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Tignes Snow Report: 19th April 2012

Spring Snow. Snowing, again?!?

featured in Snow report Author Debbie Priestley, Tignes Reporter Updated

Conditions have been out of this world this week!

We had some perfect champagne powder on Tuesday, skiing an off piste route called Grappion in Tignes. It was a bit of a hike to get there but well worth it for the run back down. It took the best part of an hour to reach the summit, and I was very glad of my crampons en route as a lot of the hike was over frozen, snow covered grass, which was rather slippery. The last part of the climb was the steepest, but nothing that couldn’t be achieved with your normal kit. And the view on reaching the top was breathtaking! This route takes you down to the bottom of the Grand Huit chairlift in Tignes, and we had fresh tracks 'til right at the bottom. It was fabulous!

As I know though, not everyone skis off piste, not everyone likes the sensation, or has the equipment to do so safely. So, I will talk about the pistes now. Early this morning, the pistes were in impeccable condition, even if the visibility was less than perfect. On my rather fast blast over to Tignes this morning the snow was amazing, smooth and running really fast. I enjoyed corduroy pistes which made the flat light look less daunting.

Later on in the day, conditions got very soft. Tignes les Brevieres is a no go area, as is the bottom of La Daille, which is closed to skiers on the main run just now. You have to detour off the side, down either the black run or the Ok run. It’s not a problem, just watch out for muddy patches!

The weather forecast for the coming week is pretty varied, but it looks like we’re due some more snow, and looking out the window right now, it is definitely snowing, and it’s coming down thick and heavy. It almost feels like the start of the winter again! The forecast is for it to continue, at least to some degree, over the weekend too! Tomorrow is forecast rain in town, which means it should be snowing higher up. Saturday is due a mix of snow and rain, which again should mean snow higher up. Sunday is due snow in resort which is awesome. It should make the town look a little prettier until the grass turns green again. The extended forecast is predicting sunshine on Monday, snow and rain on Tuesday and then sunshine again on Wednesday. After that unfortunately it looks like we’ll be due some rain. But as we all know, the forecast here can be very wide of what actually happens, let's just keep our fingers crossed for sun and snow shall we? It would make a nice end to the season.

The Mono Ski World Championships were yesterday in the Val d’Isere Snow Park, and although the conditions were less than ideal (no bikini clad girls this year!) it was a fantastic event to attend. Simon Twiggy took the overall title, once again making mono skiing look unfairly easy. It was, as usual, a hilarious event, with many many crashes. I will be looking forward to it next year.

And with that, the end of the season is rapidly approaching. With less than two weeks to go, the bars are starting to close, and the town is quietening down. The fresh snow is making for some exceptional skiing though. If you’re in town make the most of the fresh snow, and maybe bring an umbrella next week. We should still get some powder turns in!!

Thank you to Corinne Mayhew for the photo's as my camera batter died on the way up. It was an amazing day! Also to the boys for putting up with my complete lack of hiking fitness! Thank you!

Bon ski!

Stats

Avalanche Risk
  • Level 3

Snow Report
  • 1

  • Total Pistes: 164

  • Alt. Resort: 1850m

  • Alt. Summit: 3000m

  • Alt. Last Snow: 1850m

  • High Temp.: 2'c

  • Alt. High Temp.: 1850m

  • Latest Conditions: SUN VEILED