Val Thorens Snow Report: 2nd February 2015

Having ventured over to Val Thorens first thing with the intention of heading up high, my plan was halted with the closure of the Caron lift for avalanche precaution and so I took a detour to Les Menuires. Perhaps forgetting I’d switched back to snowboarding, I took the un-boarder friendly track of Boulevard de Cumin. A nice direct link between Val Thorens and Les Menuires, picturesque but a little on the flat side for us snow surfers.

Following a lunch stop I headed up to the top of La Masse with my ski companion and it was a slow and steady route down as visbility was just terrible. If you don’t know already, then a handy hint if you are skiing pole to pole in bad conditions then the poles on the right have an orange tip at the top. If this is on your left you need to get yourself back on track! The lack of visibility certainly put my legs to the test and I was a little surprised to find myself in deep powder and then suddenly drop off. Not the kind of manoeuvres I’m used to but it definitely keeps the blood pumping!

Thankfully the cloud lifted for the route back to reveal some beautiful pistes, which was a welcome surprise for the home run.

The snow continued once again yesterday but it didn’t put people off with restaurants finally seeing the tables filled and the tourists they’ve been waiting for since the beginning of the season. As we are now into February lift queues have started to appear and slopes are busier than in previous weeks. As the Three Valleys is such a huge ski area we are blessed to rarely have to queue for lifts other than during peak weeks. So whilst there are queues it doesn’t take long to get up that there mountain.

Monday morning started off very cloudy but by 10am the grey cloud had cleared and was replaced by blue sky and sunshine. It was a chilly day in the Three Valleys which I can't really complain about as it means the snow that has fallen is certainly going to stick around.

Today we opted for tree runs down to La Tania to enjoy the fresh snow and stunning views. We unfortunately timed our coffee stop at Pub Le Ski Lodge badly and ended up in the shade, the sun arriving just as we departed, rookie error. So we followed the sign of warmth over to Meribel for a quick wine/beer stop before it was home time.

Generally we stuck to the pistes all day which were in great condition and it was a nice relief to have quiet skiing/boarding rather than the ice scrape of previous weeks. Our ski buddies were a bit more adventurous and were exploring the powder routes. The avalanche risk is still 4/5 and there have unfortunately been reports of deaths in France and Switzerland this weekend. So, ski with care and make sure you have all the right equipment. If you are really eager to get some off piste action but don’t know the area then I would definitely recommend you book an instructor to accompany you. It's well worth the investment for a safe ski adventure and can work out really good value if you are a small group to share the cost.

There is yet more snow forecast for the next couple of days and then it looks like we are in for a sunny weekend. We are allowed to get picky now - we’ve had snow, we need some sunshine as my ski tan is seriously lacking this season! Looks like I’ve got a couple more days of digging my snow covered car out though before I can look forward to those deckchairs…

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Read more 3 Valleys Snow Reports from Meribel & Courchevel.