English Weather, News, Ski Report - January 10, 2024

WEATHER

The good news is that we should have sun ……..tomorrow.
The less cosy news is that today is cloudy : Light clouds, dark clouds, grey clouds, white clouds.
However there should be a small amount, very small amount, of snow this afternoon, and fresh snow always makes us HAPPY.
The wind is not particularly strong, but it is chilly.
So wrap up well !
Don’t forget neck warmers and something to protect your face.
The pistes are in great condition, but take care because the sun won't be around to light up your turns.
Googles with lenses suitable for the lower light will definitely make your day easier.

Temperatures at 09.30 are colder than the last few days with 

• -3° in the Centre of the Village.
• -7° on Solaise.
• -13° on Pisaillas.

The maximum temperature will be -1° at 2000 metres.

There will be a gentle South Easterly breeze of
12 km/h for much of the day with occasional gusts of up to 40 km/h.

ROAD

There are currently no problems on the roads.

SKI REPORT

The good news is that nearly our entire, vast, playground is open and the pistes are in very good condition.

At Le Fornet.

Everything will open except the Tunnel piste.
The Signal, Foret and Table d orientation have not been groomed.

On the Pisaillas area.

Everything is open but the wind may affect the lifts.

On Solaise.

The L should open today.
Please take care if skiing off-piste near the L as we have ‘stolen’ some of the off-piste snow to pack out the L piste.
The 3000, Marmottons and Rhone Alps have not been groomed.

On Bellevarde.

The only closure is the Stade Olympique – the area of the Face below the Belvarde Express where the FIS slalom races are taking place today and tomorrow.

The Epaule du Charvet is a difficult piste that has not been groomed.
The Boarder Cross may close if the visibility is not good enough.
The Raye maybe closed for training for part of the day.

Tignes can be accessed via the Tommeuses or Borsat chairlifts.

The avalanche risk today is 3 out of 5.
Be very careful as there are plenty of plaques and the avalanches which caught several people, including professional skiers, last week were also on "3 out of 5" days.

LOCAL NEWS

Yesterday 100 or so people attended the Mayors New YEARS Ceremony at the Congress Centre.
He gave a completely different speech to the one on 1st January which you can listen to on RadioVal, although, weirdly, this is in French.
Patrick Martin spoke directly to the locals, even using the first names of those who had helped during the year.
He spoke about the investments and progress made in 2023, and specifically thanked those who do the day-to-day work in our village.

More stats !
On Saturdays we give you the numbers of overnight stays for the approaching week.
On Fridays we share the "joy" of the predicted figures for the weekend's traffic.

Today we are focusing on our lift system.  
Since the beginning of the season, the number of people using the lifts is 5% less than last winter.  
There has been an increase in the number of day passes, especially around the time of the Woman’s World Cup races.
However, during the New Year Holidays, there was an overall reduction of 4%.
We seem to be noticing a trend towards smoothing out the peaks and troughs seen in winters of old, so the weeks between the school holidays are not quite as peaceful as they were in the past, but the traditionally busy weeks are slightly calmer.
Another change is the increase in sales of season passes - already at least 800 more than last winter.

We are looking forward to another two days of FIS (International Ski & Snowboard Federation) races on the Face de Bellevarde.  
These are at a high level, just below the European Cup for Downhill racing.  
The Face has been prepared so that the surface is as hard as it was for the World Cup in December, but it hasn’t been either sprayed or injected over the last few days.
The ski patrol have however put up plenty of nets for the safety of the racers, staff and spectators.
The first race will begin at 9.30.
Although the Stade Olympique will be closed both today and tomorrow, the Face and le Joseray pistes will be open.

18.30
Cross Country Skiing Relay Race.
Place des Dolomites, between the bottom of the nursery slopes and Val Village.
This is the most energetic and competitive race of the winter !
Do not miss it !
Free to enter, free to borrow equipment, free to cheer on !
Free hot drinks for spectators, and also for the tired competitors !
A temporary track with bumps and banked corners has been set up.
The race is a relay, with two in each team.
One skis while the other catches her (or even his) breath.
The aim is to do as many laps as possible within 20 minutes.
We hope to see as many of you as possible. It was very popular in previous years.
The teams can be made up of ski instructors, novice holiday makers, enthusiastic youngsters from our village, or a mixture of all the above !
If you don’t want to experience the skills, spills and thrills of competing, come and sip a mulled wine while cheering them on !

Skiers that are possibly even faster than those that we will see in town this evening,
are now in Wengen, ready for tomorrow's World Cup Downhill.

Finally, this evening, from 17.00 to 21.00.
Les Crozet restaurant, at the bottom of le Fornet Cable car, is hosting
‘A Celebration of his Life’
for David Carr, who died at his home in Val d’Isère in November.  
Known affectionately as ‘Old Dave’ (since he was quite a young man),you might even remember him from when he worked at Dicks T-Bar.
He added his particular brand of Scottish-ness to Val d’Isère, where he skied, worked, skied, cycled, skied, lived and skied for many, many years.
He loved our mountains and was happiest off-piste.
We are pleased that his granddaughter Hazel is in Val for a few days to meet his friends and hear their tales.

We wish him a Bon Ski in the skies above us.
His friends will raise a glass, or two, or three…….or FOUR before they shout out loud
“Au Revoir Dave. Rest in Peace.”