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Snow snippets: reader updates

30th December 2009, by Wendy King

Montgenèvre on a sunny day

Here are two reader snow reports posted to us before the Christmas weekend – with recent conditions in Montgenèvre and Valmorel.

Montgenèvre – from Adit

We arrived on Thursday 17 Dec just for a few days in Montgenèvre. Reported snow depths are 40cm bottom and 70cm at the top, the piste is in excellent condition thanks to some fresh if light falls early part of last week. Conditions Thursday were sunny but really cold, around -10 at resort level. We were warned about venturing off piste due to cover depths but on piste was fine Thursday with only a few hard packed/icy areas on the slightly steeper pistes. Friday 18th we woke to light snow and cloud and this did not stop until around 10am Saturday. The snow kept falling all day with approximately 5/10cm falling.

The snowfall feshened up the slopes with great skiing everywhere. Saturday the 19th, great skiing everywhere with blue skies and most lifts open. The slopes were deserted on all three days, however in 20 years skiing I can bearly remember temperatures so cold: we went to the Gondron bowl at the very top of the resort and it was in the region of -30 with windchill at midday. All in all some very good skiing for the time of year, although the depths are not up to last year at this time.

Valmorel – from Rose C (Christmas Eve)

After very very cold temperatures but not much snow, we now have heavy rain(!) which has washed some snow away. We skied Monday 21 December and Wednesday 23 Dec, when the links with St Francois were still closed and only about half the pistes on the Valmorel side were open. Today, Christmas Eve, the Grande Domaine was open and the snow on the Francois side seemed in better condition. But the home run to Combelouviere had to be closed as it had already worn down to the grass again. Main pistes like the Planchamp and Mont Olivet are also closed. We can see that huge mounds of snowmaking has been stockpiled during the very cold spell, but they don’t seem to be deploying them much at the moment. Joyeux Noel to all my fellow bloggers and I’ll try to keep you updated from time to time.

Current conditions on 30 December:

It’s a cloudy, murky day in both resorts at present. Montgenèvre (120/140cm) is reporting mild temperatures – at 2 degrees – and a freezing level of 1800m. This should fall in time for the New Year celebrations, with snow expected to 1200m by Friday.

Valmorel – from Rose C (30 December)

You are not going to like this but it has absolutely poured with rain all day and the temperatures are considered mild for the time of year. I guess the snow isn’t going to be much improved unless at high altitude. There is also a high avalanche risk posted. Looking from my window here at 1000m, I can see snow down to the foot of the Valmorel home pistes but I bet it won’t be in very good condition. Certainly the lower runs down to Combelouviere and Cote Soleil won’t have held up. The TV forecast is for better snow on Friday (down to 1500m) but they are about as accurate as British TV forecasts so don’t hold your breath!

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