Isola 2000 buying powder

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Isola 2000 buying powder

If you're passionate about off-piste skiing, only the number of descents outside the marked pistes count when choosing a ski holiday. Reserved mainly for skiers and snowboarders with a high level of technical skills and good physical condition, off-piste skiing offers the chance to discover the mountain differently: the deep mountain countryside, away from crowds and noisy ski lifts. However, not all ski resorts have a ski area that lends itself to off-piste skiing. Therefore, we selected 5 French ski resorts particularly suitable for off-piste skiing. No selection of off-piste ski resorts would be complete without the legendary ski resort of La Grave La Meije. In the heart of the Oisans mountain range, in a high altitude setting that is both majestic and intimidating, La Grave has long been THE off-piste destination in France. In fact, this resort offers only one marked ski run on its glacier, the rest is a vast powder playground with cliffs, couloirs and wide open spaces where you will leave your tracks in the fresh powder. The reason that this high-altitude off-piste ski area stands out from the crowd is that the whole area is secured. Are you ready to spend a full week off-piste without skiing on one groomed piste or man-made snow park? If you are, then La Grave is the right ski resort for you! For those who want to enjoy a real off-piste experience without having to trek miles into the wild, far from civilization, the French ski resort of Les Arcs offers an interesting combination of both off-piste and on-piste skiing. The off-piste possibilities are almost endless, but you will never be far from the marked pistes. Les Arcs is also a charming resort, with great facilities for less experienced skiers and young children. This is a very unique environment where only the best skiers and snowboarders, fully equipped with harness, ropes, shovel, probe and avalanche transceiver , can venture. Chamonix is often the choice of those who have already made the rounds of what most ski resorts have to offer in the off-piste department! Tignes is hard to beat in terms of latest alternative winter sport options. Whether you enjoy freestyle in the snow park or off-piste skiing in wild, secluded areas, you will be over the moon in Tignes. In addition to its well-known off-piste routes that can be practiced in the company of a trained guide or ski instructor, Tignes can also boast several areas dedicated to off-piste skiing within its marked ski area. These Naturides are perfect for those who want to venture off-piste for the first time and gain confidence while staying in safe conditions. Who said off-piste skiing could only be practiced in the Alps? At the top of the cable car that takes you effortlessly up to meters, several mythic off-piste routes await freeriders for more than meters of vertical drop when conditions are optimal. Being lucky enough to have parents who were crazy about skiing, my love for the mountains started when I was 4 years old on our first family ski holiday to Austrian ski resort of Obergurl. One ski holiday a year was never enough and tears rolled down my face as I looked out the back window of the car on the drive down the valley on the way home! Skip to navigation Skip to main content. Snow report. Snow Alert. Recommended choice. Book now. Quiet ski resorts in Austria: 10 tips. First Snow Falls Below 2, Metres. Buying ski boots: practical tips. How will the winter be? Search Menu. Main menu. Home Blog Off-piste skiing - top 5 French ski resorts for powder lovers. Les Arcs — great for on and off-piste skiing. Chamonix: high-altitude off-piste skiing for the pros! Tignes: off-piste, freestyle, THE alternative winter sports resort. Bareges: off-piste skiing in the Pyrenees. Ski areas. Written by Nina Jan. Written by Danielle. About Nikki Being lucky enough to have parents who were crazy about skiing, my love for the mountains started when I was 4 years old on our first family ski holiday to Austrian ski resort of Obergurl. Follow Nikki.

Fancy a quick blast? Isola 2000's got 2.3m in the village...

