© Wayne Watson
© Wayne Watson
© Wayne Watson
© Wayne Watson
Great Christmas skiing in Val d'Isere
Fun Christmas skiing in Espace Killy
The Christmas weekend got off to a fantastic start with clear blue skies and the last chance for some ‘quiet’ time before the Christmas crowds arrived.
After several sunny days the resort is pretty tracked-out and ‘skinning’ is a must to find virgin snow and solitude. On Friday we ‘skinned’ to the Crete du Genepy and enjoyed excellent snow top-to-bottom. The quality of the powder over the past ten days or so has been absolutely brilliant. Despite the snow-cover still being pretty thin in places with rocks lurking just beneath surface the skiing has been outstanding.
The avalanche risk has been dropped to 2/5 but I feel caution is still a must on the steeper slopes, especially northerly slopes. I felt it was an unnecessary 4/5 a few days back but 2/5 is a little misleading as well.
On Saturday my colleague Chris and I ‘skinned’ to the Crete du Genepy and then continued on to Mont Roup for a brilliant morning out. I had the pleasure of having my 14-year-old daughter Millie along and she absolutely loves the walking and powder skiing. I then went for a piste cruise in the afternoon with Millie, my wife Gill and 12-year-old daughter Katie, the quality of the piste skiing was first-class! The pistes were perfectly groomed around La Daille and with the sun shining and very few other people about piste skiing doesn’t get much better!
Sunday turned out to be unseasonably warm with 11C at 2000 metres. The heat will help to stabilise the snow-pack in places purging some of the slabs hanging above the exit of the Tour du Charvet and the bottom of the Sache. As for the off-piste skiing we skied our first Lavachet of the season followed by our first trip through the Sachette. No one had been through the Sachette all season so it’s always nice to be the first into a sector and have the ambiance of a trackless mountain lying in front of you.
The piste skiing continued to be nothing short of brilliant and even by Sunday the resort didn’t seem too crowded.
As a young boy our family tradition was to ski Christmas day and Monday was my 54th Christmas in a row skiing! I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be than in snow-covered mountains with friends and family. And it was a beautiful day with clear blue skies and wonderful snow, both on and off-piste and with the relaxed atmosphere it’s always a special day.
Sun is forecast for Tuesday morning before snow moves in Tuesday afternoon with heavy snow all day on Wednesday followed by light snow on Thursday. The resort is tracked out and fresh snow is needed for a fresh ‘canvas’ to lay our tracks and to improve the snow-pack where rocks still lurk under the surface.
Have a fantastic week and stay tuned for another update on Friday!
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