The Perfect Weekend in Les Arcs: Loads of Fresh Snow

Over the weekend, the conditions both on- and off-piste have evolved, and now there are significantly more areas accessible to the public. The snow depth at the top of the Aiguille Rouge has increased some 80cm with the slopes at 1600 metres enjoying an additional 50cm. I have spent the last few days relentlessly snowboarding across Les Arcs and will try to relate exactly what these changes mean.

Friday

I had spent the last couple of weeks waiting for a big dump of snow to finally open up those sectors which had hitherto been closed. When, early in the morning, I arrived on the piste there was already at least 40cm of extra snow on the ground, visibility was awful, there were high winds reported across the peaks and the snowfall showed no signs of stopping. Although I had hoped new snow would increase the number and diversity of runs available, on Friday the weather made skiing between different resorts much less straightforward than usual: all the high level lifts (and many more) were closed. I therefore spent the day hitting not just one resort area, not just one lift, not even just one run, but one column of powder on one side of one run. And it was AWESOME.

The Cachette lift was running in Arc 1600 and there seemed to be no easy way to get back from Arc 1800 if I chose to ski over there, putting Peisey-Vallandry out of the picture. There was no access to Arc 2000 at all. But Friday was a lesson in how ideal conditions (well, snow conditions, you could barely see your hand in front of your face at times) can make one piste more than enough. There was powder everywhere and a mere three hours of bouncing through massive, soft moguls was quite sufficient for the day. It was fully amazing and great fun. With the snow continuing into the night, this boded well for Saturday morning, even if my body was feeling significantly less energetic afterwards.

I understand that the conditions were similar across the resorts. Peisey-Vallandry was possibly the best place to be; most of the lifts were open providing a good selection of jump-off points for fresh powder. From the top of the Grizzly lift there was lots of untouched snow deep into the afternoon.

Saturday

This was another day which started with snow and poor visibility. However, throughout the day the sun did appear at times, improving the light and making it easier to ski both on- and off-piste. I started in Arc 1600 once again, where the Mont Blanc lift re-opened allowing access to the Mont Blanc (blue) run and swathes of untouched off-piste in that area. Due to the influx of snow overnight, the section I had ridden the previous day was still fresh and playful.

As the day progressed, the Vagère and Carreley lifts in Arc 1800 were opened, giving access to the Col des Frettes and some higher ground. Unfortunately, there was no way to ski across to Arc 2000 due, presumably, to the weather conditions and the huge amount of fresh snow. In fact, the sound of avalanche detonations was so loud and close that, on a couple of occasions, it was borderline frightening.

I spent some time off-piste around the Vagère and Golf (red) runs, before trying some underneath the closed Arpette lift. At one stage I “ran out of steam” on one of the flatter sections and needed to wade through waist-deep snow back to the nearest piste (which itself was covered in knee-deep snow). Finishing back on the Mont Blanc run (which had not been open until this weekend), with only a few snowflakes in the air, it was clear that the snow had brought considerable change across Les Arcs.

Sunday

After two stunning, but tiring, days dealing with thick snow that I could not see, Sunday was glorious. The clouds had completely disappeared leaving nothing but blue skies and powder; lots and lots of powder. The majority of lifts across the ski area had been opened allowing easy transit between all resorts including, for the first time this season, Villaroger. The only notable closed lifts were Aiguille Rouge above Arc 2000, Comborciere below Arc 1950 and Combe at the far end of Peisey-Vallandry. However, there should easily be enough snow for these areas to open up imminently.

I spent much of the day off-piste underneath the Derby lift, in the trees around the Rhodos (blue) run and hitting the expansive off-piste underneath the Arcubulle chairlift. There is still a huge amount of fresh snow off-piste, and even some new lines to ride (if you know where to look). The pistes were riding beautifully on Sunday, albeit a little slowly; the flatter blue runs seemed particularly sluggish all day and clearly need a bit of traffic to scrub off the sticky new top-layer.

This week should see clear skies most days with the freezing level staying very low, so conditions should be absolutely perfect for skiing throughout Les Arcs. There may be a few flurries of snow to “top-up” the conditions on the slopes, but there is more than enough powder out there at the moment. I imagine that any remaining lifts and runs which are not presently open will be online before the end of the week.