Val d'Isere Snow Report: 11th January 2016

It was what I call ‘wishbone’ snow because it grabs at your skis and tries to rip your leg off, and believe me I was happy to get myself and my clients safely down in one piece. And to make things worse the pistes were dreadful as well and it all added up to the first ‘stinker’ of the season!

I awoke Saturday morning to exactly the same scenario, rain in the village and if anything it was even warmer than the day before and my expectations for the morning were absolutely ‘zero’! But, the moment I tested the snow off the piste I knew things had miraculously changed overnight and we had stunning powder snow and just enough visibility to really enjoy it.

We needed to stay above 2,300 metres because anything below that was still horribly heavy, but after enduring such a difficult day 24-hours earlier everyone was ecstatic with the conditions. The pistes were also dramatically improved and the entire resort rejoiced because the skiing changed from dreadful to brilliant overnight!

Sunday was similar with excellent off-piste conditions with just enough light and the pistes were in very good shape as well. What happens over the next few days will be very interesting as heavy snow and extremely strong winds are forecast.

Weather in the village: After 30cm’s of snow on Sunday,

• Monday- Heavy snow (50cm’s at altitude) -3C/+2C Wind from the W at 10 gusting to 100km/h
• Tuesday- Lighter snow with some clear patches -5C/-3C Wind from the NW at 10 gusting to 80km/h
• Wednesday- Light snow and partially sun -9C/-6C Wind from the W at 5 gusting to 75km/h
• Thursday – Partial sun with heavier snowfalls -11C/-5C Wind from the W at 5km/h
• Friday- Partial snow with heavy snowfalls -11C/-8C Wind from the NW at 5km/h

As you can see it will be getting colder from Tuesday on and that will greatly improve the quality of the snow, especially off-piste. The heavy snow and rain has helped to stabilise the mountain but we aren’t out of danger yet. With significant snow forecast along with the snow transported by strong winds the avalanche risk will remain at 4/5 for some time yet and steep slopes will remain ‘no-go’ zones! (I must say that we ski off-piste everyday even with a risk of 4/5, but we remain on gentle slopes that aren’t steep enough to avalanche). Do have a look around when the sun peaks through and see if you can spot areas where the mountain has purged itself (avalanched without a trigger).

If you’ve had enough skiing due to nasty weather the Aqua-Sports Centre near the Olympique lift is fantastic. There is a lane pool, fun pool, wading pool, a spa with steam, sauna and hot tubs, a weight room, an aerobic machine room, squash courts, basketball and badminton courts, climbing walls, and a cafe. (And I’ve probably left something out) It’s all reasonably priced and you get one free swim with your lift pass but must bring your receipt. You can get multi-entry tickets as well if you’d like to use the facilities more than once.

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