Nick Ski End of Season 3V Snow Analysis 2014-15

Nick’s report on how the snow really was this Winter – and yes, he did ski every day…

How was this season? To sum it up it was warmer than normal with lots of wind and believe it or not more snow in La Tania by March than last year – we measured over a metre of settled snow in the garden by early March.

The Snow Cannons get to work early on the Folyeres piste & with daily grooming keep it open all season

As always the skiing started in Val Thorens in November and will end there this Sunday although as I type it’s hailing in La Tania and due to snow later.

The snow arrived at the start of November below La Tania and then we had around 5 weeks of glorious sunshine but very cold (the diesel froze in my van the first time in 12 years in November) apart from one snowy day on the 21st. Snow canons were started and the base of the busy pistes was in huge piles by the end of November ready for grooming. However what was truly extraordinary Courchevel opened for free for 1 day on the 23rd of November, a first as far as I know. It was fantastic with bottomless powder on the pistes.

The special preview day in Courchevel – La Tania locals bagged Suisses while everyone else stayed over on Saulire piste

The 3 Valleys opened on the 7th December giving access to Mottaret parts of Meribel and onto Val Thorens. La Tania and all other links/resorts opened a week later and snow returned but with warmer weather although almost every night it did freeze. The base slowly started to build up and we gained a few centimetres then lost about half but slowly the snow depth started to improve. The off piste was still very dangerous partly due to lots of rocks showing and the depth of the snow but mainly the instability of the snow pack because of the long period without any snow in November. This causes the new layers of snow not to bond with the base layer. By mid February the off piste was less dangerous due mostly to snow compaction I believe.

Opening day in Courchevel and first tracks again

The pisteurs said winter arrived on the 15th January along with colder temperatures. However the coldest temperature all season was only minus 8C in resort on a couple of nights, generally around minus 4C. We then started to get lots of small snowfalls of around 10cms giving great skiing conditions but not much sunshine until early March. During this period we had larger falls of about half a metre every 10 days or so and the off-piste began to be more stable from an avalanche point and safer as the rocks began to be well covered.

Maginificent conditions in Courchevel 1650 and perfectly groomed slopes

However there were a number of very windy and snowy days in excess of 110kph which closed the vast majority of the ski lifts. As always tucked away in La Tania we were sheltered from the winds and our skiing was fabulous down through all the tree runs that we have access to along with plenty of definition in the tree lined runs on days with very bad visibility. At the end of February one particular snow storm came in with sand from the Sahara which was especially noticeable as brown almost muddy snow off the sides of the pistes for around the last 6 weeks of the season.

A proper powder day and some deep, deep snow for Nick

March arrived with warmer temperatures and fabulous skiing and then winter returned on the 23rd March for what turned out to be our last big powder days of the season.

April arrived with lots of glorious sunny days and by the start of the 3rd week pistes were starting to close. Plan Fontaine our easy way back to the chalet closed on the 14th. The final 2 weeks were a mix of mostly sunny days and an occasional dusting of fresh snow on upper slopes.

View from the top of Rocher de la Loze (above the Col) after a hike up with Eric from Ski Progression Ski School

Overall a very good season with over 200 pistes still open on the last day of the whole 3 Valleys Friday 25th April including Folyeres, Dou des Lanches, Lanches, Bouc Blanc & Arolles some of our local pistes.

The path in to Chalet Juba in early March

Val Thorens closed yesterday with the vast majority of their pistes still open.

Have a great summer and we look forward to seeing you in La Tania next season.
Opening day for Courchevel is Saturday 6th December and La Tania a week later on the 13th.

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