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Pyrenees 22/23

 Poster: A snowHead
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@DJ97, another 30km seems to have opened during the day today. That’s 40km more since yesterday and 50km since the weekend. By the time you get here, everything will probably be open.
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Woohoo looks like a decent snowstorm overnight- reported levels have shot up to 70/100 in Les Angles-, avalanche risk 4/5 but once things have stabilised in the next few days and the snowcats have done their magic am confident of the Pyrenees Orientales finally getting going!
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Looks like a lot of slopes closed in Grandvalira. I imagine to do with wind or avalanche risks?
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Yep actually looking a bit windblown on the crests in Les Angles. However optimistic for Espace C'ambre d'Aze that they have enough to get going as usually if they get enough snow, the wind doesn't matter as much as they have plenty of trees to protect the snow.
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@DJ97, wind. Arcalis was completely closed, the link from Arinsal to Pal was closed and none of the top lifts at El Tarter and Soldeu were open or the link between Encamp and Soldeu/El Tarter.

We had about 20cm down overnight where I live however, due to the wind there was a bit of drifting - bare patches/much deeper.
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A strong northerly flow is characterising the coming days, up to Force 8 gale at times. Might hamper the fun a bit! Sad

https://www.bergfex.com/grandvalira/wetter/prognose/

The numbers in red at the bottom of the chart
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Looks both very windy but also still seems to be snowing on the cams- I don't think some resorts have properly updated their snow depth, hopefully! Looking forward to seeing what opens once the wind settles down.
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Another 10cm reported this morning on Grandvalira.

https://www.grandvalira.com/en/weather-forecast-grandvalira

Still some higher lifts and links shut due to strong wind conditions today.

Mighty cold with the windchill factor too. Wind speeds are forecast to reduce on Monday.
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Looking at the webcams it seems that Font Romeu has done the best out of the recent snowfall, being the least exposed to winds at altitude with its abundance of trees- has all its runs open today! Espace C'Ambre d'Aze looks good on the cams but likely a lot less resources available to prepare runs quickly so hopefully more runs will open gradually over the next week. A bit concerned about the amount of snow blown off the crests in Les Angles which has possibly limited the benefits of the recent snowfall- a lot of wind still- will see what reopens when it dies down.
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An interesting couple of days. Very much limited skiing due to the wind. Yesterday we went up the Funicamp but were restricted to just two pistes. It was absolutely dumping it down and very, very cold. We were about to jack it in but the wind died down a touch for a couple of hours after lunch and made it more bearable. We spent the afternoon messing around to the side of the pistes sometimes in thigh deep powder. The wind picked up at the end of the day again.

Today we decided to try El Tarter. The snow was great but the wind meant most of the lifts were closed. Too many people trying to use the few lifts open and the few pistes open. It wasn’t really worth going out really. Annoyingly, it seems the link between Encamp and Grau Roig was open today so we’d have been better off going up there but we didn’t know this when we set off this morning as the website info often isn’t too accurate.
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At least hopefully things will start opening when the wind settles down. Although some wind blown crests may have suffered am hoping some of the unpisted runs in natural snow gullies that are usually the most interesting runs in the resort (Roc de Peborny in Les Angles, Coulee de Font Frede in C’Ambre D’Aze) may have picked up enough snow to open soon.
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Looks like the N/NE wind drops a bit midweek before picking up again but not as fierce as this weekend. Predicted temperatures will be staying cold all week until after next weekend which should preserve the snow that's fallen this past week.

Forecast is looking mostly dry after today, just a few flurries maybe, but at least there'll be quite a bit of sunshine as the week progresses which should make things feel a teensy bit warmer.

https://www.bergfex.com/grandvalira/wetter/prognose/
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Indeed, now that wind is dying down a bit looks like both Les Angles and Espace C'Ambre d'Aze have managed to get a few reds open (and in the case of Les Angles 2 blacks)- at least 50% of their area- so things are looking up- hopefully the remainder of runs still closed have the cover but just need to be prepared and stabilised first.
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After the disappointing carnage of the weekend - loads of snow expecting powder days only for the wind to close most of the lifts, it seems things are back to normal. 100% of pistes open in Arcalis and Pal/Arinsal. I don't think I saw that at all last season. There's now about 75% pistes open in Grandvalira today (166km of 210) and I expect that to increase throughout the week as it remains very cold (for Andorra!).
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A few millimeters of snow in the hills behind Barcelona last night!
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hammerite wrote:
After the disappointing carnage of the weekend - loads of snow expecting powder days only for the wind to close most of the lifts, it seems things are back to normal. 100% of pistes open in Arcalis and Pal/Arinsal. I don't think I saw that at all last season. There's now about 75% pistes open in Grandvalira today (166km of 210) and I expect that to increase throughout the week as it remains very cold (for Andorra!).


