The last week has been completely filled with weather. We’ve had big snow, big rain and snow again… at almost every level. After a very cold November with consistently low temperatures, it’s suddenly got a bit sketchy. It’s not all bad news though…

As you may have seen from my first video snow report of the season the conditions last weekend were pretty awesome for early December. Since that point there has been near-constant precipitation and a wildly-vacillating freezing level. This means there has actually been more snow at all levels, but also rain at all levels, normally followed by more snow! In terms of snow, we’re actually still very well-endowed for this point in the season and I am very much looking forward to getting out in Les Arcs tomorrow. Especially as we’re likely to see some blue skies for the first time in a while.

Here’s a precis of the official snow reports from the Tarentaise ski resorts:

Tignes

At Tignes le Lac (2100m altitude), there’s a 97cm snow base, temperatures are now consistently below 0°C, although that is likely to rise over the next few days as we see some (whisper it) clear skies! Up at 3300 metres, there’s a more-than-decent 270cm layer of the white stuff.

Nearly half the lifts are currently open, although I expect this will increase over the next few days as the weather stabilises and the ski resorts fill up with eager punters. The Toviere section is largely open, only one lift is open on the Aiguille Percee and it’s 50/50 in the Palet section. You can get over to (and back from) Val d’Isere, which is key.

Val d’Isere

Posting a very exact 77cm at 1800 metres and 184cm at 3000 metres, the conditions in ‘Val Dizzle’ are likely to be very similar to Tignes. The last snowfall is registered as today (15th Dec) and the temperatures have been low again for over 24 hours, so it’s probably pretty fresh and soft out there.

There are a higher percentage of lifts open than Tignes at present with the main closures being the Leissieres lift and tunnel (traversing the Crete des Leissieres), the Manchet Express and adjacent pistes into the Manchet valley and the little Signal lift up Les Grands Vallons. Again, expect milder temperatures and sunshine over the coming weekend.

La Rosière

Saturday is the start of the 2023/2024 ski season in La Rosiere, so I don’t have any real-time ski-lift information at the moment. However, on the Italian side of the Espace San Bernardo ski domain above La Thuile there’s a handful of lifts open already.

In terms of enneigement (or snow coverage) I also have practically zero information other than there being 10cm of fresh snow today… (they clearly don’t start measuring snow until the lifts are officially open). Fortunately, La Thuile is indicating 50cm in resort (1450m), 95cm on Chaz Dura (2600m) and 140cm at the top of the Belvedere (2700m). There’s even a suggestion that 65cm at the very top is “fresh snow.” La Rosiere is likely to have similar figures, although it’s worth taking into account La Thuile being on the less-sunny side of the hill, so it will see less sun when it finally comes out this weekend.

Sainte Foy

Despite having comparatively low base numbers (30cm at 1550m, 40cm at 2100m, 70cm at 2650m), most of the pistes in Ste Foy are open. The only closed pistes are present are the black runs, and they are all closed (all four of them).

La Plagne

The snow base numbers in La Plagne really reflect that short but very sharp period of rain we had midweek, with the low altitude depth being quite low, but 2000m and above being very good indeed. At 1250m (which, to be honest, is very low for a ski domain that is over 70% above 2000m) there’s 30cm of snow, at 2000m there’s 92cm and on the glacier (at 3000m) there’s a whopping 270cm. As with Les Arcs, La Plagne doesn’t open until tomorrow, so no lift news as yet.

Again, for a look at what the conditions were like in Plagne Centre last Saturday, check out this video. Despite the ‘up-and-down’ weather since then, I don’t imagine there will have been drastic change. There’ll be another snow report coming from the other side of Paradiski, Les Arcs, over the next couple of days, so keep an eye out for that.

Les Arcs

11cm of fresh snow (14th December) in Arc 2000. An overall snow depth of 108cm. A 45cm base in Arc 1600/1800 and 258cm atop the epic Aiguille Rouge. We are literally only halfway into December. Can’t wait to get out there tomorrow and find out exactly what’s going on…

In terms of living our lives, the last few weeks have been horrible for weather. However, in terms of the imminent approach of the ski season, everything is going well. The temperatures have been gradually dropping and the near-constant precipitation has been turning into a snow-line which creeps further down the mountain every day.

The snow has now reached the valley which means that the essential base had started forming on the pistes above us. In all the Tarentaise ski resorts there is snow down and, whilst it might not be particularly deep in places, the forecast for low temperatures and continued snowfall augur well for a strong, snowy start to the winter season. Most places are still over a month away from lift-opening, with even early-worm high-altitude Tignes having two full weeks before the first ski-enthusiasts start their first runs of the season.

Many people hope that the return of the El Nino weather phenomenon in 2023 will bring a bumper winter in terms of powder. Following such a hot, dry summer, which saw extreme melt-back across the mountains, the early onset of snow (and the promise of plenty more) is a welcome sight following a couple of respectable but unspectacular winters in the Tarentaise. Certainly lower temperatures throughout the Alps will help prevent a situation like in 2022/2023, when low-level ski resorts across the region struggled to get started due to lack of snow. This resulted in more people frequenting the high-altitude pistes of the Tarentaise ski areas, making them a little busier than one would like.

Being manifestly pre-season, actual figures are harder to come by, with most ski resorts not publishing snow depths this far outside of opening hours. Fortunately, Les Arcs are reporting fresh snow depth of 65cm at the highest point (the near-mythic Aiguille Rouge), whilst even a rudimentary viewing of the many webcams across that half of Paradiski shows enough of the white stuff at all altitudes to get the adrenaline going.

In short, the snow has arrived and, on the pistes, we anticipate more with little chance of significant melt. Winter has started and it’s promising to be a satisfyingly strong start.