Category: Snow conditions

Local snow conditions for the Portes du Soleil area

Snow update…

Well there hasn’t really been much to report for the last couple of weeks. Cold clear sunny days and excellent skiing. The snow has stayed in great condition and a short tour on Wednesday gave us some nice powder for a few turns….

The next week looks positively spring like – really warm temperatures and sunny days. However, the north facing slopes of Linga, Pre La Joux and Avoriaz have more than enough snow to hold out.

What is exciting though is the tantalising predicitons for the 1st/2nd March – there could potentially be HUGE dumps of snow and very cold temperatures. It is a long way off but all the models are starting to agree with each other.

Finger’s crossed and watch this space… 

Still the best snow in the alps…

After a nice dump of snow yesterday, Chatel and the Portes du Soleil are still reporting the best snow conditons in the whole of the alps.

For most of this season, this area has recorded significantly better snow depths than many of the more famous resorts. Even as of today, Val d’Isere is reporting 150cm at 3000 m, whereas Chatel has 155cm at 2200, and Avoriaz has 220cm at 2460 (although this isn’t unusual since Avoriaz is reported to have the highest average snowfall (over 9m) anywhere in the Alps).

As reported by the Ski Club of GB, Verbier has 115cm at the top and Courchevel has 112cm at the top, but these resorts have neary half the amount of snow of Avoriaz.

So, if you want the to ski on the best snow in the alps, in the biggest ski area in the world, head to the Portes du Soleil!

Well we wanted snow…

It is Tuesday morning, and it hasn’t stopped snowing heavily since the end of last week! Snow depths are impressive, the levels in our garden are what you’d expect in mid Feb, not mid December.

The sun should be coming out tomorrow, so I will be taking some pics and checking out the slopes…

The whole area is opening this weekend and conditions will be absolutely superb. We still have some self catered Christmas availability if you’re quick!

Chatel – great start to the season

Once again, Chatel has had a better start to the season than many so called “snow sure” resorts in France as reported by the Ski Club of GB:

Tignes (30/40cm)
Val Thorens (30/70cm)
Alpe d’Huez (30/45cm)

Whereas Chatel has 40/85cm! A number of lifts are opening in the Portes du Soleil today, so I better stop typing and dig out my ski boots!

Portes du Soleil lift opening – 17.11.07

Great news – the Portes du Soleil will be opening the first of its lifts this weekend. Morgins is opening the Foilleuse lift & pistes, and Chatel will be opening some of its lifts next weekend (24/25 November).

What a great start to the season, with 40 cm of snow on the lower slopes and 85 cm of snow on the upper slopes!

The temperature was -16 at 10.00 am this morning, and the weather is set to continue cold and sunny until the early part of next week at which point we may get some more snow…

More snow news…

For those nervously watching the weather reports/webcams, I am pleased to be able to report that so far this is one of the coldest snowiest autumns we have had for a while! We have a few days of cold unsettled weather ahead of us, the mountains are white, the village is white, and the snow makers are on. At this rate, lifts could be opening in the next 3 weeks allowing a spot of pre-season November skiing.

As always, we will keep you posted on this blog.

Cold….very very cold

Ah, so this is what autumn in the alps should be like. It is beautiful and sunny but extremely cold. The ground is frozen solid at village level, and rock hard on the mountains. The snow makers are on, and indeed some of the real white stuff may be falling towards the end of this week.

Not bad considering it is not even the end of October!

We will keep you posted on weather conditions as we get closer to the season…