Les Arcs Season Thread. (Where you can ask questions on Les Arcs , La Plagne or chat)

Another few days in the powder. yesterday was very good, but with poor light and vis in and out all day. Today was blue sky, little wind and great snow. The recent snowfall has freshened up the pistes very nicely and made the off piste really fun.

After our trip down the North face of Bellecote a few days ago, we have skied all over the Les Arcs and La Plagne areas and although the queues have been quite bad, the snow is good and today we were still able to find space to put fresh powder lines. There are patches of hard compacted snow where many people have skied and coming into lifts and main stations there are still icy patches to watch out for, but over all the conditions are a great deal better than in the past weeks and those coming out this weekend should have a good week.

Roads are clear and you can drive right into resort stations without the need for chains right now.

TODAY was a good day to get across to La Plagne. The crowds have left for a day, but the roads are very busy tonight and the trains to Bourg have been in chaos after an electrical cable came down on a railway line.

The pistes over to La Plagne from Les Arcs 1600 were good. Those over in La Plagne were good in the morning, but on the way back to the VE they were quite hard packed and icy.

The off piste down to Champagny from the Roche du Mio was very good as was the area down to the Bellecote Chair and the Froilin Bowl tour. Loads of places to put fresh tracks and with the new snow arriving again, another chance to do it all after the weather settles down.

Tomorrow is forecast to be bad weather in the morning and then improving. Hope so!!

Coming to Les Arcs in April....first week...is it better/cheaper to wait and buy K2 misdemeanour skis there or better to buy them in UK before we leave?

Jublu wrote:Coming to Les Arcs in April....first week...is it better/cheaper to wait and buy K2 misdemeanour skis there or better to buy them in UK before we leave?

Not sure about prices in Les Arcs, but Sport Conrad have the Miss Demeanor for €199 Euros right now..

http://www.sport-conrad.com/page/product-detail/__/shop/prod/1486

I've ordered skis from them recently and they are top notch 8)

Jublu, just depends how much stock they need to sell off. End of season can be really good or not much better. Up to you if you prefer to wait or buy now. Sorry, not to much help.

TODAY, well this afternoon for a while!!

About 15cm of fresh snow last night and more to come so they say. At last there was enough snow to take the board out for a ride. Tree runs were the order of the day. Poor vis everywhere so waited till lunch time to go up. Still poor vis but the snow is great and I did not hit anything under the snow for once. Stayed around the Arc 1600 / 1800 area, but that was enough as loads of places to ride away from the crowds. Just a pity there are not more lifts in the area any more.

Came back to watch the rugby. Tomorrow should be another good powder day. Hope the clouds clear early to give some better light. Very flat and hard to read the snow today, but still loads of fun and we do have powder again at last. If you can get out here at short notice, now is the time to come. Just a pity about the crowds.

The new snow has arrived. About 25cm over the last few days and due to the cold temperatures it is staying fresh and light higher on the mountain.

Today the sun came out and provided excellent conditions for those in the resort although it is busy on the more popular lifts and pistes.The pistes have been freshened up and although there are hard compacted areas with icy sections where many people have passed or coming into lifts, generally the conditions are very good at present and there is now a good base in most areas.

The off piste has a good 25cm of fresh snow (deeper in some places) and in the more sheltered areas where the sun has not degraded the surface, it is still light powder. In the more exposed areas it is a mix of light snow, breakable crust, wind slab, crud or becoming hard and firm. Great care needs to be taken on the steeper areas where the bonding is not very good as slides are very likely as the temperature changes.

In the last few days we have been on a variety of pistes and off piste areas across the paradiski area with both skis and snowboards. The couloirs have been excellent, although very conservative routes were taken to avoid more unstable areas. The forests are holding the snow well and it is staying light and fluffy. The larger shallow meadows have provided the opportunity to put down many untracked lines, but lower down the snow has turned quite heavy.

Overall for those coming out in the next few days the conditions are great and there is plenty of good skiing to be found on and off piste.

Take a look at the pictures in the photo section of my facebook group page to see what we have been doing. (Should be online later tonight.)

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=134900026541300&v=photos

Today was another one of those great powder days.

After skiing across various pistes in Les Arcs and spending some time at the GMX (Skicross competition, French Under 14 National Champs) we headed into the National Park to find more untracked powder.

First, the Champs are an open event for any kids under 14 years of age (there are two age group categories for boys and girls) and the standard was very high. Take a look at a few pics on my facebook group page. Hope to see some British kids in the event next year. Finals tomorrow.

Now for the main part of the day. Most of the pistes lower down near to the stations that we skied are becoming hard and compacted with some icy patches starting to appear again. The blue runs, whilst well covered in most places, need to be skied with great care to avoid catching an edge. Higher on the mountain the pistes are better, but with the heavy usage this week, all runs are now very well skied and many of the piste natures have moguls.

The off piste areas near to the pistes, whilst well tracked do have a better surface and provide good fun for practising those turns and moves you might need in more difficult terrain.

If you take a guide and are up for a challenge, then away from the pistes with only a little effort you can still find great untracked powder for long stretches. Take a look at the photos of todays trip to see just how good it can be (link below).

For those coming out this weekend, although there are plenty of people about, it is still possible to ski to almost every part of the Paradiski area and the snowparks, boardercross, luge, skicross, air bags, piste natures and waterslides are all great fun so you should have a good week.

Blue Sky day! I do like 'change over' days, no crowds. Wanted to get across to the Bellecote without queuing. After a busy lift out of Arc 1600 we headed over to the VE with quite a few locals all heading up to the Bellecote. Managed a good run down the back of Roche du Mio on the way and then a warm up run back down the Bellecote Bowl before heading over onto the North Face.

Had hoped to do the Cairn or Canadian Couloirs but when we had a look, both looked wind swept and had slabs or breakable crust in places after the recent avalanche so decided to play it safe and went down the Petite Face Nord. Well tracked, but still fun with very mixed snow conditions.

Had a nice picnic and a drink at the bottom, chatted with two local guys, one pisteur and one Ski instructor that had done the Pente du Grand Nant, one of the hardest routes on the north face, serious respect to them. Chatted on the bus with friends who had done the Moyenne and Grande Couloirs who confirmed the snow conditions were not that great. Then headed back across Les Arcs and home after a stop at the Altiport to watch the fun at the waterslide and catch up with others that have just arrived.

A fun day out, with good weather, ok snow, but not powder and quiet pistes. More to come tomorrow.