Les Arcs Season 2014 - 2015, New Thread for this season starts on page 29.

SC..love that last photo and had to take a 2nd look - just hope he/she was OK...extreme skiing in the middle photo..

The guy in the tree was ok, if you look at the photos on my facebook page you can see the full sequence of the shoots I took.

Today!!

Blue sky and powder!! What more could we ask for!

Today we started from Les Arcs early and headed over to La Plagne hoping to get on the Bellecote, but we were out of luck, closed all day. Time to find something else to do.

Whoever thinks La Plagne has nothing to offer is very mistaken. We found untracked powder and soft snow all day.

Starting with a ride down from behind L' Arpette we rode through the powder to La Roche and then headed back up top and down the back of Les Verdons to the chair far below. Up top again and down by another route through the powder and some steeper drops to the Borseliers Chair. After a quick lunch, up to Roche de Mio and over the back for a long decent by one of the couloirs to the Bauches Chair. From the top of the Dos Rond down through the meadows and forest to the Pierres Blanches chair and one final run down to the Vanoise Express in the trees. Almost every route over in La Plagne had untracked powder and the pistes we crossed were all in great condition.

Back over in Les Arcs, a quick dash through the Peisey Vallandry forest to the Derby chair and from the ridge down the shoulder for a quick jump off the 'Big Drop' before heading to Arc 1800 by way of the forest and meadows which even at 5pm were still not completely tracked out. The pistes on the Les Arcs side were also in great condition after the fresh snow.

What a wonderful day, powder and blue sky although the cloud did come and go which caused spells with flat light at times. For those coming out this weekend, with more fresh snow forecast you are in for a great time.

Here are a couple of photos from today.


Not always scary, but still fun!


That is fun!

If you want to match up what I have written with photos of where we went today, take a look at the Feb 2013 Album on my Les Arcs Winter facebook page. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/LesArcsWinter/photos

SC...just checked out your facebook pics of feb 8th and i bet you couldnt get to sleep that night..those photos are epic!! had great fun in 1800 a few weeks go and off to arizona snow bowl in a few days net week..was planning on 1800 again in march but we got a deal in les menuire so looking forward to checking out the 3V...

COLD! COLD! COLD!

Today was great powder, but oh so cold! I managed just a dozen photos before my hands could take no more, ' - 22 at 3000m'. If you have to cope with these temperatures to be a sports photographer I think I might give up this idea.

Despite the cold temperatures we still had a great day in the powder. Started off with a warm up off the Arpette ridge in Les Arcs down a short couloir and then up the top of the Arcabulle Chair and a quick ride down the middle ridge of the Arc 2000 bowl in more powder before heading over the back of the Col de la Chal for a fun ride in mostly untracked snow the whole way to Moulin village.

Chatted with some people on the bus and quickly changed our plans. The Bellecote was open!

We headed over to La Plagne and the Bellecote bowl. Managed to get there while the sun was still shinning and had a great descent down one of the couloirs of the North Face in mostly untracked powder from top to bottom, even in the meadow near the restaurant it was fresh snow. It was such fun we are going back again tomorrow if the weather is ok.

After getting back to Les Arcs, a quick ride over to the Derby chair through the forest and down the ridge to the 'big drop'. Found some local lads taking a bit of air. Very nice!! Wish I had 15 year old knees again.

We then continued down to Arc 1800 off piste the whole way and back up the Vagere Chair. Then to the top of the Clocheret Chair and over into the Comborciere valley for a run in surprisingly untracked powder in places. Finally it was time to head for home.

Back up top and down through Malgovert and the Mont Blanc forest and then the meadows to the mid station of the Funicular and home. Another good day at the office!!

The pistes are holding up well and although becoming hard packed in the busy places they are still in great condition. There is still plenty of powder, some untracked in the off piste areas and if you take a guide there are many great places to go for that special day out.

Despite the very cold temperatures, if you dress up well, those of you just arriving are in for a great holiday. You might need chains on the smaller roads if driving out, but the main roads are clear right now.

Check out the few photos I took today in the Feb 2013 album of my Les Arcs winter facebook page. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/LesArcsWinter/photos

Here are two photos from today that I like!


One of the local lads taking a bit of air on the smaller of the two jumps back in Les Arcs! Nice!!


Entering the couloir on the North Face of the Bellecote. This one is a little steep!

Another fun Sunday comes to an end! As planned we headed over to the Bellecote bowl in La Plagne first thing this morning. The sun was out and the sky was blue, but it was freezing. By the time we reached the Glacier on the Bellecote it was -24 degrees and my hands and toes were very cold. No photos until much later in the day, I was not going to freeze again like yesterday!

