Val d'Isere to Tignes finally possible

After a mostly sunny weekend Monday was the first flat-light day of the season but there was 10cm’s of fresh snow to spruce up the conditions and the piste skiing was excellent. With the weekend crowds gone it was incredibly quiet and very pleasant skiing although the skiing is still limited with no new lifts opening. I managed one run off-piste in the Pays Desert up on the Pisaillas Glacier but the clouds rolled in making it very difficult to see so I finished my morning skiing some great piste in white-out conditions.

Tuesday was surprisingly good as another 10-15cm of snow fell overnight and the piste skiing was fantastic with powder-on-the-piste. The first run in the morning was in flat-light but then the sun came out for a couple of runs and it then fluctuated between skiing in a fog and having moments with very good visibility. I skied the powder-on-piste routine during the foggy patches and then had perhaps the best powder of the season off the edge of the pistes in the Bellevarde sector during the sunny spells.

Wednesday was a spectacular day with wall-to-wall sunshine and Thursday started off sunny before it clouded over around noon. The off-piste has been very limited although we have had some great snow and the quality of the snow on-piste has been excellent. Even though only the upper section of the mountain has been open the pistes have been totally void of people, which has made for very enjoyable skiing. The good new is that the liaison with Tignes will open on Saturday and that will open up an enormous amount of skiing.

Unfortunately the temperature rose significantly on Thursday and it was +7C at 2600 metres, which made it impossible for the snow-cannons to function. I’ve been wondering why the resort hasn’t prepared the nursery slopes at the bottom of Solaise and rumour has it that the lines were ruptured during the construction of the new Brussels hotel. This not only affects the beginner’s slopes but also the bottom of the piste M, which is why there isn’t the possibility of skiing Solaise top-to-bottom. There are also problems with the snow-making at La Daille that could jeopardise the Woman’s World Cup which is scheduled to start December 8th. The problem with the snow-cannons being out of order is compounded by the forecast, which isn’t calling for any significant snow in the near future. There is the chance of a little snow on Friday and then again on Sunday but the rest of the week ahead looks to have off-and-on sunshine and pretty mild.