The clouds are starting to break and winter is back in resort. It’s freezing today.

And last night we had a few inches of fresh on the pistes so conditions are nicely topped up. Ok it’s Baltic. But it should be in January – that’s part of the fun.

So we’re tucked up in Dahu waiting for just a bit more sun before we head up mont fort. Which should be, as we say in Verbier, EPIC.

Yes, a little later than advertised we have the first weather report of the season, and this week Toby has stepped up to prove he is the thinking woman’s John Kettley this season. As always, it seems YouTube can play up a little on these embedded videos, so is it doesn’t play straight away on your computer, just click here.

 

 

So the snow is falling and it should be snowing right down to Le Chable by tomorrow morning.

Which means we can all restart the debate about whether or not it’s a good omen, if it’ll be a good winter, if we will be open by November, and of course should we expect anything of the sort?

We put something on Facebook the other day about the snow coming and whilst loads of people got excited, a few were pretty pragmatic. And you have to be.

Because what we get this time of year doesn’t dictate what kind of a winter we’ll get.

This time last year we had nothing – NOTHING – up there until that first weekend in December. And we all know what happened after that – we had an epic season.

That said, if you can’t start rumours, make exorbitant claims about the amount of snow we’ll get, and turn it into an obsessive conversation in the Pub Mont Fort (which opens on the 2nd November as it happens – Colin, mine’s a Guinness) then it’s no fun whatsoever.

So we’ll continue to drop phrases like “The One Hundred Year Storm” into conversation and generally tantalise everyone with rumours of patterns in the Atlantic deepwater “conveyor belt” system thingy bringing in storms.

As Oli pointed out, it’ always snows at this time of year. Bless him. So enjoy and keep checking the webcams – they’ve changed a bit and should work on iPhones and iPads now, although at he same time a few have stopped working completely, which is annoying…

 

 

I just got woken up to a text from Martin saying “it’s dumping in Verbier”, and you know what? It is.

The snow is right down to the village and for the first time in a long time we can say it’s doing things properly – and we’re not exaggerating when we use the word dumping…

To see live updates of what it looks like during the day you can visit  the webcams by clicking here.

It’s also freezing again in resort – I know it’s slightly masochistic but I love it when it gets cold, because when we start getting freezing mornings it means winter is starting to get serious. Enjoy.

As predicted it snowed at about midstation last night, so the Savoleyres ridge and from just above Ruinette we’ve got a blanket of snow. Now, we all know it’ll mostly be gone by lunchtime but it’s a great time of the year when the first snow falls comes, and they gradually get lower and lower until it snows right down to resort.

But the temperature is set to dip over the next few days and it’ll be below freezing in Verbier when we all get up tomorrow for the first time since last winter. And who knows? Maybe just a little of that snow will stay if it’s tucked behind ridges and hidden from the sun…

Meanwhile, here’s what the webcams revealed this morning.

I might have headed back for Toby’s wedding (which might or might not be a be an event you get to read about here on the blog. It really depends on the level of carnage and what Caroline says we can put online…). So I’m bringing you this from sunny Blighty.

But nearly as important as the impending nuptules of The Ginger Prince: it’s snowed again. Which means that winter is starting to raise it’s head again. OK, we’re still getting some toasty warm days but when the temperature dips we’re getting a dusting up top and it seems to be getting lower with each fall.

And as Facebook has been buzzing with the news we thought we should bring you a few pictures from the webcams (and remember, if you ever fancy checking out Verbier’s webcams, then check our Verbier webcam page. It’s quite good).

There isn’t any more predicted on the forecasts immediately (and if you like a good forecast you can find them all here) but if you cross your fingers and think happy thoughts we might be putting up more pictures very soon.