Val Thorens Snow Report: 26th January 2012

After two weeks of nearly constant sunshine, there has been a little more variation in the weather throughout this week. As I previously mentioned, the sun made an appearance on Sunday afternoon after a cloudy morning and it hung there happily throughout Monday. With a slight rise in wind speeds after the stillness of last week, the slopes – the higher reaches in particular – were colder than they have been. The condition of the snow on the majority of the popular pistes is better than it has been in a long time, the ice patches having been usurped by a nice lot of soft snow. It had began to get a little unpleasant on Plein Sud towards the end of last week and the slope, a favourite of many, was not as enjoyable to ride. However, with a fresh layer of snow, lots of fun moguls on the piste and fun off-piste banks either side, it has now returned to its former glory.

Over on the west facing Dome de Polset and Aiguille de Péclet peaks it’s a similar story. Tête Ronde, the blue run which begins at the Funitel de Peclet top station and snakes down across Aiguille de Péclet is one of the most exciting blue runs in resort. With sections of it approaching the difficulty of a red slope, it’s not the calmest of the blues but it is a thrill to ride. Its geography is not unlike Plein Sud’s, but it is significantly longer and the off-piste areas have a little more to offer in terms of jumps and transfer banks.

The weather on Wednesday was something of a wake up call and certainly made us realise how much we had taken the glorious sunshine for granted. The “slightly cloudy” forecast for the day proved to be something of an understatement as a thick blanket of greyish cloud hung heavily over the resort throughout the day. It was not too bad lower down on the pistes that were below the clouds, but any exploration to higher ground would have landed you in an absolute whiteout. Heading up the Moraine chairlift, we took the blue run of the same name which turned out to be slightly erroneous. Whilst the condition of the piste itself was perfect, the air was thick with cloud and the extreme coldness was causing the slight precipitation to freeze onto goggles. As the run made its way past Chalet Du Thorens the air cleared and the remainder of the descent down into town was fine.

Today we welcomed back the sunshine with open arms. Even though it did not snow very much yesterday, the cold air helped maintain the freshness of the snow and the pistes were in excellent condition. It was a glorious day for off-piste over in Orelle. At the top of the Funitel de Grand Fond, rather than exiting right to the Chamois traverse which heads to Orelle’s pistes, we made a left out of the station to access an off-piste run which heads down to the small resort. The natural valley is a wide, largely un-ridden open space and it is a sublime slope to ride. Dwarfed by the surrounding peaks, there are steep sections and flatter ones and no shortage of lips in the snow which are great for getting some air. The valley makes its way towards Orelle and adjoins the Mauriennaise red run around halfway down. Whilst it is not a notably difficult off-piste slope, because it tapers out towards the end and becomes quite flat, falling over could make climbing out quite hard. Sampling the off-piste at the top of the Bouchet chairlift to the left of the Coraia red piste was also breathtakingly exciting. Up there at the summit of the Three Valleys, the geography is varying and the riding is generally more extreme than the off-piste further down in Orelle. If you can muster the courage, it is a fantastic run and the conditions at the moment are ideal.

There are more days of snow forecast over the next six days than we have had for a while. Starting tomorrow morning, it looks as though we may have at least 20cm of snow by Saturday night and there will be on-and-off sunny spells from Sunday through to Tuesday. Temperatures are going to be generally lower, with a low point of -24 °C on Tuesday afternoon, and winds will range between 5 and 10 km/h. In terms of dates for your calendar, the biggest event of the week is the Skicross French Cup, taking place on Saturday. Beginning at 9:45am and continuing until 1:30 at the Boardercross, accessed via the 2 Lacs chairlift, it should be an exciting and unique event to witness.