Spring-like week in Verbier

Sunny Verbier will receive a new top-up of snow tonight

featured in Snow report Author Barnaby Bos, Verbier Reporter Updated 5 February 2018

It’s felt like spring here in Verbier for the last week, with temperatures reaching up to 10 degrees in town and the warm sun continuing to beat down on the slopes. Despite the lack of recent snowfall, the pistes remain in good condition, with decent snow coverage still surrounding all of the runs. The snow itself is still light and powdery in shaded areas of the resort and a little heavier and softer on the runs most exposed to the sun.

The weekend brought in some crowds to Verbier but, otherwise, the resort has been very quiet with lift queues almost non-existent for the most part. I’ve spent a lot of time this week skiing around Le Chaux and down the runs from the top of the Col des Gentiannes and the Lac 1 and 2 chairlifts. The earlier in the day you can hit the slopes here, the better, as the piste groomers do a great job of levelling the pistes overnight. That means that early in the day you can really charge the mountain, knowing that you’re not likely to hit any sudden moguls given how smooth the pistes are. With the combination of skiers moving the snow around and the heat of the sun softening the slopes, they’re tending to become a lot bumpier as the day wears on.

In the snowpark, there have been three red jumps added, giving skiers a good jump to practice tricks or airs on in between the small blue jumps, which provide little air time, and the large black jumps which can be intimidating for inexperienced park skiers.

I have been venturing further afield recently too and exploring the wider ski area over towards Thyon. If you have a 4 Valleys lift pass, then it’s definitely worth making the trip over to the other side of 4 Vallees at least once, if not twice, during your stay in Verbier.

The large bowl beneath the Greppon Blanc has plenty of brilliant runs, and it feels much quieter than in Verbier. Because the bowl is heavily shaded from the sun for large parts of the day, the snow is also still fresh, with surprisingly light snow still to be found just metres from the piste.

Thyon is a great addition to the 4 Vallees as well, with my two favourite runs, possibly in the whole ski area, to be found here. The long Les Mayens red run is an interesting piste, with lots of big and steep rollers to fly off. It’s 3km in length and has an impressive 850m vertical drop, ending down in Veysonnaz. For the whole distance of the run, the snow was firm and forgiving underfoot getting softer in the last 300m down into the village.

The snow off-piste is now very tracked out and also heavy in most places that have had significant sun exposure. However, the forecasts are saying that a top-up of snow could be on the way overnight, with estimates ranging from 10-20cm potentially amounting. This should give the pistes a new makeover, and cover any pebbles and small rocks that have fallen on to the pistes in the last 5 days of sunshine and high temperatures.

The long-distance forecasts are suggesting a large amount of snow could be on the way next weekend, so keep an eye out for some updates and dump alerts.