Isola 2000 buying powder

Registration's totally free, of course, and makes snowHeads easier to use and to understand, gives better searching, filtering etc. When you register, you get our free weekly -ish snow report by email. It's rather good and not made up by tourist offices or people that love the tourist office and want to marry it either We don't share your email address with anyone and we never send out any of those cheesy 'message from our partners' emails either. Anyway, snowHeads really is MUCH better when you're logged in - not least because you get to post your own messages complaining about things that annoy you like perhaps this banner which, incidentally, disappears when you log in Username:- Password:. Or: Register to be a proper snow-head, all official-like! Prev topic :: Next topic. Poster: A snowHead. I learned to ski in Isola so I'll always have a soft spot for it. Mainly blues and reds and VERY beginner friendly everything comes out in the green along the valley floor, so you can't really get lost. There are 3 blacks, 11 reds, 21 blues, 7 greens from m to m. I believe there's an element of off-piste too, but that's based on the opinion of an old workmate who was is a very good boarder and at a time when I could barely plough. Yes, it does have an absolute dog of a main complex building, there's no getting away from that, but it does have some reasonable accommodation C2A, PV and some nice small private chalets, and the Hotel Druos is right next to the slopes a couple of good restaurants and a couple of supermarkets. I wouldn't recommend it as a main holiday, but for a learner or an intermediate, and for a few days in the current conditions, it could be an option for a quick and easy snow fix. Besides weekends and Wednesdays local schools , it's never busy and it's the only place that I've been given free beers for ordering in pigeon French and, as a resort, it is geared up to short breaks rather than Sat - Sat full weeks. Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person. In the resort or elsewhere and drive in daily? Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? The main issue with Isola when there is massive snow is that the access road has something like 23 avalanche couloirs the most of any ski resort access in France and can be blocked several days at a time despite the avalanche protection. Auron, arguably has better off piste, Isola is very snow sure with a season from November to You need to Login to know who's really who. I wouldn't recommend driving in and back daily unless you've got a snow plough or a helicopter at the moment. If the roads are clear, it's about 90 minutes each way to Nice, but closer to two hours at weekends. The first hour or so from Nice to Isola village at m is easy enough. The stretch from Isola to Isola is the usual windy mountain nonsense and takes a bit of care. If you're lucky, you may be able to time your flights to coincide with the bus which goes from both terminals at Nice airport and heads straight up. I've stayed in the C2A it's the large modern yellowish building on the right hand of webcam panorama which is only a couple of mins' walk up the road, or five mins down the road, to the slopes and at the PV which is only a few metres from the top of the little funicular so, again, just a few mins from the slopes. The Hotel Druos is I think part of the horrid main complex but has recently been renovated and is on the front de neige, pals said it was pretty good and very friendly. There's a cluster of log chalets at the top of the village in Hameau , such as the English owned www. There's a hire shop next to the top of the funicular, as well as a few in the main complex building. You should get an idea of what accommodation's available from somewhere like booking. As davidof rightly says, Auron kind of the next valley along, but not connected in any way and not easy to get to without a car has more challenging skiing and is a bit more picturesque to boot. It's fine for a quick and easy short fix, if flight times are on your side and you have a few spare days. I'd have thought the area's just about skiable in a day, so there's probably not enough to keep you busy for a week. There's usually plenty of snow and, of course, if it's crap and you've had enough, you can just head down to the coast, although I wouldn't harbour any notions of 'ski in the morning, lie on the beach in the afternoon' for a good while yet. Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. I think most of that 2. We had 1 day's skiing out of 5. You'll need to Register first of course. They're up to 2. I was up there on Sunday for my first powder day life will never be the same. The blues are brilliant, on all sides of the valley so you can almost always ski in the sun, and the lift queues are miniscule as long as you're not daft enough to go during school holidays. I suppose there's two downsides - it is doable in a day if you're determined and many of the lifts are of a certain vintage. The pomas are all posessed by satan, but the 40 year old Lombarde 2 man chair is a very dignified way to travel I do take the risk and drive up and down daily from further along the coast, and it was my 7th day on the hill this winter. It took 2 hours to get there on Sunday but that was mostly faffing