English Weather, News, Ski Report - February 17, 2024

WEATHER

We will have a warm and sunny Saturday, so enjoy the space on the pistes vacated by those currently travelling slowly home.
Wind won't bother us  as even on the Pisaillas the max speed so far this morning
has been only 16 km/hour.

At 9.00 the temperature is

• -2° in the Village.
• +1° on Solaise.
• +3° on Bellevarde.
• -2° on Pisaillas.

Maximum Temperature +3° at 2000 meters.

ROADS

No problems are expected on the roads in our village but there is a lot of traffic coming up and down the mountain today.

SKI REPORT

Once again, all our lifts and pistes are open
except for the Tunnel piste in Le Fornet
and most of the pistes were groomed overnight,.

Those not groomed are

AT LE FORNET

• Fôret
• Petit Bois
• Table d'Orientation

ON SOLAISE

• 3000
• Combe Martin
• Marmottons
• S

 ON BELLEVARDE

• Stade Gerard Bonnevie
• Epaule du Charvet
• Borsat
  
  

There will be training this morning on

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

Remember that, especially on this warm day,
the Santons and the L
are very likely to close later due to the high risk of an avalanche engulfing these slopes.
If they are closed, please don't ski under the ropes.

The piste you may remember as the Trifolet (2 years ago) is now the
Brinzei touring track.
Nobody is allowed to ski down this or the  Ecureuil touring track on Solaise,
as these are reserved for tourers to walk up.

Tignes can be accessed via the Tommeuses or Borsat chairlifts.

The avalanche risk today is again 2 out of 5.
but never forget that the off piste area has other dangers.

Check that your insurance, covers off piste i.e. ANY area outside of the marked piste - even a short ski between pistes.

Ski only with those who really know the area, the current condition of the snow, and what has happened to the snow so far this season.
Not a vague memory of the snow in 2023.

What about booking to ski with a mountain guide ?

All of our walking paths and cross county tracks are open apart from les Branges.

LOCAL NEWS

We mentioned the potentially heavy traffic yesterday, and we were not wrong. 
The road was already very busy near Aime before 07.30.

Today is a major change over day, as a second 1/3 of France has started their holidays,
along with much of the rest of Europe,
and the UK.
We look forward to a truly multinational week.

38,000 vehicles are arriving and only 6000 less are leaving.
The dual carriage way between Moutiers and Albertville will be slow for 11 or so hours between 08.00 and 19.00 coming towards us
and until 13.00 for people going home.
It will also be slowish between 16.00 and 18.00 for those leaving
but they will at least have will have enjoyed a final day on our slopes.
If you have the luxury of choosing, why not avoid today's busy times,  
or even better, stay until tomorrow when the traffic should be moving freely.
Not all 'stops' are due to accidents
as the police carefully control the flow,
particularly through the many tunnels.

Lots of cars = lots of visitors.
Even more visitors than cars, as most holidaymakers don't travel alone.

The occupation rate will be almost 89% which is a tiny bit more than last week
and more than this week last winter.
The French Zone C includes our local area and is overlapping with the Zone A guests
who arrived last Saturday and have another week before their schools reopen.  

The Town Hall has launched a campaign
‘Poop invaders’
to remind the selfish few that not collecting your dog’s poo will be “rewarded” with a 135 euro fine.
There is no excuse………
we are a team of Dog Lovers at RadioVal and are baffled as to why others choose to leave their dog’s poo littering our beautiful environment.
Not only is this unhygienic, but it rightly incurs the wrath of poop-scooping dog lovers, dog-haters, 
both locals and visitors.

It is not difficult especially as Val generously provides free poo bags, and a map of where to find the 50 dispensers.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1xlxCBQKBBax8LLogE7T3qyRHCwYiMac&femb=1&ll=45.45008881556171%2C6.9759301761130255&z=14

The campaign includes posters, information on the Town Hall website, flyers, stickers and an animated feature on the new notice board on the roundabout
outside the Tourist Office.
This may remind older visitors of the video game, “Space Invaders”……..
Val d’Isere’s logo shoots the poo (which is depicted with eyes!) with lasers and changes these round balls into snow balls.

We are so lucky that our dogs can run and play off their leads while we wander along Val's stunning and varied walking paths,
whereas in many countries, including the USA, Canada and Australia, dogs are not allowed off the lead in public areas.
We must not abuse this privilege.

World Cup Downhill skiing results.

Yesterday the Swiss skier, Lara Gut Behrami won the ladies downhill in Crans Montana.
Laura Gauche from Tignes was the fastest French lady.
There is another downhill both there for the Ladies today, and for the Men at Kvitfjell in Norway.

Ken Caillot, who was born in Bourg St Maurice, got the best time in training yesterday,
just ahead of another French skier, Adrien Fresquet from the Pyrennes.

Unfortunately these exciting results can't cancel out the disappointment that
2 of our French skiers were injured during the training.

This seasons star, Cyprien Sarrazin, hurt his left calf,
while Maxence Muzaton injured both his left leg and right shoulder.

Neither will be fit to race this weekend.

GB News from Davos

14-year-old British snowboarder
Mia Brookes celebrated her first Europa Cup win
in the Big Air discipline

Chris McCormick came 2nd Freestyle Big Air European Cup.
    
Very well done to both of you !