Currently holed-up in Tignes, while driving snow hurtles past the hotel
window. Of which more anon (see below).
We started our current 'little tour' the week before last in Montgenèvre,
which is now looking very different after most of the through traffic has
been banished underground. The snow conditions were surperb, even though the
sun shone most days - high altitude and low temps kept things well nigh
perfect.

Ventured over to Clavière, Cesana and Sansicario while there, where snow was
if anything even better, but cloudy (while Montgenèvre was still bathed in
sunshine). Great skiing there right now, I'd say.

Next up was Valloire, which looked less well-covered (apparently due to high
winds blowing it off higher terrain) on our arrival last weekend, but got
steadily better with almost nightly fresh falls. No sign of snowmaking,
then, even over towards Valmeinier (which has plenty of snow right now).

Yesterday was glorious when we left, and temps low - around -3C - making the
descent a tippy-toe affair. But we made it, and had no trouble once we
reached the Autoroute on the valley floor. Then headed up to Bourg and ran
up to Tignes, again with no problems on standard tyres. A bit slidy in Val
Claret, however...

And so to today, which was interesting, to say the least. The expected heavy
snowfalls appeared around dawn, despite which we headed out in a large group
up the mountain, before things really clamped down. Which they did,
big-time - sooner than expected. Then the wind increased. The
fast-accumulating powder was pretty floaty and forgiving, but visibility was
a real limiting factor. After somehow making it intact over to La Daille, we
headed back in the gondola pretty hastily, as things were getting now a
getting 'marginal'. Progress from here on was interrupted while our piste
was closed for a precautionary declanchement by the avalanche teams - oh,
and a warm-up lunch break. When we re-emerged into near white-out the fresh
snow was knee-deep, and for the first time since I began skiing, I took the
chairlift back down, amid gusts which made the ride, er, interesting. Saw
no-one else doing ski-heroics on the way down, and from the comments of the
lift-guy, things were on the point of closure.

Currently in real blizzard conditions, as winds increase. Tomorrow looks
like bringing even heavier falls, before fine weather returns for
Sunday/Monday - I'll try to keep everyone posted.

Roger

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