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Written: 19-Mar-2023
This is a collection of notes from a ski trip I went on in march of 2023 with a bunch o’ mates. It was a lovely trip.
Samoëns is a lovely little town, but where we stayed was a good trek out of town. Though not unbearable it was a pain.
It’s not worth getting the ski pass in advance, or if you do get the insurance. Unless you’re going for a while it’s just as cheap to get it daily (or nearly if you get the early-bird passes) and then when the lifts are shut you’ve not had to pay for that day.
Get insurance on everything. It’s not that expensive, but when it cashes out it’s so useful. It also reduces stress.
On a related note ski hire don’t care so much about the base of the skis/snowboards because they can be re waxed / epoxied. If the edge is damaged1 though it’s nearly impossible to repair.
Generally we found the snow to be best up past Fliane. Get Up to run called fred if possible, however because it’s an older lift it’s the first to shut. Its excellent to lap, and the could little runs between chairlifts to get there are fun.
If - when coming back from fred - you go down Lapiaz make sure Jade is open. Otherwise you’ll get stuck going on the longest pomma on the mountain. Fine for skier, but a nightmare for a snowboarder. This happened twice to me, and I found the pomma would push me to the edge of the “pomma path” and it’s hard to control the snowboard. 2 this happened to such an extent once that I fell off a little snow ledge and had to charge around (on foot) off piste for a bit to try get home.
On the connecting runs, it is phisically imposibly (or was for me) to start (from stationary) at the top of epicia (a green) and carry enough speed along the flat to make it (without getting a foot out fo rht bindings) to where it crosses with faust. take the red on the left (azurite) and enjoy.
If fred is shut (or you want something else) get to Les Grandes Plattiers. Notably there are loos here (often not so busy) and the cafe is excellent, and pretty good value for the top of a mountain in france. Just remeber, if you get the sausage (and I reccomend you do if you’re needing) share it. I had one solo and despite drinking about a liter and a half of water afterwards, I felt dehydrated for the rest of the day.
The runs coming off Les Grandes Plattieres are good. serpentine is an acceptable chuss3 and has a snowpark towards the end. Then you can quire hapily charge down lucifer and have bags of fun lapping it (thanks to the Dessert Blanc chair).
The other good4 run comming off Les Grandes Plattiers is the red mephisto superieure. It was a favorite of many (but IMO fred is better). The real danger is it leads quite easily down to the Lapiaz pomma 💀.
So I had to buy some stuff, but wanted to avoid spending loads of cash. I had hiking gear (will be more relevant later), and could borrow some goggles. Here are the notes from what I got (working from the bottom up):
The ski jacket was a big concern, but here’s what I found though research and experience. With a ski bib a snow skirt is not required. The snow just “falls out” without getting stuck or melting anywhere. The lack of a sleeve pocket for the ski pass was a pain, but being on a snowboard made it a lot worse. You can get gloves with a pass pocket which is negates the issues, or I reckon you could just get an arm band holder thing for a phone (like some runners have) and use that.
On the subject of gloves, the slush and ice in the early days shredded any fabric gloves. The people had leather gloves fared well (the cheapest leather skiing gloves were highly recommended by a friend). That’s not to say the fabric ones became unusable, but they’ve got holes, and aren’t quite so water resistant6
Regarding layers on the upper half, I took lots, but it was unseasonably warm, so it was either an undershirt only (with arms rolled up most of the time) or a t shirt only. Good to have the puffa’ and the fleece in case it got cold. Either way the fleece + puffa’ don’t need to be particularly fancy.
on taking food up the mountain you’ve two options: - buy there - carry with you Sandwiches in the pockets works perfectly fine. Just make sure it’s a sealed bag (esp. if you’ve got fruit like oranges 😳 in with them). Carrots are a good snack food because they can’t burst and aren’t sticky when consuming and there’s no peel to dispose of.
For hydration I heard many suggestions:
The bottle in the pocket wasn’t going to work because there wasn’t enough space for what I needed, and the sandwiches were also there. I didn’t have a bladder, but it worked well for those who had one. I was too scared to plant a bottle, because it looked too much like littering for me. But could be a good idea, especially in a smaller resort where you’ll return to the same lifts all the time. But I ended up taking a rucksack. Turns out it’s not as bad as I thought. Just take the smallest one you have, pack it with water in a bottle that can flex (re-using a plastic bottle and leaving some air in there worked) so you don’t break a rib if you land on it. I also took a fleece (for the lunch break) and a spare neck gator. Can recommend the rucksack. Just be organised on the lifts and you’ll have no problems.
Thankfully my board’s edge wasn’t damaged.↩︎
It’s not just me, the other boarders were getting dragged off too.↩︎
a chuss is how I’d (probably incorrectly) describe a long flat stretch where there’s danger of walking (esp. for a snowboarder) if you come to a grinding stop. An acceptable one is means you can carry enough speed to get over it. But don’t fall unless you want to walk! Let me know if there’s a more official usage, but it’s what I’ve head other shout in the lead into the flats.↩︎
in fairenss it’s the only other run, but I’d still say it’s good.↩︎
I’d call it a buff, but I was alerted to the generic name by a pedant friend and neck gator is fun to say.↩︎
I’m not sure that they were waterproof to begin with.↩︎