with snowchains and dodging the people who were daft enough to think that snowsocks would do the job Top tip: if you don't want to mess about with the bus or don't like travelling with peasants get flights and hire car as a single package from BA. It's often cheaper to do that than book the flights alone. If you have some understanding accomodation and you're determined you can grab the last flight out of LHR on Fri at 8. It's entirely reasonable to stay out of resort - in fact, I wouldn't recommend staying in resort for a short weekend purely because you might end up with what happened yesterday when the road was blocked by snowfall for the whole day and only reopened this morning. I would suggest staying in Nice. As long as you're up at Isola before 11 you can get a parking space fairly easily, and if it's a rubbish weather day there's plenty to do in the Nice area so it's not a wasted day or weekend. Like davidof says, you can just head to Auron or Valberg if Isola is blocked. As for the other people on the slopes, you'll find that they're mostly of a very decent standard and it's off the beaten track for the holiday skier too. It's better than Hemel anyway. Then you can post your own questions or snow reports I booked flights to Nice a couple of weeks ago with a plan to go here for a long weekend mid-March. Shame I've missed out on the BA flight and car tip above. After all it is free. The pomas are all posessed by satan, but the 40 year old Lombarde 2 man chair is a very dignified way to travel' Aaah, the Lombard two man. I bought that to a standstill more than once. And Combe Grosse. I think that I fell off every one of Satan's pomas bar one: 'the dragger to the end of the world' on St Sauveur, although I did turn left a bit too early in a whiteout and skied straight off the edge half way down the red at the top and was rescued by the same pisteur that had taken my pal off the mountain with a dislocated shoulder the day before when he fell over his own shadow on the link from the Mercantour bubble to Verps. I bet he was well impressed. Actually, maybe he was. He remembered my name and asked how my pal was still under the influence of the massive morphine hit the doc gave him, if I remember correctly. Cripes, I even forgot to let go at the top of that really long drag up the valley Roubines and ended up in a huge heap of snow and assorted crap. It certainly lacks in some areas but it's a friendly, convival and safe place to learn. I always felt that everybody was genuinely looking out for each other. Or looking to get out of my way. I wasn't a quick learner but I'm glad I stuck with it. I think the empty pistes helped but, flippin' heck, it was a shock when I first went to Flaine and saw full-sized runs. And people You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. I skied off a piste. My pal dislocated his shoulder. And I'm calling it safe?! Ski the Net with snowHeads. You can also buy them at Norauto, though they have a limited supply of the cheap ones. I wouldn't recommend socks - the road was slushy, and at 16km with plenty of hairpins and tight corners there were a few points where people with socks were struggling to get grip and needed help to get round. There were people in the car park who had made it up with them, but given that they're the same cost as cheap chains I'd go chains every time. If the majority of people are chaining up just outside the village on the access road it's probably a good indicator that they're required. The matrix signage can be overly cautious - recommended usually means 'don't try and keep up with the bus, he's got winter tyres and it's still a bit icy' Before you leave in the morning check the centre station webcam to see what the travel info sign is saying for the access road. The Facebook page is also pretty good at updating with access info so add them if you haven't already. Also: try and get a diesel. It's really not cold there for the fuel to freeze if you're taking day trips and not staying up there, but it's stupidly cheap to run the 'I' class cars Clio, Peugeot something and Citroen DS3 and the extra power from a turbo is really helpful with the hairpins. The Fiat s look like they need a serious beating to get up there! Nothing handles like a hire car. It had standard cheapo tyres, a broken heater, a duff turbo and I had to stop at Galleries Lafayette to buy a blanket to keep me warm enough on the way up. It wasn't fun, but the drive down the next day with a hangover from hell was even less fun. But it remains the only night that I ever mastered the moonwalk. And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. Combe Grosse broke me. I spent a day going up it and falling off at the top, I think the lifties were radioing up by the end of it so they could place bets on how soon I'd hit the deck after getting off. The trick I figured out on sunday is to wait for it to completely slow down, everyone else bails as soon as they can but if you just hang on a bit just before it turns it slows to a proper crawl and a dignified dismount is almost doable Weirdly, Lombarde was the only one I didn't stack it on at the first go. Speaking of, I've got to defeat that beast by the end of this season. Self preservation keeps stopping me from doing it though. I don't know why but I'm