Looking promising- Les Angles and Cambre d'Aze still a bit reluctant to open their last 25% or so but hopefully this is related to time taken to secure rather than lack of snow, as looks pretty snowy on the cams and most of the lower runs are open.
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hammerite wrote:
it remains very cold (for Andorra!).


Temps might hit the heady heights of 0C by next Tuesday at 1700m in El Tarter. Laughing

https://www.bergfex.com/grandvalira/wetter/prognose/

Next Wednesday will feel like t-shirt weather if it hits 6C in the afternoon! Cool

Bone-chillingly cold until then though Skullie
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Wind speeds for next week also seem to be ok. May be some strong wind gusts with low average wind speeds. Would strong wind gusts have an effect on ski lift operation?
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Got caught up in the weather and had car trouble (flat battery) so had to time our jump start with the road being open to get back into France.
Great time skiing and socialising. Catching up with a few old friends in the Derby.

Hopefully, some ski touring and perhaps a day in Ax this week. Then back to Andorra the following week.

I am planning to start another thread in the Trip Reports section covering the places we've eaten and stayed.
As so far they've all been pretty good.
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@mortonia, I'd be interested in your thoughts on places to eat on the mountain in Andorra as my experience is that unless you want to sit down to a proper restaurant meal (who does that on a ski day?) most of the offerings are pretty basic. I may just be choosing the wrong places or ordering the wrong thing though!

@DJ97, gusts may slow down the lifts for short periods of time, but they don't tend to stop them opening altogether. If the gusts are unexpected or more prolonged they can close a lift early - piste patrol or lifties will nearly always warn you to head back to the sector you have started at if this starts to happen. In El Tarter they have a loud speaker giving this warning out (it's also given out towards the end of the day when the lifts are about to close).
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Indeed, still no further runs open but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they have decided to take their time and make sure things are all open including the snowpark by the weekend!
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@Dr. Will, I'm wondering whether some of the pistes are too wind scoured so they've not opened them yet.
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@hammerite, possibly but there is some encouraging news on Les Angles' Facebook page

"Finally Lady Nature is giving us a little break!! The wind is down and the snow is at the appointment!!
Our crews are actively working to be able to open new tracks (in progress) and Snow Park by the end of the week!! Eh oh! !"

...apologies with the computer assisted translation!
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Is anyone in Baqueria, how is it? Is the off piste decent?
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@Dr. Will, excellent!
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@mrvinegar, it’s getting abit wind crusted and skied out, but the temperatures are Baltic atm so it’s staying light and fluffy.
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Been looking nice and sunny on the Grandvalira cams the last couple of days, which probably belies those very chilly air temps.

Not much snow now in the 10 day forecast and temps forecast to rise a bit next week, but not as much as in earlier forecasts, a cool 4C max on Tues lunchtime at resort level 1700m.

4C is the temperature of the average fridge, so from freezer to fridge-like!! Laughing

https://www.bergfex.com/grandvalira/wetter/prognose/
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CathyAuLait wrote:
@mrvinegar, it’s getting abit wind crusted and skied out, but the temperatures are Baltic atm so it’s staying light and fluffy.


thanks!
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@luigi, I'm up at Pal today (not skiing). It's snowing right now and has been for the last 2 hours. Not particularly heavily but it's snow all the same! Fingers crossed there'll be a change in the next 10 days.
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@luigi, I'm up at Pal today (not skiing). It's snowing right now and has been for the last 2 hours. Not particularly heavily but it's snow all the same! Fingers crossed there'll be a change in the next 10 days.

177km open on the Grandvalira now. Gradually edging up this week. I don't think I saw much more than 200km open last season anyway. There's always a couple of runs that are windscoured and nasty regardless of how much snow there's been.
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Great. A couple more runs open in Les Angles now but still reluctance to open up the right hand side sector and Costa Verde, and Cambre d'Aze still have no blacks and only half of their reds open. However Formigueres is doing very well in comparison with 100% open, clearly not as wind affected!

