English Weather, News, and Events - February 09, 2025

Weather

The sun will thankfully return to our skies today which is fantastic news if today is your first day on the slopes, but if you are an assisting hand in changeover day then this is undoubtably frustrating! I would also advise everyone to soak up the sun today as best you can we have snow inbound for most of next week.
Today, sunshine all day with a few cloudy spells this morning but clearing towards lunchtime. Temperatures will reach a maximum of 2 degrees in town, and wind will remain light, with gusts calming down to 30 km per hour at 3000m, after the blustery day we had yestersday.
Temperatures are curently sitting at -3 degrees in town, -6 at the top of bellevarde, and -9 on The Pisaillas glacier.

If you are heading up the mountain today we have a wonderful ski day in store for you.
In Le Fornet, everything is open except the piste tunnel
On the Pissaillas glacier everything is open with no exceptions
Up in Solaise everything is open except, you guessed it, the 3000 drag lift which remains closed
Similarly on Bellevarde, everything is open including both Liasons with Tignes, chairs  Tommeuse and Borsat.
All walking and ski touring trails are also open.
As is the beginners area, including the tobogganing area.
The avalanche risk is 2/5 today, even still if you are heading off piste be sure to take the right equipment with you, including a transiever, shovel and probe, and most importantly you must know how to use it! Knowledge is king, there is no point in having the right equipment in your rucksack if you havent got a clue how to use it! Even better, take an experienced person with you, or hire a guide if you are not sure what you are doing.

Roads

Roads are clear today if you are on wheels, but be careful when walking as I am sure the ice on the pavements has made you well aware of its presence, maybe it is a good idea to invest in some crampons!

News
In light of the increasing number of collisions, the Ski Resort Management, ski instructors, the town hall, and Val d'Isère Tourism are all calling for greater awareness of proper piste etiquette as we enter the school holidays.
As we mentioned last week with the Ski Resort Management, we’ve seen an increase in rescue operations, with more than 600 interventions on the ski slopes since the opening on November 30th.
According to the figures provided by the Ski Resort Management on January 27th, the Bellevarde sector alone has had to intervene over 400 times, while Solaise has had more than 150. Most of these interventions are due to collisions between people, raising questions about the responsibility and caution of skiers on the slopes. It’s clear that we need to focus more on prevention and awareness.

Although skiing is an individual sport, it’s practiced in a shared environment, and we’ve noticed a shift in behavior on the slopes in recent years, partly due to wider trails, better grooming, and snow quality.
Cecile Ferrando explained to us that she has seen a change in peoples behaviour. She believes that people are not informed about safety before hitting the slopes, and that it seems that people are skiing faster now than ever before. She explains that there may be a ‘bubble effect’ where people are wearing helmets more often than not nowadays and therefore feel invincible. She has received feedback from customers in val d’isere who feel unsafe, as well as professionals like ski instructors and piste patrols who have noticed the lack of control people have.
Just a reminder, there are ten rules of conduct to ensure the safety of skiers and snowboarders. These rules are set by the International Ski Federation and should always be followed:
respect others,control your speed and trajectory, overtake with a safe distance, make sure you can safely enter or exit intersections, don’t stop in narrow or blind spots, walk on the edge of the slope when ascending or descending, respect signage, assist if you witness or are involved in an accident, and lastly make sure you inform the ski patrol if you qre involved in a collision or accident .

To reinforce these messages, the Ski Resort Management, Val d'Isère Tourism, and other partners, including an external company, have worked on a communication campaign, which begins today.
Cecile Ferrando who is part of this external company explained that four of these 10 rules have become a focal point. Theyve created a campaign with four visuals, to remind skiers not to overtake recklessly, to stay visible, and to position themselves on the edge of the slopes. You'll soon see these four rules displayed in Val D’ISere, on the screens at the ski lift stations, as well as reminders coming from ski instructors and piste patrol who will be reminding everyone of these rules.
Other future projects include centralizing accident data and focusing on the most affected areas. Notably, quiet zones for beginners have already been established in some areas.
The goal is to promote better behavior on the slopes, as Cécile Ferrando explained to us earlier, that this will be done in several stages. We will have active workshops to ensure the message gets across, that we are sharing this space, albeit a fact that skiing is an individual sport, but there are rules to respect. They will also organsie safety days, where the dangers will be explained to help people really understand the risks and where they come from.
In the 2023/2024 winter season, over 50,000 skiers were injured on French slopes. Take as many safety precautions as possible, and having insurance is essential for skiing or snowboarding. Never ski intoxicated, and if in doubt, it is better to be safe than sorry. The mountains are not to be messed with!