First snow report of the season for Val d'Isere

Being an off-piste skier my first turns of the season was in delightful powder up on the Pissaillas Glacier and we had first-tracks everywhere we skied. There was a melt-freeze cycle last week that put a crust on the surface and with the nice 10-to-15cm’s of fresh snow Friday night that underlying crust supported and kept us off the rocks underneath and the off-piste skiing was surprisingly good. I wasn’t expecting much but the off-piste was much better than expected.

The sun was out again on Sunday and my colleague Thomas and I took our clients for an adventure over the Col Pers. We were the first ones over the Col this season and the views were stunning! The ambience was superb as we were totally alone and there wasn’t a track anywhere in sight. The snow was surprisingly deep at the top and we didn’t touch any rocks (by carefully choosing our line) and then we ‘skinned’ for twenty-five minutes to access a beautiful bowl of virgin powder. The bottom of the mountain is un-skiable due to a lack of snow so we traversed out to the top of the Fornet cable car to avoid the lower slopes.

We finished off our morning on the Bellevarde sector to check out the conditions of the pistes in that area and the piste skiing was really good with very few skiers. It’s always worth a trip early in the season before the resort becomes crowded as there is some great skiing to be had and it makes such a difference when you have the mountain to yourself.

With colder temperatures the snow-cannons are operating and we should have some links to the bottom of the mountain open soon, as well as the all-important link to Tignes. The snow-making system can lay down an incredible amount of snow and the landscape changes daily as the cannons work throughout the night. The piste skiing will improve each and every day now and by mid-December the entire resort should be open with brilliantly groomed pistes.

The weather forecast is a little mixed for the next few days. There is a possibility of 10cm’s at 2700 on Sunday night, followed by a cloudy day on Monday with perhaps another 10cm’s, and then partially sunny days on Wednesday and Thursday.  Hopefully we’ll get 20cm’s as it will help the off-piste skiing enormously, and the snow-cannons will take care of the pistes in the days to come.

If you’re in town next week be carefully when walking around the village. Most of the pavements are dry but there are still some nasty patches of ice. They always seem to be in front of bars and supermarkets so do be careful as Val d’Isere is notorious for slippery pavements. Log-on Friday morning of another update and have a fantastic week.