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Val d'Isere Snow Report: 13th December 2011

Epic day up the mountain

featured in Snow report Author Debbie Priestley, Val d'Isere Reporter Updated

Today bordered on the stuff dreams are made of.

We were out of the flat just as the church bells chimed nine, to an unusually quiet Val d’Isere. Hopping onto the bus towards Le Fornet, the world still seemed very quiet around us. When the bus turned at the Rond Point des Pistes, there were no lift queues at the Solaise Express or the Olympic bubble lift. The bus continued to Le Fornet and was still empty. We saw a few friends riding out of the bottom of the Laisinant ski area and that was it. At the Fornet Cable Car it was the same. It looked like it might be a good day, even with the students descending on the resort last weekend. They must have still been in bed.

Our luck continued. As we reached the top of the cable car, the Vallon de l’Iseran bubble was closed but, just as we were about to head down the slope, Pyramids Express opened. We were in luck, we were the first riders up the lift. The same happened at the bottom of the Signal Poma tow, we were the first up that too.

On reaching the top we looked over into Grande Vallon, an off piste area in Val d’Isere that is usually pretty tracked out as it’s easily accessible and usually a good place to ride. It was empty, we were going to be the first riders down it not just today, but this winter. We checked our transceivers were on, and sampled some of the most amazing powder, especially after the barren conditions of last winter.

I’m not going to continue with how great a day we had, because not everyone skis off piste. For good reason, the guy I was riding with triggered a slab on our final run of the day, and was very lucky to slide out the side of it. In the words of the Henry’s Avalanche Talk team, Safety is Freedom, and I can tell you when the snow moved, we were very glad of our kit. After that, we decided to err on the side of caution and call it a day.

Elsewhere in Espace Killy the conditions were equally good. Friends riding in Tignes reported similarly good conditions, the visibility came and went but wasn’t beyond skiing, and the storms have held off for the moment.

The weather forecast is predicting the next weather front to hit tonight, bring more snow and, unfortunately, more wind, predicted to be at its worst on Friday night and Saturday. Actually as I’m writing this it’s just started snowing, ten to four, Val d’Isere time.

More snow will be fantastic, as there are still a few too many rocks just under the surface out there, as the base of my board shows. The off-piste in Espace Killy is amazing, but please make sure you have the right kit, and know how to use it. Henry’s Avalanche Talks offer some great advice in the form of their talks and train on snow too, if you are really interested in off-piste skiing. Their website is well worth a visit.

Wrap up warm and embrace the snow storms, we do really need them and they shouldn’t halt skiing altogether. You can always head to the sports centre for a sauna to warm up if it gets a little too cold on the mountain side!

Enjoy the snow!