The first on this winter’s snow
The 25th annual Ski Weekend Warm Up Weekend in Val d’Isère was another great success.
Ever popular as the opportunity to be the first to be on the new winter’s snow, the weekend started on Friday 29 NOVEMBER with guests arriving throughout the day, and time to arrange equipment hire before an excellent dinner at Casa Scara.
Under blue skies on Saturday morning, the day started with everyone being gifted a unique ‘Ski Weekend 25th Anniversary’ goggle cover, before we split into several groups for instruction and guiding during the day.
A choice of experienced guides
There was a choice of touring/freeride, off piste, ‘Piste Perfection’ and, for the first time, a ‘veterans’ group – all led by our experienced team of returning guides, Guillaume Ravenel, Nico, Frank and Nawelle.
The day included skiing the Solaise and Bellevarde areas, as well as dropping down to La Daille and the challenging La Face descent to resort.
Stories were swapped of a fantastic first day’s skiing at the superb Taverne d’Alsace that evening, as plans were made for a first-lift rendezvous for Sunday morning.
A trip to Tignes
We were greeted by more blue skies on a cold sub-zero morning, as our groups headed to Tignes via the Col des Fresses. Val d’Isère’s Espace Killy neighbour was quieter than expected as we explored the area, before returning under Tommeuses and via the Tufs chairlift.
Dinner that evening was in Les Cinq Freres – one of the original Val d’Isère hotels, still run by the same family almost 90 years after it was first opened.
Snowing hard
Monday brought overcast conditions, although there was snow at altitude towards the end of the day, and at resort level by the evening, bringing a fine weekend to a snowy close.
By our final day, it was snowing hard in the morning with around 10-15cm higher up, bringing excellent conditions for our last day on the snow.
It was an amazing end to our four days in Val d’Isère. Snow conditions surpassed all expectations
“Congratulations on 25 years of hosting the ‘Warm Up Weekend’ in Val d’Isère – it’s always a great way to start the season!”