Sun & powder in Les 2 Alpes this week

What a week we have had so far!

featured in Snow report Author Alex Armand - TipTop Ski Coaching, Les 2 Alpes Reporter Updated 1 February 2018

The last dump of snow came on Friday night with the sky’s clearing on Saturday for what you might call your perfect powder day. There was just enough snow to cover yesterday’s tracks and it had fallen straight and was perfectly light and ﬂuﬀy… Champagne I think they call it!!!

Saturday is local's day so, whilst it is usually quiet most locals are good skiers so there were lots of people out whooping for joy and making the most of such a perfect day. Unheard of so far this season, we have had sunny weather since! Most days not a cloud in the sky. The temperatures have been unseasonably high but the snow has remained good. Just yesterday I sneaked in a few fresh turns in light ﬂuﬀy pow. This can be found mainly on north-facing slopes that haven’t been in full sunshine. The south-facing slopes have given us a taste of spring skiing already, ﬁrm in the morning and spring pow in the afternoons.

Where the latest snowfall has fallen with slightly higher temperatures, the layers of the snowpack have bound giving us a very stable snowpack. The avalanche risk is set at 2/5 today. We are expecting snow in the latter half of Wednesday night into Thursday.

The “Bas de Piste” or village level runs

These are in great shape and have been well looked after and groomed. They tend to be a little ﬁrm in the morning due to the refreeze, and soften up by mid-morning when the sun hits them. All slopes have good snow cover and its a beginners paradise down here in resort. The afternoons have been warm and sunny so the terraces and bars/restaurants have been doing a roaring trade. Lunch in the sun watching the skiers go past!

Valley Blanche

This is a much forgotten and underrated side of our mountain. The runs are steeper but it gets the sun ﬁrst thing and has plenty to oﬀer. Treelined runs to Mont de Lans, blues, reds and blacks and plenty of visible oﬀ-piste that is fairly gentle. The slopes can be ﬁrm in the morning after the overnight refreeze but quickly soften up as the sun hits them. Spring powder can be found over here in the afternoons. If you're looking for something typically from the mountains, there is a Bergerie over here that serves great food, has a lovely terrace and claims to serve the best vin chaud in the Alps. Certainly worth a try! Should you have non-skiers in your group, they can also walk up to here on the pathway to join you for lunch or a vin chaud.

The Glacier

The resort is now open right up to 3600m via the Lauze lift. This means that you can ski from 3600m down to 1300m non-stop here in Les Deux Alpes - I did it yesterday! Pistes, in general, are perfect, boasting clean corduroy and making this corner of the Alps a piste-skiers heaven.

Getting back to resort

This is the million dollar question of every skier in every resort. You're tired and had a wonderful day skiing so, which run do you take home at the end of the day? Here in Les Deux Alpes we have a full range to choose from, depending on whether you want to take th green, blue, red or black routes.

The green is a roadway and can be quite busy as is the easiest way down. Don’t be fooled if you have tired legs, this isn’t the way for you as you will end up snow ploughing for the duration! The blue route is a lovely run which can get busy at going home time - check out the signs around resort for information on this before setting oﬀ down the piste. The red is a beautiful run, has stunning views over towards the national park de Ecrins and down to the village. The black runs are both steep and black. The Valentine has a particularly steep tricky entrance to the last pitch. The Diable, French for Devil, lives up to its name! This is pisted less often so can become quite bumpy … great if you love moguls!

There is always the option to take any of the lifts back down to the resort from the Cret area and from the Mid station. The lifts up the mountain run till closing so you won’t miss any skiing and just ﬁnish with a smile.

Forecast

It is a bluebird today and we are expecting the snow to come in the later part of tonight into tomorrow. The weather is then returning to sunny and warm.