J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by steverandomno

Things have calmed down since yesterday and a handful of the first stage chairlifts were open. The snow that fell overnight was light and dry. Apparently the Restaurant Marine staff, in the peclet area, had to clear over two meters of blown snow this morning. Visibility was poor until midday when the sun started to shine for a few hours. Although only a few lifts were open, once you could see where you were going it was an amazing powder day. It looks like they should manage to get some of the higher lifts open tomorrow. Given that well over a meter must have fallen over the past couple of days it should be a great day tomorrow.

According to Val Thorens website, the road between Les Menuires and Val Thorens was closed all night - was scheduled to reopen at 7:30 today (now).

Wind picked up last night - walking anywhere in the blizzard was very difficult. Things have calmed down now.

Avalanche blasting can be heard roughly every 5-10 mins.

Still snowing!

I always find the most difficult part is to angulate enough to 'let the skis go' and then have the patience so that they do their job and complete a full arc. I find that each season it takes time to re-develop the flexibility to link 'properly' carved turns consistently.

The thing to remember is that the same fundamental principles apply to carving as any other turn... Centred stance, movement, turning with your legs rather than you upper body, and balancing on your edges.

It takes a lot of getting used to and isn't nearly as easy as the ski designers and marketers have every one believing.

The same company that owns Fernie and Nakiska will be buying KHMR subject to regulatory approval according to this article:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ballast-nedam-negotiates-sale-of-recreation-resort-in-canada-2011-12-16

The roads have been closed on and off for avi control throughout the day. It will probably be the same tomorrow.

Heading out for some dinner, might need crampons!

The Val Thorens website is showing 80 km winds.

We arrived in Val Thorens on Wednesday night. We only saw snow once we started to gain altitude, just past Moutiers. In Val Thorens there seemed to be a decent amount of snow for this time of the year.

Then... at about 3am Thursday morning, it started snowing and it has not stopped since then.

Most of the lifts were open on Thursday with the links to to adjacent resorts open but visibility was severely limited and it started to get windy towards the afternoon.

This morning, new snow was piled up to almost a meter and we have probably had another 30 cms during the day. All lifts were closed today except a few of the chairlifts from Val Thorens village that serve very modest blue and green terrain.

Peclet funitel and area was closed all day. A lot of the snow that has fallen has a lot of moisture and makes very heavy slabs of 'powder'. Some of the snow has been of the faceted 'ball bearing' type. The avalanche risk at the moment is described as 5 out of 5. During the day, the winds have strengthened from light, to what now sounds like a gale blowing outside our hotel window.

Visibility was extremely limited all day.

I can honestly say I have not seen so much snow fall in a 24h period.

Two weeks ago we were worried we might not be able to ski due to lack of snow. Ironically, now we cannot ski due to too much snow.

Copper was developed by Intrawest, of Whistler fame, during the boom post millennium years. Expect lost of newish buildings and modern facilities, and spacious family condominiums (often ski-in ski-out).

As Bandit says above, in the US and Canada they cater, very well for what they call 'adaptive' skiing which is what you refer to as disabled skiing. Take a look at http://www.boec.org/

The restaurants in US resorts, often as an integral part of the business model, are often of a consistently high standard. You also get the North American service culture.