Category: Weather

Local weather reports for the Portes du Soleil region

Summer arrived quickly

Although there is still a lot of snow on the north facing slopes, since the lifts shut at the end of April, the weather has been gorgeous, sunny & hot.

The bike is out and more trails are losing their snow cover on a daily basis…

Overdue update

Whoops – I just realised it is nearly 2 months since I updated the blog. Since my last post, basically it has snowed, and snowed, and snowed, and snowed!

The end of Feb was sunny and springlike. In contrast, March & April (to date) have been cold and snowy. We have had so many excellent powder days that I have lost count. At the moment, we still have over 250 cm at the top of the mountain and although it is mild at the moment, more snow is forecast for the weekend.

All in all, we have had an excellent end of season, and it shows no signs of ending!

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… 

The Portes du Soleil has some of the best snow in the Alps…

The sun is out and the mountains are very white! Not only is this one of the best starts to the season in decades, but once again the Portes du Soleil has some of the best snow in the Alps.

As per normal, Chatel (70/160) has more snow than;

La Plagne (115/135cm)
Alpe d’Huez (120/120cm)
Val d’Isere (115/150cm)
Tignes (103/132cm)

Never mind the amount of snow in Avoriaz! 

For those of you coming out to this beautiful resort over Christmas & New Year, I will be shortly posting some pictures to whet your appetite!

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.