Extreme weather continues in Morzine

Storm Eleanor has hit Morzine and Les Gets hard

featured in Snow report Author Giles Towler, Morzine Reporter Updated 8 January 2018

The new year has started with some truly extreme weather in Morzine. There has been heavy rainfall for the past couple of days with a high freezing level meaning that it has rained over most of the mountain. On the 3rd of January, the wind picked up and things escalated. The entire Portes du Soleil was closed down for the day due to winds in excess of 50 miles an hour which made it far too dangerous to open any of the lifts.

The extreme weather has also made conditions off-piste incredibly dangerous, with the avalanche risk at 5 out of 5, which is very unusual for the area. The roads in and out of resort, both via Taninges and Thonon, have also experienced closures due to trees getting blown over the roads. Most people opted to stay at home yesterday as Netflix viewing figures for Morzine soared to unprecedented levels.

The roads have now been cleared and the wind has mostly died down. The rain, however, has not abated. The good news though is that there has been some snow on the highest slopes. It is still raining on the Pleney but higher, in Avoriaz, there is snow falling. There have been up to 30 centimetres so far with more on the way.

In Avoriaz, large parts of the area are still closed. Lindarets is mostly open and so is Super Morzine. The higher lifts of the Arare, such as the Intrets chair, are not currently open - only the area around the Stade chair is currently accessible. Fornet is completely closed. The Mossettes and Chaux Fleurie chairs are closed, meaning that there is currently no access to Chatel or the Swiss side of the Portes du Soleil.

Lift access is looking far better in Morzine and Les Gets. The Pleney is currently open and on Nyon 7 out of 8 lifts are currently running, with only the Pointe de Nyon chair not operational at the moment; 9 out of 14 runs are open in that area. In Chamossiere, 2 out of 3 chairs are running but only 4 out of 9 runs are open. In Les Gets, 25 of 26 lifts are open and 36 of 48 runs are open.

Despite the current rainfall, the pistes are still in surprisingly good condition. The huge snowfall of December combined with the continued snowmaking while the temperatures were low means that things are still looking fairly good on the pistes. There is still approximately 2 metres of snow on the higher slopes, although the lower slopes of Morzine (particularly at the bottom of the Pleney) are not faring quite so well.

Conditions could best be described as slushy - it is currently too warm for the slopes to get icy. There is more rain expected at lower altitudes for the next day or two with snow expected at some point next week. The slopes at higher altitudes should receive heavy snowfall, however, so there isn’t too much to worry about just yet with regards to snow cover. The avalanche risk is still 5 out of 5 and going off-piste, even where there is fresh snow, would certainly be a really bad idea at the moment.

The pavements in town are very wet at the moment and they could become very icy when the temperature drops. Conditions on the roads could be hazardous this weekend and delays are likely. This is one of the busiest periods of the year so anyone coming to resort or leaving resort should be prepared for delays. The benefit of Morzine is the proximity of Geneva Airport, meaning it doesn’t suffer from the long transfers that are the norm in some resorts.

Whilst January has not got off to as good a start as December did, there is still nothing to worry about just yet!