France Snow Report and Forecast to December 16, 2017

Conditions are good across France with more fresh snow falling and more snow in the forecast too.

The Portes du Soleil will be opening for a second preview weekend and most of the Chamonix Valley’s ski areas will be open too.  This was last weekend at Avoriaz.

There’s been big snowfalls in the French Pyrenees last weekend, with Cauterets reporting 50cm of fresh snow, more snow is forecast here too.

As is traditional, Le Grand Bornand (below) will be opening a good part of the resort this weekend (9^th December) for the annual ski test (now officially called Rock on Snowboard Tour). This will feature lifts and pistes in the Gettiers, Floria and Maroly sector – so much of the Chinaillon part of the resort – with over 30 ski brands present to showcase their new season skis and boards.  And – they have just announced that the resort will stay open continuously after that.

They have been able to provide good ski conditions thanks to their extensive artificial snow network which has topped up the natural snow cover with some 140,000 m3 of artificial snow created during the end of November (and they’re still going!). This is in addition to a further 40,000m3 which has been prepared at village level in preparation for the World Cup Biathlon event which takes place between the 12^th – 17^th December.