Opening week in Les 2 Alpes

Alex reports about conditions on Les 2 Alpes on Thursday

featured in Snow report Author Alex Armand - TipTop Ski Coaching, Les 2 Alpes Reporter Updated 14 December 2017

It is with great pleasure that I’m writing this glowing report of the snow conditions in Les Deux Alpes during our opening week. I went out exploring the ski area on Thursday, 8th December and there wasn’t a hay bale in sight, the resort was a beautiful sparkly white colour!

The glacier is in perfect condition with cold firm and fresh snow that is just a dream to carve down. It has been cold up there though, with temperatures reaching the dizzy heights of -20ºC during the day. Although on Thursday it was a mild -9ºC air temperature and less windy than previous days.

Fear not, there are new proprietors at the glacier's restaurant so you can now go in for a welcoming hot chocolate to warm up and even have a nice sit-down lunch or a reasonably priced and good panini (paninis are 6.5€ and burgers 7€ in the snack area). I’m yet to try the sit-down area, so watch this space!

Whilst the glacier is such a pleasure to ski and slopes are open right down to resort level, I have to be honest and say there are a few spots with rocks showing on the way down. But the ski patrollers are doing there best to pick up the rocks! The snow cover was thin over the ridges where the wind had blown it off, so the machines were struggling to piste without turning them back up again. Having said this, there are some lovely pistes and the grooming outstanding. You just need to ski down the first time with care so you're aware of the areas to avoid and go slowly around the edges when needed. The Toura (2600m) section of the resort had the least snow as it suffered from the most wind and does not have snow cannons to top up the natural snow.

The cannons were blasting to their maximum capacity below 2600m so the skiing was good. On Thursday we saw the Bellecombe area open and there was evidence of lots of work on the remaining closed pistes. The run back to resort was nearly 100% man-made snow and the conditions reflected this. The piste was firm and felt icy in places but the cover was good and, with some good edges and a little technique, very enjoyable. If you are a beginner or only just happy on blue runs, then I would take the white eggs back down to resort. You can do this right up to the end of the day so you don’t miss any precious skiing time.

On Wednesday we saw the Viking lift open for beginners. This is a free drag lift in the resort and a great place to learn. There is evidence of the other slopes being prepared so I would hope to see some more opening over the weekend. Especially with the current weather forecast!

On Thursday, there was a snow depth of 30cm at the top of the resort and 6cm at the bottom. Each day we are seeing new runs open and the resort becoming more lively!

Lots of snow have fallen tonight and today, over 30cms of fresh fluffy white stuff for us to slide down! And, over the next week, the forecasts are showing continuous heavy snow with at least another 30cm before Tuesday and more after. So we are looking at having a superb start to the festive season.

Next week we see the Rise Festival here in resort with Craig David headlining the perfect mix of great snow and skiing followed by fabulous music! This event is seen both on and off the slopes with live music in town and parties arranged in the apres ski bars on the hill. There will be late night events as well for those of you with the stamina!

Les 2 Alpes dump alerts and written snow reports are brought to you by Alex, from TipTop Ski Coaching.