Lots of new snow : 23rd January 2012

Great conditions with some sunshine forecast

A fresh snowfall arrived over the weekend. Estimates vary but in resort about 40cm of the fluffy stuff landed on my car. Higher up the mountain there was an initial report of 80cm but on getting up the mountain on Saturday I did not find that depth, partly because it seems as if there has been some very strong wind recently. It has bashed the snow crystals together as they fell and formed very dense wind slab. Interestingly, the top ten centimetres (approximately) is crusted in places with significant amounts of dense chalky snow beneath.

This wind crust made skiing and even boarding difficult at times but at other times there was perfect, if not heavy, powder. The wind continued while we were up the mountain and it was blowing over into Lac de Vaux and over the Col de Chassoures in the direction of Tortin. Here the bumps were once again filled in by the snow and it was a very enjoyable ride.

The risk of avalanche remains 3 out of 5. This is quite elevated but normal considering the weather that we have just had. All the area is now open with the interesting exceptions of the higher parts of the ski area such as Mont Fort and Mont Gele. I can only imagine that these areas need an extra 24hrs to settle before the ski area allows access up there. I was amazed to see evidence of such strong winds and heavy snowfall but no slide activity on the majority of faces that had been ridden or bombed on the Saturday.  Through Saturday night there was a big slide that did come all the way down from Bâ Combe to Carrefour but general stability has so far been quite good off piste.

Below Ruinettes and around the lower areas of the 4 Vallees expect to find some ice as the freezing level was quite high at times and sleet and even rain fell on those areas from time to time.

The good news is that the snow that did initially fall on roads has now melted but watch out for patches of black ice.

Pistes are all in great condition but there was a break in the weather on Saturday which encouraged a lot of people to come up the mountain and made it a bit busy and bumpy in places. Over the next few days the piste bashers should get that all flattened and packed down.

The weather over the next few days looks very mixed with some sunshine but also some more snow coming in.

At the moment it is muggy and melting in resort but hopefully once these clouds clear things will get sunny in the daytime at least so we can enjoy the new powder.

• Latest Conditions
  clearing, sunshine arriving
• Depth of snow on lower slopes
  50cm
• Altitude of last snowfall
  +1350
• Date of last snowfall
  23.01.2012
• Depth of last snowfall
  60-80cm
• Total number of pistes
  37
• Highest temperature
  +1
• Altitude of lower slopes
  1550m
• Depth of snow on upper slopes
  300cm
• Avalanche risk
  3
• Altitude of upper slopes
  3330m
• Number of pistes open
  33
• Altitude of highest temperature
  1500m