Absolute Alps Ski Blog

Anyone planning to drive to the French Alps this winter needs to be aware of the new requirement to have a high-vis jacket and warning triangle in their vehicle. The jacket must be available to wear as you exit the vehicle in the case of a breakdown, hence storing it in the boot under all your luggage is not acceptable.

This new law came into force on the 1st October 2008, with on the spot fines of between €90 and €135 for non compliance. Not what you need at the start of your holiday.

The forecasters got it pretty spot on with the snow forecast.

We woke this morning to find about 15cms of fresh snow around the chalet, plus the skies have cleared and the sun is shining.

Always great to see the mountains with a fresh coating of snow, and it’s all the more impressive when there was none 24 hours earlier.

The last month has been a riot of colour with the trees producing a stunning Autumnal display as they have dropped their leaves. Most of the leaves have now fallen, which is good timing as we’re due for a pre-winter cold spell. We’ve up to 50cm of snow forecast at the top of the mountain for the rest of this week, which will be 2 snow falls in the last 2 months. Got to be a good sign.

Preparations are now well under way for the winter, the street illuminations in and  around Chatel have been going up for the last couple of weeks. All the snow cannons around the resort have been running today in a pre-season dry run, or more of a wet run as it wasn’t too cold.

I’ve been doing a little research on snow predictions for the coming ski season, here’s my summary.

Last years snowy winter in the European Alps which was followed by great conditions 6 months later for the Southern Hemisphere ski resorts was generally attributed to a La Nina pattern in the Pacific combined with the Sun being at the solar minimum in its 11 year cycle.

The La Nina conditions which started June 2007, produced a remarkably cold and snowy 2007 winter in South America and a relatively quiet 2007 hurricane season. It was also blamed for the drought last summer in New Zealand and the floods in Britain too.

During late summer 2008, this La Nina pattern has finally more or less ended. Global models suggest an undeniable lull in the trend towards warming that may persist for a few more years, probably linked with the solar minimum.

Another important factor for Europe is the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) prediction. The cooler, drier winter northern Europe experienced in winter 2007/8 was when the observed index was +1.6.

The predicted winter NAO index for 2008/9 is weakly positive at +0.1. However, the prediction is consistent with the coming winter being likely to be less mild than last winter, when above-average temperatures were widespread.

So far this year in Europe we’ve had a few early snow falls in August, September & October. Just last weekend in Chatel we woke to find about 5cms of snow had fallen over the village. Also I’ve noticed quite a few spiders sneaking into the chalet recently !

So what does all this mean ?  Well it seems explaining previous weather conditions with a little hindsight is pretty accurate !

But the general consensus is for coming winter to be cold one again, and last year that produced great snow and ski conditions. At the moment it seems that the predictions are giving positive signs, I’ll keep checking back as more predictions come in and let’s hope the spiders know what they’re talking about.

Well the first thing you’ll notice when travelling to Chatel next ski season, although possibly the least exciting change, is that Thonon now has a new bypass. This should cut at least 10 minutes from the Geneva transfer time, making for about 75-80 mins drive from the airport to arriving in the chalet.

We are excited to announce that both chalets will have qualified and experienced chefs cooking in them next season, this should ensure we continue providing our guests with a gastronomic treat each evening !

The ‘Crosets 2′ ski lift, which goes from Les Crosets towards the Champery cable car has been upgraded this summer. Out with the old travelator style 4 seater and in with a new shiny high speed 6 seater.

I’ve had a fairly eventful summer here in Chatel, a new addition to the family arrived in July a healthy little boy called Xavier. He has obviously kept us pretty occupied since his arrival.

Before the new baby I did manage a fair amount of mountain biking. Exploring the ‘Portes du Soleil’ while its green and bushy is a lot of fun although its certainly not quite as soft when you fall, as my achy shoulder testifies.

But with the new term starting at school its getting to be the time to think about winter holidays. After last years great snow conditions bookings are already fairly strong for the coming season, with many people having booked earlier this year soon after returning from their last ski holiday.

So its time to get organised and make an that enquiry. Check here for our Pricing & Enquiry Form.

It’s been a top season this year, with the fantastic start in December & January then lots of Sun in February and now whats turning out to be a snowy March.  With temperatures dropping low again and lots of snow fallen in the last few weeks plus a significant fall predicted in a couple of days its turning out to be a great end to the season.

Lots of powder has been had this year, and its looking to be great skiing well into April.

Last month turned out to be a superb month on the slopes, excellent snow conditions, lots of sun, a few good dumps of snow too. The mountain has a fantastic base of snow now, and the off-piste has a great covering too.

February has got off to a great start too, its snowing very heavily today and set to continue all night.

The title says it all, the skiing has been simply excellent from the very beginning of the season. My only excuse for not updating this blog more often is I’ve been skiing too much and not spending any days in the office.

Christmas and New Year weeks were sunny with blue skies and excellent pistes, since then we’ve had a few dumps to freshen it all up mixed in with sunny days to enjoy the mountains.  Its been pretty much perfect !

We’ve had lots more snow over the last week and a lot more forecast for the next few days.

With the lifts at Pre La Joux running this weekend there was plenty of powder to play in on Saturday, and lots of falling over today in the poor visabilty due to the big lumps of snow falling. It was the type of day were you get off at the top of the lift looking a bit like a snowman with all the snow you’ve collected on the way up.

Next weekend the whole ski area should be opening up with the links across to Avoriaz too.  Time to get a wax on the skis I think !