Val Thorens Snow Report : 21 January 2013

The weather, on the other hand, has been rather random of late, veering between polar and balmy temperatures, with a bewildering mix of cloud, snow, sunshine and wind, often all on the same day. Current weather conditions bear almost no relationship to the forecast – several days have been exactly the opposite of what was expected – so you have to make skiing plans last minute when you see what the weather is really like.

Yesterday the Foehn wind was blowing, causing some top lifts to close. The Foehn is a curious wind – a dry, downslope wind which melts the snow amazingly fast in spring, brings cloud and can cause headaches and irritability. It blows from the south-east and can create entirely different weather conditions in different ends of the 3 Valleys. The Val Thorens valley tends to be the most affected by the Foehn, while the lower parts of the Méribel and Courchevel valleys are sometimes totally sheltered. As we set out yesterday, we could see a typical thick Foehn cloud looming over the head of the valley. We, however, were in bright sunshine. These bipolar conditions lasted all day. If you hear on the local forecast that a strong Foehn is due to blow, it’s best to stay in your own valley as the top lifts may shut, trapping you in the wrong valley. It’s also worth heading for the northern part of the ski area where you may avoid the flat light and strong winds altogether.

We took a risk by skiing from Meribel into the lower part of the Belleville valley, above St Martin, correctly judging that the chairlifts down here wouldn’t be affected. We enjoyed a sunny lunch in St Martin, smug in the knowledge that the head of the same valley was cold and blustery with thick cloud cover.

At this quiet time of year, there are usually no lift queues anywhere, but St Martin 2 chairlift was the one exception. This notorious bottleneck can see large queues, especially during sunny afternoons in high season. The lift company seems not to have realised that a fast eight-man gondola unloading onto a six-man chairlift doesn’t work, especially when large numbers of people also join the chairlift from the slopes above. If I could change any part of the 3 Valleys, it would be this chairlift. Please, Sevabel, may we have a second chairlift here, preferably with a pull-down shield? In the meanwhile, it’s worth avoiding this bottleneck on busy afternoons.

There are, of course, dozens of activities other than skiing/boarding in the Three Valleys. I recently visited Méribel’s Altiport on an open day and learned that this was one of the first Altiports in the world. Did you know you can take tourist flights from here on jolly little red planes equipped with skis and which carry up to 3 passenger? A tour of the 3 Valleys lasts around 20 minutes, and costs 90 Euros per person. A longer tour including Les Arcs and spectacular views of the Mont Blanc lasts 30 minutes and costs 120 Euros per person. I learned than conditions in winter are ideal for flying, thanks to the calm air and lack of thermals. It’s certainly a thrill seeing the peaks and slopes of the ski area from above. I learned also that holders of a pilot’s licence can take an ‘initiation to mountain flying’ course and learn the tricky art of landing on skis on an 11 degree landing ground. The secretary of the Aeroclub is Elizabeth, an extremely friendly and helpful American, who is happy to answer any questions and book flights.