Rapport de neige

Quite remarkably, the lifts opened early again, this time on 16 November ! ! and the 4th time in a row before Christmas. Plenty of snow up to Christmas day, but then the end of Millenium hurricane hit closing lifts and just about everything. When it had passed, rain had come but also snow to leave a more than ample cover. The snow wasn’t always perfect in Les Gets but there was plenty of it and most of the time quite good, plenty of sun and snow, not too cold. Again the snow persisted until end April, as we now saw seasons in Les Gets close at around 22 April, helped partly by the snow cannons. This represented a considerable change on 15 years before.

The winter that was…… The early snow came, then more, then more, then still some more. Lifts opened early. A perfect Christmas with perfect snow. New Year also had very good snow. In January conditions deteriorated a little (still OK) and we hoped for more snow. On 25 January we got a good metre and the cover was fine. In early February the forecast was for a front to pass north of the Alps – it hit the Alps full on and 2-3 metres fell in a week with heavy avalanches. The season was secure. The following week showed huge piles of snow everywhere but was calm. One week later more heavy snow saw an astonishing level of snow cover. Insurance companies contaced their clients to advise them that they would not cover over 2 metres of snow on the rooves, hence the sight of bodies all over the Alps clearing their snowy rooves. People arrived at their chalets to a wall of snow 3 metres high and 1 metre wide. The snow continued into March , still cold, until a two week break eased things up. Then it came again, and again into April. Snow cover at the end of April was still up to 2 metres at 1500 metres altitude. In all, 18 metres had fallen in Les Gets. Even 1995 was totally eclipsed.

The ‘Houdini winter’. Snow before Christmas but had all melted by the first weekend of the season, except at Tignes, but snow on the Friday night left us enough to begin with. Our ski instructor guide informed me at the beginning of the winter that he had heard of a mild winter coming. And it was, at the end of the first week the snow was gone. It arrived again on Saturday, and lasted a week, and the pattern followed until 25 January when a metre fall more or less stored up the season. It became very hot in March and the snow melted but somehow we got away with it.

Snow came early this year, and by mid November most of the pistes were covered in Tignes and also Les Gets. The lifts opened early in November in Les Gets, but in the week 22-28 November almost two metres fell, 80 centimetres in one night. At the end it became wet before freezing which resulted in a two metre solid base. Apart from a fall at Christmas and New Year, and a fall of almost 1 metre the first week in March, that was it for the winter. Amazingly we were skiing on November snow at the end of March.

A lousy and wet Christmas was followed by a slightly snowy New Year. All winter we were to get by, but never was it really convincing, frequently overcast and mild. There were 2 snowy weeks with heavy falls at the beginning of February which maintained the season and remained its highlight.

No snow up to Christmas,. It rained all week in Les Gets to 1800 metres and looked like being a lousy season. However, on 30 December it turned to snow, and it snowed, and snowed, with breaks, but regularly for most of the winter, staying mainly cold except for one week in January, and exceptional snow conditions. Over 10 metres fell in Les gets, on a par with Canadian resorts!!

Excellent early snow in December made for what would look like a perfect season, but one of the most unpredictable elements of our planet was to play havoc with emotions leading up to Christmas. Good snow from 12-18 December left us with perfect conditions. From 19-21 December it rained non stop to 3000 metres and cleared the pistes below 2000 metres. It then snowed for 3 days non stop leaving almost 2 metres of fresh snow, just in time for the Christmas Saturday. More snow followed on a regular basis throughout the season. It snowed in Tignes almost non stop over New Year and high winds prevented people skiing, and it was cold. This was a time to be at a low resort.

Another mild winter, snowed in mid-December, but thereafter was mild. Les Gets suffered as in the third week of January temperatures reached 17°C and it rained non stop for 4 days from 2300 to 2800 metres altitude. No snow left below 1800 métres. It did pick up a little in February and did enable us to maintain something of a season.

The winter of the Olympic games. Cold and snowy, but not that convincing in early December, but on the 17th it snowed 2 metres in 4 days - this was followed by 2 weeks of sun, with ideal snow cover. Not bad. The winter had mild spells, but also snowy spells, a warm March, and generally could be termed an ideal winter.

Heavy snow in November ! ! Well, half a metre and cold. And more on 22, 23, 24, 25 which meant lifts could open on 25 November. A cold spell meant great skiing in early December and a Christmas assured of snow, at last. This winter, it stayed and snowed regularly enough to maintain the base and provide for good skiing until April.