After spending most of the morning and early afternoon in the bowl making various routes in fresh untracked powder using the Chalet de Bellecote chair and the Gondola, as the light was turning flat and the wind had started to blow stronger we headed back towards Les Arcs via the Friolin Bowl and the forest above Les Coches.

Despite the intense cold we had a great day and made loads of fresh tracks everywhere. Once over in Les Arcs we slowly made our way home using the Derby and Vagere Chairs.

Although most of the easily accessible off piste is well tracked in both areas, it is still soft and light. With the new snow forecast for the next few days the off piste will continue to be excellent. The pistes everywhere are quite hard packed in the busy areas coming into stations, but most other pistes are in good condition after the recent snow. There are more people about now, but so far it is still not to bad.

As I came home tonight there was light snow falling again higher up. Tomorrow promises to be another fun day although we might need to be in the trees for some of the time if the visibility is poor or there are high winds.

I only took a few photos again today. Take a look at the Feb 2013 Album in my Les Arcs Winter facebook page. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/LesArcsWinter/photos

Here is a photo I like from today!


Nice route!

Yesterday was cloudy and snowing with flat light most of the day, but the fresh snow in the forests around Les Arcs were good fun. We went to the top of the Grand Col and tied the off piste at the side, but although nice snow, gave up and went back to the piste as the visibility was just to difficult find a safe route.

The pistes back across Les Arcs to the Peisey forest were in good condition an...d once back in the trees the visibility was much better.

After a nice lunch in La Vache restaurant we made our way across to the Arc 1600 side off piste most of the way and found plenty of more fresh untracked snow. Before heading back to Arc 1950 and a drink in George's Wine Bar.

This morning it is still snowing in the valley and I have just heard they have about 10cm up top. Right now the wind is not too strong and it is around 'minus 6 degrees' at 1600m with flat light again. Looks's like another tree skiing day. If you are driving the roads down to the valley have snow on them right now and it is likely to be very icy.

Photos from yesterday and today will be posted when I get back later. Time to go.

Today was another great POWDER day!!! Tuesday 12 Feb.

It was snowing when I woke in the morning and it was still snowing when I came down at 6pm in the evening. In between we went in the powder fields under the Arpette and Bois de l'ours Chairs for a warm up, including one of the steeper small couloirs, over in the National park and down through the forests of Malgovert and Mont Blanc.

What a great way to introduce another youngster into the fun of off piste riding!! and he did very well. Kept going from 9.30 to 5pm with only a short break for lunch and only a few falls. Well done!

Everywhere we went the snow was excellent. Light, fluffy and loads of it. Maybe about 20cm of fresh by the end of the day, hard to tell, but it was up above our knees in most places and sometimes higher. You hardly ever dropped through onto the older hard snow below the surface in the off piste and the pistes were all in great condition.

The visibility was coming and going all day and we managed to find untracked snow almost the whole time. Another fun day where we covered most of the ski domain from Arc 1600, 1800, 2000 Bowl and down to Villaroger. Take a look at the photos in the Feb 2013 Album in my Les Arcs Winter facebook page if you want to see what were doing today. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/LesArcsWinter/photos

Wednesday 13 Feb. Another great day comes to an end! Went up nice and early again today. They said it would be sunny from the beginning of the morning, but it was still snowing at the top of the Mont Blanc Chair at 9.30am so we headed over to La Plagne and the Bellecote bowl. Great move. By the time we arrived via the couloir off the Roche de Mio the sun was out and the clouds were below us.

We spent the rest of the morning and the early part of the afternoon playing in the bowl, making laps and putting down fresh tracks everywhere we went. Really fun and hardly anyone about.

Around mid afternoon we went over onto the Petit North Face for a ride down in more untracked powder all the way to the Bar at the bottom and a hot chocolate before heading for home, just making the last lift out of Arc 1800 at 5.15pm.

Quite a day. Really fun and great powder again. The pistes across the whole area of the Paradiski that we used were in great condition, but with the sun coming out, it did become quite busy at some lifts with '5 to 10 minute' queues in places. Considering the number of people already out this week the pistes are holding up very well and the off piste, although tracked in the easy to reach places, is still light and soft. As we found, if you are willing to make a bit of an effort you can still find plenty of untracked powder around. We even had a chance to see a close up repair of a lift whilst sitting on a chair. These guys deserve real RESPECT!

Take a look at the photos of today in the Feb 2013 Album on my Les Arcs Winter page. Enjoy!!

http://www.facebook.com/LesArcsWinter/photos