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The French skiing side of things.

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Billiards.
Posts: 6853 - Karma: 816
These here questions are for you kind French folks. Your forum is lame, so I opted for ski gabber.
My questions:
1. Are the Alps currently getting snow, whats the temperature like?
2. Ive read on the web that Chamonix will be having a new Euro park design crew, designing a park for Des Grands Montets (Ho5 or something is the name)! Have you heard of this or do you think it will be legit? (Just for the days where I can't scare myself silly with the good stuff Cham has to offer).
3. Where is the best place to order my passes?
4. Does the town of Chamonix have good urban rail potential?
5. Finally, are the local buses fairly good?

If you did read THANKS! Answers would be greatly appreciated!
Oct 23 2007 12:33PM
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njinrome
Posts: 54 - Karma: 10
i'm headin over to the Alps to ski too, so


bump
Oct 23 2007 12:57PM
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edd1e
Posts: 679 - Karma: 16
I havent been to chamonix but check out http://www.snow-forecast.com for updates on the weather. It doesnt seem like anywhere in france has gotten much snow yet. though I hear parts of austria are getting pounded. As for terrain parks, In europe generally the terrain parks aren't as good/well maintained as in North America, though there are a few exceptions, most notably Laax in switzerland and Avoriaz in France.
Oct 23 2007 12:59PM
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Matty_C
Posts: 2598 - Karma: 236
snow doesn't get going in france till mid november, sometimes later, but there are a number of glaciers open that run pre season parks, most notably hintertux/kaunertal.

as for chamonix, ho5 are indeed running their park this year. they already run sick parks at les 7 laux and silvretta nova, two of europe's best, so it looks likely that cham will finally have a park to match its freeride.

bus service there is ok, a car is a good idea though for maximum freedom. i wouldn't go to cham, or anywhere else in the alps for that matter, until end of dec, start of jan if you want to do any freeriding: unless we all get super lucky this year, previous years show that the snow doesn't get good until jan.
Oct 23 2007 2:03PM
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Cloud.
Posts: 1195 - Karma: 16
are u going over there to live there for a while or to ski?.. cuz if ur going to live there then i suggest u learn how to speak french
Oct 23 2007 2:06PM
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michael_bc
Posts: 1386 - Karma: 720
wrong.

ho5 have nothing to do with silvretta nova.

There's no guarantee that ho5 will do a good job in Chamonix, just as Snowzone (Avoriaz) didn't do a good job in Valmorel on a similar project. But whoever would go to Chamonix for park should have their head examined.
Oct 23 2007 2:33PM
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michael_bc
Posts: 1386 - Karma: 720
I'm not in France, but I'm close so I can answer:

1) the alps are covered in a dusting of snow, new snow is on it's way and it's ridiculously cold for this time of year.
Oct 23 2007 2:35PM
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JIB_NISSE
Posts: 833 - Karma: 28
chamonix? why would you do that....it has some good off piste possibilities, but socially and for park its bollocks. if theres snow, verbier is awesome for offpiste. avoriaz, laax, diablerets, are good for park. zermatt is good all around, but pricey. id say go for zermatt, not that much french speaking though
Oct 23 2007 2:38PM
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GangstaKid
Posts: 464 - Karma: 3
chamonix is only good if your in to your ski mountainering other than that its a waste of time
Oct 23 2007 3:51PM
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Shorton
Posts: 2889 - Karma: 13
i went last chrismas and the snow was terrible, bout 30 cm  of ground cover on the groomers. But last season was bad for europe. The bus service is shit. Seriously. you wait half an hour for a bus then when it gets to you its full up and theres literally no space to get on, so moving around is pitty difficult without a car. Some urban and its good because the french police dont even care, but when i was there the snow was very scarse in the town, so it took a while to get anything built for urban. But overall, fun. oh yeah and the park wasnt up when i went, probably because of snow conditions but te grand momets is a super fun area, so a park there would be awsome.
Oct 23 2007 4:06PM
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Billiards.
Posts: 6853 - Karma: 816
Siiiickter thanks everybody. Butt aaaaa. Is Chamonix really that bad? We are going there to ski and to ski a lot. I speak a litttle bit of French. If it is as cold as someone said, do you think there will be some good snow by January?
Oct 24 2007 6:10AM
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Matty_C
Posts: 2598 - Karma: 236
there's a good chance of good snow by jan, hard to say. as for freeriding, almost the entire area is glaciated, so unless you are exceptiionally well experienced at skiing in glaciated terrain, don't even think off going off piste without a guide...
Oct 24 2007 7:11AM
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Billiards.
Posts: 6853 - Karma: 816
oh yeah ofcourse. I don't have a death wish. I just wanna ski. One more question! Are there good areas inbounds to build booters or anything of the sort?
Oct 24 2007 7:13AM
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SkierX
Posts: 16253 - Karma: 538
Knowing a little bit of french will get you by. You'll be amazed by the amount of bi-lingual people there are in europe.

Enjoy the experience though!
Oct 24 2007 9:34AM
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michael_bc
Posts: 1386 - Karma: 720
Because Chamonix has the best and the most abundant snow record of the alps.

Verbier for example, has a terrible snow record it's locked off most storms don't reach to Verbier.
Oct 24 2007 10:08AM
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michael_bc
Posts: 1386 - Karma: 720
There are some good spots in the less high-altitude areas around Chamonix. If you go a little further, Les Contamines is excellent for building booters, I guess its a 15-20 minute drive.

If you want to come to France for some good back country, abundant snow, and good kicker locations you should visit try Avoriaz, La Clusaz, Le Grand Bornand... These areas get the same storm cycles as Chamonix but have easier access BC and more spots to build stuff.
Oct 24 2007 10:12AM
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Billiards.
Posts: 6853 - Karma: 816
Thanks man, I have heard of these areas. How far about are each away from Chamonix? Are there buses?
Oct 24 2007 12:31PM
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michael_bc
Posts: 1386 - Karma: 720
I don't know man. Public transportation in France is terrible. There will def. be busses to the resorts linked on the Chamonix pass.. for the other ones you'll need a car but they're not far an hour max.
Oct 24 2007 12:37PM
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Tex.
Posts: 1106 - Karma: 124
i hope for willem's sake that wherever he ends up skiing has a sick winter! kid's only going to get a ski a few months if a remember correctly, like 3-4??
but it doesn't matter really i guess, the kid slays so he can make anything work.
Oct 24 2007 1:19PM
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Billiards.
Posts: 6853 - Karma: 816
Well Tex you could throw a FRENCH snowdance into your schedule! It would be well appreciated.
Oct 24 2007 3:50PM
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