Val Thorens Snow Report: 1st January 2012

Despite the fact that the conditions on Saturday were an improvement on the day before, the pistes were hazardous because of the gross amount of neige that had been dumped on the mountain. The carnage was not merely confined to the slopes; the mountain road had to be closed due to the perilous conditions and the streets in town were gridlocked with cars attempting to get out of resort. The keener skiers amongst us snaked through the traffic jam on the way down to the Peclet cable car to consult the piste map and see which lifts were open. Met with a board dotted with dreaded red lights, the horrible truth was that the slopes were placed on a high avalanche warning due to the sheer amount of snowfall and the majority of the lifts were closed. With only a handful of options, the bottleneck junctions of the open lifts experienced rather severe queues. Spirits, however, were extremely high, since this was of course the final day of 2011 and there was plenty of fresh snow to play with. The 2 Lacs lift proved a popular location, providing access to the Chalets blue run which flowed with a steady stream of skiers and boarders all afternoon. As the evening approached the slopes were quickly emptied, a spattering of children hanging around near the Peclet lift playing on sleds.

In an almost mythical fashion, the sun rose on the first of January 2012 and hung proudly in a beautiful blue sky. As I’m sure you are all aware, the best cure for a New Year's hangover is mountain air and glorious sunshine, and there certainly were a wealth of people on the slopes this morning putting that theory to the test. Because of the amount of snow, many of the less central pistes had not yet been tended to, making conditions extremely choppy. Powder-hungry skiers and boarders were in their element. Having soaked up much of the moisture from last night’s rain, the actual condition of the powder was not ideal as it is very loose and very heavy. Those intending to do some off-piste riding this week (particularly boarders) should do so with suitable equipment.

As ever, Plein Sud was hit by the crowds in the afternoon. Worn in by the masses of skiers, the piste was choppier than usual making for quite a bumpy descent. Nevertheless, it was definitely one of the firmer slopes and for those of you who are comfortable with moguls this is currently one of the more reliable pistes.

With snow predicted for tomorrow (heaviest in the afternoon), Wednesday morning and a sizable dump on Thursday, there will definitely be no shortage of decent powder for the coming week. Moreover, the sun is supposed to poke its head through the clouds on Wednesday morning, whilst Tuesday should be blessed with blue skies.