Val Thorens Snow Report: 10th February 2012

The week’s clear skies have meant that visibility has been at absolute optimum level. The great clarity gave us apt conditions for an exploration of The Three Valleys, making use of those whole area lift-passes. Of course, if you do opt for the Val Thorens/Orelle local pass, there is the option to upgrade your pass for the day at any Setam office for just €24. Whilst our resort certainly has a lot to offer in terms of the diversity of the slopes, it is always a nice change to sample what some of our neighbouring resorts have to offer for a change. Just over the top of Col De La Chambre 2850m via the Funitel de Bouquetin there are some wonderfully wide slopes which make their way down to St Martin de Belleville. If you are feeling particularly adventurous, you can carve your own way down to the quaint resort off-piste. Even if you end up on the mountain road, the short walk to St Martin will take you through some lovely, picturesque French pastoral villages.

The beauty of skiing the Three Valleys is that you can constantly ride different lifts and runs until it’s time to start making your way back. After St Martin, why not take the St Martin 1 and 2 lifts up to Tougnete 2434m and make your way down to Meribel Village. From Meribel, get over to the Loze chairlift which makes its way up through some trees to access the Pic Bleu blue and Tétras black slopes. For a real thrill however, get off-piste and carve your way through the trees beneath the chairlift. With the steepness of the slope and the thickly plotted trees, the descent is quite an extreme one and this kind of off-piste riding should not be taken lightly. Only attempt it you think you are of an appropriate ability level and helmets should be worn.

Back in Val Thorens, the finals of the first Skicross European Cup were held on Thursday morning at the boardercross behind the Funitel de Peclet with the awards ceremony taking place in the afternoon. The clear, bright blue skies provided perfect conditions for the event and the resort was nice and warm for the spectators. The event provided a great ski-related past-time that allowed skiers and boarders to rest their achy limbs for a couple of hours whilst watching the experts do their thing. The second Cup is running throughout the day today.

The softest snow in resort at the moment is probably over on Orelle’s luscious slopes. With the cold weather, the powder has become quite crusty, but there was still plenty of great snow to sample over in the small neighbouring resort on Thursday afternoon. The fabled ‘Hidden Valley’ at the top of Grand Fond still has a good amount of softness, making nice, safe landings for the multitude of little kickers that can be found on the descent. It’s cold at the top of the Peyron and Bouchet chairlifts, but if you wear enough layers, it makes for an exciting run back down and the off-piste slopes that skirt the Pointe du Bouchet are one of the biggest thrills in the area.

Temperatures will finally begin to rise throughout next week and by Wednesday it looks to be climbing out of the -20s. What’s more, there should be a light dusting of fresh snow between Saturday and Tuesday which bodes well for the conditions of the pistes and is good news for the powder lovers amongst us. The Big news is that the Frostgun Invitational Freestyle Contest is coming to Val Thorens next week. On Wednesday and Thursday, head to the Chalet du Thorens/Bar360 for live music, DJs, MCs and an 11m high, 8m wide kicker and some crazy freestyle skills from some of the world’s best riders.