Tough conditions off piste but still a good week of skiing

On Monday we skied some gentle meadows in lovely snow before skinning for 40 minutes to Mont Roup where we found some fantastic powder. On Tuesday we had an easy day in the Pays Desert with three ‘skins’ of about ten-minutes each to access some great snow.

Wednesday was a different story with high winds of 119km/h clocked on the summit of Solaise. Our options were limited but we still had a pretty good adventurous morning that had that ‘feeling of accomplishment’ factor for just being out there! On Thursday the sun came back out, the wind had died down considerably and we had a stunning day up at the Fornet. (See photos)

Thursday’s situation was one where the wind actually did us a favour instead to ruining snow. The snow clouds never quite reached the Fornet sector and according to Henry from HAT’s apt the snow clouds were about two kilometres away. But the east wind of 100-plus km/h wind blew in 30cm’s of beautiful snow from that distance and we profited with a fantastic morning of fresh snow. There were a few flakes elsewhere in the Espace Killy but that’s it and any time we have an east wind with a little snow we always have a chance up against the Italian border for an isolated dump, such as we savoured today.

The piste skiing has been fantastic again this week, as it always is when the sun appears for a few days in a row. As usual the grooming has been first-class in both Tignes and Val d’Isere and everyone has had an amazing week.

There was a tragic accident on Tuesday when a boarder managed to kill himself by flying off a bump off-piste and landing in the Calabourdane, which is a small river in the Manchet sector. There was another sad situation in the Vanoise Wednesday during the storm. Six military personnel where on a training mission and they needed to spend the night in a snow-hole. One man died, and two others suffered from frost-bite. (I don’t have all the facts and this is just what I’ve heard) .

We’ve had a very interesting situation today with the avalanche rating. The rating is a global rating that is taken over a fairly wide area, such as the Tarentaise. The rating today was 2/5, which is a fair and correct rating throughout the Tarentaise. However, we witnessed two avalanches today at the Fornet where skiers were taken and fortunately no one was injured. But the Fornet had an isolated situation because it received thirty centimetres of snow while the rest of the Tarentaise hadn’t had a flake, and in places the Fornet was quite dangerous today, as these avalanches showed. A rating of 2/5 in the Tarentaise doesn’t take into account isolated areas such as the Fornet and skiers and boarders should be aware of this.

Take care in the streets again as the pavements are slushy during the day but re-freeze in the evening into seriously slippery and nasty places to walk. Beware and concentrate as the surgery’s are full of people who hurt themselves walking around town.

Weather in the resort:

• Friday- Sunny -10C/+5C Wind from the S at 5km/h
• Saturday- Sunny -8C/+7C Wind from the S at 5km/h
• Sunday-High thin cloud -8C/+6C Wind from the S at 5km/h
• Monday- Partially sunny/chance of light rain or snow -6C/+6C wind from the NW at 5km/h

It looks like another fantastic weekend of skiing, both on and off-piste, so have a wonderful time and stay tuned for another update on Monday.

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