Would be nice if there was another top up before half term to really solidify things and allow them to open a few more runs.
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I've been watching La Molina webcams and piste map with interest. As far as I can tell they have had less than half of the resort open for the whole season so far and I doubt they've had more than 10cm of natural snow.

Is this normal for that resort? Way down the South, presumably foothills of the Pyrenees. I mean are they dependent on natural snow to open the rest of the resort and if so does that ever really happen.
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I'm in baqueira at the moment, has been zero Vis for 2 days, but with a bit of fresh snow( prob 5-8cm low down and 10-15 higher up where not blown off by the wind) cleared this afternoon and had a couple of decent runs, looking forward to tomorrow's forecasted blue skies!
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Having a day visit to Les Angles...
Driving up from Perpignan, it's the first time I've seen snow settled in Villefranche de Conflent in a very long time! The road from the roundabout at La Quillane to the resort has some patches on it, chains are strongly recommended for the lower car park, it hasn't been that thoroughly ploughed!
On piste the conditions are good, -7⁰ in the carpark this morning, not the slightest breeze and the inversion earlier this morning has given way to a bluebird. Most of the mountain is open apart from the two zones on the edges, a combination of windblown and saving them for the half term. It's a nice day out Eh oh!
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moody_git wrote:
Having a day visit to Les Angles...
Driving up from Perpignan, it's the first time I've seen snow settled in Villefranche de Conflent in a very long time! The road from the roundabout at La Quillane to the resort has some patches on it, chains are strongly recommended for the lower car park, it hasn't been that thoroughly ploughed!
On piste the conditions are good, -7⁰ in the carpark this morning, not the slightest breeze and the inversion earlier this morning has given way to a bluebird. Most of the mountain is open apart from the two zones on the edges, a combination of windblown and saving them for the half term. It's a nice day out Eh oh!


Thanks for the update, good to see their may be a chance of opening the right side by the time I get there on the 20th Feb though a top up would be nice to seal the deal.
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@Dr. Will, it'll certainly be better off with a little extra. There are a few windblown patches here and there with grass poking through next to pistes higher up and towards late afternoon the boilerplate was making a reappearance on some of the steeper slopes.
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Andorra forecast for next 10 days into start of Feb is for a lot of unbroken sunshine. Temps are up on last week and get fairly mild over the weekend with a predicted high of 9C on Saturday lunchtime at El Tarter resort level (1700m).

The wind has calmed down, still in the North and a strong NE breeze is forecast for Thursday daytime.

Nighttime temps on the mountain are still below freezing, which should allow for snowmaking to continue. snowHead

https://www.bergfex.com/grandvalira/wetter/prognose/
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@luigi, there was a noticeable change in temperatures/feel yesterday. When the sun came above the mountains you could feel warmth from it (for a change) and the wind didn't have so much of a bite.

The temperature changes won't make as much difference up in Soldeu and El Tarter because they don't get the sun until past 11am and it's gone behind the mountains by about 3pm. Just a temperature change won't make too much of a difference.

Some updated forecasts are showing there might be a bit of action early next week. Fingers crossed.
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@hammerite, all good to hear!! Smile

The GFS 00Z gave some hope of something coming in on the Med side maybe, but the 06Z took it away and kept high pressure in charge:

https://meteologix.com/fr/model-charts/standard/2023013100/catalua/accumulated-precipitation/20230210-0000z.html

https://meteologix.com/fr/model-charts/standard/2023013106/catalua/accumulated-precipitation/20230210-0600z.html

I believe the Bergfex forecasts are based on ECM outputs which keep the high over France & Spain.

There's clearly a bit of uncertainty there about precip finding its way in, but a bit of a top up next week would be welcome, as long as it comes as snow and not rain! snowHead

I'd probably rather take high pressure, sunshine, cool temps and machine snow than a Med low with risk of rain lower down! Confused
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The GFS 12Z is bringing the chance of something significant in on the 10th...

https://www.wetterzentrale.de/en/show_diagrams.php?geoid=10&model=gem&var=201&run=12&lid=ENS&bw=1


...a long way off still, but worth keeping an eye on, might freshen things up for HT! snowHead

Pretty unanimous that first 6 days of Feb will be milder and dry with a blocking high hovering around Biscay.
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