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Paradiski set to open and a snowflake on the horizon!

Links to Les Arcs are set to open this weekend

featured in Snow report Author Anita Gait, La Plagne Reporter Updated

We are 7 days into the season and it’s going well for La Plagne so far, those empty pistes I was raving about earlier in the week are still going strong and this week has been all about quiet pistes, private gondolas and beer stops on empty terraces.

We still may not have the truck loads of snow that we all crave and the snow we have is hard packed and icy in places, but the mountain is still a down right beautiful place to be.

Off piste is a green and rocky world right now but the open runs are well groomed and maintained and fun to ride. The lift company and pisteurs are working wonders with their artificial snow this year, with an estimated 500,000m3 being made so far this season. Let’s hope the temperatures stay low enough that they can keep pumping it out and covering up the bald patches of piste!

pistes in la plagne

If you’re a hip-flask-half-full kind of person then, low snow depth can be a lot of fun to ride, especially if you’re a La Plagne regular who knows the resort inside out. All of a sudden the runs you know and love aren’t the same shape as they once were and some of them follow different lines all together. For instance only half of the Stade Olympic has been groomed making it a much narrower run than previously and the blue runs which crisscross between Bellecote and La Plagne twist around mounds, boulders and ditches which are usually invisible under feet of snow. (Be careful there though, if you follow your memory instead of your nose you’ll end up missing the forks back to Plagne Centre).

This empty mountain should last another couple of days through the weekend but come Monday morning I suspect we’ll see a rise in numbers around resort as the festive crowds begin to make their way up the hill. The tourist office is preparing for this with an announcement that as of Saturday the 17th of December they should be able to open 50% of the ski area, with all villages accessible via piste or cable car. Also through the combination of real and artificial snow, they will be opening up the Vanoise Express connecting La Plagne with Les Arc and the Paradiski area will be live for the first time this year.

ski school flags

There are also rumours that the Colorado Luge track will be opening this week if you want to try some serious sledging and also (please let this be true) the new fun slope under the Arpette. If you haven’t heard about the fun slope yet then know that it’s destined to be many peoples new favourite place to play in all of resort. The track which is destined to be the longest fun slope in Europe is a shaped run which is a cross between a boarder cross and a slope style course featuring jumps, rollers, banked turns, hairpin bends tunnels and (according to the video) high-five targets. Basically it’s a top to bottom run of joy and if it’s opening on Saturday I know where I’ll be spending my week. [Read more about what's new this winter].

But enough of this nonsense, let's talk about the one thing we all really care about, the snow! When is it coming and how much of it? Well folks I have some good news, snow has appeared on our forecast. Although only a little and it's several days away, but it’s there and that hints at an end to this blue sky and sunshine nightmare we’ve been stuck in. Yes I said nightmare and I stand by it! I want clouds dammit, big giant snow clouds that block out the sun and dump with snow for days!

ski lifts

Well the forecast isn’t going that far but we are due a snow shower on the night of Wednesday 21st December, keep your fingers crossed and do your snow dances every morning and we might get some snow for Christmas!

In the meantime enjoy the quietest mountain you’ll see until spring, and make the most of the bluebird days, they wont last forever...

Location

Map of the surrounding area