Verbier Ski School » Verbier Ski School

The new weather report. Still searching for a catchphrase.

Guy — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:04:05 +0000

It’s Wednesday so it’s weather report time, and today we greet you from the charming surroundings of Col des Mines. And we even have a special guest appearance from Honda…

Martin brings you the weather, the après and a little bit of cockney magic.

Guy — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:35:47 +0000

As we continue our tour of the Performance Team, this week Martin tells it like it is from the rather charming terrace at the Pub Mont Fort.

The Sunday Times know exactly who to ask about Verbier…

Guy — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:01:31 +0000

Yes, Guy’s following up on his dreams of becoming some kind of celebrity weather guru by talking to the nice people at the Sunday Times.

Of course had they asked about what was to come this week, they’d have been very happy to hear it’s going to snow on Thursday and Friday. How much? Well, somewhere between a bit and a lot, depending on who you ask. It keeps changing you see.

If you were to ask us, maybe 20cm at mid station. (That’s a total guess so click here for a more accurate figure).

A lot of snow in Verbier…

Guy — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:41:26 +0000

It’s been absolutely dumping again and despite if being a bit soggy and heavy up the hill, I just had a great day.

Sadly it’s now turned to rain in resort and the avalanche risk has just gone through the roof. But all snow is good snow and we’ve got tons and tons of it…

Happy Christmas from Verbier.

Guy — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:19:38 +0000

Sophie on the state of the snow.

Guy — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:12:17 +0000

Yes, as part of our weekly piste report for verbier.com we elected Sophie as the next victim to audition in front of the camera. Now, she’s probably the most likely out of the team to end up doing children’s TV, so we had high hopes. And not entirely misplaced – notice the improvised Christmas references.

Meanwhile…

Kent also made his audition for a piste report:

A sensible weather post.

Guy — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:26:28 +0000

What’s happening? Is it bad? Is it terrible? Is it OK? Is it normal? Should we start to panic? These (and many other) questions have been flying about the internet as well as the resort. But there’s also been a mildly panicy and negative tone to it all. So we thought, “how about we try to give a pragmatic view?”

And it’s certainly not the best ever start to a season in Verbier. It’s my seventh and I can only remember one that was close to this light on snow.

But every other season I can remember we were open to Ruinettes by now. And currently there’s only a little of the real stuff in the shade (but not a lot). The rest is artificial.

Certainly not ideal.

It’s also certainly a lot less than normal but – and it’s a big one – it’s cold. Not baltic but consistently below freezing so the cannons are firing.

I remember about four season’s ago when we were short of snow at the start of the season, and it was warm. So the snow came, and didn’t settle well.

Today you really get the feeling that if we get some snow now it’ll settle on very cold ground and we’ll get the benefit of it all – not lose the first few days’ fall on wet ground.

So why haven’t we got any yet? Well, there’s been a big and unyielding area of high pressure over us. And all that swirling, unpleasant and wet weather that’s been lashing the west of Europe simply can’t push the high pressure away.

Which is why we have the same cold, clear weather over us. Have a look at the charts here – they give you a pretty clear idea of the front trying to smash through to the Alps and getting bounced away and off to the north and east by the high pressure.

Thing is, it might snow two feet next Friday and we’ll all forget about the stress and panic. So cross your fingers, keep an eye on the webcams and the weather forecasts (although don’t take them as gospel) and remember that massive fall back in October. Can happen again. And it always does.

Gina Greenall liked this post

Verbier is open…

Guy — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:43:54 +0000

Yes, after a decided draught of snow Verbier has opened. And despite the doubts about what we’d actually be skiing on, it’s turned out to be a lot better than we were expecting.

Lac des Vaux has been the beneficiary of a lot of artificial snow and the piste was pretty good, although naturally limited.

But it’s been cold up top and the canons were on first thing, and there are whispers of snow next week when the high pressure finally heads off and some of the dodgy weather that’s been swirling around the atlantic comes over…

Oooooh, pretty. A smashing Verbier sunset…

Guy — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:14:24 +0000

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Oh ye of little faith.

Guy — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:07:44 +0000

It might not be powder snow but the cannons have done their work up at Lac des Vaux, and added to the snow that fell way back in October. And you know what? It looks pretty promising.

Mike was up there today and as ever played a blinder by taking photos whilst messing about on the piste machines.

And with Verbier opening this weekend (well, the bit of Verbier that is Lac des Vaux) it’s looking good. Better than expected, actually.

Now, crucially, you won’t catching me claiming it’s about to dump here or making vague projections about when the snow comes back. But I can say that when it does, the ground will be nice and cold and it should all settle rather nicely.

So think happy thoughts people.