Tignes Val d’Isere Snow Report & Weather Forecast – 10.03.17

A spring day across Tignes and Val D’Isere today, there was a good freeze overnight so the pistes were a little firm this morning and the off piste was very crusty. Those areas in the sun soon softened up, even some of the off piste transitioned into spring snow, but you had to pick your pitch. About 95% of the resorts are now open, just the very top of the Grande Motte and Cugnai to go now, oh and Santons that famous avalanche trap where a good number of people thought they knew better that the pisteurs today. Being Friday there was a bit of Grande Motte frenzy, so we headed lower to start with and explored La Daille and then Grand Pré. Epaule de Charvet was open with large soft moguls and too many people ignoring the sign about it being reserved for good skiers……The weather forecast is firming up a little for the next few days, most of the showers now seem to be remaining over the Massif Centrale, and the ‘retour d’est’ I mentioned the other day has headed south. So tomorrow will be another beautiful day, a bit warmer then today and as it wont be as cold overnight the pistes should be a little softer in the morning. A layer of high altitude cloud may well appear as we all head to the pub to watch the Calcutta Cup. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will be like three peas in a pod, warm with sunny periods with most of the fluffy clouds above the peaks. One or two may give a light shower. The clouds will vanish for Wednesday, as the wind will be almost non existent, there may be some fog at lower levels early on.

For the travellers tomorrow, the roads are going to be busy with 28000 leaving and 31000 vehicles arriving tomorrow, so leave resort by 7 in the morning or after 12. There will be queues in all the usual places, but at least it will be a nice day for a traffic jam. It is the first weekend for the Geneva Motor Show, which takes place in the exhibition hall near the airport. This has created jams in the past, I wouldn’t leave it to the last minute if flying from GVA tomorrow. I can’t foresee any problems for flying from the UK, there is a chance of a shower almost anywhere. Over here Geneva looks good, there is a slim chance of early fog patches at Grenoble and Lyon which shouldn’t cause any problems if they appear. Chambery looks nice, but if the northerly wind picks up a knot or two you could be in for the more dramatic arrival as the bloke at the pointy end takes you on a tour of the town to land heading north.