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French glaciers - latest



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 24th 03, 06:06 PM
PG
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Default French glaciers - latest

Just heard the following from an instructor at 2 Alpes....

"Conditions are awful here, but better than Tignes, which I hear is
closed. Several other glaciers are closing and we've closed the Lauze
and the Croisiere Blanche now. They keep saying that we'll stay open but
I don't see how we can. The nursery lift is off, the snow is diabolical,
and I'm seriously considering abandoning at the end of the month. I
can't in all conscience sell beginners lessons if they have to walk back
up the slope every time on foot, and it's not very interesting for
decent skiers any more. The lower half (yes - half) of the Puy Salie is
now all moraine ice and the crevasses are opening everywhere. I've
nearly fallen into one twice in the last 2 days!"

So barring a dramatic change in conditions, sounds as if that's it for
this year on the French glaciers, folks.

Pete


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  #2  
Old July 24th 03, 06:32 PM
Ace
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Default French glaciers - latest

On Thu, 24 Jul 2003 19:23:15 +0100, "Me"
wrote:

Well - the SCGB website is reporting the snow at Tignes to be "fair". Are
they telling porkies? Hope not, I'm heading there this weekend....


Before you go I do suggest you check a) the date of the report, which
of course is just what the tourist office send at this time of year,
and b) with the resort itself, that it is in fact open.

  #3  
Old July 24th 03, 06:37 PM
Me
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Default French glaciers - latest

It's definately open, I'm booked in. The report is dated today, but hasn't
changed in the last few days. I do notice however that a fair amount of rain
is due over SE France in the next day or so. Fingers crossed.....


"Ace" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 24 Jul 2003 19:23:15 +0100, "Me"
wrote:

Well - the SCGB website is reporting the snow at Tignes to be "fair". Are
they telling porkies? Hope not, I'm heading there this weekend....


Before you go I do suggest you check a) the date of the report, which
of course is just what the tourist office send at this time of year,
and b) with the resort itself, that it is in fact open.



  #4  
Old July 24th 03, 07:47 PM
David Off
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Default French glaciers - latest

PG wrote:

Bear in mind that the original message was from someone two hours away
in 2 Alpes, so the brief comment about conditions at Tignes may have
been 'exaggerated'.


A resort employee said that they would have to remain open throughout
the summer 'come what may' as they have valuable contracts with teams
even 'if this means people skiing on a ribbon of snow at the top of the
glacier'. If they close it will cost a huge amount of money.

Here is a photo of Khamaki on the 5th of July at Tignes (this year!!!):

http://mratw73.free.fr/photos/snow/tignes/05-06-2003/600/P7054864_600.jpg

but.... a friend, Mathieu (also a buddy of Khamaki) who is there today
says the snowpark is in good state but that 'le glacier est mort pour le
ride - don't go!'.

As for the other glaciers Pete talks about, in France there is only
l'alpe d'Huez and les Deux Alpes. It seems likely that after this
summer Val Thorens and Val d'Isere will not reopen their summer skiing,
same for Verbier. La Plagne may reopen given a good winter in 2004.

david

  #5  
Old July 25th 03, 06:27 AM
PG
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Default French glaciers - latest


"David Off" wrote in message
...
PG wrote:


snip

As for the other glaciers Pete talks about, in France there is only
l'alpe d'Huez and les Deux Alpes. It seems likely that after this
summer Val Thorens and Val d'Isere will not reopen their summer

skiing,
same for Verbier. La Plagne may reopen given a good winter in 2004.

david


You mentioned via Piste Hors the sale of a resort at 1500m near
Grenoble, SW facing. I'll go halves on the 'franc symbolique' with you.
Risky though, for the '50 balles', we would probably have to pay cash,
doubt anyone would stump up a loan without security

Pete

(PS your voila account mailbox is saturated)


  #6  
Old July 25th 03, 09:34 AM
David Off
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Default French glaciers - latest

"PG" wrote in message ...
"David Off" wrote in message
...
PG wrote:


snip

As for the other glaciers Pete talks about, in France there is only
l'alpe d'Huez and les Deux Alpes. It seems likely that after this
summer Val Thorens and Val d'Isere will not reopen their summer

skiing,
same for Verbier. La Plagne may reopen given a good winter in 2004.

david


You mentioned via Piste Hors the sale of a resort at 1500m near
Grenoble, SW facing. I'll go halves on the 'franc symbolique' with you.
Risky though, for the '50 balles', we would probably have to pay cash,
doubt anyone would stump up a loan without security


http://www.pistehors.com/news/archive-2002.htm

I skied there in 1993, even then it looked pretty derelict but the
views from the slopes are really spectacular. We were actually
climbing the Tabor on skis.