surprised so many people on here have been to Isola! So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much. Mate, you don't know what you're missing re St Sauveur: if it ever becomes a proper lift it'll get busy and the character will be lost. The first section seemed horrendously steep at the time as with all of the others in Isola, it's a rocket launcher not a drag lift but, once underway, you're pretty alone on the piste. Hardly anybody ever goes up there because of the initial m or so, I guess. But there's a blue, a red and a black to choose from although the Sistron top bit is just the red, I think? And again. Such an unintimidating place to learn, and it's great that some others on here have been too. I still recommend it to anyone who's a complete novice that just wants to try skiing. I miss it. Some of the lads still work in Sophia and a mate from Leicester has been unlucky enough to move to MC with work, so there's still a chance I'll get back over at some point. If nothing else, I could do with a cote de boeuf fix from Giorgio's in Antibes. Good times indeed. You know it makes sense. Stay in the Swiss Chalet at Valberg if it is still running. Le Roubion is more for lift to access the plateau for some ski tours You can tour over to Auron from Valberg although there is a lot of avalanche prone terrain between the two. Good cross country skiing too. Greolieres and l'Audibergue are also interesting spots, some good little tours - maybe more of a challenge on nordic skis, easy to reach from Nice or Cannes if Isola is out of bounds. The old Nice Mayor Jacques Medecin, no he wasn't a doctor, used to get the police to round up vagrants and drifters who were hanging around the city center and would have them dumped up here. Not that many came back. He would have been good in UKIP! Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:. I keep meaning to go to Greolieres, especially because the snow is brilliant at the moment to say it's relatively low and I REALLY need to see the view from the top, but I've not been around for a day that's not either completely clear and perfect Isola fodder or cloudy and grim there as well. Thought about going up yesterday but the Facebook status update sounded ominous, I couldn't see it from across the valley never a good sign and too much of it is drag lift based. I'm on one plank, and I assume all drag lifts are Isola trebuchet spec twodogs , kind of surprised you say there's not so many people up St Sauveur - every time I've passed by or over it looks decently busy in the queue. Sistron does only have that red from the top but the view sounds fairly brilliant and worth the effort. Kind of like when you get to the top of Lombarde and survey your kingdom and pine over that fresh fluffy stuff on the Italian side. I think the best bit about Isola's beginner friendlyness is that if you're a boarder low on confidence like I was, and TBF still am you can take in a decent amount of mountain from the comfort of a gondola, or the seriously n00b friendly Valette chair. Then once you start to feel brave there's new territory to scout out from there. The runs are a decent length but you're never too far from the village if your legs give up. Everywhere else just seems to have varying levels of chairlifts of pain. Just looked at the centre station webcam and the 'welcome to Isola ' sign is starting to disappear after yesterday's shower. The first time I went up the Lombarde lift, for my very first blue, we got just over the first crest, I said to my mate 'we'll love this' and we promptly vanished into a white fog whereby we couldn't even see the ground below us, never mind the enticing Italian roadsigns and the undisturbed snow. Took bloody ages to get down, we couldn't see the piste markers and were still firmly in the snow ploughing camp. Next time up, perfect visibility and wow, what a giggle. The runs are of just the right length to make you feel like you're progressing and it really does take a real fool to get lost there. You can work your way further up the green through the valley using the exocet rocket launcher pomas, and then graduate to the medieval chairs at the foot of the green, assuming you remember to duck when crossing the paths of the returning scuds and the associated launched skittles. I mean children. And more beyond. Yes, it's definitely a great, comfortable learning curve. Davidof, what of the toothless hags??? ToeEdgeTripper , yeah, I think that's probably a fair thing to say. I guess if the forecast is clear then you could easily ask for them to be taken off the booking. Mind you, I got allocated an automatic DS3 on Friday and had to ask for a different car, so in that case they'd have needed to rerummage for chains anyway. The staff are all very helpful and speak excellent english if your french runs out, though if you're the only booking on the from LHR you will get the err 'fast track' treatment. Hey, sorry for the delay. Yes, I did indeed learn with ESF and they were good. I had three 2 hour semi-private lessons on my first trip, with one other pal each time. The ESF meeting point is easy to find - you walk through the automatic glass doors of the grubby main complex straight onto the piste, believe it or not, it's like a snowy shopping centre - and a person in red emblazoned