piste crews hosing down a ski race course

Val d'Isere Snow Report: 11th December 2015

The pistes are getting busier & it's World Cup weekend!

featured in Snow report Author Wayne Watson, Val d'Isere Reporter Updated 14 December 2015

Our early season bliss with empty, perfectly groomed pistes with a lovely texture has now come to an end. During the past week the pistes have become much busier, the snow has become much firmer, and with more people in the resort the man-made snow is becoming polished and icy in places. It’s still good skiing but conditions have deteriorated a little during the week.

As for the off-piste, we need to use our imagination to find what snow is available and be prepared to ‘skin’ or walk with our skis on our shoulders to access fresh snow. I skied an itinerary today that I’ve never skied before in my 35-years here in Val d’Isere, which gives you an idea of what we’re dealing with.

The Face du Bellevarde has been perfectly groomed and is rock-hard for the World Cup race tomorrow. They’ve been watering the course with hoses in preparation to make it icy so that the snow doesn’t breakdown and create ruts. It’s incredible what the racers ski on and the snow is so hard that even instructors find it difficult to stand up on as they help prepare the course.

Unfortunately the Funicular in Tignes has broken down and it may be four weeks before it is repaired. The breakdown is seriously bad news with the Christmas rush right around the corner. The Grande Motte sector is always important, but especially early in the season when the snow cover is thin and people want to ski at higher altitudes.

Weather:

Unfortunately the retour de l’est I was hoping for never materialised on Wednesday but we did get between 2 and 5 centimetres of fresh snow, which did give us some relief.