Tignes Snow Report: 28th January 2012

The conditions today were... a little less than ideal, although it was still great fun to be up the hill. Being a Saturday, which is transfer day for most companies, the hill was unusually quiet. The pistes were in near perfect condition with the fresh snow from last night, and although the light was flat, and we may have experienced a little bit of a ‘white out’, we had a great day up the hill.

Early in the morning I took my friend down her first ever black run, on which she surprised herself by doing rather well (I didn’t tell her it was a black run till we were off it!). The run was the top section on the race piste, Stade de Competition in Espace Killy (the lower section was closed for race training). It is a great place to introduce a steeper run as it is almost always smooth and less used that other ski runs so usually still very grippy right through the day. When the lower section is open it’s sometimes even nicer than the red as it tends to get less mogul-y at the end of the day!

To be fair, conditions were similar in most of Espace Killy today, Saturdays really are great days to ski. In Tignes, the only low point is that the Grande Motte cable car is still not working. There is yet to be a re-opening date that I know of, but there is still plenty of great skiing around.

The weather forecast for the next couple of day is for wonderful snow! The temperatures are due to be low for the next couple of days too, with a wind-chill factor of minus forty one predicted on Tuesday night at mid station level! So even colder up top, and not all that far off in resort. You really will need to wrap up warm! It’s going to be around minus fifteen at the top of the mountain (not including wind chill) for the next couple of days so be really careful. I’ve had frost nip in previous seasons and it isn’t pleasant. A scarf or face mask of some kind will be really useful, along with some decent gloves. Being cold really puts a downer on your day!

Enough said about the cold though, ski hard and you’ll soon warm up! The snow is great, and the fresh stuff will be readily welcomed, especially by the off piste skiers in town. Stay safe out there and make sure you have the right kit if you are heading off piste though. A minimum of a transceiver, probe and shovel is essential. The Henry’s Avalanche Talk website is a great place to visit for info on the off-piste ski area here.

The fresh snow should be fantastic, enjoy it and stay warm.

Bon ski!