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Avoriaz ski area opening weekend 2016

Partial opening with a snow base of around 30cm

featured in Snow report Author Giles Towler, Morzine Reporter Updated

The opening weekend of Avoriaz has finally arrived! Heavy snowfall in November, leaving a base of well over a metre, got a lot of people excited and rumours began that the lifts would open early.

Although warm and dry weather in the following weeks saw these rumours evaporate along with much of the snow... However, SERMA are amongst the best lift companies in Europe for maintaining pistes and moving snow around, and they have worked wonders with what snow we have.

The base layer is now at thirty centimetres which, whilst less than people had hoped for, has meant that there is enough snow for a partial opening of the ski area.

snow in Avoriaz

Parts of the Arare and Fornet areas were open as well as a more limited opening in Lindarets. The bubble in Prodains as well as the Ardent bubble are running to take skiers up to the open pistes. It's also necessary to use them to get down again, as there are currently no open pistes going all the way down to the bottom.

In Arare the Stade and Intrets lifts are open, along with the Bleue D’Arare, Bleue Du Lac and Stade D’Arare runs. In Fornet only the Fornet chair and the Aller Chavanette and Fornet runs, as well as the link to return towards Avoriaz.

ski area in avoriaz

These are the highest areas and consequently have held onto the snow the best. Whilst it can be icy in the morning it quickly softens up in the warm weather and by 10:30 conditions have improved massively. There are occasional rocks but far less than could be expected considering the warm weather. The slopes are currently not busy and it is warm and sunny most of the day.

Conditions in Lindarets are not quite as good but are still reasonable. The Lindarets and Prolays chairs are open, as well as the bubble from Ardent. The Tour chair is also open to link between Arare and Lindarets. The La Crete and Prolays pistes are open but the snow is hard packed with ice rocks dotted about, so it is important to keep an eye out to avoid a tumble.

There is no snow forecast at the moment, so artificial snow will possibly be used to ensure more can open next weekend. Hopefully there will be more snow on the way soon and it will be a white Christmas!

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