Val Thorens Snow Report: 26th January 2015

Pre-snow flurry we had a great few days of blue sky and good snow. On Friday, whilst it was a murky day at around 900m as you drove up to resort it was great to break through the clouds and find blue sky. Always a delight to ski above the clouds, feels like another world and makes for some absolutely stunning views.

Despite initially being a mixed forecast for the Saturday I awoke once again to a clear sky so made an early start to the ski day. As we have had a fairly mild winter so far, I do keep being slightly duped by seeing sunshine and thinking it’s lovely and warm outside. Luckily the temperature gauge in my car is a nice reminder that it’s still very chilly. A steady -8 degrees which was enough to see me doing my hand warmer dance after a couple of runs. I was very jealous of the guy in the group who had hand warmer gloves with a plus and minus switch for the temperature, I have to get myself some of those!

The pistes were well maintained but the joy of each run was slightly hit and miss. The wide red run down from Becca was good snow, deserted and just brilliant. Whilst at the top of Bruyers saw more scratchy pistes - I’m sure there’s more official terminology but I’m guessing you know what I mean! It took a lot more caution, especially as I’m still using those ski type things so my technique became a little more Bambi on ice.

Following lunch on Saturday the clouds came in and it took some adjusting to, on leaving the restaurant to suddenly be skiing in bad visibility after a clear day. The good news was that the clouds brought with them snow which fell lightly from early evening until Sunday morning.

The forecast for Sunday predicted blue sky but that was not what I was seeing out of the window. I thought I would explore if it was another break through the clouds day but it was not so. No complaints though as it meant the snow was still falling in resort and making for some powdery pistes.

On a slightly different note, I was unfortunately greeted by an emergency situation late afternoon on Saturday where someone had collapsed. I shocked myself to find I did not even know the number to dial. So if you are ever in need of emergency assistance in France you just call 18. I have a UK telephone and you do not need a pre-fix just dial. Some useful information to know.

To bring it back to snow and some better news, we are seeing a huge, huge dump arriving Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It could not be better timed as we are approaching February and a busier ski area. It is creating a buzz in resort as people are skeptical as to whether it will arrive. I am sure it will but we will find out soon…!

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Read more 3 Valleys Snow Reports from Meribel & Courchevel.