with ESF always found us straight away. Having said that, I've not been instructed anywhere else, so I don't have a direct comparison. I was skiing rather than boarding but there's a fair proportion of boarders there. In fact, I seem to recall it having a bit of a soft spot for boarders, with France's first boarding club being established there Back 2 Back? Hope that helps a bit. From a one plank exploring point of view can't help on the teaching side of things, only had lessons in the UK it's really good - there's very few flats, I don't think I've found a single uphill bit yet and only the blue run where you go over the bridge into the front de neige bit needs giving some serious beans to keep going on unless you want to play skittles and go straight through the ESF section. The only really sucky bits are Satan's Pomas scattered all over the valley which give you Olympic slopestyle levels of air. If you've parked in P1 down at the Mercantour gondola then you'll need to get the Chastillon drag to the top of the front de neige and trudge up the hill for the rest. Otherwise, parking in P2 the one in the middle of the village, fills up really quickly will avoid the drag and only require a trudge up the hill. Incidentally, for future readers of this thread, if you're of a petrolheaded disposition, the Andros Trophy visits Isola and is worth coinciding a day trip with. A quick few runs and then a watch of some organised hooliganism made for a very different day! Also: the streaky purple 80s ski onesies on some of the Cannes Grans are truly hypnotic. That time has passed. Ooops, sorry, should have made this clear earlier - despite the username and being a boarder by preference, this is a trip to learn that skiing stuff. There will probably be a bit of time spent on a board too though, so pointers for that are much appreciated. The ESF info is useful and will be the same for both boarding and skiing I imagine. The Andros Trophy's a good giggle. There's also a snowmobile trip on certain evenings, or at least was. A blast around the slopes and dinner at the mountain restaurant that has the donkey outside. I wish I could tell you more but it was always booked up. Anyway, if it's to learn to ski, you'll be laughing. Can't get lost, can't go wrong, you'll get used to every kind of lift from the scudpomas to the relatively modern 4 man jobbies - and getting off the lifts really is easy on two planks compared to one, once you've figured out not to trap your skis in the foot pegs - and the fact that all roads lead to the bottom of the green in the valley, you can zip off wherever takes your fancy safe in the knowledge that gravity will get you back to the main building or slightly below it and there's a mildly tuned poma to get you back up from there if needed. Love Isola. About the only time I post on here is about Isola, but excellent resort, especially for learners and intermediates, especially families. Not so great for night-life, which is another benefit for us now Long gone are my days of skiing all day and out all night! A beer after a good day skiing whilst watching the piste bashers come out is enough for me now! Private lessons, not ski school. First on skis when they were both 2 years old. Expensive, but they have progressed brilliantly and they love their instructor, Patrice as takes them through trees and stuff and ski the whole resort. They also love going up Lombarde to see the gun emplacements, though lift is interesting with a 5 year old, which is when they first did it. Will be there again in a couple of weeks. Snow is always fantastic. We went in April last year and was superb as well. We do keep talking about going to other resorts again, before the kids we skied many different countries and resorts, but always end up back in Isola. Maybe next year. Regarding getting there, the first year we had a hire car and got stuck in snow. Did have chains, but putting them on for the first time in driving snow was horrendous, and the road quickly becomes blocked so swore never again. Since then we have used a local taxi firm called 'Taxi Tom' who have big people carriers that are 4x4s. Cost euros each way, which sounds a lot, but not much more than hiring a car for a week and as 6 of us go is actually cheaper as we'd need to hire two cars. Plus we have our own skis which they put on the roof. Last year some friends came with us and drove, though we told them not to. Anyway, it was raining in Nice and so snowing heavily on way up to Isola. They did have chains in their hire car, but company didn't care and had put chains in that were way to small for the wheels. Got stuck and had to dump the car and luckily flagged down a taxi returning from the resort. If you do drive, ensure you have chains, they are the right size and know how to fit them, and if it is raining in Nice you can guarantee you will need them to get to Isola Now the kids are older we will look at the bus maybe, but taxi from the airport to the resort is so easy and stress-free, plus you can have a beer on the flight out! Quote: Last year some friends came with us and drove, though we told them not to. I always suggest that people practice putting chains on in the hire car garage, partly to check the size, but of course nobody ever takes any notice. Good to have some reports