Weekend Snow & First / Last Lift Times

[ Update 11:00 on 26 Dec 2014]
Folyeres #LaTania getting there with the cannons running through the day today…

Message below from S3V lift co & the HEAVY SNOW weather warning…

Good morning
The snow is back (see below the Météo France forecast) as well as low temperatures (for artificial snow production); we are expecting a return to normal soon on the ski area. Thank you for your support and encouragement from the beginning of the season. Our rates also return to normal on Saturday.
Best Regards, J-P Lalanne.
Directeur Commercial.

WARNING of HEAVY SNOWFALLS down to low valleys this weekend:

Saturday 27th:
Overcast since the end of the night until midday with snow falls, short bright periods in the afternoon with snow showers. Rain-snow limit between the plain and 500m. 5-10 cm expected in the night, then 10-30 cm in the morning, then 10-20 cm in the afternoon (30-60cm or more in 24h). Strong WNW wind on the high massifs with strong gusts down to the plain at times.

Thanks to Free Ride Republic for the Pic.

[Updated 25 Dec 2014]
Snow Cannons blowing hard down to La Tania resort level this morning as the cold weather arrives with temperatures plunging to -8°C overnight and set to get lower.

Snow Cannons on Folyeres this morning

Not quite the Perfect Storm but the “wigglies” GFS forecast models don’t often look better than this. Temperatures dropping right down and the bottom precipitation lines showing the storm coming in.

It’s now looking like the snow will come in from Saturday morning, maybe as early as 6am, so it could be a difficult transfer day on one of the busiest of the season.

Global Forecasting System centred near to La Tania

Henry’s Avalanche Talk has already warned of an unstable snowpack off piste when the new snow arrives due to the prolonged freeze / thaw cycles that have taken place. Of course coverage of rocks and tree stumps etc will not be complete either so take care and stay informed. Henry’s full report here

An expected 118 lifts and 169 runs open today but hopefully much more than that next week with the new snow.

Good news for La Tania First Lift regulars in a totally selfish manner – The new Foret lift from Le Praz takes only 5.5 minutes compared to the La Tania Gondola that takes 6.5 minutes. We expressed concern that Le Praz skiers would get first tracks on “our” side of the mountain before La Tania locals.

However the Foret lift is not scheduled to open until 9:05 rather than the 09:00 for the LT Gondola. In addition, on a powder day chairs take longer to open than gondolas as they have to be cleaned of snow, landing areas cleared etc. So first tracks remain with the La Tania first lift geeks – phew!

We also spoke to S3V and Meribel Alpina regarding if last lift times would change for Foret and the new Loze Express lift from Meribel as they are so much quicker – the Loze lift cutting journey times in under half from 11.5 minutes to 5.5 minutes.

The reason why the last lift times remain the same is that the higher capacity lifts can leave more people on the mountain at the end of the day nearer to closing time than before so much more resource in sweeping the mountain at the end of the day would be required.

Also, the Foret lift has hoods and these lifts take longer to close down at the end of the day.

Nice to get an explanation – thanks to the lift companies for taking the time out to let us know the reasons behind their decisions.