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Courchevel Snow Report: 17th December 2012

Empty pistes and powder ahead of the Christmas rush

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By Gavin Fernie-Jones: The Boot Lab, Updated

After a quiet first week in resort, this week marks the real start to the season as many tour operators open their doors for the first time. For this early in the season the snow is in great condition and the pisteurs have been busily preparing the opening of whole mountain. The resort buses are running more regularly again now which will make life easier and it is now possible to ski out of Courchevel Moriond, Courchevel Village, Le Praz and La Tania.

Over the last week, only a limited number of runs have been opened meaning there’s still plenty of snow to be had and even some powder around. This week a number of the lifts are still yet to open but enough are operational to allow to reach most ski areas, The main notable exceptions are the far left of 1650 in the Chapelets and Chanrossa area and above 1850 around Creux Noir.

It’s been snowing moderately all morning and this is due to continue over the coming few days, with perhaps a little sunshine on Wednesday, Winds will be staying light and temperatures below freezing which is great news for the snow conditions in resort. Then towards the end of the week we can expect a heavy fall of snow, topping up the already impressive base here in Courchevel ready for another great week to come for those arriving next weekend. Unfortunately for lower lying villages this might fall as rain as temperatures are set to rise again next weekend.

This weekend saw the FIS Women’s World Cup come to town and the French came out in force to support their ladies. It was an exciting race on a tough and icy course which wasn’t helped by the poor visibility caused by low lying cloud. It snowed throughout the first run, causing several of the ladies to fail to finish much to their evident disappointment. There were French flags waved animatedly amongst the cheering crowd every time one of their own came to the start gate. The sun came out and the snow abated for the second run as Slovenian racer Tina Maze, skied to victory ahead of second place Kathrin Zettel from Austria with Frenchwoman Tessa Worley taking the third spot. Having managed to wangle our way into the VIP area we enjoyed the race from the comfort of the enclosure near the finish line sipping vin chaud as we caught the action up close.

It’s fairly mild so there’s no need to wrap up but goggles are advised, especially if you have a low-light lens, Fair weather skiers should enjoy Wednesday and make sure they’re out early doors. The lift queues were almost non-existent this morning despite the arrival of the first great influx last weekend so it should be a really pleasant week skiing ahead. Over the coming week it should still be quite quiet in resort before the hectic Christmas week to come. So make the most of the empty pistes and explore the mountains.

Is it really only 8 days until Christmas….!?

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