 Poster: A snowHead
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skir67, ever try it? i was in a class last year and the trainer was going to go for it but decided against. have to say i would have bottled it, way too scary for me. The one the the right of the restaurant LDM is quite fun though called panoramic...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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2 or 3 times whilst doing a season in courchevel in '94. It was/is real 'short swing' territory and is a 'no falls' run particularly if the snow is firmly packed (normally by wind action rather than passage of skiers). We were told a story after having skied it that someone had died on it in the previous season, having lost control and skied up and over a steep wall at the bottom of the main chute (you have to turn sharp right in front of the wall) and fallen to their death on the other side. (this could of course have just been a local urban myth)
The entrance is 'entertaining' as you have to climb over the terrace fence. It was quite funny watching the looks on peoples faces as we walked onto the deck with all our gear and then started climbing over the fence one by one. Some people came over to have a look at what we were up to (at that point we would have lost face seriously if we'd turned back!)
A guy I was working with that season called Pat Sharples (a very good bump skier - I think he was British Team for a while) entered an extreme comp the same season which ran down the couloirs on that face. Whilst he was in the grand couloir checking out his lines he got talking to a friendly american skier who was up there doing the same. The guy asked him to go for a run with him - as you do....when Pat got down the bottom of the run at the cable car, the guy took his hat off and it turned out he'd just taken a run with none other than Mr Glen Plake who was there to judge the comp!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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*pedant alert*
'Sous le Tele' traditionally refers to everything on the right as you go down the narrow part of the ridge before the bowl above the Grand Couloir...
Panoramic is off the terrace of the Restaurant (sometimes called Poubelle as well), but also takes in a couple of shorter couloirs under the buttress...
Best entry into Panoramic i've seen was Manu (or was it his brother Julien?) Gaidet dropping in from off the roof of the restaurant while filming for the Columbia Rideweek.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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skir67, Pat Sharples used to work for Ski Olympic and one year when me and a mate were out with them (96 I think it would have been) he was doing jumps over punters at one of their picnics can't remmebr how many but it was damned impressive at the time. Of course then I didn't realise he was the "legend" he now seems to have become - respect for him 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Back to original post, one of my favorite blacks in the 3V is the Combe de Roseal (if I remember right) which goes from the Cime de Caron into the 4th vally, used to be a interinare when I first did it but now a marked piste, been on it few times and been the only person there, huge scenery and big smiles!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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skir67, cool story about plake ... phil smith who was going to take us in was very stern and clear about staying tight on the right so perhaps that story has some truth in it... I wouldnt feel comfortable doing that one!! good on you for having a go.
the ESF guys will occassionally jump off from the side where the restaurant tables are. very very scary but entertaining to the clients...
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offpisteskiing, Yes in that case it was panoramic that we skied, though it was shown as a single run called 'sous la telepherique' on the map of that era, we certainly entered it from the panoramic terrace.
stevew, Yes Pat used to do that when I worked for Olympic too, it was usually a helie as I remember, the jump was never that big either just 3 or 4 feet, but he could do it because he could rotate his body so fast whilst he was in the air, the customers loved it (and we were impressed too).
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offpisteskiing, what is the one called that is left of the restaurant LUM? you ski down from the cable car and go past the little weather station.QUite short but pretty cool as you go between two big rock spires. snow is usually really good in there.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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skimottaret, I would not have begun to consider jumping off tables! It was frightening enough just climbing over the fence and gettng your skis on. Anyone jumping in would just be going so fast on landing and it would be very tough to use a check turn to control your speed on landing without completely losing it.
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skimottaret, is the couloir you refer to the one that you have to climb up a short steep section by the side of the bubble from Meribel? You climb past the weather station if I remember correctly, I've skied it but never known the name, though I guess it could be in the 3 valleys off-piste guide I've got.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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skir67, Mind you you can generally get into the panoramic from sous le tele by staying right as you go under the top station...
re old pise maps, just discovered an old 3V map from '84 when I was back visiting parents the other week. Quite an eye opener to see how many lifts/slopes have changed... wish I'd kept more of them over the years as it would give quite an interesting record of the development over time. (Geek? Moi?)...
skimottaret, Do you mean the one accessed by starting down the piste then hard left under the buttress the resto sits on? - Generally referred to as Panoramic also - depends who you talk to...if you take the left hand one you end up in the same place as the Terrasse version.
skir67, Meribel side the first couloir you climb the ladders to is 'Death couloir' if you're a Brit, or Couloir de L'Echelle if you're French.. Apart from mega-snow years you normally have to dogleg half-way down to avoid a rock step.
Hmmm, must get out more...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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offpisteskiing, yes I'm sure there are several variants you can try, interesting to see that the current piste map only shows 'grand couloir' on the map, there used to be 3 marked up there as I remember (at least in '94 there were, maybe there were more in earlier years?)
'Death Couloir' I like it! 
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You know it makes sense.
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Has anybody got a picture of this restaurant terrace?
It sounds rather spectacular.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Just looked at our piste map from 92/93. It shows Sous le Tele, Emile Allais and Grande Couloir all as blacks.
(Hi Simon)
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Poster: A snowHead
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skimottaret, Do you mean the one accessed by starting down the piste then hard left under the buttress the resto sits on? - Generally referred to as Panoramic also - depends who you talk to...if you take the left hand one you end up in the same place as the Terrasse version.
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Thats it and i was sure it was called Panoramic. Guess there are two 
For some extra geekery, I have heard the death couloir called the "butchers" as the local meribel butcher gets first tracks in there after getting a lift up from the piste basher guys..
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Slightly off the topic, but think it just about fits - What other "famous" (i.e - well known) runs are there to try in 3Vs that won't be on the maps? This year is my first time in 3Vs, and the first resort I'll have been at for some off-but-not-quite-back-country-piste-skiing.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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altis, yes thats how I remember them.
skimottaret, I thought 'butchers' was on the right hand peak as you go up the central bubble from courchevel 1850 to the base of the saulire cable car, it was always pointed out to me as such when someone (the butcher I presume) had left a perfect zipper line straight down it. (they could have been wrong of course).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The Butchers run is on the East/South side of the Rocher de la Loze - on RHS as you get to top of the Verdons bubble.. Hike up from Col de la Loze same as for the 'Freeride face' (North face)..
Emile Allais and Sous le Tele dissappeared off the piste maps sometime in the early 00's (might have been 2001?), I think due to a number of incidents..it's a long slide down onto the Combe de Saulire from the top...
dmcmorrine, Get hold of Didier Givois' excellent 'Les Clés des 3 Vallees' book. Vamos also had a smaller guide to the offpiste - plenty between these two to keep you going...
altis, Going to get the maps out shortly and plan Easter tour possibilities..
skimottaret, Yeah they're all variations on a theme - the 'Poubelle' or 'Terasse' entry gives you 4/5 extra turns compared to cutting in from sous le tele, and you get a few more turns before you get to the point you can traverse in from the other Panoramic couloirs...confused yet?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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neigehead, if you get into the off piste skiing there is a good book "Les 3 Vallées Hors-Pistes / Off Piste" published by Vamos (dual French / English) which you should be able to buy in bookshops and some ski shops in the resorts. You need a 1:25,000 map to go with it.
Of course you would be better advised to get a guide to take you.
I know this thread was meant to be about pistes, but nobody has mentioned the off piste runs to the left of the Grand Couloir. You have to traverse left from just by the start of the main slope of the Grand Couloir and then climb up. The first is narrow between rocks (The Couloir du Curé) but the second(involving climbing a bit further) is a really big slope (Croix des Verdons). One year long ago we did both in fresh powder - terrific.
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