Well, I know it’s not nice to gloat, but our office looks like this and it’s brilliant. Gloat over. Sorry.

Yup, the lifts are open and the snow is falling. The fact it’s falling at Attelas and not any lower was not ideal, so it was a rather soggy Lac des Vaux opening.

But we can all start with platitudes about a good dense base and cold nights etc…

Still, it was good get up there and there’s a proper fall coming next week so please cross your fingers.

However the highlight of the day was getting back to Verbier via the big new lifts. So new they were still making them when we went down, and let me tell you that getting being casually waved into a lift by a man who seconds earlier appeared to be trying to fit something important-looking to it is not a confidence instilling experience… But Rob was a very, very brave boy.

It’s been a little topsy-turvy in Verbier the past couple of weeks. The euphoria of the heavy snow back on the 24th and 25th of October was followed by whispers from TeleVerbier that we’d open on the 30th of October.

But the sun came out and it all went up in smoke. So back to the normal opening date of the first weekend in November? Not quite.

The official line was it would all be fine for the scheduled opening and the Wednesday before opening powers-that-be confidently announced announced that we would open on time.

However, in the T-Bar last night there were a few guys who work on the snow cannons claiming that the Foehn wind blowing in that night meant snow couldn’t be manufactured and the existing snow was receding. Fast.

So on the Thursday the lift company changed their line and explained that due to the massive change in the weather Verbier’s opening weekend has been cancelled. Which means disappointment two weeks on the bounce.

But it doesn’t end there. Never does….

After the snow / sun / Foehn came snow again this weekend and on Sunday we were getting excited. Again. But the sun came out and the snow line shot up to Ruinettes again.

Then it snowed. And got cold. And right now it’s not impossible (but by no means certain) that Saturday the 13th will be lucky for some.

But don’t hold your breath…

Is that it?

Well, not according to Felix. Because everybody’s favourite Canadian has – at some length – explained to me that due to the amount of fresh water entering the seas from melting snow caps, the Gulf Stream and the ocean conveyor belt will run slower, bringing less warm weather up to us and creating the coldest winter “for like thousands of years”.

Well, Felix knows his stuff and who am I to argue with him. After all, I was the one banging on about opening resort in October and look where that got me…

|
|
|

Yes, the amount of snow yesterday meant that child-like grinning turned into full-on euphoria running through resort yesterday. We expect this to increase today as there is not a cloud in the sky and Mike has just got up to Ruinettes and will be sending more pictures like these later…

But right now he’s up there messing about on a piste machine in the the sunshine…

Meanwhile it’s supposed to stay cold and if that part for the lift turns up tomorrow it looks increasingly like we’ll be skiing on Friday. Please cross something for us.

|
|

Yup, snow has kept coming all night and there’s about 20cm around Place Central – these were just the snaps I got between my flat and the T-Bar. But the cars coming down from the top of town look like they’ve got closer to a foot of snow on the roofs. We’ll wait to hear from Mike about the top of the lift…

Mike’s up update from Ruinettes…

As if by magic, while I was sitting here in T-Bar typing away, Mike has just sent down these from Ruinettes. 38cm exactly according to him. But who knows how much up top at Attelas…

Yup, as predicted by a few people in resort, the cannons are kicking out snow up at Lac des Vaux.

Now, they’re not ‘working’ they’re merely being ‘tested’. That’s because they aren’t allowed to start the cannons to make snow for skiing until the end of the month, but testing’s fine. It’s a very blurred line isn’t it?

Whatever the rules, they’ve got them on and Mike says it’s not impossible that the resort will open a week earlier than scheduled, although they have a lot of work to do to get the lift refitting done in time… So a big task if TeleVerbier really want to do it…