At least Hannah would have priority access to the lift queues if you
were the Director Sportif :-)

Pete

(PS your voila account mailbox is saturated)


Yes if you want to know about Viagra, Penis Enlargement, Hot Russian
Sluts, Dorm Web Cams and Herbal Cures for Baldness I'm your man. I'm
about to abandon Voila and move to fresh pastures. Spam has increased
from about 5 mails a day at the start of the year to around 150 / day
now.
  #7  
Old July 25th 03, 09:45 AM
Sarah Eggleston
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Default French glaciers - latest



Me wrote:
Well - the SCGB website is reporting the snow at Tignes to be "fair". Are
they telling porkies? Hope not, I'm heading there this weekend....

Steve.


Remember that most snow reports are oversold.

I've always interpreted the "fair" description as short for
"fairly horrible".

Similarly, "good" means "just barely good enough".

Only when it says "excellent" or "fresh powder" do you know
that you have a really nice skiable domain.

That other favourite: "runs to resort open" usually means
that you should take the chairlift down at the end of the
day unless you like waterskiing.

In the case of SCGB, there is the possibility that they use
a relative scale based on current conditions in Aviemore
or Milton Keynes Snowzone, which could also explain a few
things...

-Sarah

  #8  
Old July 25th 03, 10:25 AM
PG
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Default French glaciers - latest


"David Off" wrote in message
om...
"PG" wrote in message

...

snip

You mentioned via Piste Hors the sale of a resort at 1500m near
Grenoble, SW facing. I'll go halves on the 'franc symbolique' with

you.
Risky though, for the '50 balles', we would probably have to pay

cash,
doubt anyone would stump up a loan without security


http://www.pistehors.com/news/archive-2002.htm

I skied there in 1993, even then it looked pretty derelict but the
views from the slopes are really spectacular. We were actually
climbing the Tabor on skis.

At least Hannah would have priority access to the lift queues if you
were the Director Sportif :-)

Ah, we can always dream... but no choice now, just bought a home in BSM,
so any ski-related business ventures will have to be in the Savoie at
Savoie prices, unless I can come up with an unexploited niche business
that no one has thought of yet...

(PS your voila account mailbox is saturated)


Yes if you want to know about Viagra, Penis Enlargement, Hot Russian
Sluts, Dorm Web Cams and Herbal Cures for Baldness I'm your man. I'm
about to abandon Voila and move to fresh pastures. Spam has increased
from about 5 mails a day at the start of the year to around 150 / day
now.


What? No Nigerian etc 'businessmen' wanting to make you a billionaire
over night?!) I have experimented with various addresses, and my
'disguised' ng address gets virtually no spam, unlike the one I had used
previously. The addresses which are mentioned on my websites get a
little, but by far the biggest culprit is the one I previously used
undisguised in newsgroups. Hotmail is useless. I obtained an address,
have never used it for anything, and it still gets 20 a day. My current
one for newsgroups is via my own domain (US server Hostrocket, very
cheap) where I can have a limitless number of addresses and change them
at will. There is no catchall . That way if a spam
problem develops, I just abandon the culprit address, or modify it a
little.

Another suggestion - Mailwasher. Examines all mail at your server before
you download, sorts it out as spam or otherwise, press a button, all the
spam/unwanted stuff is deleted at the server end before you download.

Pete

(Unleash the dog for direct email replies)


  #9  
Old July 25th 03, 11:24 AM
PG
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Posts: n/a
Default French glaciers - latest


"PG" wrote in message
...

snip


At least Hannah would have priority access to the lift queues if you
were the Director Sportif :-)

Ah, we can always dream... but no choice now, just bought a home in

BSM,
so any ski-related business ventures will have to be in the Savoie at
Savoie prices, unless I can come up with an unexploited niche business
that no one has thought of yet...


As it happens, I do know of a Savoie "ski à roulettes" (patent, supplier
contacts + 'goodwill', leisure grass ski market) business up for sale
for a pittance, but I get the feeling that the opportunities for
development are a bit restricted unless current conditions in the
Alps become the norm
Pete


  #10  
Old July 25th 03, 11:26 AM
Ace
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Posts: n/a
Default French glaciers - latest

On Fri, 25 Jul 2003 10:45:00 +0100, Sarah Eggleston
wrote:


snow reports

In the case of SCGB, there is the possibility that they use
a relative scale based on current conditions in Aviemore
or Milton Keynes Snowzone, which could also explain a few
things...


Heh.

But seriously, the Ski Club reports through the summer are just what's
supplied by the resort themselves - this should be clear from the
context. In the season, it's the reps themselves who decide what to
put on the report each day.

One slight problem that can arise is that the rep, generally, will be
pretty good at finding the best snow and having a blast of a day's
skiing. So the report will therefore be based on the actual conditions
skiied that day, rather than the bits that we know to avoid, however
'fair' we try to be :-}

--
Ace in Alsace - bruce dot rogers at roche dot com
Ski Club of Great Britain http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.
 




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