Good snow at altitude in Val d'Isere

There are some icy areas on some of the lower slopes but the quality of snow at altitude is brilliant. Pistes that need care and attention (or to be avoided if you’re not an experienced skier) are the bottom half of the Face du Bellevarde (dreadful) and the Sache piste down into Les Brevieres. The bottom section of Solaise is also firm, as are the lower sections down to La Daille. All these slopes are better first thing in the morning, and they all become harder and harder as the day wears on and become very icy by the end of the day. If you’re tired or an inexperienced skier or boarder, don’t be afraid to take the lifts down at the end of the day as you can download to all the major points in the village.

The last real precipitation that we’ve had was unfortunately the rain on December 24th. Not only did it pour in the village but it rained up to 2800m, and with the re-freeze you can still feel the rain-crust where it has been exposed by the wind. Combined with strong northerly winds and track-damage that you get especially during the holidays, we haven’t had many options off-piste and it’s been fairly tough going. Any form of powder turn is rare at the moment and we’re also looking for strips where the wind has blown in some soft snow that supports, or slopes of soufflé doux, which is smooth chalky wind-blown snow with a soft texture, and in places soufflé dur, which is hard wind-blown snow and not as agreeable as the softer version. Anything that works will do, and although we’re not getting in too many powder turns, the skiing is still enjoyable even with about 90% of the mountain out of play.

The pavements in town remain treacherous and I definitely recommend buying yourself some slip-on crampons that fit over your shoes. Total concentration is needed when walking about the village and please don’t carry children on your shoulders as it’s a long way down. My live music recommendations for the week ahead are the Baraque, which has excellent live music every night except Monday’s starting at 19:30. It starts off fairly relaxed while people are eating, but picks up in volume around 10 o’clock. On Thursday’s the Guinea Pigs play après-ski at Le Petit Danois starting at 17:30 and they’re loud and proud and I never miss them. On Friday’s my colleague Andreas plays après-ski with Karen at Le Petit Danois starting at 17:00. They aren’t as loud as the Guinea Pigs so you can chat with your pals and they have a fantastic play list and shouldn’t be missed.

After what seems an eternity of sunshine we’re expecting some cloudy skies and some light snowfalls this week. Monday is forecast to be sunny, while on Tuesday we’re expecting cloudy skies and up to 5cm of snow. Wednesday is also forecast to be cloudy with 10cm before the sun returns on Thursday. Ten to fifteen centimetres isn’t a lot but it would help the off-piste skiing enormously and would definitely call for a dump-alert after such a dry spell.