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Christmas is looking sweet in Val Thorens

A light dusting of snow to welcome Santa Claus

featured in Snow report Author Gemma Hunt, Val Thorens Reporter Updated

It has been a very Merry Christmas week in the Three Valleys with some fantastic skiing conditions and plenty of entertainment.

The weather forecast was looking pretty good at the beginning of the week with fresh snowfall of around 10-20cm predicted, however, unfortunately it never really materialised. The pistes though are in great condition considering we have not had any fresh snow for over a month.

The snow depth at 2300m is 60cm and higher up at 3200m there is a snow depth of 135cm. In the Three Valleys there are currently 203 out of a total of 342 slopes open and 120 out of 158 lifts open.

Within the ski group at the Chalet this week it has been a question of back to basics with beginners of all ages. The lower pistes in St Martin have been helped along by the snow canons and whilst it is now possible to ski right down to resort, they have not been able to open the new beginner area. This has caused a slight issue for the ski schools with the littlest skier of 5yrs old heading straight up in the lift and tackling a blue run on his first day on skis, not bad. The ski instructors from New Generation Ski School have been absolutely fantastic and we have seen amazing progress from all, a definite recommend if you are looking for smaller group ski lessons for little skiers.

This week has been surprisingly quiet in resort, I was really surprised to see just one line of cars in the car park and a handful of skiers waiting for first lift. Presumably with Christmas and New Year falling at weekends, this coming week will see a larger influx of visitors to the resort. This unusual level of quietness though has meant empty pistes which has been great and I am genuinely impressed by the quality of the snow on the slopes which are being groomed and maintained so well in resort. At around 10am yesterday morning we were still able to benefit from untouched cordorouy pistes in St Martin which we were more than happy with.

The pre-Christmas programme of events in Val Thorens, Les Menuires and St Martin de Belleville has been really impressive this year. There have been stilt walkers, lit-up kites, ice carving and an amazing fire works display in St Martin on Wednesday evening with free mulled wine and hot chocolate too. Last night there were choir services in the churches and tomorrow evening there will be the usual torchlit descent by ESF and some more fireworks.

The weather forecast over the weekend is looking very sunny with temperatures rising next week up to around seven or eight degrees. There is once again no sign of snow on the forecast despite an earlier sighting in the week of light snowfall on Christmas eve, this has now disappeared from the prediction. The majority of guests staying this week have all been more than happy with conditions as they stand, with rising temperatures next week and a higher volume of skiers let’s just hope the pistes stay in good condition and we hope you enjoy a Happy Christmas Ski Weekend!

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