English Weather, News, Ski Report - February 14, 2024

WEATHER

Another day of sunshine and blue skies, though we may have a few clouds this afternoon.
The wind is mostly gentle, and coming from the North West.
It is not felt at all in the Village but on Pisaillas this morning the average wind has been
20 km/hour and there have been gusts of around 55 km/hour.

The temperature has increased a little and we are back to an inversion, so it is cooler in the village than on top of our mountains.

At 10.00 the temperature is

• -5° in the Village.
• -1° on Bellevarde.
• 0° on Solaise.
• -4° on Pisaillas.

Maximum temperature is expected to be +6 ° at 2000 meters.

ROADS

Assuming everyone drives sensibly, no problems are expected on our roads.

SKI REPORT

The good news is that all our lifts and our pistes are open except for the Tunnel piste in Le Fornet.
Even better, the pistes have been groomed overnight apart from the following

• The Foret
• Cugna
• La Fourche
• Epaule du Charvet
• G

There is training on Bellevarde on

• The Raye
• The upper part of the OK
• The upper part of the Orange
  

Remember that the Santons, and the L may close later due to the real risk of avalanche into these gulleys.
Please respect the decisions of our experienced Ski patrollers and don’t ski down a closed run.

Tignes can be accessed via the Tommeuses or Borsat chairlifts.

The avalanche risk today is 2 out of 5 but as outlined in the local news, avalanches are not the only dangers off piste.

• Choose your companions carefully.
• Know where you are going.
• Don’t follow tracks - remember the person who made them may have had a parachute.
  

Remember to check your insurance before heading outside of the marked pistes as the insurers will gleefully share that as little as one metre from the posts is ‘off piste’.
If you are injured, your friends could pull or push you back onto the piste but being dragged isn’t recommended, particularly for a head or spinal injury.

Please control your speed at all times.
Injuring yourself is a shame
Injuring someone else is a crime

The telephone number for the ski patrol is on your lift pass.

All our walking paths and cross county tracks are open excluding les Branges which hasn’t opened this season.

LOCAL NEWS

Our amazing ski patrollers always work hard but yesterday they definitely deserved a beer.

If you were skiing down the Santons yesterday morning only the blind would not have noticed the rare sight of a dozen or so ski patrollers, equipped with shovels and a huge red sheet.
They were shovelling snow from a steep area above the piste and loading it onto the plastic improvised chute.
We are lucky that, particularly at the start of these busy school holidays,
most of our pistes are well covered but there are still a few thin areas including Santons where despite the best efforts of our grooming team, stones appear through the snow.
So our ski patrollers kindly applied blood, sweat and shovels to move many cubic metres of snow as even our high tech machines couldn't navigate the trees.
During the night the grooming team have used their fancy big machines, and this snow, to improve the surface of this popular red run which links Bellevarde to the Manchet valley.
See the video on our website
Or on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROJtA4JrcYM

As if that wasn't enough, onto the 'Real Job'.
They transfomed from being human snow moving machines, into skilled rescuers.

At the end of the morning a skier was skiing very fast on the bottom of the Marais, a blue run on Solaise.
We think he was probably aiming to have enough momentum to cross the flat area by the Datcha.
Instead he was helicoptered to the Hospital in Bourg St Maurice.
Swift and full recovery svp.

An opportunity to reflect …..reduce and control your speed at all times……even more so during this busy period, and even on a « schuss »…
It is better to schuss a little bit more slowly, maybe even within your skill level, even if this risks a short push at the end but better a bit of free cardio than a serious injury to yourself or others.

Another notable rescue was off piste, in the gully with the catchy name
“couloir that doesn’t lead anywhere”………
it really is all in the name………there are several rescues here each winter.
Basicallly, once you are in this steep gully you can’t get to the bottom without a rope and the ability to abseil down.  
Not the best time to lean these techniques !
A foolish adult and two teenagers were very pleased to meet our ski patrollers.....
 
Always think carefully about skiing off piste.
Even if the avalanche risk is only moderate, it relates to avalanches.
The mountain has plenty of other tricks and traps.
EVEN if you don't get lost or follow tracks........
Ski in an area you know, or hire a professional.

Yesterday evening 116 instructors clutchinig torches carefully skied like an illuminated snake down the Face de Bellevarde.
It was followed by a firework display, all enjoyed by more than 2500 specators.
 
The Star gazing evening, which was due to take place this Thursday, has once again been postponed as the weather forecast is for a cloudy night..
It is an evening arranged by the Cultural Department, and was initially supposed to take place in January.
They are great at arranging interesting events, but not so good at managing clouds !