Pre-Christmas conditions - 3 Valleys

As you may be aware, the start of this season has been quite (very poor) in terms of snow - while it is not unusual for lower parts of many resorts to be on partial opening until into Christmas week, the lack of any appreciable amounts of snow up high are definitely out of the ordinary.

In the 3 Valleys currently Courchevel has limited opening, with no realistic possibility of off-piste adventures, Meribel has very limited opening, with downloading on lifts necessary to get back to the valley, while Val Thorens actually has about 80% of lifts and pistes open. Off piste remains very thin, but one or two possibilities remain for avoiding the crowds which aren't almost certain to damage skis or body. Late morning today there was a good clear spell and I took advantage of this to take this week's team off in search of the few cms of fresh we had had last night:

There is a bit more snow in the forecast for this week, but not enough to make an appreciable difference yet, so much care is needed to seek out safe off piste turns - head high, and stay in the depressions which have accumulated a bit more depth through the autumn.