toward the Pays Desert area and then hiked up over the Col de Ouille Noire. Eain said he “sells dreams and adventures and sometimes pain”. The hike wasn’t that hard but at 3300 metres it was a physical 40 minutes. One of the Brits said he was “sweating like a cornered nun”. :)

Once at the top we could see what the effort was for. We were about to ski 1400 metres decent down a pristine valley to Bonneval Sur Arc in the Maurienne Valley. Euan promised perfect winter snow and interesting terrain and eventually perfect spring snow. He delivered. The skiing wasn’t hard as it was generally rolling and gullies with some skiing through rock structures.

After a picnic lunch down the bottom of the valley we arrived at Bonneval Sur Arc ski area and paid for a lift ticket at a negotiated price of 20 Euro. We needed the ticket to get to the top of the resort for a helicopter to collect us to go back to Val D’Isere. Does a few runs at a ski area qualify me to put it on my list?

The heli flew us back to the pad at Solaise area of Val. That was about 4pm so we skied the pistes back to Tignes.

The cost of the guide and heli was 300 Euro for the day. Great value in my opinion.

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^ The view from the top.

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After the gully through the rocks the orientation changed and it was lovely corn.

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It flattened out as we got lower and went alongside the creek.

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^ A few little huts along the way.

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^ Bonneval Sur Arc in the distance.

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^ Glacier above the ski hill.
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^ Down the valley toward La Grave and Alpe D Huez apparently.
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^ Some fast chairs and nice terrain.
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^ The dam at Tignes in the distance.
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What a fantastic day and an excellent itinerary!

Col de Ouille Noire. You were not far from the notorious (for the Tour de France) Col de l'Iseran. Bonneval Sur Arc in the Maurienne Valley is beautiful and remote.

I knew Heli-skiing was not allowed in France, and I assumed you were going to Italy. However, a ski tour with a heli-bump for the return is an interesting caveat.

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The cost of the guide and heli was 300 Euro for the day. Great value in my opinion.

Are you sure? ;) A bad day in the US Industrial Ski Complex costs $ more.

And if you want to get on a helicopter (or snowcat) in North America, you better lock in your reservation 12-18 months prior, sacrifice your pet/firstborn, deposit $1k+, and pray that the weather, sun, and snow are not awful.
 
Looking at your return to Solaise pics triggered a memory/comparison.

Snow depth in 2025. Tunnel visible.
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Snow depth in Jan 2018 - Tunnel completely buried. My brother in front of me.
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I didn’t realise this year had been that lean.

Winter 2017/18 was a 'best' in 20 years or so. This winter 2024/25 will likely come in a bit below average.

It was not buried last January 2024, which started off very strong.
 
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Clearly, what Sbooker and his group did is allowed but where in the bullets below is the exception that a copter can transport recreational users from one ski area in France to another? I recall seeing a landing pad at Bonneval sur Arc and assumed it was only there to transport injured skiers to hospitals but apparently not the case.

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Clearly, what Sbooker and his group did is allowed but where in the bullets below is the exception that a copter can transport recreational users from one ski area in France to another? I recall seeing a landing pad at Bonneval sur Arc and assumed it was only there to transport injured skiers to hospitals but apparently not the case.

That is just some ChatGPT Pro response to a prompt. I could chase it down to almost make it say anything - or get an exact answer.

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A Follow-up

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ChatGPT gave another negative response - serving up two. Remarkably, an AI tool can be as sophisticated as a French ski guide (as long as there is not too much bad data out there on the Internet).
 
You never know when AI is hallucinating though. Seems "obviously" legal since people are doing it, but I always check the AI source documents (if it even mentions any) for these type of queries. AI seems to want to give people the answers it thinks they want and then either finds it naturally in its database - or makes it up on the spot to please the question asker.
 
Does a few runs at a ski area qualify me to put it on my list?
Yes. The day I would count as 1/2 day Bonneville sur Arc and 1/2 day Val d'Isere because you skied at both areas, but in total it was one day of skiing.

But looking at those pics, it was all about the quality no matter how you add it up!
 
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