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Tignes Snow Report: 13th April 2012

Friday the 13th... Lucky for us! Snow snow snow!

featured in Snow report Author Debbie Priestley, Tignes Reporter Updated

Well, this week has actually been pretty special here in Espace Killy. It’s been snowing, lots!

I’m sitting in The Fall Line in Val d’Isere where it really is dumping outside. Thick flakes of snow, but unfortunately it’s not cold enough for it to lie on the ground at resort level. It is, however, cold enough for it to lie higher up, and there is going to be some amazing skiing tomorrow.

I was away at the start of this week, and when I wasn’t in town I was gutted to hear about the snow falling without me. Fate seems to be smiling on me though, as the snow kept on falling. I got a few hours riding in yesterday after I got back, and the snow was exceptional. A couple of inches of powder snow, at least, had fallen. To get the best snow you needed to stay up high though, with the snow lower down being a little harder work - it gets a bit sticky as it’s still quite warm around town.

The forecast is for this snow to continue too, with snow due until Sunday at least, and then a break before we see more snow on the forecast. It looks like it might turn out to be a pretty special end to the season here. We were beginning to get a little worried about the lack of snow, too.

My tip for all this fresh snow is to make sure you have all the right equipment with you if you are venturing off piste in Espace Killy. There have been some pretty big natural avalanches so do take care. The Henry’s Avalanche Talk website is a great place to go for information on the conditions here, and on equipment.

The fresh snow has also made a massive improvement to the piste skiing conditions too. Everything was starting to get very slushy lower down, and the slight drop in temperature and lack of sunshine has done wonders for rectifying this. As always, the best skiing conditions are in the first half of the day, before everything gets all chopped up and nasty. You can still find good conditions later on though, especially if you head up high.

Friends have been doing full days off piste in this fresh snow, hiking up mountains and skiing down couloirs, but for the less extreme visitors to Espace Killy, this is one of the easiest places to access off-piste skiing. The lift access makes leaving the beaten track almost too easy at times.

The best visibility next week should be between Monday and Wednesday as the snow is set to die off on these days. This is good news for the Mono Ski World Championships, taking place in the Oakley Val d’Isere snow park on Wednesday 18th of this month (April). This is a great event to watch, mostly for the comedy element, as most of the competitors have seldom, or never, been on a mono-ski before.

Apart from that, the season is heading into its last few weeks and generally, everything seems to be quieting down. There is a more chilled atmosphere in both Tignes and Val d’Isere, and whenever the sun shines, everyone is out making the most of it in an attempt to look a little less white come summer time. Whenever possible, lunch or apres ski on a sunny terrace is the spot of choice, and most places offering this are completely packed.

The fresh snow should make for some fantastic skiing! Stay safe and enjoy it!

Bon ski!

Stats

Avalanche Risk
  • Level 2

Snow Report
  • 1

  • Total Pistes: 164

  • Alt. Resort: 1850m

  • Alt. Summit: 3000m

  • Alt. Last Snow: 1850m

  • High Temp.: 3'c

  • Alt. High Temp.: 2000m

  • Latest Conditions: LIGHT SNOWFALLS