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Val d'Isere Snow Report: 20th December 2011

Powder days in Le Fornet and it was waist deep in places!

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

I know it’s cheesy, but sweet dreams are made of days like these. A lot of the high lifts were closed, but it didn’t matter, today we rode off-piste in Le Fornet in Val d’Isere and it was amazing. There was waist deep powder in places!

I was skiing with some of the British Army lads who are out training at moment and, for only having skied three weeks, they were doing insanely well skiing deep powder on slalom ski’s. The conditions were a little on the flat side light wise, but other than that, exceptional. If you ski off piste, we had a play with digging a few snow pits though, and there still is a weaker layer out there, but there is also a thick base now which is awesome. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t worry, we were just exploring how well the snow is sticking together just now.

The avalanche risk was a four today, and all the higher slopes in Fornet, and a lot elsewhere, were closed, probably due to the avalanche risk. The Pyramids chair lift was the only thing open above the Fornet Gondola, but with the flat light and high risk we stayed away from the more open faces accessible there, and instead enjoyed the playground of the Fornet trees. The trees are great fun but you have to be really careful if you don’t know where you’re going because there are a few cliffs in there, and if you don’t judge the bottom right you’re in for a bit of a walk, especially if you’re on a snowboard!

Elsewhere and the snow was equally good, I heard a friend raving about how great the snow was on the pistes down to La Daille, he didn’t even bother with the tree runs there as he was enjoying the piste so much, which is quite impressive for La Daille (it tends to get a little icy and mogully very quickly). The snow is soft, grippy, rides fast and just generally pleasant to ski on. The only improvement on today would have been blue skies. That said, I found the falling snow a little magical. It was like pixie dust but better!

In Tignes and conditions were similar, high up was closed but the skiing was so good you didn’t even notice. It was a great day to be up the hill. Also, my all time favourite lunch stop is now open, after its major refurbishment this summer. Tignes Cuisine, in Le Lac, is back and better than ever (if you like Thai noodles and burritos that is), it is the cheapest lunch stop on the mountain, you can ski almost to the door and Loop bars next door too.

Getting to resort is still a little bit of an issue here, there were two fatal car accidents this morning due to the state of the road. The roads are still coated in snow to a fairly low level, and the advice that you need four wheel drive and snow tyres, or snow chains is not given lightly. You really do. I’ve found, to my cost, that normal tyres don’t cut it out here. You try and brake and nothing happens. Pedestrians should also remember to give traffic a lot more space than you normally would when crossing the roads just now, it is super slippy.

Back to a cheerful note, and the conditions tomorrow, Wednesday, are set to be the same as today, with a little sunshine on its way on Thursday (that’s the day to put in the extra effort to get up early!). The temperatures are due to stay quite cold, so wrap up warm; good gloves are essential. Friday should be clear-ish with a little snow on Saturday and then more sunshine, at least that’s one forecast. Some sunshine would be nice though!

Christmas is coming and this place is a magical winter wonderland. Enjoy the snow, it’s been a great early Christmas present!

Stats

Avalanche Risk
  • Level 4

Snow Report
  • Total Pistes: 156

  • Alt. Resort: 1850

  • Alt. Summit: 3000

  • Alt. Last Snow: 1850 and upwards

  • High Temp.: -3

  • Alt. High Temp.: -11