Yet another stunning weekend in Verbier saw the lifts open – all the way down to Ruinette we’ll have you know.

So Kent and the Berglunds (which is probably the name of a band in Sweden) went up for a look around. And the legend that is Viola had a great time…

And click here for Viola’s in-depth snow report…

Viola snow report

…well not in Verbier. And we are not likely to get that much. But this is a shot of the Yuki-no-Otani Snow Canyon in Toyama, Japan or  affectionally known as the Tateyama Alpine Route in Japan. Lets hope the Route de Verbier never gets to this state..!

OK, confession. Martin did go to Zermatt. And he did go with Anders. And he did go snowboarding (the Performance Disciplinary Panel is convening as I type). But he wasn’t with Tom Jones – he just saw someone who looked like Tom. And it meant we could have this hysterical headline.

But come on – winter is here. Really here. And we’re all getting very excited indeed. We’ve got Lac des Vaux open, we’ve got instructors off training (and messing about) on glaciers and generally the season is rumbling into action.

So enjoy the photos, check out the rest of the blog for all sorts of pre-season videos and pictures while you’re here. This one is excellent. And enjoy – it’s going to be a smashing winter. I can feel it.

This needs no explaining – someone simply plonked a little piece of genius on Vimeo and this is the result. If you weren’t ready for sinter before you watched it, you will be in a couple of cheese-filled minutes… And for more of this click here.

Meanwhile we have snow in Verbier today (although if you click on that link you might get more or less snow, depending on what day it is when you read this. But check anyway).

After the the slightly unusual early snow over the weekend TeleVerbier have confirmed that Lac des Vaux will be opening this Friday for weekend only throughout November.

So dust off your ski gear and get up there…!

How excited are you? I know – it always snows at this time of year. But come on, this is brilliant. Happy Monday.