More blue sky & sunshine this week in Val Thorens

Yesterday we headed over to the fourth valley (in the Three Valleys ski area, confusing, I know) Orelle where conditions were fab. They have a great covering of snow, fantastically groomed pistes and as always amazing views. This area of the resort is always quieter than other parts of the ski domain and can be accessed from Val Thorens via Moutiers chairlift and Grand Fond cable car followed by a choice of red or blue runs down into the base of the resort. Otherwise you can access Orelle from the top of Cime Caron and ski down the steep black into resort. (Find it on the piste maps).

It is also possible to access Orelle with the Val Thorens walkers pass and the descent on the Rosael lift into Orelle is a bit of a tummy turner. Just be sure to note that you can use the Moutiere chairlift as a walker to head up but it is not possible to take the lift back down as with the others, so you will need to follow the walkers path back to resort which takes around 40mins.

At the top of Orelle you can also choose to ‘zip’ your way back to Val Thorens on the highest zip wire in the world! It costs 50 euros and you can’t miss the start point as you will see people flying over the mountains as you leave the Bouchet chairlift. Due to the weather conditions it is not possible to pre-reserve, so you just turn up and book on the spot. Off piste is pretty much non-existent across the Three Valleys but over in Orelle skiers were still finding some hidden areas to explore.

It looks like we will be getting sunshine and sub-zero temperatures over the next couple of days followed by a light dusting of snow on Monday. Literally a dusting as even up in Val Thorens the expected snowfall is only around 2cm but snow is snow! After that the forecast is showing several days of snow the following week. So it looks like 2017 might get off to a lovely snowy start, we hope so anyway!

The number of slopes and lifts open in the Three Valleys has only altered slightly since our report earlier this week, but just to re-cap, in Val Thorens they have 71 out of 85 pistes open at the moment and all but one of the ski lifts are now open. Across the whole of the Three Valleys there are 216 out of 343 slopes open and 124 out of 158 lifts operating. At 2300m there is a snow depth of 55cm and at the highest point in the Three Valleys at 3200m the snow depth is 130cm.

On Monday in Val Thorens temperatures are expected to be a high of -4 dropping down to -8 which will be noticeable after the slightly milder start to the season so make sure you add a few extra layers.

Finally don’t forget to look out for the 3 Vallees selfie-spots to record your New Year's day on the slopes there are six dotted around that are difficult to miss! See you in 2017…

When she's not reporting for us, Gemma runs My Mountain Boutique.