© Andy Wilson for Valthonet
© Andy Wilson for Valthonet
© Andy Wilson for Valthonet
© Andy Wilson for Valthonet
© Andy Wilson for Valthonet
Val Thorens Snow Report: 29th December 2011
Snow returns
Gazing outside, I am reminded of the age old snow-falling windows screensaver from the mid 90s. Yes, the neige has returned. The mountains have, however, soaked up enough of the sun over the last few days to retain a sufficient amount of heat to keep Val Thorens at a pleasant temperature. Despite the snowfall and the cloud-cover, the slopes remain populated with those nearing the end of their Christmas holidays, revelling in every minute of snow based fun.
Until today the weather has been consistently fantastic and the slopes have experienced a surge of snow hungry holidaymakers. The pistes were doused in glorious sunshine for the two days after Christmas and, despite the lift queues, it was a great time to ride. Tuesday was a particularly busy day as folks hit the slopes after their Boxing Day recuperation. The Peclet, Cascades and Plen Sud ski lifts were hit by the large crowds in the afternoons, presumably as people wanted to soak up the rays with a beer and some music in La Folie Duce and Bar 360. Many also flocked to the Three Valleys 2 lift to access the brief but exciting Chardons (red) and Goitschel (black) pistes which head back down to Plein Sud. The adjacent Bouquetin cable car was also steadily ferrying masses of rosy cheeked skiers and boarders to the Triton and Pluviometre pistes as well as those keen to venture down to Meribel.
Wednesday continued the trend of excellent sunshine and the slopes flowed with a constant stream of people. We decided to sample some off-piste areas around midday, taking Plein Sud a few times in search of lips in the snow and natural kickers over rocks. Whilst the snow wasn’t ideal - the powder was hidden under a thin shell - the riding was extremely fun. Spurred on either by the sunshine or the cheeky beer at La Folie, the incentive of landing a clean 180 was enough to tempt us boarders off any jump and fling ourselves into the air. With only a few wipe-outs and no injuries, the morning was a rousing yet tiring experience. Ascending the Cascades chair lift, we spent the afternoon and evening in Chalet du Thorens, sampling the adjoining Bar 360’s outdoor dance floor. The Chalet served up an excellent fondue for dinner with red wine by a roaring log fire. We followed the meal (and the wine) with a torchlight descent down into Val Thorens, organised by the chalet, an exciting end to a very merry day of snowboarding.
With 12cm of snow expected to fall tomorrow morning, and continuous snow until New Year's Eve the weekend is shaping up to be very cold with moderate/ poor skiing weather. New Year's Day, however, is supposed to be a full day of sunshine with a high temperature of -3; a far cry from Friday’s -11. Being Sunday, the new wave of guests will have had a chance to settle in and get to know the area, ready to ski into 2012 on a fresh layer of snow.
Stats
-
High Temp.: -2