March brings fresh snow to La Plagne
It’s snowing in La Plagne. Again. Just for a change!
While we may be just three weeks away from the start of spring, winter 17/18 – or, as we in resort have started calling it, “the winter that just keeps giving” – seems to have little regard for what season it’s supposed to be. There’s really no need to check the day of the week, it’s obvious it must be nearly Transfer Day. So far this year, there’s been fresh snow almost every weekend, just in time for the next bunch of lucky people arriving in the resort. This week looks the same as the current showers we’re getting are forecast to continue through today and into tomorrow morning.
This weather rolled in very early today, sometime after 04:00 as I was up working late and the sky was beautifully clear when I went to sleep. However, it’s been snowing constantly all morning meaning we could be looking at some issues on the roads tomorrow. There’s quite heavy snow forecast even down to lower levels in tomorrow which could lead to tricky conditions. So, best pack some refreshments and entertainment for the bus as the journey might be a little longer than usual and the roads are expected to be busy. As I write this, there’s gridlock reported around Chambery as the snow has fallen much lower than predicted. I would think it likely we can expect similar problems tomorrow.
This coming week is the last of the dreaded French regional holidays so things will begin to calm down considerably from here. As expected, the resort really has been very busy over the last few weeks but March should bring with it longer days and shorter queues, the perfect time to come here if you can.
As for the conditions, well, the situation will be ever-changing with this new snow but the glacier remains somewhere near 4m, while there’s 2m30cm in the main resorts and around a half metre lower down. I haven’t been out much lately because of a problem with my knee but friends have told me the snow is still very good across most areas. There were the usual scuffed sections just due to the mass of people in the resort recently - and the snow has been quite hard down low – but in general, pretty good conditions with a very deep and wide cover everywhere.
Over the last week, we really have seen all sorts of weather in the resort. First, the famed Beast from the East paid us a visit and brought temperatures as low as -20ºC to -30ºC, both day and night. Even the main stations were cold and at one point, we even had ice form on the inside of the apartment door! Beast over, the weather moved quickly back to more normal temperatures and we even had a spot of spring sunshine.
Looking at the forecast for the coming week, it seems like a fairly mixed few days are on the cards with random spells of cloud, snow and sun. Sunday currently looks as though it’ll be the best day but really, with this kind of weather, there’s little point trying to make predictions. There’s a fallacy March can be a mellow month in the mountains but my experience is quite the opposite. Of course, it all just means we’ll be getting some great snow just as the queues finally start to go down.
We’re now just over halfway through the season, meaning there are around two months left to go. We’ve got an excellent, deep cover everywhere so things should easily run nicely til the closing date of 28th April.
I’ve been to the doctor and seen an osteopath so hopefully, all being well, I’ll be back on snow properly again in the next few days. Presuming everything starts working with my knee, we’ll get back to the usual video reports soon. Thanks for your patience meantime.
Stuart Hamilton is Creative Director of iRide App (iOS / Android) and Editor of Ski-App and Snowboard-App (ski and snowboard video apps available exclusively on Android).
