Skiing classic off-piste routes in Tignes & Val d'Isere

The wind started to pick up Friday afternoon and Saturday’s forecast was for a light freeze and grey skies. I had a late night picking up my family and didn’t arrive back from the airport until 2AM so I was a little jaded as I went out to face the day. My options were limited so I headed back to the Sachette where we had a nice combination of powder turns followed by spring snow.

(I had a surprise at the airport in Lyon as the new Terminal 3 building is now in operation and it’s a long way from the old Terminal 3. I sat in the old terminal waiting for the girls and went outside to stretch and get some fresh air when I luckily notice a tiny little sign saying ‘Terminal 3 Arrivals’ with a little arrow. The new terminal was probably about a kilometre away and a long ways from where I parked my car. The moral of the story is check out what terminal you’re flying into and check out a map of the airport because Terminal 3 isn’t where it used to be!)

On Sunday morning we awoke to 50cm’s towards the Fornet and probably another metre up on the Pisaillas Glacier, and 20 to 30 towards Tignes. I skied in Tignes because there was less snow to deal with, which suited my clients better that really deep snow with a higher avalanche risk, and a delayed opening as the Fornet takes longer to get going after a big snowfall.

We had a terrific morning and the good news is that it continued to snow all day long, which qualifies for a ‘dump alert’!

We’ve had an incredible amount of snow these past few weeks and profited with some great powder skiing, wonderful spring snow, and enough new snow to see us through to the end of the season, although we’ll have a lot more snow over the next four weeks or so.

We’ve some stunning skiing still to come and the skiing will be fantastic right up until the closing on May 1st, so don’t hesitate if you fancy some end-of-season skiing!

The forecast looks pretty good for the rest of the week with lots of sunshine so have a wonderful week and stay tuned for another update on Friday!

Follow more from Wayne in his Daily Diary.

NB. Some of the areas Wayne has been skiing this week are off piste and not suitable to all skiers. Wayne has 35 years experience in these mountains. If you're considering going off piste you should always take a guide with you.