© Anita Gait
© Anita Gait
© Anita Gait
© Anita Gait
© Anita Gait
© Anita Gait
All change in La Plagne
Lots of snow to lots of sunshine on the pistes
It’s been a right old changeable time in resort this week, we had one of the biggest snow dumps of the season at the start of the week, two or three white out days and some seriously high winds that had the chairlifts swinging on their cables.
Now though, here we are in t-shirts and sunnies with not a cloud in the sky and downright balmy temperatures. Amazingly given the many changes, all of this was predicted by our trusty forecast so I hope you stayed tuned in and have managed to dress appropriately throughout the week. The wind early in the week was no joke and certainly not conditions to be caught out in under-dressed but now you’ll be sweltering around the mountain if you don’t de-layer before heading out and you’d be a fool to head out there without your sun cream.
These beautiful blue sky days are due to carry on through the weekend and thanks to the snow from the start of the week are bringing us some of the best conditions we’ve seen this season. Thick deep snow cover all the way down to the villages and beautifully soft groomed pistes that are oh so blissfully empty now, that the long long month of half term weeks has finally passed.
The one fly in our sun cream is that the Glacier has been closed for most of the past fortnight and it looks as though it might stay that way for a while yet. It was closed as expected during the wild weather, snow storms and high winds but now that the sun is out and the wind has disappeared we were all hoping to get up there and lay some fresh tracks in all the new snow.
Alas it’s not to be and there are rumours that this is because of a broken cable, or technical difficulty with the Glacier bubble. It’s an unconfirmed report but if true will mean we lose access to the glacier for some time, judging by how long it took the Telemetro gondola to be fixed for a similar issue. So fingers crossed that its just gossip and we’ll be able to get out glacier ski on again soon.
In the meantime there is no bad area of the mountain to head to. The pistes are beautiful all over but if you’re looking for some inspiration I’d suggest heading to the lower villages now whilst the snow is fresh as with the best will in the world, the snow is going to start to melt and trickle away over this warm weekend to come.
I’d also suggest hitting up those lifts you tend to avoid when it’s cold, perhaps Crozats off the back of the Arpette which is long and slow and generally very cold as is the Inversens chair. The Inversens red run off the top of the Roche de Mio is a great run with some lovely wide off piste either side of it but it is often overlooked or downright ignored, because it leads to a near dead end. You must get the Inversens chair back up which is long and painfully slow and runs along the lip of a ridge which attracts every breath of wind in resort, it can be a cold cold place to be. But not this weekend, make the most of the sun and hop on the Crozats chair then down the Marmots run and up the Inversens and enjoy two of the coldest lifts in La Plagne in blazing sunshine.
As always do keep an eye on the avalanche warnings this week, you can see mini avalanches and slides that have happened around resort, some from the blasters and some that have slid naturally. The warm temperatures will lead to changeable conditions especially on south facing slopes so pay attention and ask for advice before trying anything gnarly.
In terms of snow conditions the pistes are at their best mid-morning till 2pm. The sun is turning our pistes slushy by the late afternoon and then they’re freezing to ice overnight, so first lifts are a bit of an icy place to be. Grab a lie-in and head out around 10.30am for pistes that have softened up but not yet started to get slushy.
But most importantly this weekend, don’t go anywhere without your sun cream; goggle tans are cool, goggle burn not so much.
