It has been a remarkable period in the French Alps since Boxing Day with heavy snow up to New Year bringing up to 1.8m of snowfall by New Year’s Day, then Storm Eleanor on 3-4 January bringing another huge snowfall.
In fact Storm Eleanor took things a bit too far, bringing with it winds of nearly 100mph and periods of torrential rain and sudden warm temperatures meaning many areas closed all or most of their terrain as it blew through, and some like Tignes and Val Thorens even recommended skiers stay in their accommodation for the duration with conditions so extreme.
There’s now very deep snow from this early in the season – 2-3m deep at most of the main resorts – when the previous three seasons had seen resorts struggling for much snow cover at all at this time of year.
? 90 de fraîche, de la peuf, l'avancement du snowpark et des bonnes résolutions ! Et vous, c'est quoi vos résolutions pour 2018 ? ?
Posted by Les Arcs on Tuesday, 2 January 2018
As it is most ski areas now have enough snow to see them through to the spring and are all fully open. There is however a high avalanche danger following Eleanor – 5 out of 5 at most resorts – so staying on opened pistes is the only safe option; off piste only on terrain declared safe by an accompanying local guide.
