Someone mentioned temperature inversion to me t'other day. Below
freezing on the valley floor, but rarely cold enough to get the cannons
going at altitude - over the past 4/5 days I've seen just the one
half-heartedly working at Arc 1600. The snow from the end of November
still lying on the ground though, here at 850m.

First piste basher of the season working the Cachette slope at the
moment, they'd accumulated a fair bit of the artificial stuff during the
second half of November, hopefully enough to at least keep to the
opening date of the 11th at Les Arcs - though there'll be b... all
open - no significant snowfall forecast before the weekend, that's for
sure.

Strange you should mention the temperature inversion there. I remember the
most extreme one I'd ever seen when holidaying in Arc 1800 a few years back.
Left Arc1800 in my car and the temp gauge was +2 C... by the time I got to
the supermarket at the bottom of the hill, it was -7 C and bloody icy! The
trees along the valley on the road towards Tignes didn't lose the ice all
week, whereas up top it was pretty damn warm. Must be a local B.S.M.
thing... )