Val d'Isere Snow Report: 7th February 2012

Today was a little different if you were skiing past the snow park in Val d’Isere. The Oakley sponsored park was playing host to the Monster Energy and Mini All4 Rally driver Guerlain Chicherit, and his car. The park was closed to the rest of the world bar a few pro skiers who were involved in the filming. The footage should appear on Top Gear sometime in the near future. Guerlain Chicherit is not only taking the rally driving world by storm, holding the title of Rally Raid Champion, but is also four times Freeride World Champion and the founder of Tignes based ski brand Corrupt. This man is amazing, not only is he one of the best skiers out there, but he can’t half drive as well!

If you were passing the snow park you would have seen some pretty special driving today. With a purpose built kicker taking centre stage in the park, and a Mini All4 and pro skiers flying over it, it was a sight to behold. Local pro rider Julian Ball was up there until a missed landing brought him off the hill. He mentioned the bad light that we were all experiencing today, but was pretty impressed by the driving.

This came after Top Gear’s James May visited Val d’Isere for the start of the filming two days ago, staying in one of Consensio’s Uber-Luxuary chalets. He was first spotted in Chicherit’s Mini All4 driving up and down the famous Olympic downhill, the Face de Bellevard and spinning doughnuts on the last section. It was pretty spectacular too. Yesterday, if you finished your days skiing in La Daille, you may even have passed the team on the bottom section of the race piste playing with the mini again. James May is a true English gentleman and patiently stood for photos and chatted to the group of surrounding skiers and snowboarders at the bottom of the slope. I can’t wait for this episode of Top Gear to be aired!

Back to skiing and, as I’ve mentioned, the light was super flat today. I have my Oakley yellow flat light lenses in and was still struggling to find any definition in the snow. The high cloud cover was causing most of the problem, although it was a little brighter over in Tignes today. Le Fornet and the Solaise area in Val d’Isere were experiencing scarily flat light at points, and the Bellevarde was also a struggle to ski around in. The occasional breaks in the cloud in Tignes made for some nice moments, but the prevailing condition was the flat light. The temperatures felt slightly milder that yesterday and the day before, but the wind was picking up at the top, and it is still very easy to catch frost nip on any exposed skin so really do remember to wrap up warm.

The weather forecast is for the cold temperatures to loosen their grip on the area slowly over the next week or so, but we’re not going to get far above minus ten on the slopes. In town it might reach a warmer degree or around minus three on Wednesday and Thursday, but this will be a brief mild spell as we look set to see out the week with a high of minus seven during the day in resort. The cold points to watch out for are nightime, walking back from the bars can be seriously cold, and anywhere high up all this week. Wind-chill looks set to provide a chilly low of around minus fourty most days, especially if you are on a ridge line. Some light snow showers are forecast, but it will need to warm up a little for it to snow properly. It really is too cold for snow!

This said, there is still fantastic skiing to be had, especially when the sun is shining. The guys from Henry’s Avalanche Talk are still managing to find the odd fresh track, you just have to be prepared to walk for it!

I’m off now to warm up my toes and defrost my kit for tomorrow. Wrap up warm and have a great day's skiing!