© Sam Brown
© Sam Brown
Val d'Isere Snow Report: 17th January 2015
Four Seasons in a Week in Valdisere!
Its been a very mixed week here in Val d'Isere. We seem to have experienced all four seasons in one week! The beginning of the week we experienced extremely high winds which unfortunately blew large quantities of snow off the piste making for some incredibly icy skiing on Monday and Tuesday. We also had some very warm temperatures during the beginning of the week which made for some pretty sweaty skiing.
However as the week progressed we have had small flurries of snow and a fall in temperature. On Wednesday we had around 15 centimetres of snow in resort and around 20 centimetres at the top of the mountain. This has helped tremendously with additional snow cover within resort and replaced a lot of the snow we lost off the piste earlier in the week. The snowfall has also helped to cover some of the areas with a thinner coverage of snow.
I generally found that the best skiing was on south facing slopes within resort. Runs on the northern side of Tignes skiing back towards Val Claret and Le Lac were in particularly good condition by mid morning once the sun had had time to soften up some of the icy areas. The Pissales Glacier was also in great good condition with good snow coverage on all the pistes when I skied it on Thursday.
For the week ahead we are expecting more snow which is always good news. As I am writing this report it is snowing heavily outside and hopefully will continue throughout the day. Meteo France is predicting snow next week on Monday and from Wednesday through to Sunday. Fingers crossed we will get the big dump we have all been waiting for. Predicitions are as high as around 30cm which would significantly boost the snow levels within the area!
In terms of piste openings, we still have a few runs in Val d'Isere closed such as Santons, Epaule Charvet, Fontaine Froide, the Val Snowpark (although work is being done to get some features open this week) and a few more throughout the resort. The Espace Killy area currently has a total of 102 out of 155 pistes open and 72 out of 87 lifts in operation. With the snowfall we have had and what is predicted to come more runs should be opening up in the coming week. If you are arriving on Sunday expect cold temperatures throughout the week ranging from -24 to -5 and snowy conditions!
Skiing off piste is likely to be dangerous this week if the snow does fall. The avalanche danger rating is currently sat at level 2 below 2500m and level 3 above that altitude. That rating will be increase during the week as the snow falls. Be safe and ensure you have the essential equipment with you when skiing off piste.
Enjoy a great week of fresh powder in Val d’Isere!
