English Weather, News, and Events - January 13, 2025

WEATHER

Another sunny day.
Wrap up well as the temperatures are cool
and the wind may gust at up to 50 km/hour.

At 9.50 the temperature is

• -8° in the Village.
• -8° on Bellevarde.
• -12° on Pisaillas.
  

The maximum temperature at 2000 metres will be -4°

ROADS

No problems are expected on our roads today.

SKI REPORT

For the most up-to-date information please click here
Here are the highlights of the ski report.

A very good day to be skiing in Val.
Nearly all of our pistes are open, and only the signal and 3000 draglifts and village chairlifts are closed.

The L, the Santons and Combe du Geant
will all present a BIG temptation
but they are closed when there is a very high risk of an avalanche burying you.
Please don’t irritate our ski patrollers by skiing under the ropes.
The same experts, who closed the run,
may  then have to put their lives at risk, rescuing you.

The village chairlift is still under repair
They are waiting for an electrical part to arrive and are hoping it will be working on Thursday.
In the meantime you can use the draglifts
and to compensate, the Rogoney chairlift is opening earlier than usual,
and you can use it without buying a lift pass.

If going to Tignes,
use the Tommeuse or  Borsat chairlifts.

The avalanche risk today is 4  out of 5.
This is an extremely high risk.
Yesterday, also a 4/5 day, in the middle of the afternoon,
6 Estonian skiers were enjoying the sunshine,
in the off piste area of the Cugnai,
when an avalanche, a huge slab 100 metres wide and 300 meters long.
Buried 4 of the group
None of the group had beeps,
avalanche transceivers which allow rescuers to find you more quickly.
Ski patrollers arrived quickly, 7 dogs, their handlers and a doctor were flown in by helicopter.
Ski instructors helped probe the area.
One was covered just to his waist,
and was quickly released
Another was found quickly,
conscious and breathing
and was taken to hospital.
The last 2 were buried for more than
30 minutes until found by the avalanche dogs.
Despite immediate and intensive CPR, both died.

NEVER
Ski off piste without an avalanche transceiver, probe and shovel.
Practice using them regularly.
Have you practised this winter ?

Always keep a big distance between skiers when off piste.
NEVER follow tracks,
even if there are 200 tracks ahead your group
could still trigger an avalanche.

Check that your insurance specifically covers off piste rescue.
Off piste is any area, even a few metres outside of the marked pistes, or between the pistes.
Yesterdays rescue, was extremely expensive.
The skiers involved in the tragedy were not insured.

Any doubts about the conditions or the skills of your ski pals, stay on our many miles of marked pistes.

Walkers
Most paths are open but paths are not immune to avalanches
therefore Pont St Charles is closed.
Les Sources may follow  - the upper part from les Coves (known as the ‘avalanche path') is already closed.
If the paths are closed, go somewhere else….

LOCAL NEWS

We have very sad news.
Yesterday, in the middle of the afternoon,
6 Estonian skiers were enjoying the sunshine,
in the off piste area of the Cugnai,
when an avalanche, a huge slab
100 metres wide, 300 meters long, buried four of the group.
None of the group had beeps,
which are avalanche transceivers
allowing rescuers to find you more quickly.
One was covered just to his waist,
and was quickly released
Another was found quickly,
conscious and breathing
and was taken to hospital.
The last two were buried for more than
30 minutes.
Despite intensive efforts by our doctor and ski patrollers they both died.
The ski patrollers had arrived quickly,
and 7 dogs and their handlers, from Val and Tignes, and a doctor were flown in by helicopter.
20 ski patrollers were involved,
along with ski instructors who helped probe the area.
The avalanche risk yesterday was 4 out of 5.
This is extremely high.
We had had a lot of snow and wind over the previous days,
substantially increasing the dangers away from our marked pistes.

We send our sympathy not only to the friends and families of those that lost their lives.
But also to our rescue teams who had a heartbreaking afternoon,
when their best efforts were not enough to save the lives of 2 young people.
It is not ‘just a job’
It was impressive they found them so rapidly  considering the skiers were not wearing beeps.

Please.
If you are ever tempted to ski off piste, only ski with people who know the area and current snow conditions,
and are all equipped with a  beep, probe and shovel.  
An airbag would be a bonus.
Make sure all your team knows how to use this equipment,
and has practiced recently.

None of us know how we may react in an emergency,
particularly when it involves people you know.
We hope that our reaction will be both appropriate and automatic.
That you can rapidly call for help,
tell the patrollers where you are,
turn your beep from transmit to receive,
search, find and dig your friends out quickly.
This will only happen efficiently and effectively
if you have all practiced regularly and recently.

While avalanches are at the forefront of our mind,
Monday evening, today, is the weekly snow and off piste safety talk in the Maison de Val.
It is free but will be in French.

Val's tourist industry professionals are invited to breakfast at 10.00 this morning in a hotel in Le Fornet.
They will discuss the package ‘last tracks’ which is part of our end of season ‘Ski and Chill’ ,
as well as the benefits of Val’s Loyalty Club.

This week is the 31st time that we have hosted Classicaval.
8 talented musicians will be treating us to
Classical music in the Baroque church at 18.30 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Tomorrow you will be lulled by the
melody and gentleness of Schuberts strings and piano.
On Wednesday …. Trumpet.
Thursday a traditional piano recital.