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

Wow. That looks the bizz! And you guys look more than a little bit good! :lol: I love the Movement skis. What model are they?

I am sure snowcrazy will post more later but it snowed a lot last night and this morning i had the pleasure of skiing around the Grand Col. The black was fresh powder and then after a few runs the powder had become skied out.. so we went down the side of the black and for the first time i have skied in powder that was mid thigh deep :lol:
Great day every where just hope the rest of the week will be the same.
Fallen in love as well...movement jam's they do everything..powder carve ice although only found a few runs with any icy bits but not enough to moan about. - ski to buy if i was going to invest in any ski's.

Skied the Movement Buzz in Tignes and loved them. They took my off-piste abilities up a notch or two. I also couldn't believe how responsive they were on piste for 99mm underfoot. What's more, they were 185cm long and went between the trees just as easy as my 170cm AMC76's! I'm seriously considering buying a pair but I'm tempted to 'go the whole hog' and get the 110mm Trusts.

What a day! Right now the weather conditions seem to be changing all the time! A bit of blue sky, then fog, then low cloud, light snow, then heavy snow! Cold!

Got up early to find the weather had closed in overnight. I still headed up to the 'Red Bull' Linecatcher event to meet up with some of those competing and get there opinions on the area being used for the competition and take some photos.

After taking a look from lower down at the area of the bowl, it was clear with such poor visibility that the event was unlikely to go ahead today and taking photos was a none starter.

I went back up to the top of the Arpette and spoke to a few people. Quote " Oakley from the USA (Ranked 5th in the Free Ride World Tour last year) said the area was great and if the event can take place it should be possible to pull some sweet moves."

Other competitors echoed his opinion, so despite the poor weather following the course inspection earlier most seemed very happy with what Les Arcs had to offer for this event.

Having had another short ski off the top and back up Bois d' l'Ours Chair I then attended the briefing where it was announced that the event was now being postponed, but hopefully would take place on Wednesday. This has yet to be confirmed due to the current weather conditions.

I thought my new Salomon Rocker 2 skis were big ( I love them), but looking around outside the pisteurs hut on the Arpette ridge where everyone was crammed inside for the briefing. The size of some of the skis was well over 122cm under foot. Off piste backcountry riding really has changed since I first started on my slalom skis. Am I really getting that old.

Having heard the news that the event was being postponed. I headed over to Bar King Mad in Arc 1800 for a coffee down the pistes which were in excellent condition after the fresh snow and then to visit a friend before heading home via the Altiport just as the lifts were closing. Although most of the day was taken up with the Linecatcher event, I did manage a few runs down through the trees above Arc 1800 in the fresh powder and across the meadows in Arc 1600 on my way home.

Take a look at the photos I took today in the Jan 2013 Album Two on my Les Arcs Winter page to see the change in the weather from yesterday.

I hope conditions improve tomorrow!

Todays photos.


Looking down towards Arc 1800 and the valley below.


Looking down towards Arc 1600 and Bourg St Maurice below.

snowed all day today with mixed visibility and clouds moving in and out of the ski area. slopes fairly empty all day...maybe due to the weather but should there be such a thing as a fair weather skier?
What an amazing afternoon--about 3pm the sun came out and the slopes were almost empty..found a red run with only a few tracks in about 4 inch of fresh snow spent most of the last 2 hours off piste between the reds down to 1800 and still found virgin areas of snow...cant wait for tomorrow...

Not had to wait for a lift anywhere in 3 days and never had to wait for a table at lunchtime..hotel we are in still has 75% of its keys behind reception...we feel as though we almost have the resort to ourselves. and last lift out of 1800 is now 16:55 so long days to ski although it is almost dusk at that time..last lift i got today was at 16:40 just didnt want the afternoon to end..

MongulMonkey. pleased to read you are having such a fun time. If you fancy meeting up for a drink or maybe even a ski, send me a PM. Always good to put a face to an online name.

Powder! Powder! Powder!

