Since the video snow report on Thursday where Folyeres and other North facing slopes remained fairly firm until the end of the day, Friday saw a cloudy almost humid day and slopes slower down did deteriorate.
On Saturday morning even with the World Cup still taking place in Meribel and some access lift opening early there weren’t many people about and Jean Blanc, Lanches and Bouc Blanc were all in surprisingly good shape (and had been groomed which is key too).
By the afternoon the slopes on the Meribel side had cut up a lot and as visibility became very poor up we headed back to La Tania (remember the 3 Valleys always has orange tipped piste markers to the skiers right hand side for use in really poor visibility). Snow was falling to about 1700m when we packed up but rain at resort level became quite heavy for the rest of the afternoon. The Bouc Blanc terrace is at least white again so could be some decent skiing high up tomorrow.
The Bouc Blanc piste down to the La Tania gondola station was still good even at 3pm but the red run below the Bouc Blanc chair (Moretta Blanche) and the bottom drag lift have now closed. Folyeres was still holding quite firm in the rain and at least no bare patches appearing there.
On the positive side it does look like there is a fair bit of new snow high up – although probably heavy below 2000m – and increasingly likely that the prolonged spell of warm weather is coming to an end and some below average temperatures are forecast from the middle of next week with more fresh snow lower down.
Folyeres at noon today
Finally, a reminder that lifts open half an hour later (from 09:30) tomorrow (Sunday 22/3) due to regional elections and there’s lots going on including the Meribel Piste Bash Festival and Ronnie Loves Music event. Bring Your Sisters play a one-off at the Ronnie on Monday and with Norman Jay on Wednesday plus The Dominos and the excellent Ska Wars on Friday it’s a busy week!