Absolutely monstering it down all across the Tarentaise. Video evidence from a mere 900m altitude.
Category Archives: SteFoySnowReport
Full Tarentaise Snow Report – 8th Dec 2024
It’s a dump alert, it’s a snow report, it’s relevant to everywhere that’s anywhere across the Tarentaise: Tignes, Val d’Isere, La Rosiere, Ste Foy, Les Arcs & La Plagne. It’s the first one of the winter season 2024-2025.
Early December Snow Report: Everywhere!
For the first time in a few years, it’s been a fairly mild start to the season. Coming off a pretty dry autumn, this means it’s looking pretty green in the Tarentaise valley, although up high, the white tops have definitely returned.
I’ve actually not headed too far up the mountains in the last week or so, but the ‘resort level’ conditions in Sainte Foy, Arc 1600, Montalbert (at the end of La Plagne) and La Rosiere are not exactly snow-fests. Temperatures have been low in the last week, meaning that snow-creation (snow cannons) has been firing in various places, but we’re still waiting for that big dump to fill the substantive gaps between about 1400 and 2000 metres.
There was some fresh snow put down at the higher echelons this morning (Friday 6th December) and there could be a significant amount of powder on Saturday afternoon/night, which might come all the way down into the valley. This could be 20cm or more, regardless of whether you are in Tignes, Les Arcs, Val d’Isere, Ste Foy, La Plagne or La Rosiere. It just depends how quickly the temperature drops on Saturday morning as to how quickly the lower slopes see snow rather than sleet. Fingers crossed it all goes white pretty quickly. Otherwise, the rest of the week is looking fairly dry, but temperatures should stay low, so snow creation can go on unabated.
In the meantime here’s a short round-up of the official snow reports from the Tarentaise ski resorts:
Tignes
Tignes has been open for a couple of weeks now, and second-hand reports suggest it’s pretty good up there, especially if you get a lift’s altitude higher than resort. I’ve seen a few nice pics and videos of people riding powder – not sick, deep powder, but powder nonetheless.
The official channels are reporting that at Tignes le Lac (2100m altitude), there’s a 57cm snow base. Up at La Grande Motte (3300 metres), it’s up to 90cm, which is not spectacular but steady. Wind is still moving stuff about a bit, meaning coverage is not unbroken by any means, but it’s all respectable for early season.
Val d’Isere
Posting a very exact 33cm at 1800 metres and 53cm at 3000 metres, the conditions in ‘Val Dizzle’ are likely to be very similar to Tignes. Apparently, there was a nice layer of fresh powder put down today (around 5cm), which is probably more noticable higher up. In line with everywhere else in the Tarentaise, we can expect 15-20cm of new powder on Saturday at all levels.
La Rosière
It’s still a week until La Rosiere opens (Saturday 14th December) and there isn’t any official information being posted on their website at this time. The resort itself (and Les Eucherts) is not in full ‘winter wonderland’ mode yet, but the white stuff is beginning to accumulate on the pistes. Sufficiently for people to start taking a hike up in the absence of open lifts anyway…
Sainte Foy
Ste Foy’s ski lifts were due to open this weekend. This always seemed a little ambitious the way November was going (dry and mild). The lifts are now opening on Saturday 14th December instead. Like La Ros above, there are no official figures available. However, Sainte Foy is pretty visible from the valley although it looks a bit sketchy at resort level, it seems really quite good at the top of the first lift (Grand Plan) and above.
La Plagne
Whilst La Plagne is due to open a few lifts for a preview weekend tomorrow, there are still only a handful of details about the conditions up there before the proper start of the Paradiski season on Saturday 14th December. Officially, at 2000m you can expect 30cm, with there being 69cm at 3000m. La Plagne might cop the best of the fresh snow tomorrow, with over 20cm anticipated from 1600m upwards.
Les Arcs
Last but never least, Les Arcs is reporting 20cm snow depth at Arc 1600 and Arc 1800, 65 cm at Arc 2000 and 98cm at the Top of the Aiguille Rouge (3226m altitude). That’s really not a terrible start. Again, the lower pistes may need some work to start with, but it’s all pretty encouraging at this early stage.
Snow Report: Oh My God, Weather
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…
Snow Alert: significant snowfall at all levels
Fresh snow has arrived in not-insignificant volume all the way down to the valley floor. We woke up this morning at 900m altitude to a good 30-40cm of fresh powder. It has kept snowing lightly throughout the day, although the freezing point has ascended slightly, meaning that below about 1000-1200m it has been a bit wetter.
There’s no doubting that this offering of snow constitutes a decent ‘dump’ that has generously covered the lower slopes of all the surrounding ski resorts and significantly boosted the high-altitude snow depth.
First thing today, Les Arcs (official) was heralding 35cm of fresh snow in Arc 2000, with the 0°C isotherm hovering around 1450m (although I think that’s a little bit conservative, as the highest temperature I saw at 800m today was only 1°C…) Overall, snow depth in Arc 2000 is reportedly 70cm, which is a solid start in November.
La Plagne’s morning figure was 36cm of new snow at 2000m, making an overall total of 63cm.
The official number is Tignes is 30cm of fresh snow at 2100m, and 40cm at the sky-scraping 3300m peaks. This translates to 53cm snow depth at the lower level, and a (very exciting) 170cm at the upper echelon. With Tignes already open to the paying public, this extra powder might help open a few more pistes over the next couple of days. Across the ridge, Val d’Isere is reporting an overall snow depth of 60cm at 1800m, and 80cm at 3000m (although I’m not convinced that these number have been very recently updated).
Sainte Foy, which can be a bit slower to update their recent snowfall, is showing that 20cm fell yesterday (27th Nov) giving an overall snow depth of 50cm in resort, 130cm at the Arpettaz (2100m) and 140cm atop the Col de l’Aiguille (2650m). However, these are “fresh snow” numbers, so we can assume some settling will occur.
La Rosiere have clearly not quite woken up to the winter yet, so I have no official figures, however we can assume they are very similar to the other resorts mentioned.
Typical of early season weather, there is likely to be further precipitation over the next few days (until around Saturday) but, with the freezing level moving up and down like a whack-a-mole, there’s likely to be sleet and rain mixed in with the snowfall. It looks like everything above 2000m should make a net gain, but below that point there could be some ‘settling in’ and, on the lower slopes, even some melt-back. Whatever happens, this first proper dump is good news and makes it feel like true winter is getting a grip.
Snow Report: Winter is Coming
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.
XIST 