Sunshine after the snow : 17th February 2012
More snow on the way

After a snowfall mid week, that saw around 10-15cm of fresh snow come in, the sun came back out. The new snow has helped to freshen up both on and off piste in time for the arrival of the February holiday crowds.

The risk of avalanche has stayed at 3 out of 5 after rising with the recent snowfall. The powder is very variable off piste and on Wednesday I was still punching through the fresh powder and hitting the frozen snow below. There has been some wind at altitude which has created lots of wind crust.

On Monday I went touring on the border between Italy and Switzerland and we found heavy wind crust on all aspects, even in the trees, but the weekend before that we did find some beautiful powder over by Arolla.

On piste the new snow has helped to add a layer of softer snow after a couple of weeks of conditions that saw the runs become very compact. The lack of crowds had not made the pistes too icy but now that the holiday crowds have arrived things are starting to get icy in places. The new snow will help but the higher volume of skiers will still shave off the new snow and well sharpened edges are vital to enjoy the pistes. On the mountain all lifts are open and the snowpark is in great condition with a host of jumps, rails and an air bag jump to practice on.  

The temperatures have been very varied over the last couple of days with a comfortable -3/-5 around mid station, -10 higher up the mountain and as low as -30 at the top of the mountain in the wind and out of the sun. The freezing level is rising now with the heat of the sun which will help lower pistes to soften up a little and not be so icy.

Over this weekend the weather is meant to start sunny but then there is another front coming in with the promise of more snow. Winds are expected to stay light but temperatures will be very cold especially higher up in the shade when the wind gets up.

Although there has been an increase in crowds recently the pistes have not been as busy as this time last year. Good snow conditions at other lower resorts have meant that many people have not made the journey to Verbier. Hopefully that will stay the same over the coming weeks.

• Latest Conditions
  sunny with mixed weather coming
• Depth of snow on lower slopes
  35cm
• Altitude of last snowfall
  +900m
• Date of last snowfall
  15.02.2012
• Depth of last snowfall
  10-15cm
• Total number of pistes
  37
• Cross country trails open
  1
• Highest temperature
  -3
• Altitude of lower slopes
  1500m
• Depth of snow on upper slopes
  265cm
• Avalanche risk
  3
• Altitude of upper slopes
  3330m
• Number of pistes open
  37
• Altitude of highest temperature
  1500m

What you say - tell us what you're thinking