We could not see much up high on the mountains today as you will see from some of the pictures, but when we skied down from the Arpette Chair to look at the Linecatcher Course from the bottom of the bowl to skiers left of the Bois de l'Ours Chair the powder was great. Having shown the others where the Red Bull Finish marker was located and the couloirs where the competitors plan to ride just about visible though the clouds we headed down to the Marmottes Chair and then up the Varet Gondola. No racing today due to the weather so not much point in hanging around.

They say the Linecatcher competition might take place tomorrow morning if the weather improves. One thing is for sure, there is plenty of snow for the event this year.

Once up at the top of the Varet lift we skied down to Arc 2000 in poor light, but on great powder well up to our knees. We then decided to head towards the trees where we could see better and made a route called the Par Avalanche down the ridge from the top of the Lanchettes chair and into the forest above Villaroger. The snow down this route was in excellent condition and we could see most of the time.

Once we arrived at the forest we realised we were in for another amazing powder day. Everywhere we went the light fluffy powder was up to our knees or higher and most of the time there were very few tracks.

It kept snowing lightly most of the day, but that did not spoil the fun. We just kept on going until the legs ached and the stomachs cried out for food and water.Time for a break at Le Ferme. After a good lunch, back up again to continue the fun. After several hours we finally had to head for home.

Back up top towards Arc 2000 and then down the right hand side of the Droset piste Nature in more great snow and up the Comborciere chair. When we were sitting on the chairs we started to realise just how protected we had been in the forest. It was very cold and windy.

After our good byes we split to leave for home and a well earned rest before we begin again in certain powder tomorrow morning. AND maybe if the weather man gets it right, blue sky. We did not use many pistes today, but those we did were in excellent condition after the fresh snow of the last few days had settled.

If you are interested in seeing the photos from today. Take a look at the Jan 2013 Album Two on my Les Arcs Winter facebook page. Enjoy!


The photos I like the best today!


In the forest the powder was great

!
Coming down towards Pre Saint Esprit in the powder was very good as well.

Blue Sky and Powder up above your knees, what more can you ask for. Well maybe that it could be a little warmer. It was the coldest day so far this season, but then that is what has kept the snow so good.

Went up today and headed straight over to the 'Red Bull Linecatcher Competition'. Now that we could see the course, it did look rather hard!!! Stayed there taking photos until my fingers could take know more and then headed to the Aiguille Rouge for some back country riding.

For those interested in the event today, take a look at the photos I have posted in the Jan 2013 Album Two on my Les Arcs Winter page, it was quite impressive. Sam Favret from Chamonix won with Parker White taking second place on the podium followed by Nicolas Vuignier in third. Many of the riders now move to Courmayeur this weekend for the World Free Ride Tour and in Chamonix the following weekend. Well worth watching if you are out on holiday in either of those resorts.

Now back to today. When we reached the top of the Aiguille Rouge we headed over to one of the higher couloirs and had an amazing ride down the steep gully onto the wide powder fields below. After a great ride all the way down to Villaroger making our own fresh tracks almost the whole way we headed back up to do it all again by another route. We did this three times, 'no time for lunch on a powder day'. Each run down was by a different route mostly on untracked snow, although I did manage to hit a few rocks with my new skis (very sad!).

After three great runs we headed down through the forest to Comborciere Chair and then down another Couloir (renamed Paulie's Couloir!, he knows why!!). Finally we headed over to the Altiport for a drink before heading home through the meadows of Arc 1600 in more untracked snow even at 5pm. What a day!!

The bad news, sorry no photos of the places we went today. After taking the shoots of the competition my camera did not like the cold weather anymore and refused to work for the rest of the day. The battery was dead, I hope after I have recharged it tonight it will be OK.

Another POWDER Day is promised for tomorrow!! I am very happy!!


The Bowl area.


Looking up at the whole area they used. (not mine)

SC great photos of the Linecatchers.
Went up to Aiguille Rouge today and and the middle gondola station there was a sign warning of extreme temps, -20C and -33C with wind chill..trust me it was bloody cold.
Strange day today..sunny high up but snowing at 1600 so spent some time down there but went via malgovert red Natur - what a brilliant area and hardly touched by others - loads of fun in and out of the trees.
Cant tell you how much fun these conditions are though:-) and it looks like more snow over the next few days too.