© Sam Birch
© Sam Birch
© Sam Birch
© Sam Birch
Feel good skiing in Les Arcs
Living the dream in the French Alps
Although weather warnings remain in many places, snow across the UK has begun to thaw and there is significantly less disruption being reported. Over here, on the slopes of the Tarentaise, our priorities are a little different and we are fortunately not expecting the snow to disappear anytime soon. The temperatures have stayed low over the weekend and regular snowfall has ensured the pistes are in excellent condition across the mountain.
The slopes of Les Arcs are scheduled to stay open until the 28th April this year, which gives us practically eight more weeks of skiing, snowboarding and general winter fun before we have to pack up our equipment for another year. Being a season of epic snow dumps and cold temperatures, we have maintained an impressive snow depth at all levels, with current official measurements showing 397cm at the top (3226m) and 150cm at 1600 metres. This makes 2018 the perfect year to enjoy some late season snow.
Even at this early stage, I’m quite confident that the on-piste conditions in the last couple of weeks of April will be fantastic. With special deals on spring lift passes available and the inevitable decrease in general transport and accommodation prices around that time, anyone heading out for a last winter hurrah should be in for a treat.
What happened this weekend
Well, it all started off quite windy and, although we had some snowfall on Thursday, there was little immediate benefit until after Friday’s dump. Saturday was a powder day with constant snow and poor visibility throughout. This made the pistes super-soft and off-pisting practically unnecessary.
Sunday morning brought sunshine and clear skies until lunchtime when clouds began forming and low-light dominated the afternoon session. Overall, snow conditions were pretty amazing: perfect for powder-hounds on Saturday (although it was often difficult to see the pow in front of your face) and ideal for everyone else on Sunday. Now, at the start of another week, the pistes have a lovely top layer of soft stuff, with the only real hard patches existing on the wind-swept ridges at the top of runs.
How busy is it?
The British half-term crowd may be long gone but the French school holidays are (just about) still happening. In France there are three regions which all take two weeks off, meaning that there is generally an overlap of two sectors enjoying their vacation time at any point in February. By now, most of France has already taken its winter break but there is still one zone which will be well represented on the pistes of the Alps. The overall traffic has therefore dropped but it is by no means quiet.
On Sunday, the combination of recent, heavy snowfall followed by sunny weather brought many daytrippers to Les Arcs so it was slightly busier than anticipated. With a higher proportion of holidaymakers this week being French, the lunchtime lull seems even more pronounced, so is an even better time to shred hard.
Lifts, weather and the week ahead
All the lifts are open. From the sky-skimming Aiguille Rouge gondola to the free button drag-lift below Arc 1600, there is excellent access to the vast majority of pistes across the hill. As mentioned earlier, on-piste conditions are very good indeed and, although the “easy” off-piste is rapidly becoming tracked out, there is still some soft stuff around (if you know where to look). There are so many good places to go at the moment that it is difficult to pick one “stand out” area, if pressed, I would suggest heading to Peisey-Vallandry, the Grand Col or the runs above Arc 1600.
After another sunny morning on Monday, the clouds have returned and they are likely to stick around for the next few days. The weather forecast is suggesting regular flurries of snow all week, which may turn wetter at lower altitudes as the freezing level rises on the weekend. We might see a lot of flat light this week but, underfoot at least, we should have a very enjoyable ride ahead of us. Enjoy it.