about Isola - we don't hear much about it on Snowheads. Not true, you recommended it on a snow chains thread somewhere, and I thought it was a good idea. Duly spent an hour or so figuring them out, taking them on and off and generally getting familiar. Time very well spent, as proven the following morning. If you don't say it every time it comes up, I will Just back from a day at Greolieres and a day at Isola - boot-deep and deeper powder on the piste in places on Sunday at Isola accompanied by a howling gale and a severe sandblasting at Lombarde and on the Valette side. Sauveur in one go at first attempt despite the howling gale, but didn't appreciate it breaking down for 5 mins or so whilst I was halfway up the sheer cliff face at the start. That focussed the mind First trip to Greolieres - it's a really lovely little hill. All but one drag lift on 3 seperate peaks, and a decent variation in runs for the noob. There's a harder hill, but not being the suicidal type I didn't try those The snow was awesome - about 4 inches of loose stuff, not icy and solid except in a few places on one of the really nice but littered with flats gentle scenic blues around the hills. The one chair is a pain, it's a fixed 4 man chair that makes slow progress up the hill but collects and spits you out at an alarming speed. The view across to the sea has to be seen to be believed, it's utterly surreal but really lovely. Quite a few people were enjoying a packed lunch up there and it all looked very civilised! Lots of learners and people in the early stages of figuring out how to ski, which is good to see. The view in the other direction towards the station is equally fabulous, across the lower hills and up to the mountains. You could easily spent a week or 10 days pottering around the region, going for walks by the seaside and picking a different little resort each day, at no than 90 mins drive each way. Greolieres sounds good. Exactly this. As an environment for learners, it's great. Good for building confidence and basic skills and, hey, if it doesn't work, jump on the bus and go to the coast, spend a day eating pizza in Place Massena in Nice and taking in the sights, then go up and have another go. If it wasn't for my proximity to Isola when I worked down there, I'd probably never have had the opportunity to learn. The first experience of Satan's drag lift made a man of me. Such fond memories. I thought it was more going to destroy my manhood. Never has the term 'drag lift' been so appropriate, but there was no way I was letting go, no matter how much snow was in my mouth. It's definitely a The little girly things at the snowdomes here don't really prepare you for being blown downhill as you get dragged across a piste then swiftly hoiked uphill and hurled round a corner. Being stuck on the side of the sheer cliff of death I'm sure the lifty just hit the off switch and pretended to faff with the motor to test my endurance was one of the only moments I've ever been thankful for being a girl and not a fella. Short legs, wide stance and both feet in the bindings also meant that one false move and I'd have had an unscheduled dismount and bombed into the guy at the bottom of the hill On the plus side, the view was quite nice, and it was fun laughing at the locals who can't cope with anything but hardpack groomed pistes procrastinating over getting down the easy wide blues. You'd think they don't like actual snow or something I'd completely forgotten about that downhill section. Since my L-plate days in Isola I've graduated to other places, all of which have great looking slopes at the top of drags, but I just avoid them like the plague. And I'm on skis, not a board, so it should be a bit easier. Scarred for life. I'm pleased that this thread has run this long and that I'm not the only one familiar with the place. Makes me want to go back up, but our next trip is back to the Grand Massif a week on Saturday. More familiar turf. Or should I say snow! Just looked on the webcam: all that snow but, sure enough, the bus is still running. I'd be surprised, if you look at the route info sign the road is closed There were mini avalanches on the road on sunday afternoon which was a liiiiiitle bit unnerving. Ah yes, I stand corrected! Quote: the streaky purple 80s ski onesies on some of the Cannes Grans are truly hypnotic. That time has passed the effect is even more striking when they are sun-bathing topless in summer New Topic Post Reply. Snow Snow Snow! Solo Skiers v Groups - Orga Archives Lost and Found Ski Club of Great Britain To one side secret Mountain Hideout snowShops You cannot post to forums until you login You cannot read some forums until you login Read about snow conditions : snow conditions And leave your own snow report : snow report Find advice to help plan your ski holidays : ski holidays The snowHeads Ski Club : Ski Club 2. Terms and conditions Privacy Policy. Snow Reports. Fancy a quick blast? Isola 's got 2. After all it is free After all it is free. The pomas are all posessed by satan, but the 40 year old Lombarde 2 man chair is a very dignified way to travel'. Aaah, the Lombard two man. So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much. Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:. ToeEdgeTripper wrote:.

Isola 2000 buying powder