A Personal Account
I'm relatively new to skiing. I've only
skied a handful of times and have only been on one proper skiing getaway. My
journey, unlike most others', began in June 2017, in the Midlands. In practise
for the planned university ski trip to Val Thorens in late December, a day of
skiing on the Milton Keynes indoor slope got me into it, and it's safe to say
that I completely fell in love. I couldn't wait for the opportunity to give it
a go on real snow!
I was, however, a little bit worried.
Although in October/November time last year I hadn't researched this blog, I
was generally aware of the 'it's getting warmer so there'll be less snow' idea. The 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons both
got off to poor starts in the Alps, so I wasn't sure if there would be much
snow for our ski trip. Friends who had been to Val Thorens the previous year
were frustrated with the lack of snow, and all the evidence pointed to skiing
conditions become gradually worse over the coming years.
Fortunately, this season appeared to be
somewhat an anomaly. Regular dumpings of snow had been falling since early
November, meaning that by mid-December, there was plenty of snow on the ground
for us to enjoy.
Stunning conditions above Méribel Mottaret in the Three Valleys Ski
Area, France, during December 2017 - taken by yours truly.
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To give you an idea of the coverage, in the 2016/17 season, in late
December, Val Thorens had received 131cm of snow on upper slopes, and 56cm of
snow on lower slopes. This is the thickness of the snow coverage on the ground,
not the amount of snow that fell in that period of time. In contrast, in December 2017, we were skiing on 270cm
of upper slope snow and 200cm of lower slope snow – a massive difference.
This trend has continued right through the
season so far, with conditions thought to be the best in 20 years, according to
regular skiers. Amongst growing concern that this really was a downward spiral
for snow conditions in the Alps, this year’s season has been a welcomed contrast. Today (25/02/2018), there
are 290cm of snow on the upper slopes of Val Thorens and 244cm of snow on the
lower slopes – very good
conditions even for the middle of winter.
Is this season actually an
anomaly? Is it just a one off? Or is it the beginning of a change many have not
predicted? Are the Alps trying to fight back against human-induced climate
change? Unfortunately due to the nature of scientific research, there have been
no studies published that assessing this season's Alps climate as of yet, so
it's very difficult to do anything other than speculate.
One thing is for sure. I chose a great time
to go skiing!
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