Les Arcs Snow - December 15th 2015

Conditions on the pistes in the 1950/2000 bowl are still good; nightly grooming and top-ups from the snow cannons is keeping them in good order. On the 1600/1800 side of the ridge, and up toward Peisey, the snow is notably thinner below about 1800 metres; particularly on slopes that get a lot of sun.

We did encounter the first "boiler plate" of the week; a nasty patch near the TransArc mid-station. Around this level, and below, there are a few rocks lurking on the pistes and care is needed due to thinning snow in places.

A few pictures below, selected as they're fairly representative of the surface conditions.

This week I have been mainly followed by an assistant Ninja snow tester...

On the ridge at the top of the Bois de l'Ours and Arpette chairs.


On the Plan Vert, with a familiar mountain in the background.


The Grand Renard on the 1800 side is hard-packed in the shade of the ridge, but better lower down.


There's that mountain again... with a little cloud building this afternoon...

We continue to hope for a little snow tonight but no sign of it so far...

Well we've had some precipitation overnight; some "interestingly" glazed pavements in 1950 this morning and a few cm of wet snow hanging around on cold surfaces. Looks like the snow line was around 1900-2000m... guess we'd better head up and see what's up top...

Any update on this? I'm going to 1950 on Saturday.

jbrayden wrote:Any update on this? I'm going to 1950 on Saturday.

We're no longer there... :cry:

However, they were doing a great job managing the snow they've got - the snow cannons were running most nights and snow was being "farmed" to freshen up the pistes for each morning. Go prepared for "Spring" conditions (hard pistes until the sun softens the top cm) but without the afternoon slush.

From the webcams at http://en.lesarcs.com/webcams.html, it looks like the upper runs are still well-covered although I'd expect more places where stones are coming to the surface now - and certainly the lower runs on the 1600/1800 side will be thin and patchy (and quite possibly closed in places).

You should still have plenty of piste to ski on; work on your technique, get some miles under your skis and enjoy the views sitting out in the sun...

Jealous; we had a good time last week, and enjoyed being in 1950 (full write-up coming soon). Has to be one of the most genuinely "ski in/ski out" villages in the Alps.

Recommend Melli's for cheap'n'cheerful snack stop, Wood Bear Cafe for home made cheesecake and George's next door for a friendly beer after.