Val d'Isere Snow Report: 26th January 2012

The sun was shining and the sky was perfectly clear. It was a wonderful day. However, yesterday was a completely different story.

Despite the weather I did manage to have a fantastic day off piste with two of BBC’s television heros, Graham Bell and Ed Leigh (of Ski Sunday fame). The light was beyond flat, and we spent the majority of our time immersed in clouds, but after a bit of exploring we came across some amazing snow. We skied mainly around the Bellevarde section of Val d’Isere and there was actually some really good powder about. The visibility was terrible, and at points you literally could not see where you were going, so we didn’t stay up the mountain until the ski lifts closed.

Today, on the other hand, was beautiful. We skied Solaise and Bellevarde in Val d’Isere and around Tignes Le Lac and Val Claret where the snow was smooth and grippy all morning. Toward the latter part of the afternoon it was starting to get a little bare and hard with a few small icy patches. Nevertheless, there was still enough grip to enjoy the mountain and the sunshine made the views from the ski lifts picture perfect.

The forecast is predicting more snow tomorrow, and Friday, which should continue before tailing off towards next Tuesday. The temperatures should remain mild until after the weekend when it will probably start to drop, reportedly as low as minus twenty seven on Sunday night, with an expected wind-chill of minus thirty seven.

With the weather the way it is, the best idea is to get up early and enjoy the freshly groomed pistes before the crowds make their mark on the mountain. That said, if the snow comes in again it might be a great opportunity to enjoy some good après-ski or catch up on some zzz’s.

Happy Australia day! And fingers crossed for an overnight sprinkling of snow followed by another glorious day like today.